Patent Document ID: 9410804
Application ID: 14112872
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for determining a location of a vehicle, the system comprising: at least one scanning distance sensor installed in the vehicle and configured to measure distance and direction from the vehicle to at least two landmarks of a plurality of landmarks, wherein locations of the plurality of landmarks is known to the system; a processor configured to: store in memory locations of the at least two landmarks; determine a shape of at least one scanned object by measuring a plurality of directions and distances from the vehicle to the at least one scanned object, and accept the scanned object as a landmark if the determined shape corresponds to a stored shape of at least one landmark; determine an initial location and initial heading of the vehicle based on measured distances and directions from the vehicle to the at least two landmarks, and on a recorded movement and change of heading of the vehicle between times the at least two landmarks are observed; and when only one landmark of the at least two landmarks is visible, the processor is configured to: record a change in heading and store heading data of the vehicle; measure distance and direction from the vehicle to the only one landmark; determine an updated location of the vehicle based on at least the location of the only one landmark as well as the distance and direction from the vehicle to the only one landmark, wherein the system is configured to use the updated location for navigating the vehicle.