Moving body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11313686-B2
Application number	US-201916516975-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 19, 2019
Priority date	Oct 16, 2018
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

A moving body, which a person boards, includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire current position information of the moving body, and a recommended path calculation unit configured to calculate a path that is a recommended path toward a predetermined destination and passes through an interior of at least one building, based on the current position information and the predetermined destination.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A moving body, which a person boards, the moving body comprising:
an acquisition unit configured to acquire current position information of the moving body;
a recommended path calculation unit configured to calculate a path to be followed by the moving body with the person on-board the moving body toward a predetermined destination based on the current position information and the predetermined destination, a portion of the path passing entirely through an interior of at least one building that is not the predetermined destination on the way to the predetermined destination;
an imaging unit configured to generate an image by imaging a road surface that is not the portion of the path that passes entirely through the interior of at least one building;
a sunshine degree distribution calculation unit configured to calculate a sunshine degree distribution of the road surface, based on the image;
a recommended course calculation unit configured to calculate a recommended course in which traveling is recommended within a portion of the path that includes the road surface, based on the sunshine degree distribution; and
a recommended course notification unit configured to give notice of the recommended course,
wherein the moving body is an inverted moving body vehicle.

2. The moving body according to claim 1 , wherein the sunshine degree distribution calculation unit includes:
a road surface area specifying unit configured to specify a road surface area included in the image;
a road surface area division unit configured to divide the road surface area into a plurality of small areas that are smaller than the road surface area; and
a sunshine degree calculation unit configured to calculate a sunshine degree with respect to each of the small areas.

3. The moving body according to claim 2 , wherein the recommended course calculation unit includes:
a candidate course calculation unit configured to calculate at least one candidate course connecting a current point to a destination point included in the image;
a total sunshine degree calculation unit configured to calculate a total sunshine degree that is a total of the sunshine degrees of the small areas through which the candidate course passes, with respect to each of the at least one candidate course; and
a recommended course selection unit configured to select the recommended course from the at least one candidate course, based on the total sunshine degree.

4. A moving body, which a person boards, the moving body comprising:
an imaging device configured to generate an image by imaging a road surface; and
circuitry configured to:
acquire position information of the moving body,
calculate a path to be followed by the moving body with the person on-board the moving body toward a destination of the moving body based on the position information of the moving body and the destination of the moving body, a portion of the path passing entirely through an interior of at least one building that is not the destination of the moving body on the way to the destination of the moving body,
output the path,
calculate a sunshine degree distribution of the road surface that is not the portion of the path that passes entirely through the interior of at least one building, based on the image,
calculate a recommended course in which travelling is recommended within a portion of the path that includes the road surface, based on the sunshine degree distribution, and
output the recommended course,
wherein the moving body is an inverted moving body vehicle.

5. The moving body according to claim 4 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to
specify a road surface area that is included in the image,
divide the road surface area into a plurality of small areas that are smaller than the road surface area, and
calculate a sunshine degree with respect to each of the small areas.

6. The moving body according to claim 5 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to
calculate at least one candidate path connecting a current point to a destination point included in the image,
calculate a total sunshine degree that is a total of the sunshine degrees of the small areas through which the candidate path passes, with respect to each of the at least one candidate path, and
select a recommended path from the at least one candidate path, based on the total sunshine degree.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sugimura Tae
• Karube Hirotaka
• Matsumoto Kazuki
• Mori Makoto
• Kondo Jun

Classifications

• G06V10/765

  using rules for classification or partitioning the feature space · CPC title

• G06V10/462

  Salient features, e.g. scale invariant feature transforms [SIFT] · CPC title

• G06V20/56

  exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle · CPC title

• G01C21/3461 Primary

  Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types or segments such as motorways, toll roads or ferries · CPC title

• G01C21/3407 Primary

  specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title