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:
Sep. 05, 2000
Filed:
May. 14, 1998
Masashi Sato, Wako, JP;
Eishi Jitsukata, Wako, JP;
Sachio Kobayashi, Wako, JP;
Kazuya Tamura, Wako, JP;
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A road system for an automatically traveling vehicle is provided, wherein the merging or diverging of the automatically traveling vehicle at a connection point of a road can be smoothly performed. An indicating means comprising a bar code is provided on each of a main lane and a branch lane at a location short of a merging point of a road by a predetermined distance (e.g., 500 m). Information relating to the distance from one vehicle to the merging point and information relating to the shape of the merging point are provided by viewing the indicating means with a CCD camera. The indicating means can be provided at a location short of a diverging point of the road, at the merging point of the road or at the diverging point of the road. The type of the indicating means is not limited to the bar code, and the indicating means may be a signpost, a line, magnetic nails or the like.