Patent ID: 8825371
Filing Date: 2014-09-02
Classification: G01C

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for a vehicle comprising: a navigation unit configured to determine a position of the vehicle; a detection unit configured to detect first objects that are external to the vehicle, and to recognize features of the first objects; a filter unit configured to filter a portion of the first objects which include features elevated above a road by a minimum elevation as second objects that are to be identified; a local database configured to store object reference data, the object reference data including feature data and position data identifying positions of expected objects that are expected to be detected; an identification unit configured to identify the expected objects from the second objects based on a determined position of the vehicle by comparing features of the second objects that are recognized by the detection unit to the feature data of the expected objects stored in the local database; and a transceiver configured to communicate with a remote database and access additional object reference data stored by the remote database, the additional object reference data including additional feature data and corresponding position data identifying positions of respective objects, wherein the identification unit determines a third object cannot be identified and the transceiver is configured to communicate with the remote database to access the additional object reference data, and the identification unit is configured to compare features of the third object to the additional feature data to identify the third object, the identification unit is configured to update the object reference data with updated position data in response to the identification unit determining: the navigation unit is further configured to update the position of the vehicle based on position data of identified objects.