The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 04, 2020
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2017
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Yoshito Hirai, Kanagawa, JP;
Tomohiro Yui, Kanagawa, JP;
Hidekuni Yomo, Kanagawa, JP;
Hirohito Mukai, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A road information detector acquires road information by emitting a beam via a variable directivity transmission antenna to a road sign having plural flat portions and includes a transceiver that controls the antenna to scan the beam by switching an emission angle including an azimuth angle relative to the front direction of a vehicle and receives, as reflected wave signals, waves reflected by the flat portions, a distance and reflected wave intensity detector that detects a distance between the vehicle and each of the flat portions and a reflected wave intensity of each of the reflected waves, an emission angle detector that detects the emission angle based on the reflected wave signal, and a road information analyzer that acquires the road information by generating a heat map based on the emission angles, distances, and reflected wave intensities and analyzing the heat map using a threshold value of the wave intensity.