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:
Dec. 01, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 01, 1997
John M Van Ryzin, Madison, NJ (US);
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Sony Electronics, Inc., Park Ridge, NJ (US);
Abstract
Automobile navigation system utilizes a wide angle CCD camera that is coupled to the vehicle to receive video images of signs being approached by the vehicle. The user (e.g., the driver) of the system supplies via an input keyboard the desired destination of the vehicle and by using, e.g., a digital compass, the current direction of travel of the vehicle is ascertained. Then, by utilizing a computer system having therein a road database and optical character recognition software, the system converts the video images to road data that identifies the current location of the vehicle, and determines from the current location of the vehicle and the desired destination a desired route of travel. Specific audio directions then are supplied to the driver depending on the vehicle's current location and desired route of travel.