Patent ID: 8145390

Claim:
A method for a vehicle navigation system comprising the steps of: providing a vehicle having a plurality of modes of operation with an associated implement; providing a vehicle navigation system having a vehicle position receiver; providing a swath path generation apparatus (SGA) having a processing capability and an SGA memory device, the SGA being communicatively coupled to the navigation system; providing an operator input device; communicating a set of predetermined parameters to the SGA; providing a calculated swath path adjacent to and generally parallel to a baseline swath path; monitoring an actual swath path of the vehicle; comparing the actual swath path of the vehicle to the calculated swath path; calculating, by an iterative process, a corrected swath path to maintain the vehicle's operation along the calculated swath path, the corrected swath path based on the set of predetermined parameters stored in the SGA memory device, the vehicle's actual swath path and the calculated swath path; providing a display unit configured to display information from the corrected swath path, the information being configured to indicate direction and distance of correction required for the vehicle to travel from the actual swath path to the calculated swath path if either a chase or pull mode of operation is selected; and wherein the method is configured for at least chase and pull modes of operation.