System, method and program for supporting driving of cars

• US 6,711,480 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2002
• Issued: 03/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisan Technology Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Sanei Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Tamura, Satoru, Yamamoto, Tadashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y.
• Application Number:
  US10/247,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20030065429A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• Field of Search: 701/23, 701/24, 701/25, 701/300, 180/168, 340/902, 340/903, 340/905
• US Class Current: 701/23
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A system for supporting to drive cars has a server 10 for processing road geometry, an apparatus 20 for supporting to drive a car 70, and a computer network 40 for communicating with the server 10 and the apparatus 20, wherein the saver 10 provides road parameters and/or road information for the apparatus 20, and the apparatus 20, placed on the car 70, supports to drive the car 70 and/or automatically drives the car 70 by using the road information which includes virtual digital driving orbit (lattice of coordinate) 60 from the saver 10 and/or calculated by the road parameters, and GPS (Global Positioning System) information from GPS satellite 50 for calculating the position of the car 70.

Claims

1. A system for supporting driving of cars, said system comprising:

a server for processing road geometry;

an apparatus for supporting driving of a car; and

a computer network for communicating with said server and said apparatus, wherein

said server for processing road geometry includes

communication control means for controlling communication with said computer network,

storing means of the road geometry for storing at least one of road parameters and road information, and

processing means of the road parameters for loading the road parameters and the road information stored in said storing means in dependence upon a request received from said apparatus for supporting driving of the car via said communication control means, and

said apparatus for supporting driving of the car includes

communication control means for controlling communication with said computer network,

positioning information control means for calculating a position information of the car by using a base position information,

means for generating driving support information by using at least one of the road parameters and the road information from said server for processing the road geometry and the position information of the car from said positioning information control means, wherein

the road information includes a virtual digital driving orbit for indicating a driving orbit of the car, and

said means for generating driving support information generates the virtual digital driving orbit by at least one of a line segment, circular arcs and a clothoid curve, and generates a clothoid curve from a clothoid origin without executing exceptional processing near the clothoid origin in a case of generating a curvature transition curve of the virtual digital driving orbit using the clothoid curve, by calculating coordinates of the clothoid curve using the following recurrence equation (1), of which parameters are only an arc length “

λ

”

from the clothoid origin, expressed as $\begin{array}{cc}x=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{\infty <br><br>}}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>{\left(-1\right)}^n<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^{4<br><br>n+1}}{\left(4<br><br>n+1\right)·<br><br>2^{2<br><br>n}·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n\right)!}<br><br><br><br>y=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{\infty <br><br>}}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>{\left(-1\right)}^n<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^{4<br><br>n+3}}{\left(4<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>2^{2<br><br>n+1}·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+1\right)!}& \left(\mathrm{Equation}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>1\right)\end{array}$

 

where “

λ

”

is a unit clothoid arc length, “

x” and

“

y”

is a coordinate of the arc length “

λ

”

from the clothoid origin of the unit clothoid curve, and “

n”

is an order.

2. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, wherein

said means for generating driving support information generates the road information based on the road parameters.

3. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, wherein

said apparatus for supporting driving of the car further comprises:

instrumentation means for calculating an instrumentation value by detecting a car condition; and

instrumentation information control means for generating instrumentation information based on the instrumentation value received from said instrumentation means, wherein

said means for generating driving support information generates the driving support information based on the road information generated based on at least one of the road parameters and the road information received from said server for processing road geometry, the position information received from said positioning information control means, and the instrumentation information received from said instrumentation information control means.

4. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 3, wherein

said instrumentation means comprises:

distance accumulating means for calculating an instrumentation value by accumulating a driving distance of the car;

speed sensor means for calculating an instrumentation value by measuring a speed of the car;

gyro-sensor for calculating an instrumentation value by measuring a gradient of the car; and

angle measuring means for calculating an instrumentation value by measuring an angle of a way of car progress, wherein

said instrumentation information control means generates accumulating distance information based on the instrumentation value from said distance accumulating means, generates speed information based on the instrumentation value from said speed sensor means, generates rolling angle information based on the instrumentation value from said gyro-sensor, and generates way angle information based on the instrumentation value from said angle measuring means.

5. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, further comprises:

input means for inputting the request; and

output means displaying at least one of the road information and the driving support information.

6. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, wherein

said apparatus for supporting driving of the car further comprises map storing means for storing a part or all of at least one of the road information and map information, wherein

said means for generating driving support information generates the driving support information based on the road information, the position information, and the map information.

7. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, further comprising a communication unit for executing

communication between said apparatus for supporting driving of the car and said computer network,

wherein said communication unit comprises at least one of a mobile phone and a LCX (Leakage Coaxial Cable) placed on a road.

8. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, wherein

said computer network is an internet or an intranet.

9. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, wherein

said means for generating driving support information generates the driving support information by using image information from at least one of a radar and a laser scan unit.

10. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, wherein

said apparatus for supporting driving of the car further comprises

driving control means for controlling driving of the car by using the driving support information generated by said means for generating driving support information.

11. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, wherein

said means for generating driving support information generates the clothoid curve using the following relation equation (2) of a “

n”

term (Tx(n), Ty(n)), which is deduced by expanding “

x” and

“

y”

of the recurrence equation (1) in a series, expressed as $\begin{array}{cc}\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(n+1\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>-\frac{\left(4<br><br>n+1\right)·<br><br>{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^4}{4·<br><br>\left(4<br><br>n+5\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+2\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+1\right)}<br><br>\mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(n\right)<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}\\ \text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(n=0,1,2,\mathrm{\Lambda <br><br>}\right)\\ \mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(0\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}\\ \mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(n+1\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>-\frac{\left(4<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^4}{4·<br><br>\left(4<br><br>n+7\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+2\right)}<br><br>\mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(n\right)\\ \text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(n=0,1,2,\mathrm{\Lambda <br><br>}\right)\\ \mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(0\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^3}{3·<br><br>2}.\end{array}& \left(\mathrm{Equation}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>2\right)\end{array}$

12. The system for supporting driving of cars of claim 1, wherein the base position information is from at least one of a GPS, a magnetic nail, and a beacon.

13. A method for supporting driving of cars, which executes driving support processes by using a server for processing road geometry, an apparatus for supporting driving of a car, and a computer network for communicating with the server for processing road geometry and the apparatus for supporting driving of the car, said method comprising:

in the apparatus for supporting driving of the car, sending request information inputted for supporting driving of the car to the server for processing road geometry via the computer network;

in the server for processing road geometry, loading at least one of road parameters and beforehand stored road information in dependence upon the request information received from the apparatus for supporting driving of the car, and sending at least one of the road parameters and the road information to the apparatus for supporting driving of the car via the computer network;

in the apparatus for supporting driving of the car, generating road information by using the road parameters when receiving the road parameters from the server for processing road geometry;

in the apparatus for supporting driving of the car, calculating position information of the car by using base position information;

in the apparatus for supporting driving of the car, generating driving support information by using the road information at least one of received from the server for processing road geometry and generated by said generating of the road information operation, and the position information of the car calculated by said calculating of the position information operation, wherein

the road information includes a virtual digital driving orbit for indicating a driving orbit of the car, and

said generating of the driving support information operation comprises generating the virtual digital driving orbit by at least one of a line segment, circular arcs and a clothoid curve, and generates a clothoid curve from a clothoid origin without executing exceptional processing near the clothoid origin in a case of generating a curvature transition curve of the virtual digital driving orbit using the clothoid curve, by calculating coordinates of the clothoid curve using the following recurrence equation (1), of which parameters are only an arc length “

λ

”

from the clothoid origin, expressed as $\begin{array}{cc}x=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{\infty <br><br>}}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>{\left(-1\right)}^n<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^{4<br><br>n+1}}{\left(4<br><br>n+1\right)·<br><br>2^{2<br><br>n}·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n\right)!}<br><br><br><br>y=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{\infty <br><br>}}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>{\left(-1\right)}^n<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^{4<br><br>n+3}}{\left(4<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>2^{2<br><br>n+1}·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+1\right)!}& \left(\mathrm{Equation}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>1\right)\end{array}$

 

where “

λ

”

is a unit clothoid arc length, “

x” and

“

y”

is a coordinate of the arc length “

λ

”

from the clothoid origin of the unit clothoid curve, and “

n”

is an order.

14. A method for supporting driving of cars of claim 13, wherein

said generating of the driving support information operation, in the apparatus for supporting driving of the car, comprises generating instrumentation information by measuring car condition, and generating the driving support information by using the road information at least one of received from the server for processing road geometry and generated by said generating of the road information operation, the position information of the car calculated by said calculating of the position information operation, and the instrumentation information.

15. A method for supporting driving of cars of claim 14, wherein

the instrumentation information includes accumulating distance information, speed information, rolling angle information, and way angle information about handling of the car.

16. A method for supporting driving of cars of claim 13, wherein

at said sending of the request information and said loading of at least one of the road parameters and the beforehand stored road information operations, the communication with said apparatus for supporting driving of the car and the computer network is executed by using a communication unit comprising a mobile phone.

17. A method for supporting driving of cars of claim 13, wherein

at said sending of the request information and said loading of at least one of the road parameters and the beforehand stored road information operations, the communication with the apparatus for supporting driving of the car and the computer network is executed by a LCX (Leakage Coaxial Cable) placed on a road.

18. A method for supporting driving of cars of claim 13, wherein

at said sending of the request information and said loading of at least one of the road parameters and the beforehand stored road information operations, the computer network is an internet or an intranet.

19. A method for supporting to drive cars of claim 13, wherein

said generating of the driving support information operation comprises generating the driving support information based on the road information at least one of received from the server for processing road geometry and generated by said generating of the road information operation, the position information of the car calculated by said calculating of the position information operation, and beforehand stored map information.

20. A method for supporting driving of cars of claim 13, wherein

said generating of the driving support information operation comprises generating the driving support information by using image information from at least one of a radar and a laser scan unit.

21. A method for supporting driving of cars of claim 13, wherein

said generating of the driving support information operation further comprises generating the clothoid curve using the following relation equation (2) of a “

n”

term (Tx(n), Ty(n)), which is deduced by expanding “

x” and

“

y”

of the recurrence equation (1) in a series, expressed as $\begin{array}{cc}\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(n+1\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>-\frac{\left(4<br><br>n+1\right)·<br><br>{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^4}{4·<br><br>\left(4<br><br>n+5\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+2\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+1\right)}<br><br>\mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(n\right)<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}\\ \text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(n=0,1,2,\mathrm{\Lambda <br><br>}\right)\\ \mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(0\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}\\ \mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(n+1\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>-\frac{\left(4<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^4}{4·<br><br>\left(4<br><br>n+7\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+2\right)}<br><br>\mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(n\right)\\ \text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(n=0,1,2,\mathrm{\Lambda <br><br>}\right)\\ \mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(0\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^3}{3·<br><br>2}.\end{array}& \left(\mathrm{Equation}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>2\right)\end{array}$

22. A method for supporting driving of cars of claim 13, wherein

at said calculating of the position information operation, the base position information is at least one of GPS information, magnetic nail information, and beacon information.

23. A computer program on a computer readable medium for supporting driving of cars which is executed by a computer system, said computer program comprising:

a program product operable to send request information inputted for supporting driving of a car to a server for processing road geometry via a computer network;

a program product operable to load at least one of road parameters and beforehand stored road information in dependence upon the request information received from an apparatus for supporting driving of the car, and send at least one of the road parameters and the road information to the apparatus for supporting driving of the car via the computer network;

a program product operable to generate road information by using the road parameters when receiving the road parameters from the server for processing road geometry;

a program product operable to calculate position information of the car by using base position information;

a program product operable to generate driving support information by using the road information at least one of received from the server for processing road geometry and generated by said program product operable to generate the road information, and the position information of the car calculated by said program product operable to calculate the position information, wherein

the road information includes a virtual digital driving orbit for indicating a driving orbit of the car, and

said program product operable to generate the driving support information generates the virtual digital driving orbit by at least one of a line segment, circular arcs and a clothoid curve, and generates a clothoid curve from a clothoid origin without executing exceptional processing near the clothoid origin in a case of generating a curvature transition curve of the virtual digital driving orbit using the clothoid curve, by calculating coordinates of the clothoid curve using the following recurrence equation (1), of which parameters are only an arc length “

λ

”

from the clothoid origin, expressed as $\begin{array}{cc}x=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{\infty <br><br>}}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>{\left(-1\right)}^n<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^{4<br><br>n+1}}{\left(4<br><br>n+1\right)·<br><br>2^{2<br><br>n}·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n\right)!}<br><br><br><br>y=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{\infty <br><br>}}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>{\left(-1\right)}^n<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^{4<br><br>n+3}}{\left(4<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>2^{2<br><br>n+1}·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+1\right)!}& \left(\mathrm{Equation}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>1\right)\end{array}$

 

where “

λ

”

is a unit clothoid arc length, “

x” and

“

y”

is a coordinate of the arc length “

λ

”

from the clothoid origin of the unit clothoid curve, and “

n”

is an order.

24. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claim 23, wherein

said program product operable to generate the driving support information generates instrumentation information by measuring car condition, and generates the driving support information by using the road information at least one of received from the server for processing road geometry and generated by said program product operable to generate the road information, the position information of the car calculated by said program product operable to calculate the position information, and the instrumentation information.

25. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claim 24, wherein

the instrumentation information includes accumulating distance information, speed information, rolling angle information, and way angle information about handling of the car.

26. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claim 23, wherein

at said program product operable to send the request information and said program product operable to load at least one of the road parameters and the beforehand stored road information, the communication with the apparatus for supporting driving of the car and the computer network is executed by using a communication unit comprising a mobile phone.

27. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claims 23, wherein

at said program product operable to send the request information and said program product operable to load at least one of the road parameters and the beforehand stored road information, the communication with the apparatus for supporting driving of the car and the computer network is executed using an LCX (Leakage Coaxial Cable) placed on a road.

28. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claim 23, wherein

at said program product operable to send the request information and said program product operable to load at least one of the road parameters and the beforehand stored road information, the computer network is an internet or an intranet.

29. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claim 23, wherein

said program product operable to generate the driving support information generates the driving support information based on the road information at least one of received from the server for processing road geometry and generated by said program product operable to generate the road information, the position information of the car calculated by said program product operable to calculate the position information, and beforehand stored map information.

30. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claim 23, wherein

said program operable to generate the driving support information generates the driving support information by using image information from at least one of a radar and a laser scan unit.

31. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claim 23, wherein

said program operable to generate the driving support information generates the clothoid curve using the following relation equation (2) of a “

n”

term (Tx(n), Ty(n)), which is deduced by expanding “

x” and

“

y”

of the recurrence equation (1) in a series, expressed as $\begin{array}{cc}\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(n+1\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>-\frac{\left(4<br><br>n+1\right)·<br><br>{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^4}{4·<br><br>\left(4<br><br>n+5\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+2\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+1\right)}<br><br>\mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(n\right)<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}\\ \text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(n=0,1,2,\mathrm{\Lambda <br><br>}\right)\\ \mathrm{Tx}<br><br>\left(0\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}\\ \mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(n+1\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>-\frac{\left(4<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^4}{4·<br><br>\left(4<br><br>n+7\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+3\right)·<br><br>\left(2<br><br>n+2\right)}<br><br>\mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(n\right)\\ \text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(n=0,1,2,\mathrm{\Lambda <br><br>}\right)\\ \mathrm{Ty}<br><br>\left(0\right)=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\frac{{\mathrm{\lambda <br><br>}}^3}{3·<br><br>2}.\end{array}& \left(\mathrm{Equation}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>2\right)\end{array}$

32. A computer program for supporting driving of cars of claim 23, wherein

at said program product operable to calculate the position information, the base position information is at least one of GPS information, magnetic nail information, and beacon information.