1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an onboard vehicle control system and method. More specifically, the present invention relates to an on-board vehicle control system and method for determining whether a condition point lies within an area of interest and controlling a host vehicle based on the determination to, for example, suppress extraneous warning information.
2. Background Information
Recently, vehicles are being equipped with a variety of informational systems such as navigation systems, satellite radio systems, two-way satellite services, built-in cell phones, DVD players and the like. Various informational systems have been proposed that use wireless communications between vehicles and between infrastructures, such as roadside units. These wireless communications have a wide range of applications ranging from safety applications to entertainment applications. Also vehicles are sometimes equipped with various types of systems, such as global positioning systems (GPS), which are capable of determining the location of the vehicle and identifying the location of the vehicle on a map for reference by the driver. The type of wireless communications to be used depends on the particular application. Some examples of wireless technologies that are currently available include digital cellular systems, Bluetooth systems, wireless LAN systems and dedicated short range communications (DSRC) systems.
Also, vehicles can be equipped with a collision warning system that identifies the location of the vehicle and the locations of other nearby vehicles to determine whether the vehicle may come into contact with any of the other vehicles. The possibility of contact between vehicles can be particularly high at road intersections in which the travel paths of the vehicle and other nearby vehicles may intersect. If the possibility of contact exists, the system can issue a warning to the driver so that the driver can take the appropriate action.