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:
Nov. 26, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 18, 1997
Nobuhiro Kambe, Tokyo, JP;
Akihiro Abe, Yokohama, JP;
Takanori Shimada, Funabashi, JP;
Go Nakano, Tokyo, JP;
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A vector block information indicating a plurality of line segment rows is read out from a block map. Each line segment row divides an area of a block from an area of a road in an image drawing region. Each point at which one end of a line segment row contacts with a boundary line of the image drawing region is set as a boundary point. In this case, a road crossing the boundary line of the image drawing region is indicated by a pair of line segment rows having a pair of boundary points close to each other. To determine an area of the road, the pair of boundary points are connected with each other through a connecting line segment. Therefore, a road area in the image drawing region can be automatically extracted from the block map. In addition, an end area of the road placed at the boundary line of the image drawing region is reshaped to have two right-angle corners at the end area of the road, a length of a road area at the boundary line of the image drawing region is shortened, an area of a narrow road is deleted from the road area, an area of a narrow road is widened, or a plurality of blocks placed in an administrative district is unified by deleting areas of a plurality of roads dividing the blocks.