Accident avoidance system

• US 7,899,621 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2010
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: American Vehicular Sciences LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intelligent Technologies International, Inc.
• Inventors: Breed, David S., Johnson, Wendell C., DuVall, Wilbur E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli; Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US12/722,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20100169009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 355 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2863 backward facing
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0071 Controller overrides driver automatically
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0073 Driver overrides controller
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/02 Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/04 related to roll-over prevention
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/14 Adaptive cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/16 Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18154 Approaching an intersection
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18159 Traversing an intersection
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18172 Preventing, or responsive to skidding of wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/072 Curvature of the road
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/076 Slope angle of the road
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 : with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 : of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 : Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 : for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 : Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/41 : Differential correction, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 : Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/50 : whereby the position solution is constrained to lie upon a particular curve or surface, e.g. for locomotives on railway tracks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9315 : Monitoring blind spots
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9316 : combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9318 : Controlling the steering
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93185 : Controlling the brakes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9319 : Controlling the accelerator
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 : using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9321 : Velocity regulation, e.g. cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9322 : using additional data, e.g. driver condition, road state or weather data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93271 : in the front of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93272 : in the back of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93273 : on the top of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9329 : cooperating with reflectors or transponders
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0221 : involving a learning process
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 : involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 : using a video camera in combination with image processing means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0257 : using a radar radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/027 : comprising intertial navigation means, e.g. azimuth detector inertial navigation G01C21/16; inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments G01C21/165
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 : using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 : using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 : Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 : involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 : Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 : for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 : for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 : Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

Accident avoidance system onboard a host vehicle includes a position determining system for determining position information for the host vehicle based on signals received from a plurality of satellites, a transmitter for broadcasting the position information for the host vehicle to locations remote from the host vehicle, a receiver for receiving a traffic information broadcast from an infrastructure system including vehicle position information received from position-reporting vehicles and vehicle position information received from an active position determining system that acquires position information for non-position-reporting vehicles, and an accident risk warning system. The risk warning system alerts an operator of the host vehicle of a risk of an accident involving the host vehicle based on the vehicle position information for the host vehicle and map data representing a roadway that the host vehicle is approaching or traveling on including edges or lane boundaries of the roadway.

Claims

1. An accident avoidance system onboard a host vehicle comprising:

a position determining system for determining position information for the host vehicle based on signals received from a plurality of satellites;

a transmitter coupled to the position determining system for broadcasting the position information for the host vehicle determined by the position determining system to locations remote from the host vehicle;

a receiver for receiving a traffic information broadcast from an infrastructure system including vehicle position information received from the transmitter of position-reporting vehicles and vehicle position information received from an active position determining system that acquires position information for non-position-reporting vehicles, the position information received from the infrastructure system comprising a subset of available position information including prioritized position information for the host vehicle based on the locations of the host vehicle and other vehicles; and

an accident risk warning system for alerting an operator of the host vehicle of a risk of an accident involving the host vehicle based on the position information for the host vehicle determined by the position determining system and map data representing a roadway that the host vehicle is approaching or traveling on including edges or lane boundaries of the roadway and the traffic information broadcast received by the receiver.

2. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein

a highest priority vehicle position information for the host vehicle includes at least the location of one or more position-reporting vehicles and the location of one or more non-position-reporting vehicles.

3. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, further comprising a navigation display onboard the host vehicle for displaying the vehicle position information including positions of position-reporting vehicles and non-position-reporting vehicles relative to the location of the host vehicle on a map of the roadway indicating edges or lane boundaries of the roadway.

4. The accident avoidance system of claim 3, wherein the host vehicle is an airplane, at least a portion of the other vehicles are airplanes, and the map depicts an airport runway.

5. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, further comprising accident avoidance equipment for determining that an accident risk exists between the host vehicle and one of the other vehicles.

6. The accident avoidance system of claim 5, wherein the accident avoidance equipment is further operative for determining an evasive maneuver in response to the accident risk.

7. The accident avoidance system of claim 6, wherein the accident avoidance equipment is further operative for transmitting the evasive maneuver to another vehicle involved in the accident risk.

8. The accident avoidance system of claim 5, wherein the accident avoidance equipment indicates the accident risk warning on a navigation display.

9. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the host vehicle further comprises differential position locating equipment for increasing the accuracy of the position information for the host vehicle.

10. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the host vehicle is further operative to receive updated map information from the infrastructure system.

11. The accident avoidance system of claim 10, further comprising a navigation display onboard the host vehicle for displaying at least some of the vehicle position information, wherein the host vehicle is further operative to display the updated map information on the navigation display onboard the host vehicle.

12. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the host vehicle is further operative to receive weather information from the infrastructure system.

13. The accident avoidance system of claim 12, further comprising a navigation display onboard the host vehicle for displaying at least some of the vehicle position information, wherein the host vehicle is further operative to display the weather information on the navigation display onboard the host vehicle.

14. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the host vehicle is further operative to receive traffic control information from the infrastructure system.

15. The accident avoidance system of claim 14, further comprising a navigation display onboard the host vehicle for displaying at least some of the vehicle position information, wherein the host vehicle is further operative to display the traffic control information on the navigation display onboard the host vehicle.

16. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the accident risk comprises a collision threat involving the host vehicle and another vehicle.

17. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the accident risk comprises the host vehicle deviating from a travel corridor assigned to the host vehicle.

18. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the accident risk comprises another vehicle deviating from a travel corridor assigned to that vehicle.

19. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the accident risk comprises a potential obstacle in a travel path of the host vehicle.

20. The accident avoidance system of claim 1, further comprising a navigation display onboard the host vehicle for displaying at least some of the vehicle position information.