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:
May. 18, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 25, 1996
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka-fu, JP;
Abstract
A local positioning device detects a local position of an automobile advancing along a lane formed on a road in a direction. A digital image data indicative of an advancing direction view observed from the automobile in the advancing direction is applied to the local position device. An edge extractor, a threshold generator, and a contour extractor are operable for extracting a contour data indicative of the lane from the image signal. A coordinate convertor converts the contour data into a plane view data indicating the dimensions of extracted contours correctly. A matching operator matches a line or an arc with each of extracted contour. A lane mark contour extractor selectively extracts a pair of extracted contours corresponding to the lane on which the automobile is located.