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. 17, 2016
Filed:
Aug. 01, 2013
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, JP;
Mitsunori Nakamura, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Satoh, Yokohama, JP;
NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD., Yokohama-Shi, Kanagawa, JP;
Abstract
A radio waves receiving unit receives horizontally polarized waves and vertically polarized waves of radio waves radiated from an object at a radiation angle. An image generation unit generates a horizontally polarized waves image and a vertically polarized waves image based on the horizontally polarized waves and the vertically polarized waves, respectively. A polarization ratio calculation unit calculates, for each radiation angle, a polarization ratio which is a ratio of intensity of the horizontally polarized waves to the vertically polarized waves based on the horizontally polarized waves image and the vertically polarized waves image. A refractive index calculation unit calculates a refractive index of the object based on a change between polarization ratios of two different radiation angles. A road surface condition recognition unit recognizes a condition of a road surface based on the refractive index.