Granted Patent B2

US 12,592,152 · App. 18/523,919 · Granted Mar 31, 2026

Inventor: Seiichi Uoshita (Nishinomiya, JP)

Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC CO., LTD.

G08G3/02B63B79/40G05D1/0206

Abstract

Claims (56)

1 . A navigation planning system, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

acquire planned route information indicating a movable body on the water;

acquire movable body information including a position, a moving direction, and a speed of the movable body;

acquire obstacle information including each of a position, a moving direction, and a speed of a plurality of obstacles located in a surrounding area of the movable body;

calculate a collision risk indicating a risk level of collision between the movable body and an obstacle of the plurality of obstacles based on the movable body information and the obstacle information;

calculate congestion risk indicating a degree of approaching the plurality of obstacles simultaneously based on the collision risk between the movable body and each of the plurality of obstacles;

select a maximum collision risk obstacle corresponding to a maximum collision risk among the plurality of obstacles;

compare the maximum collision risk with a maximum collision risk threshold;

determine necessity of evasion by comparing the congestion risk with the maximum collision risk threshold; and

set and implement an evasion route different from the navigation planning route for a part of or entire unnavigated route of the navigation planning route when the processing circuitry determines the necessity of the evasion route.

2 . The navigation planning system of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

generate one or a plurality of potential evasion routes different from the planned route between an evasion starting point and a return point on the unnavigated route; and

select the evasion route from the plurality of potential evasion routes based on the maximum collision risk and the congestion risk.

3 . The navigation planning system of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the congestion risk of the planned route based on a logical sum of the plurality of collision risks.

4 . The navigation planning system of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the congestion risk based on the collision risks including the maximum collision risk from the plurality of collision risks.

5 . The navigation planning system of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the congestion risk based on the plurality of collision risks excluding the maximum collision risk and including a second largest collision risk among the plurality of collision risks.

6 . The navigation planning system of claim 5 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the congestion risk for each of the potential evasion routes based on the plurality of collision risks.

7 . The navigation planning system of claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the maximum collision risk for each of the one or more potential evasion routes; and

calculate the congestion risk for each of the one or more potential evasion routes.

8 . The navigation planning system of claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the maximum collision risk for each of the potential evasion routes when the movable body navigates the potential evasion route;

select the evasion route for which the maximum collision risk is equal to or less than the threshold; and

determine to allow to switch the planned route to the evasion route when the maximum collision risk corresponding to the selected evasion route is less than the maximum collision risk for the planned route.

9 . The navigation planning system of claim 8 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the congestion risk of the evasion route when the movable body navigates the selected evasion route, and

determine to allow to switch the planned route to the evasion route when the congestion risk corresponding to the selected evasion route is less than the congestion risk for the planned route.

10 . The navigation planning system of claim 9 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

select the evasion route in which the distance traveled by the movable body is minimized among the plurality of potential evasion routes in which the maximum collision risk and the congestion risk value are both equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

11 . The navigation planning system of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

when the processing circuitry determines the necessity of the evasion route, generate one or a plurality of potential evasion routes different from the planned route between an evasion starting point and a return point on the unnavigated route;

select the evasion route from the plurality of potential evasion routes based on the maximum collision risk and the congestion risk; and

set the evasion route different from the navigation planning route for a part of or entire unnavigated route of the navigation planning route.

12 . The navigation planning system of claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the congestion risk of the planned route based on a logical sum of the plurality of collision risks.

13 . A navigation route planning method, comprising:

acquiring planned route information indicating a movable body on the water;

acquiring movable body information including a position, a moving direction, and a speed of the movable body;

acquiring obstacle information including each of a position, a moving direction, and a speed of a plurality of obstacles located in the surrounding area of the movable body;

calculating a collision risk indicating a risk level of collision between the movable body and an obstacle of the plurality of obstacles based on the movable body information and the obstacle information;

calculating congestion risk indicating a degree of approaching the plurality of obstacles simultaneously based on the collision risk between the movable body and each of the plurality of obstacles;

selecting a maximum collision risk obstacle corresponding to a maximum collision risk among the plurality of obstacles;

comparing the maximum collision risk with a maximum collision risk threshold;

determining necessity of evasion by comparing the congestion risk with the maximum collision risk threshold; and

setting and implementing an evasion route different from the navigation planning route for a part of or entire unnavigated route of the navigation planning route when the processing circuitry determines the necessity of the evasion route.

14 . The navigation route planning method of claim 13 , further comprising:

generating one or a plurality of potential evasion routes different from the planned route between an evasion starting point and a return point on the unnavigated route;

calculating the maximum collision risk for each of the one or more potential evasion routes and the congestion risk for each of the one or more potential evasion routes; and

determining the evasion route based on the calculated maximum collision risk and the congestion risk.

15 . The navigation route planning method of claim 14 , further comprising:

selecting the evasion route in which the distance traveled by the movable body is minimized among the plurality of potential evasion routes in which the maximum collision risk and the congestion risk value are both equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (14)