US008650004B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 8,650,004 B2 Carrasco et al. (45) Date of Patent: Feb. 11, 2014 (54) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR (56) References Cited DISPLAYING A REPRESENTATION OF A TRAFFIC INTERSECTION U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 6,760,693 B1* 7/2004 Desai et al. ..................... .. 703/8 (75) Inventors: Milton Santano Elias Carrasco, 6,996,507 B1* 2/2006 Myr ................................ .. 703/2 Richmond (CA); Darren Earl Brown, 7,197,181 B1 3/2007 Coté Burnaby (CA); Guanggui Pei, New (Continued) Westminster (CA); Steven Chi Kit Chan, Richmond (CA); Daniel AkWera FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS Shihundu, Richmond (CA) CA 2271204 A1 6/1998 CA 2588576 A1 5/1999 (73) Assignee: Transoft Solutions, Inc., Richmond, (Continued) British Columbia (CA) OTHER PUBLICATIONS (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this State of Maryland Department of Transportation, Roundabout patent is extended or adjusted under 35 Design Guidleines, Oct. 1999, State of Maryland Department of U.S.C. 154(b) by 596 days. Transportation, pp. 1-70.* (Continued) (21) Appl. N0.: 12/664,049 Primary Examiner * Omar Fernandez Rivas (22) PCT Filed: Nov. 26, 2008 Assistant Examiner * Bernard E Cothran (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm * Knobbe Martens Olson & (86) PCT No.: PCT/CA2008/002098 Bear LLP § 371 (0X1)’ (57) ABSTRACT (2), (4) Date: Dec. 10, 2009 A method and apparatus for displaying a representation of a traf?c roundabout having a central island surrounded by a (87) PCT Pub. No.: WO2010/060180 circulatory lane is disclosed. The method involves receiving PCT Pub. Date: Jun. 3, 2010 an operator selection of a design vehicle that is expected to use the roundabout, and receiving operator input of a design dimension for the roundabout, the design dimension de?ning (65) Prior Publication Data a siZe of one of the central island and an outer perimeter of the US 2011/0071801A1 Mar. 24, 2011 circulatory lane. The method also involves generating a cir culatory path of the design vehicle traveling Within the design dimension along the circulatory lane, and generating vehicle (51) Int. Cl. extent locations associated With passage of the design vehicle G06F 17/50 (2006.01) along the circulatory path. The method also involves using the (52) US. Cl. vehicle extent locations to compute a circulatory lane Width, USPC ............................................................ .. 703/1 and generating display signals for causing the display to (58) Field of Classi?cation Search display an image representing the roundabout. USPC ............................ .. 703/1; 404/1; 472/2, 19, 3 See application ?le for complete search history. 62 Claims, 22 Drawing Sheets CAD System lnlerlace Functions US 8,650,004 B2 Page 2 (56) References Cited Highways. www.Highways -Mag.Co.Ul<. pp. 40-44. Jun. 2009. Traf ?c Calming. Magic Roundabouts. (available at http://c484350.r50. U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS cf2.rackcdn.com/torus-design-magic.pdf). Johns, Chris, Transoft Solutions. “Roundabouts No Longer Have 7,336,851 B1 2/2008 Cote Engineers Spinning Their Wheels. Dynamic software delivers solu 7,447,616 B2 * 11/2008 Wang et al. ..................... .. 703/8 tions for BETA Group” Case Study. Torus Roundabouts. Feb. 13, 2002/0076276 A1 * 6/2002 Troemel et al. ................. .. 404/1 2013. (available at http://c484350.r50.cf2.rackcdn.com/Transofti 2005/0210386 A1 9/2005 Schaffer CaseStudyiBetaiGroupiTORUS.pdf). FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS Ramos et al. “An Improved Roundabout Design Process with Com puter Assisted Analysis” Submission Date: Mar. 26, 2010. pp. 1- 17. CA 2349820 A1 5/2000 Ramos et al. “An Improved Roundabout Design Process with Com CA 2437903 A1 8/2002 puter Assisted Analysis” Accession No. 01338111. Publication date CA 2571975 A1 1/2006 2010. TRID the TRIS and ITRD database. Trid.trb.org/view. CA 2605012 A1 11/2006 aspX?id:1099027. Downloaded Apr. 24, 2013. CN 1958956 A 9/2007 User Testimonials. Torus Roundabouts. www.transoftsolutions.com/ W0 WO 00/28448 A1 5/2000 testimonials#torus. pp. 1-2. Downloaded Apr. 24, 2013. WO 2010/060180 A1 6/2010 W0 WO 2010/060180 A1 6/2010 In a roundabout way. Software review. CAD User. pp. 32 & 34. Nov/Dec. 2008. www.caduser.com/register. OTHER PUBLICATIONS Vestra Civil 3D. Transportation Design Software. AKG Software, Inc. Tarrytown, NY. www.akgsoftware.com as of Feb. 2007. City of Colorado SpringsiTransportation Engineering, Oct. 4, European Search Report for European Application No. 088748975 2005, City of Colorado SpringsiTransportation Engineering, pp. dated Oct. 2,2013. 1-22.* “Road Planning and Design Manual Chapter 14 Roundabouts.” Jan. International Search Report for PCT/CA2011/000753, mailed Sep. 18, 2006, XP055080238, Retrieved from the Internet: URL:http:// 15, 2011, 3 pages. www.tmr.qld. gov.au/’/media/busind/techstdpubs/ Nice, “Bentley Rail Track Update,” Bentley Systems UK, downloaded Road%20planning%20and%20design%20 manual/ from http://www.bentleyuser.se/20 IOiBUSdagar/dOc/Bentleyi Current%20document/RPDMfChapter14.pdf [retrieved on Sep. 20, RailiTrackiUpdate .pdf (2010). 2013]. Rohde, et al., “An interactive physics-based unmanned ground “Roundabouts.” Jun. 1, 2007, XP055080241, Retrieved from the vehicle simulator leveraging open source gaming technology: Internet: URL:http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/roundabouts/documents/ Progress in the development and application of the virtual autono mous navigation environment (VANE) desktop,” Unmanned Systems 740iRoundabouts.pdf [retrieved on Sep. 20, 2013]. Technology XI, 14 pages (2009). Said Easa et al. “Optimizing geometric design of single-lane Wang, et al., “The sweep-envelope differential equation algorithm roundabouts: consistency analysis” Canadian Journal of Civil Engi for general deformed swept volumes,” Computer Aided Geometric neeringiRevue Canadienne Degenie Civil, National Research Design, vol. 17(5), pp. 399-418 (2000). Council of Canada. 31(6):1024-1038 (Jan. 1, 2004). International Search Report and Written Opinion for PCT/CA2012/ 000336, 12 pages, mailed Jul. 17, 2012. * cited by examiner US. Patent Feb. 11,2014 Sheet 1 0f 22 US 8,650,004 B2 1 00 Traffic intersection functions m A 108 v 110 Operator CAD system input 104/ 1_02_ FIG. 1 US. Patent Feb. 11,2014 Sheet 2 0f 22 US 8,650,004 B2 150 \ 180 r—j% 182 184 156 Q / 200 /\ Design Vehicle Media Database Reader Reference line @ 202 m coordinates 210/» R0, v, f, e, D0 A“ Rmim Rn 214 m Ad), AD I 154 N Turning path, UP 216 Vehicle extents _1_5_g _ O/S “164 Design vehicle CAD System $166 218 f» - selection . . . Traffic intersectlon W168 220 I» 81 - 89 functions 222 m D0,,’ Dcb RA interface Functions $170 Pointing Device 190 194 HO E \ 196 > ‘t F‘ \ 198 FIG. 2 US. Patent Feb. 11,2014 Sheet 3 0f 22 US 8,650,004 B2 5 , t‘ ......... _ g _ _ I _ l 278 252 FIG. 3 300 Receive operator input of first and second roadway orientations 302 l Receive operator selection of design vehicle E V Generate turning path of the design vehicle 306 V Generate vehicle extent locations 308 l Generate outer edge of intersection area 310 l Generate display signals 312 FIG. 4 US. Patent Feb. 11, 2014 Sheet 4 0f 22 US 8,650,004 B2 Bus 40 Sta ndard Bus ,,,,,,, WWElSUSerM-T ......................... H 326 me 340‘ Vehicte Name Bus 40 WB~50 P Units Standard Bus Semi-Trailer Pasenger Car 342 Steering lock angle 39.3 17.7 31.6 degrees 344 Length 40 55 19 ft 346 Front overhang 6 3 3 ‘ft 348 Width 8.5 8 7 it 850 Wheelbase 25.85 12.5 (tractor only) 11 it 352 Front axle group track 85 8 (tractor oniy) 6 ft 354 Front axle group wheeis 2 2 (tractor oniy) 2 each 356 Rear axle group track 8.5 8 (tractor oniy) 6 ft 2 axles. 4 wheels 2 axles, 4 wheels on 358 Rear axle group wheels on each each (tractor Univ) 2 each 860 No of parts 1 2 1 each 362 Pivot location NA 3 NA ft 364 T rat' 1 er t en g t h NA 42 __5 NA 1 t 366 Ar t't cu | at' mg ang I e NA 70 NA d egress FIG. 6 US. Patent Feb. 11,2014 Sheet 5 0f 22 US 8,650,004 B2 380 FIG . 7 FIG. 8 US. Patent Feb. 11,2014 Sheet 6 0f 22 US 8,650,004 B2 450 Receive operator input of: Turning radius (R0) l speed (v) Turn front wheel by MD 4 side friction factor (f) g ‘ superelevation (e); clearance offset (DO). Compute Rn V Compute minimum turn radius Rmin v @ Move bicycle model forward about Rn by distance AD £L§§ V Use rear and front wheel locations to compute design vehicle extent locations @ Locate bicycle model on approach path and move to start of turn while generating vheicle extent locations @ V Compute steering increment AG) Q l— FIG. 9A US. Patent Feb. 11, 2014 Sheet 7 0f 22 US 8,650,004 B2 450 Move bicycle model forward about R0 by distance AD 4 m V Use rear and front wheel locations to compute design vehicle extent locations & V Generate shape of second transition portion and locate the shape tangent to the front wheel direction. gag End ofsecond transition portion parallel to exit reference line? 5% Y i Move bicycle model along the departure portion of turning path while generating vehicle extent locations @ i Y 2488 End FIG. 9B US. Patent Feb. 11,2014 Sheet 8 0f 22 US 8,650,004 B2 524 514 ’ '\ . ' '\ — .\ 8 522 505 521 525%? 278 FIG. 10
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