US 5,963,148 A · Road situation perceiving system

Abstract

An image of a road area ahead of a vehicle is formed based on road data read from a navigation system, or based on an image shot by a camera means such as a video camera. A temperature profile ahead of the vehicle detected by a temperature detecting means such as an infrared camera is superposed on the image of the road area. As a result, if a low-temperature zone is detected on the road area, it is determined that there is snow or ice existing on the road area, or if a high-temperature zone is detected, it is determined that there is a person or animal existing on the road area, thereby informing a driver by an alarm means or a display means to avoid such an obstruction or hazard. Thus, it is possible to perceive snow, ice, a person and an animal existing on a road ahead of the vehicle without relying on a driver's visual judgment, and to give an alarm so that the driver may timely take an appropriate countermeasure to avoid the obstruction or hazardous situation.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A road situation perceiving system, comprising:

a map information outputting means for outputting map information as an aggregate of a plurality of coordinate points constituting a map;
a subject-vehicle position detecting means for detecting the position of a subject vehicle on the map;
a road shape detecting means for detecting a shape of a road ahead of the position of the subject vehicle based on the map information;
an image forming means for forming an image of a road area ahead of the vehicle based on the detected road shape;
a temperature profile detecting means for detecting a temperature profile ahead of the vehicle;
a superposing means for superposing said temperature profile on said image of the road area;
an abnormal-temperature zone judging means for judging whether there is an abnormal-temperature zone in said road area;
an alarm means for providing an alarm to a driver of the subject vehicle;
and
a control means for operating said alarm means when it is determined that there is the abnormal-temperature zone.

7 more elements

A road situation perceiving system, comprising:

road image determining means for determining an image of a road area ahead of a subject vehicle;
temperature profile detecting means for detecting a temperature profile of temperatures throughout a space ahead of the subject vehicle;
abnormal-temperature zone judging means for judging abnormal-temperature zones on and above a surface of the road area ahead of the subject vehicle based on outputs from said road image determining means and said temperature profile detecting means;
and
alarm means for providing an alarm to a driver of the vehicle when it is judged that there is an abnormal-temperature zone in the road area ahead of the subject vehicle;
said abnormal-temperature zone judging means judging whether there is an abnormal-temperature zone by comparing the output from the road image determining means to the output of said temperature profile detecting means;
and
said abnormal-temperature zone judging means compares said outputs of said road image determining means and said temperature profile detecting means by superposing one of said outputs over the other.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Road situation perceiving system

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Road situation perceiving system

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Abstract

Claims18