1. A lane departure judgment apparatus configured to detect a lane-dividing line based on image information output from an image-capturing device that acquires an image of an area outside a vehicle, and to judge whether or not departure of the vehicle from the lane-dividing line occurs based on a distance between the vehicle and the lane-dividing line, wherein:
when an angle of the vehicle with respect to the lane-dividing line thus detected is constant, the distance between the vehicle and the lane-dividing line to be used to judge whether or not departure of the vehicle occurs is changed according to whether the vehicle is being driven on a road having a lane-dividing width that is greater than a predetermined width or on a road having a lane-dividing width that is smaller than a predetermined width.
2. The lane departure judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
when the angle of the vehicle with respect to the lane-dividing line thus detected is constant and the vehicle departs from the lane-dividing line, time to judge vehicle departure is early when the vehicle is driven on a road having a lane-dividing width that is greater than a predetermined width as compared with a case in which the vehicle is being driven on a road having a lane-dividing width that is smaller than a predetermined width.
3. A lane departure judgment apparatus configured to detect a lane-dividing line based on image information output from an image-capturing device that acquires an image of an area outside a vehicle, and to judge whether or not departure of the vehicle from the lane-dividing line occurs based on a distance between the vehicle and the lane-dividing line, wherein:
when an angle of the vehicle with respect to the lane-dividing line thus detected is constant, the distance between the vehicle and the lane-dividing line to be used to judge whether or not departure of the vehicle occurs is changed according to whether the vehicle is being driven on a road having a radius of curvature that is greater than a predetermined radius of curvature or on a road having a radius of curvature that is smaller than a predetermined radius of curvature.
4. The lane departure judgment apparatus according to claim 3, wherein:
when the angle of the vehicle with respect to the lane-dividing line thus detected is constant and the vehicle departs from the lane-dividing line, time to judge vehicle departure is early when the vehicle is driven on a road having a radius of curvature that is greater than a predetermined radius of curvature as compared with a case in which the vehicle is being driven on a road having a radius of curvature that is smaller than a predetermined radius of curvature.
5. A lane departure judgment apparatus comprising:
a lane-dividing line detection unit that detects a lane-dividing line based on image information output from an image-capturing device that acquires an image of an area outside a vehicle;
a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance between the lane-dividing line and an optical axis of the image-capturing device for each of predetermined periods;
a yaw angle calculation unit that calculates a yaw angle of the vehicle with respect to the lane-dividing line; and
a departure judgment unit that corrects the yaw angle calculated by the yaw angle calculation unit based on a road parameter which represents characteristics of a road on which the vehicle is being driven, and that judges departure of the vehicle from the lane-dividing line based on the corrected yaw angle and the distance between the lane-dividing line and the optical axis calculated by the distance calculation unit.
6. The lane departure judgment apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:
the departure judgment unit corrects the yaw angle based on at least one from among a lane width of the road and a radius of curvature of the road, which are each configured as the road parameter.
7. The lane departure judgment apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:
a fluctuation calculation unit that calculates, in a time-series manner, variance of the distance between the lane-dividing line and the optical axis calculated by the distance calculation unit, wherein:
the departure judgment unit corrects the yaw angle calculated by the yaw angle calculation unit based on the road parameter and the variance calculated by the fluctuation calculation unit, and judges the departure of the vehicle based on the corrected yaw angle and the distance between the lane-dividing line and the optical axis calculated by the distance calculation unit.
8. A lane departure warning apparatus comprising:
a lane departure judgment apparatus according to claim 1; and
a warning output unit that outputs a warning signal which indicates lane departure based on a departure judgment result obtained by the departure judgment apparatus.
9. A vehicle control system comprising:
a lane departure warning apparatus according to claim 8; and
a warning issuing unit that issues a warning based on an output result of a warning signal output from the lane departure warning apparatus.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A method of attenuating swelling or inflammation within the tissue of a patient, the method comprising applying a composition comprising a hydrophilic foam substrate and a polymeric hydrophilic agent to a portion of the surface of the skin of the patient in an amount and at a location sufficient to attenuate swelling or inflammation within the tissue.
2. The method of claim 1, which attenuates neurogenic inflammation with the tissue.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the neurogenic inflammation is a response to a noxious stimulus.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the neurogenic inflammation is a symptom of a disease.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the disease is selected from the group of diseases consisting of acne, morphea, and eczema,
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tissue is traumatized as a result of a surgical procedure.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the tissue is traumatized as a result of an injury.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the tissue is muscle, bone, ligament, or skin.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrophilic foam comprises the in situ reaction product of a isocyanate-capped polyether prepolymer.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the prepolymer is selected from the group consisting of isocyanate-capped polyether polyols having an isocyanate equivalent weight of from about 0.5 meqg to about 3.0 meqg and mixtures thereof.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrophilic agent is capable of absorbing water.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrophilic agent is polymeric.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrophilic agent is selected from the group consisting of starch grafted copolymers of acrylate salts, starch grafted copolymers of acrylamide salts, polyacrylate salts, and mixtures thereof.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrophilic agent comprises an additive selected from the group consisting of methylcellulose, guar gum, pectin, karaya gum, chitosan, agar, acacia powder, carrageenan, gelatin, and mixtures thereof.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrophilic agent is incorporated into the foam substrate.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises an alcohol.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the alcohol is selected from the group consisting of water soluble monols, diols and polyhydric alcohols.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the alcohol is selected from the group consisting of ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, glycerin, 1,2,4-butanetriol, trimethylolpropane, sorbitol, pentaerythritol, and mixtures thereof.
19. The method of claim 16, wherein the alcohol is incorporated into the foam substrate.
20. The method of claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises a therapeutic agent.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the therapeutic agent is selected from the group consisting of soluble collagen, hydrolyzed collagen, collagen amino acids salt free, hydrolyzed animal protein and hyaluronic acid, an ointment including methyl salicylate and menthol and hydrocortisone acetate, polymers with medicinal properties, and trans-retinoic acid.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein the therapeutic agent is incorporated into the foam substrate.
23. The method of claim 1, which further comprises a wetting agent.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein the wetting agent is a non-ionic surfactant selected from the group consisting of block copolymers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, ethoxylated sorbitan fatty acid esters, glycerol esters, polyglycerol esters, silicone fluids and mixtures thereof.
25. The method of claim 23, wherein the wetting agent is imcporporated into the foam substrate.
26. The method of claim 1, wherein the entirety of the portion of skin is unbroken.
27. The method of claim 1, wherein the swelling or inflammation is associated with a tissue other than skin.
28. The method of claim 1, wherein the swelling or inflammation is associated with skin tissue other than said portion.
29. The method of claim 1, wherein the patient is a human.