Methods and apparatus for stationary object detection

A system for providing stationary-object evaluations for use by warning logic comprising:

• a locating system to provide location data of a mobile machine or vehicle;
• at least one sensor capable of sensing at least one stationary object in the vicinity of the mobile machine or vehicle and providing data related to at least position information of said at least one stationary object relative to said at least one sensor;
• at least one preexisting reference database having previously recorded data relating to at least one normally present stationary object therein, comprising at least location information relating to the at least one normally present stationary object;
• and
• at least one processor which receives said data from said sensor, said processor configured to evaluate the degree to which a sensed object is or is not a normally-present object based on a comparison to the previously recorded data or data derived from previously recorded data from the at least one reference database, and provides the results of said comparison to warning logic in a system of the mobile machine or vehicle to facilitate determining if a detected stationary object is in or near the projected path of the mobile machine or vehicle.

A system for a mobile machine or vehicle comprising:

• a locating system to provide location data relating to the mobile machine or vehicle,
• at least one sensor capable of sensing at least one stationary object and providing data related to the at least one stationary object;
• at least one preexisting reference database having previously recorded data relating to at least predefined objects which are in or near the projected path of the mobile machine or vehicle, wherein the predefined objects generate a nuisance alert from warning logic associated with a system of the mobile machine or vehicle when no danger of collision exists,
• at least one processor which receives the data from the at least one sensor, and evaluates the data against the preexisting reference database to selectively suppress nuisance alerts generated by the predefined objects.