# US 12,112,625 B2 · Intersection control system, intersection control method, and non-transitory storage medium

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- Number: US 12,112,625 B2
- Document ID: US12112625B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/574,776
- Filed: 2022-01-13
- Published: 2022-09-15
- Granted: 2024-10-08
- Earliest claimed: 2021-03-11
- Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Applicants: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Manabu Nagai; Daisaku Honda; Suguru Watanabe
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12112625B2

## CPC

- G08G 1/08: according to detected number or speed of vehicles
- G08G 1/096741: {where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle}
- G08G 1/0112: {from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]}
- G08G 1/0116: {from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons}
- G08G 1/0145: {for active traffic flow control}
- G08G 1/096725: {where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control}
- G08G 1/096783: {where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element}
- G08G 1/164: {Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles}
- G08G 1/166: {for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes}
- G08G 1/015: with provision for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g. between motor-cars and cycles
- G08G 1/056: with provision for distinguishing direction of travel
- G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93})

## Abstract

An intersection control system includes: a storage storing multiple pieces of intersection control information that are different from each other, each piece of the intersection control information including multiple pieces of permitted trajectory information each of which indicates a permitted travel trajectory that a vehicle is permitted to follow, and a plurality of the travel trajectories not interfering with each other; and one or more processors configured to acquire multiple pieces of travel trajectory information each of which indicates a travel trajectory that each of a plurality of the vehicles located near the intersection follows when passing through the intersection, select a piece of the intersection control information that matches the pieces of the travel trajectory information from among the pieces of the intersection control information, and send the selected piece of the intersection control information to the vehicles located near the intersection.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An intersection control system comprising:
a storage storing multiple pieces of intersection control information, each piece of the intersection control information including permitted trajectory information, the pieces of the permitted trajectory information indicating distinct travel trajectories that vehicles are respectively permitted to follow when the vehicles pass through an intersection, and the distinct travel trajectories not interfering with each other; and
one or more processors, wherein
in a control of entry of the vehicles into the intersection, the one or more processors are configured to
acquire multiple pieces of travel trajectory information indicating travel trajectories to be followed by the respective vehicles located near the intersection when the vehicles pass through the intersection,
select a piece of the intersection control information including the permitted trajectory information that partially or wholly matches the acquired travel trajectory information, from among the multiple pieces of the intersection control information, and
broadcast the selected piece of the intersection control information to the vehicles located near the intersection.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein the distinct travel trajectories neither merge with each other nor intersect each other.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein the travel trajectory information includes pre-passage road identification information and post-passage road identification information, each piece of the pre-passage road identification information indicating a road on which each of the vehicles travels before passing through the intersection, and each piece of the post-passage road identification information indicating a road on which each of the vehicles travels after passing through the intersection.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein the travel trajectory information includes pre-passage direction identification information and post-passage direction identification information, each piece of the pre-passage direction identification information indicating a direction in which each of the vehicles travels before passing through the intersection, and each piece of the post-passage direction identification information indicating a direction in which each of the vehicles travels after passing through the intersection.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to select a prior piece of the intersection control information from among the multiple pieces of the intersection control information when there is no vehicle passing through the intersection, the prior piece of the intersection control information including the permitted trajectory information that partially or wholly matches the travel trajectory information indicating a travel trajectory of a prior vehicle, and the prior vehicle the intersection earliest among the vehicles approaching the intersection.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to
when the one or more processors select another piece of the intersection control information different from the selected piece of the intersection control information, send entry prohibition information prohibiting entry to the intersection to the vehicles located near the intersection, and
after elapse of a predetermined time since sending the entry prohibition information to the vehicles, broadcast the other piece of the intersection control information newly selected to the vehicles located near the intersection.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to
predict that a pedestrian is going to cross any one of multiple roads connected to the intersection, and
when the one or more processors predict crossing of the pedestrian, prohibit passage of the vehicle on the road the pedestrian is going to cross such that the vehicle does not obstruct the crossing of the pedestrian.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein, when the one or more processors select another piece of the intersection control information different from the selected piece of the intersection control information in a state where any vehicle is prohibited from passing through the intersection and waiting before the intersection, the one or more processors are configured to select a piece of the intersection control information that allows the vehicle waiting before the intersection to pass through the intersection as the other piece of the intersection control information.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to, when an emergency vehicle is approaching the intersection, select a piece of the intersection control information that does not obstruct passage of the emergency vehicle.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The intersection control system according to claim 1, wherein each piece of the intersection control information is a bit array, the bit array including multiple bits respectively indicating permission or prohibition to follow for all potential trajectories in the intersection.

### Claim 11

An intersection control method comprising:
storing multiple pieces of intersection control information, each piece of the intersection control information including permitted trajectory information, the permitted trajectory information indicating distinct travel trajectories that vehicles are respectively permitted to follow when the vehicles pass through an intersection, and the distinct travel trajectories not interfering with each other; and
in a control of entry of the vehicles into the intersection,
acquiring multiple pieces of travel trajectory information indicating travel trajectories to be followed by the respective vehicles located near the intersection when the vehicles pass through the intersection,
selecting a piece of the intersection control information including the permitted trajectory information that partially or wholly matches the acquired travel trajectory information, from among the multiple pieces of the intersection control information, and
broadcasting the selected piece of the intersection control information to the vehicles located near the intersection.
