Patent ID: 7570783

Claim:
A method of guiding a vehicle, the method comprising: collecting color image data; defining a series of scan line segments generally perpendicular to a transverse axis of the vehicle or of an imaging system; determining a scan-line-image-parameter level for each of the scan lines, the scan-line-image-parameter level comprising a color-related parameter level; and identifying a preferential heading of the vehicle that is generally aligned with respect to a crop feature, associated with the collected image data, based on the determined scan-line-image-parameter level meeting or exceeding a maximum value or minimum threshold value; estimating, by a data processor, a reliability of the vehicle heading based on compliance with an image parameter level criteria associated with one or more crop rows; determining a first image parameter value associated with a first crop row and a second image parameter value associated with a second crop row; determining a spacing between a first crop row and a second crop row; and determining a maximum image parameter value for the first crop row and the second crop row; and considering vision guidance data reliable for a time period if the first image parameter value does not differ from the second image parameter value by more than a minimum threshold, if the determined spacing between the first crop row and the falls within a defined width range, and if the maximum image parameter value is greater than a certain threshold value.