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. 04, 2004
Filed:
May. 07, 2001
Andrew Karl Wilhelm Rekow, Waterloo, IA (US);
David Mark Bevly, Robstown, TX (US);
Bradford W. Parkinson, Los Altos, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides for a method and apparatus for providing navigation and positioning for at least one or more slave vehicles, wherein the slave vehicles provide their own navigation based on a location of a master vehicle. The method and apparatus allow a slave vehicle to receive a location of a master vehicle and a location of the slave vehicle. Once the location of the vehicles are known, the slave vehicle determines a desired position based on the master vehicle location, determines if adjustments are needed to position the first slave vehicle at the desired position and implements the adjustments if adjustments are needed. The slave vehicle is capable of operating in one of a plurality of modes and further is capable of transitioning from a first mode of operation to a second mode of operation in optimizing navigation and control.