(12) Unlted States Patent
`(10) Patent N0.:
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`Breed et al.
`(45) Date of Patent:
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`U5006720920B2
`
`(54) METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR
`COMMUNICATING BETWEEN VEHICLES
`
`(75)
`
`Inventors: David S. Breed, Boonton Township,
`Morris County, NJ (US); Wilbur E.
`DuVall Kimberlin Cit MO (US)’
`’
`g
`3.”
`.
`’
`Wendell C- JOhn50n> Slgnal H}11> CA
`(Us); KOStyantyn AlexandilCh
`Lukin, Kharkov (UA); Vladymyr
`Michailovich Konovalov, Kharkov
`(UA)
`
`(73) Assignee:
`
`*
`
`-
`.
`) Nome"
`
`(
`
`Intelligent Technologies International
`Inc., Denville, NJ (Us)
`-
`-
`-
`-
`sufleftfo My 3531““; thf’ germ? 11;;
`pa en 15 ex en 6
`or a Jug e
`11“ er
`U~S~C~ 154(b) by0 day5~
`
`(21) App1. No; 10/113,353
`
`(22)
`
`Filed:
`
`Apr. 9, 2002
`
`(65)
`
`Prior Publication Data
`US 2002/0198632 A1 Dec. 26, 2002
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`
`(63)
`
`(60)
`
`Continuation—in—part of application No. 09/909,466, filed on
`Jul. 19, 2001, now Pat. No. 6,526,352, which is a continu—
`ation—in—part of application No. 09/679,317, filed on Oct. 4,
`2000, now Pat. No. 6,405,132, which is a continuation—in—
`part of application No. 09/523,559, filed on Mar. 10, 2000,
`now abandoned, which is a continuation—in—part of applica—
`tion No. 09/177,041, filed on Oct. 22, 1998, now Pat. No.
`6,370,475.
`Provisional application No. 60/062,729, filed on Oct. 22,
`1997.
`
`Int. Cl.7 .................................................. G01S 3/28
`(51)
`(52) U.S. Cl.
`................................... 342/386; 342/357.06
`(58) Field of Search ....................... 342/35701, 357.06,
`342/385, 386, 357.09
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`...... 342/68
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`
`.......................... 364/449
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`1/1995 Wysocki et al.
`............ 701/207
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`
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`
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`
`................. 364/450
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`8/1995 Sennott et al.
`..
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`
`9/1995 Tanner
`..
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`
`
`
`340/903
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`11/1995 Mlchael .
`12/1995 Loomis ...................... 364/449
`............. 342/70
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`
`1/1996 Hulderman .....
`342/70
`3/1996 Koehler ...................... 342/145
`4/1996 Schreder ..................... 340/995
`4/1996 Boles .......
`342/42
`4/1996 Schilling ..
`375/205
`4/1996 McEwan ..
`342/387
`5/1996 MCEWfln --
`342/28
`6/1996 Ichikawa ..
`...... 342/451
`6/1996 Jandrell
`..................... 370/952
`6/1996 Elrod .......................... 359/36
`6/1996 Shaw et al.
`........
`180/169
`
`..... 342/70
`6/1996 Henderson et al.
`
`6/1996 Uemura et al.
`364/461
`
`..
`...... 180/169
`7/1996 Yoshioka et al.
`
`. 340/870.05
`10/1996 Lemelson .......
`................ 364/461
`11/1996 Ishida et al.
`
`
`
`(List continued on next page.)
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`DE
`JP
`JP
`WO
`
`4434789 A1
`6—337286
`7—200861
`0101166
`
`4/1996
`12/1994
`8/1995
`1/2001
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`SRI International, Centimeter—Level GPS for Highway Sys-
`tems, J.W. Sinko et al., Jul. 1998.
`SRI International, An Evolutionary Automated Highway
`System Concept Based on GPS, J.W. Sinko, Sep., 1996 (p.
`5, second column to p. 7).
`
`(List continued on next page.)
`
`Primary Examiner—Dao Phan
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Brian Roffe
`
`(57)
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`Method for transferring information between a vehicle and
`a transmitter in which a unique pseudorandom noise signal
`is transmitted by the transmitter in a carrier-less fashion
`composed of frequencies within a pre-selected band. Infor-
`mation is encoded in the noise signal relating to an identi-
`fication of the transmitter and a position of the transmitter
`and the vehicle is provided with a device for extracting the
`information from the noise signal. The code to use for
`encoding the noise signal may be selected based on the
`position of the transmitter so that analysis of the code, or a
`portion thereof, provides an indication of the position of the
`transmitter.
`Information about accidents, weather
`conditions, road conditions, map data and traffic control
`devices and about errors in a GPS signal can also be encoded
`in the noise signals. The transmitter may be at a fixed
`location or in another vehicle to thereby enable vehicle-to-
`vehicle communications for
`the purposes of collision
`avoidance, intelligent highway applications and the like.
`
`29 Claims, 19 Drawing Sheets
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 1
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 1
`
`

`

`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`Page 2
`
`US. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`5,572,482 A
`5,576,715 A
`5.576972 A
`5,583,513 A
`5,585,798 A
`5587715 A
`5,589,838 A
`5,606,506 A
`5,613,039 A
`5,619,212 A
`5,621,646 A
`5,646,626 A
`5,646,627 A
`
`576577021 A
`5,699,056 A
`
`11/1996 Hoshizaki et al.
`.......... 365/233
`11/1996 Litton et a1.
`......
`342/357
`
`11/1996 Hamson -
`- 364/516
`
`
`12/1996 Cohen ~~~~~~~~~~
`- 342/357
`
`12/1996 Yoshloka et a1.
`-
`342/70
`~342/357
`~~~~~~~~~~
`12/1996 Lewis
`
`12/1996 McEwan
`342/387
`2/1997 Kyrtsos .....
`. 364/449.1
`
`.................. 395/22
`3/1997 Wang et al.
`4/1997 Counselman, III .......... 342/357
`4/1997 Enge et al.
`364/449
`7/1997 Willis ........
`342/189
`7/1997 Willis et al.
`342/189
`
`
`8/1997 Ehsalll'Nategh et al‘ """ 342/70
`12/1997 Yoshida ...................... 340/905
`
`2/1998 Torre et al.
`................... 342/13
`5,719,579 A
`5/1998 Talbot et al.
`............ 364/449.9
`5,757,646 A
`6/1998 McEwan
`3565.01
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`
`6/1998 McEwan
`342/387
`5,774,091 A
`
`9/1998 Fenton et al.
`..
`.. 375/208
`5,809,064 A
`.......... 701/29
`9/1998 Breed
`5,809,437 A
`
`- 340/903
`11/1998 GlOVanm
`57841367 A
`.................. 342/13
`1/1999 Sauer et al.
`5,861,834 A
`5/1999 KOhh et.a1.'
`375/200
`5’901’171 A
`5/1999 Tognazzmi
`340/903
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`6/1999 Wang ........
`342/457
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`7/1999 Gunji et a1.
`.. 340/988
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`7/1999 Engelman ..
`342/70
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`7/1999 Willis ........
`. 375/208
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`9/1999 Mardirossian .............. 340/936
`5,952,941 A
`11/1999 Lemelson et a1.
`.......... 701/301
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`5,991,279 A * 11/1999 Haugli et al.
`............... 370/311
`
`
`
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`6,054,950 A
`6,121,915 A
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`6,239,738 B1
`6,271,786 B1
`6,400,754 B2
`6,510,172 B1 *
`
`1/2000 Seo ............................ 701/207
`4/2000 Fontana
`342/463
`
`9/2000 Cooper et a1.
`..
`..... 342/70
`
`342/130
`1/2001 Heide et al.
`
`
`.. 342/70
`5/2001 Wanielik et al.
`.. 342/16
`8/2001 Huff et al.
`......
`6/2002 Fleming et al.
`............. 375/140
`1/2003 Miller
`........................ 375/140
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`.
`.
`.
`SRI International, Using GPS for Automated Vehicle Con-
`voying, T.M. Nguyen, Sep. 1998.
`Centerline Survey, B. Holmgren, National Land Survey of
`Sweden.
`
`Autovue: Active Lane Departure Warning System, Odetics.
`.
`.
`V. Morellas et al., PreVieW Based Control of a Tractor Trailer
`.
`f
`.
`d
`d
`Usmg DGPS 0r PreVemmg Roa Depart?” ACCI PDQ
`1998 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicles,
`pp. 797—805.
`S. Bajikar et al., Evaluation of In—Vehicle GPS—Based Lane
`Position Sensing for Preventing Road Departure, 1998 IEEE
`International Conference
`on Intelligent Vehicle, pp.
`397_402.
`B. Schiller et a1., Collision Avoidance for Highway Vehicles
`.
`.
`Using the Virtual Bumper Controller, 1998 IEEE Interna-
`tional Conference on Intelligent Vehicles, pp. 149—155.
`Singh et al., Autonomous vehicle using WADGPS: IEEE
`Intelligent Vehicles
`’95 Symposium: Sep.
`1995, pp.
`370—375.
`
`* cited by examiner
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 2
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 2
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`A r. 13 2004
`
`Sheet 1 0f 19
`
`
`
`Prior Art
`
`Fig.
`
`1
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 3
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 2 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 4
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 4
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 3 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`22
`
`
`BASE STATION
`
`
`
`BASE STATION
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 5
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 5
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 4 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`GPS & DGPS
`PROCESSING
`
`SYSTEM
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 6
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 6
`
`

`

`52% GPS '
`Receiver
`
`' '
`
`Cameras
`
`62
`
`Radar
`
`- ‘
`
`Laser Radar
`
`‘ ‘
`
`Waming
`Light/Sound
`
`Map
`Database
`
`Brake
`Servo
`
`Steering
`Servo
`
`Throttle
`Servo
`
`Velocity
`Sensor
`
`7 ,
`
`72
`
`7‘
`
`7
`
`0)
`
`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13,2004
`
`Sheet 5 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 132
`
`54
`
`56
`
`u
`InteroVehicle
`Communication
`
`DGPS
`Receiver
`
`infrastructure
`- mmunication
`
`Central Processor & Circuits:
`
`;
`
`e
`
`- GPS Ranging
`- DGPS Corrections
`
`image Analysis. 150
`Radar Analysis
`Laser Radar Scanning Contro
`and Analysis of Received
`lnfonnation
`
`Warning Messaw Generation
`Map Communication
`Vehicle Control
`
`Inertial Navigation System
`Caiibrations and Control
`
`Display Control
`Precise Positioning
`Calculations
`Road Condition Predictions
`And Other Functions.
`
`100
`
`Controls
`
`Gyroscopes
`
`0
`
`Weather
`
`8
`
`Vehical
`Diagnostics
`
`Stoplight
`Sensor
`
`.0
`
`- 2
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 7
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 7
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 6 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`60
`
`64
`
`65
`
`D- :22:
`
`61
`
`Feature Extractor
`
`63
`
`Neural
`Network
`
`62
`
`82
`
`Control
`
`.
`
`Interface
`
`011
`
`Fig. 6
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 8
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 8
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`r._pA
`
`40023a1
`
`91f07teehS
`
`2P
`
`9ega
`
`000210VX.0E2Spl,mm6nS.mUm
`
`
`3B
`
`eP
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 9
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 8 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`12345678910
`
`13914014]
`
`
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 10
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 10
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 9 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`Fig.11 @x—wz
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 11
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 11
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 10 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`130
`
`132
`
`/
`
`Determine Absolute
`Position of Vehicle
`
`\
`Data on Edges of Roadways
`Yellow lines and Stoplighis
`
`134
`
`136
`
`40
`
` Compare Absolute Position
`
`to Edges of Roadway
`
`No
`
`
`
`
`Absolute Position of
`Vehicle Approaching Close to Edge
`of Roadway
`
`
`
`
`Yes
`
`Giude Vehicle to Shoulder
`
`130
`
`132
`
`Determine Absolute
`Position of Vehicle
`
`Data on Edges of Roadways
`Yellow lines and Stoplight:
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Compare Absolute Position
`
`
`to Position of Yellow Lines
`
`142
`
`146
`
`is
`
`
`
`Absolute Position of
`
`Vehicle Approaching Close to
`
`a Yellow Line
`
`Fig. 12b
`
` 40
`
` Sound Alarm andlor
`or to Shoulder
`
`Guide Vehicle away from Yellow Line
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 12
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 12
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 11 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`130
`
`132
`
`Determine Absolute
`Position of Vehicle
`
`Data on Edges of Roadways
`Yellow lines and Stoplights
`
`
`
`Compare Absolute Podfion
`to Edges of Roadway And
`Position of Stoplight
`
`150
`
`154
`
`Determine Color
`
`of Stoplight
`
`
`
`
`ls
`Absolute Position of
`
`Vehicle Approaching Close to
`
`a Red Stoplight?
`
`Fig. 12c
`
`
`
`Yes
`
`
`
`Sound Alarm and/or
`Giude Vehicle to Shoulder
`
`40
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 13
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 13
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 12 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`1 74
`
`3
`
`172
`
`25
`
`172
`
`
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 14
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 14
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 13 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`/172
`
`180
`
`180
`
`
`
`180
`
`180
`
`
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 15
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 15
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 14 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`
`
`26
`
`Fig. 15
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 16
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 16
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 15 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`216
`
`200
`
`/
`218
`
`202
`
`200
`
`Fig. 16A
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 17
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 17
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 16 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`
`
`Fig.18
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 18
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 18
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 17 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`226
`
`GES
`
`TECEIVGI'
`
`Linear Array
`camera
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Scanning
`
`laser radar
`
`Data acquisition module
`
`Fig. 17A
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 19
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 19
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 18 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`
`
`Fig. 19
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 20
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 20
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Apr. 13, 2004
`
`Sheet 19 0f 19
`
`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`240
`
`240
`
`‘
`o n /
`D a t a
`Transmitter
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`242 244
`
`244
`
`252
` 252a
`
`
`
`:7.’
`
`252b
`
`information
`
`Transmitter Data
`
`
`
`248
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Positioning
`Determining
`Device
`
`Processor
`
`250
`
`
`
`
` 246
`
`Fig. 20
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 21
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 21
`
`

`

`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`1
`METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR
`COMMUNICATING BETWEEN VEHICLES
`
`CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`This application is a continuation in part of:
`1) US. patent application Ser. No. 09/177,041 filed Oct.
`22, 1998, now US. Pat. No. 6,370,475, which claims
`priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(c) of US. provisional
`patent application Ser. No. 60/062,729 filed Oct. 22,
`1997;
`
`2) US. patent application Ser. No. 09/679,317 filed Oct.
`4, 2000, now US. Pat. No. 6,405,132, which is a
`continuation-in-part of US. patent application Ser. No.
`09/523,559 filed Mar. 10, 2000, now abandoned, which
`is a continuation-in-part of US. patent application Ser.
`No. 09/177,041 filed Oct. 22, 1998, now US. Pat. No.
`6,370,475; and
`
`3) US. patent application Ser. No. 09/909,466 filed Jul.
`19, 2001, now US. Pat. No. 6,526,352.
`
`1. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`1.1 Field of the Invention
`
`This invention is in the fields of automobile safety,
`intelligent highway safety systems, accident avoidance,
`accident elimination, collision avoidance, blind spot
`detection, anticipatory sensing, automatic vehicle control,
`intelligent cruise control, vehicle navigation, vehicle to
`vehicle communication, vehicle to non-vehicle communica-
`tion and non-vehicle to vehicle communication and other
`
`automobile, truck and train safety, navigation, communica-
`tion and control related fields.
`
`The invention relates generally to methods for vehicle-
`to-vehicle communication and communication between a
`
`vehicle and non-vehicles and more particularly to apparatus
`and methods using coded spread spectrum, ultrawideband,
`noise radar or similar technologies. The coding scheme can
`use may be implemented using multiple access communi-
`cation methods analogous to frequency division multiple
`access (FDMA), timed division multiple access (TDMA), or
`code division multiple access (CDMA) in a manner to
`permit simultaneous communication with and between a
`multiplicity of vehicles but without the use of a carrier
`frequency.
`The invention also relates generally to an apparatus and
`method for precisely determining the location and orienta-
`tion of a host vehicle operating on a roadway and location
`of multiple moving or fixed obstacles that represent potential
`collision hazards with the host vehicle to thereby eliminate
`collisions with such hazards. In the early stages of imple-
`mentation of the apparatus and method and when collisions
`with such hazards cannot be eliminated, the apparatus and
`method will generate warning signals and possibly initiate
`avoidance maneuvers to minimize the probability of a
`collision and the consequences thereof. More particularly,
`the invention relates to the use of a Global Positioning
`System (“GPS”), differential GPS (“DGPS”), other
`infrastructure-based location aids, cameras, radar and laser
`radar and an inertial navigation system as the primary host
`vehicle and target locating system with centimeter level
`accuracy. The invention is further supplemented by a digital
`computer system to detect, recognize and track all relevant
`potential obstacles,
`including other vehicles, pedestrians,
`animals, and other objects on or near the roadway. More
`particularly,
`the invention further relates to the use of
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`centimeter-accurate maps for determining the location of the
`host vehicle and obstacles on or adjacent the roadway. Even
`more particularly, the invention further relates to an inter-
`vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication systems
`for transmitting GPS and DGPS position data, as well as,
`relevant target data to other vehicles for information and
`control action. The present invention still further relates to
`the use of neural networks and neural-fuzzy rule sets for
`recognizing and categorizing obstacles and generating and
`developing optimal avoidance maneuvers where necessary.
`Automobile accidents are one of the most serious prob-
`lems facing society today, both in terms of deaths and
`injuries, and in financial
`losses suffered as a result of
`accidents. The suffering caused by death or injury from such
`accidents is immense. The costs related to medical
`
`injury to accident victims and the
`treatment, permanent
`resulting loss of employment opportunities, and financial
`losses resulting from damage to property involved in such
`accidents are staggering. Providing the improved systems
`and methods to eventually eliminate these deaths, injuries
`and other losses deserves the highest priority. The increase
`in population and use of automobiles worldwide with the
`concomitant
`increased congestion on roadways makes
`development of systems for collision elimination even more
`urgent. While many advances have been made in vehicle
`safety, including, for example, the use of seatbelts, airbags
`and safer automobile structures, much room for improve-
`ment exists in automotive safety and accident prevention
`systems.
`There are two major efforts underway that will signifi-
`cantly affect the design of automobiles and highways. The
`first is involved with preventing deaths and serious injuries
`from automobile accidents. The second involves the attempt
`to reduce the congestion on highways. In the first case, there
`are approximately forty two thousand (42,000) people killed
`each year in the United States by automobile accidents and
`another several hundred thousand are seriously injured. In
`the second case, hundreds of millions of man-hours are
`wasted every year by people stuck in traffic jams on the
`world’s roadways. There have been many attempts to solve
`both of these problems; however, no single solution has been
`able to do so.
`
`When a person begins a trip using an automobile, he or
`she first enters the vehicle and begins to drive, first out of the
`parking space and then typically onto a local or city road and
`then onto a highway. In leaving the parking space, he or she
`may be at risk from an impact of a vehicle traveling on the
`road. The driver must check his or her mirrors to avoid such
`
`an event and several electronic sensing systems have been
`proposed which would warn the driver that a collision is
`possible. Once on the local road, the driver is at risk of being
`impacted from the front, side and rear, and electronic sensors
`are under development to warn the driver of such possibili-
`ties. Similarly, the driver may run into a pedestrian, bicyclist,
`deer or other movable object and various sensors are under
`development that will warn the driver of these potential
`events. These various sensors include radar, optical,
`infrared, ultrasonic, and a variety of other sensors, each of
`which attempts to solve a particular potential collision event.
`It is important to note that as yet, in none of these cases is
`there sufficient confidence in the decision that the control of
`
`the vehicle is taken away from the driver. Thus, action by the
`driver is still invariably required.
`In some proposed future Intelligent Transportation Sys-
`tem (ITS) designs, hardware of various types is embedded
`into the highway and sensors which sense this hardware are
`placed onto the vehicle so that it can be accurately guided
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 22
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`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 22
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`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`3
`along a lane of the highway. In various other systems,
`cameras are used to track lane markings or other visual
`images to keep the vehicle in its lane. However, for suc-
`cessful ITS, additional information is needed by the driver,
`or the vehicle control system, to take into account weather,
`road conditions, congestion etc., which typically involves
`additional electronic hardware located on or associated with
`the highway as well as the vehicle. From this discussion, it
`is obvious that a significant number of new electronic
`systems are planned for installation onto automobiles.
`However, to date, no product has been proposed or designed
`which combines all of the requirements into a single elec-
`tronic system. This is one of the intents of some embodi-
`ments of this invention.
`
`The safe operation of a vehicle can be viewed as a process
`in the engineering sense. To achieve safe operation, first the
`process must be designed and then a vehicle control system
`must be designed to implement the process. The goal of a
`process designer is to design the process so that it does not
`fail. The fact that so many people are being seriously injured
`and killed in traffic accidents and the fact that so much time
`
`is being wasted in traffic congestion is proof that the current
`process is not working and requires a major redesign. To
`design this new process, the information required by the
`process must be identified, the source of that information
`determined and the process designed so that the sources of
`information can communicate effectively with the user of
`the information, which will most often be a vehicle control
`system. Finally, the process must have feedback that self-
`corrects the process when it is tending toward failure.
`Although it
`is technologically feasible,
`it
`is probably
`socially unacceptable at this time for a vehicle safety system
`to totally control the vehicle. An underlying premise of
`embodiments of this invention, therefore, is that people will
`continue to operate their vehicle and control of the vehicle
`will only be seized by the control system when such an
`action is required to avoid an accident or when such control
`is needed for the orderly movement of vehicles through
`potentially congested areas on a roadway. When this
`happens, the vehicle operator will be notified and given the
`choice of exiting the road at the next opportunity. In some
`implementations, especially when this invention is first
`implemented on a trail basis, control will not be taken away
`from the vehicle operator but a warning system will alert the
`driver of a potential collision, road departure or other
`infraction.
`Let us consider several scenarios and what information is
`
`required for the vehicle control process to prevent accidents.
`In one case, a driver is proceeding down a country road and
`falls asleep and the vehicle begins to leave the road, perhaps
`heading toward a tree. In this case, the control system would
`need to know that the vehicle was about to leave the road and
`
`for that, it must know the position of the vehicle relative to
`the road. One method of accomplishing this would be to
`place a wire down the center of the road and to place sensors
`within the vehicle to sense the position of the wire relative
`to the vehicle, or vice versa. An alternate approach would be
`for the vehicle to know exactly where it is on the surface of
`the earth and to also know exactly where the edge of the road
`is.
`
`These approaches are fundamentally different because in
`the former solution every road in the world would require
`the placement of appropriate hardware as well as the main-
`tenance of this hardware. This is obviously impractical. In
`the second case, the use of the global positioning satellite
`system (GPS), augmented by additional systems to be
`described below, will provide the vehicle control system
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`with an accurate knowledge of its location. While it would
`be difficult to install and maintain hardware such as a wire
`down the center of the road for every road in the world, it
`is not difficult to survey every road and record the location
`of the edges, and the lanes for that matter, of each road. This
`information must then be made available through one or
`more of a variety of techniques to the vehicle control system.
`Another case might be where a driver is proceeding down
`a road and decides to change lines while another vehicle is
`in the driver’s blind spot. Various companies are developing
`radar, ultrasonic or optical sensors to warn the driver if the
`blind spot is occupied. The driver may or may not heed this
`warning, perhaps due to an excessive false alarm rate, or he
`or she may have become incapacitated, or the system may
`fail to detect a vehicle in the blind spot and thus the system
`will fail.
`
`Consider an alternative technology where again each
`vehicle knows precisely where it is located on the earth
`surface and additionally can communicate this information
`to all other vehicles within a certain potential danger zone
`relative to the vehicle. Now, when the driver begins to
`change lanes, his or her vehicle control system knows that
`there is another vehicle in the blind spot and therefore will
`either warn the driver or else prevent him or her from
`changing lanes thereby avoiding the accident.
`Similarly, if a vehicle is approaching a stop sign, other
`traffic marker or red traffic light and the operator fails to
`bring the vehicle to a stop, if the existence of this traffic light
`and its state (red in this example) or stop sign has been made
`available to the vehicle control system, the system can warn
`the driver or seize control of the vehicle to stop the vehicle
`and prevent a potential accident. Additionally, if an operator
`of the vehicle decides to proceed across an intersection
`without seeing an oncoming vehicle, the control system will
`once again know the existence and location and perhaps
`velocity of the oncoming vehicle and warn or prevent the
`operator from proceeding across the intersection.
`Consider another example where water on the surface of
`a road is beginning to freeze. Probably the best way that a
`vehicle control system can know that the road is about to
`become slippery, and therefore that the maximum vehicle
`speed must be significantly reduced, is to get information
`from some external source. This source can be sensors
`
`located on the highway that are capable of determining this
`condition and transmitting it to the vehicle. Alternately, the
`probability of icing occurring can be determined analytically
`from meteorological data and a historical knowledge of the
`roadway and communicated to the vehicle over a LEO
`satellite system, the Internet or an FM sub-carrier or other
`means. A combination of these systems can also be used.
`Studies have shown that a combination of meteorological
`and historic data can accurately predict that a particular
`place on the highway will become covered with ice. This
`information can be provided to properly equipped vehicles
`so that the vehicle knows to anticipate slippery roads. For
`those roads that are treated with salt to eliminate frozen
`
`the meteorological and historical data will not be
`areas,
`sufficient. Numerous systems are available today that permit
`properly equipped vehicles to measure the coefficient of
`friction between the vehicle’s tires and the road.
`It
`is
`
`contemplated that perhaps police or other public vehicles
`will be equipped with such a friction coefficient measuring
`apparatus and can serve as probes for those roadways that
`have been treated with salt. Information from these probe
`vehicles will be fed into the information system that will
`then be made available to control speed limits in the those
`areas.
`
`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 23
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`Petitioners Ex. 1003 Page 23
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`US 6,720,920 B2
`
`5
`from those
`Countless other examples exist; however,
`provided above it can be seen that for the vehicle control
`system to function without error, certain types of informa-
`tion must be accurately provided. These include information
`permitting the vehicle to determine its absolute location and
`means for vehicles near each other to communicate this
`location information to each other. Additionally, map infor-
`mation that accurately provides boundary and lane informa-
`tion of the road must be available. Also, critical weather or
`road-condition information is necessary. The road location
`information need only be generated once and changed
`whenever the road geometry is altered. This information can
`be provided to the vehicle through a variety of techniques
`including prerecorded media such as CD-ROM or DVD
`disks or through communications from transmitters located
`in proximity to the vehicle, satellites, radio and cellular
`phones.
`Consider now the case of the congested highway. Many
`roads in the world are congested and are located in areas
`where the cost of new road construction is prohibitive or
`such construction is environmentally unacceptable. It has
`been reported that an accident on such a highway typically
`ties up traffic for a period of approximately four times the
`time period required to clear the accident. Thus, by elimi-
`nating accidents, a substantial improvement of the congested
`highway problem results. This of course is insufficient. On
`such highways, each vehicle travels with a different spacing,
`frequently at different speeds and in the wrong lanes. If the
`proper spacing of the vehicles could be maintained, and if
`the risk of an accident could be substantially eliminated,
`vehicles under automatic control could travel at substantially
`higher velocities and in a more densely packed configuration
`thereby substantially improving the flow rate of vehicles on
`the highway by as much as a factor of 3 to 4 times. This not
`only will reduce congestion but also improve air pollution.
`Once again,
`if each vehicle knows exactly where it
`is
`located, can communicate its location to surrounding
`vehicles and knows precisely where the road is located, then
`the control system in each vehicle has sufficient information
`to accomplish this goal.
`Again, an intent of the system and process described here
`is to totally eliminate automobile accidents as well as reduce
`highway congestion. This process is to be designed to have
`no defective decisions. The process employs information
`from a variety of sources and utilizes that information to
`prevent accidents and to permit
`the maximum vehicle
`throughput on highways.
`The information listed above is still
`
`insufficient. The
`
`geometry of a road or highway can be determined once and
`for all, until erosion or construction alters the road. Properly
`equipped vehicles can know their location and transmit that
`information to other properly equipped vehicles. There
`remains a variety of objects whose location is not fixed,
`which have no transmitters and which can cause accidents.
`
`These objects include broken down vehicles, animals such
`as deer which wander onto highways, pedestrians, bicycles,
`objects which fall off of trucks, and especially other vehicles
`which are not equipped with location determining systems
`and transmitters for transmitting that information to other
`vehicles. Part of this problem can be solved for congested
`highways by restricting access to these highways to vehicles
`that are properly equipped. Also, these highways are typi-
`cally in urban areas and access by animals can be effectively
`eliminated. Heavy fines can be imposed on vehicles that
`drop objects onto the highway. Finally, since every vehicle
`and vehicle operator becomes part of the process, each such
`vehicle and operator becomes a potential source of infor-
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`mation to help prevent catastrophic results. Thus, each
`vehicle should also be equipped with a system of essentially
`stopping the process in an emergency. Such a system could
`be triggered by vehicle sensors detecting a problem or by the
`operator strongly applying the brakes, rapidly turning the
`steering wheel or by activating a manual switch when the
`operator observes a critical situation but is not himself in
`immediate danger. An example of the latter case is where a
`driver witnesses a box falling off of a truck in an adjacent
`lane.
`
`To solve the remaining problems, therefore, each vehicle
`should also be equipped with an anticipatory collision
`sensing system, or collision forecasting system, which is
`capable of identifying or predicting and reacting to a pend-
`ing accident. As the number