Lane recognition apparatus

• US 10,000,210 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2016
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Subaru Corp.
• Original Assignee: Subaru Corp.
• Inventors: Watanabe, Akihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Holloway, Jason
• Application Number:
  US15/215,180
• Publication Number:
  US 20170043773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 699 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/12 Lane keeping
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/217 Validation; Performance evaluation; Active pattern learning techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30256 Lane; Road marking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/776 Validation; Performance evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A lane recognition apparatus includes a lane recognizer, a lane evaluator, and a recognition state monitor. The lane recognizer recognizes lane lines of a road on which a vehicle travels. The lane lines include a first lane line and a second lane line. The lane evaluator evaluates, as recognition reliability, reliability of the recognition of the lane lines recognized by the lane recognizer, based on a plurality of characteristic amounts that are obtained from the recognition of the lane lines. The recognition state monitor monitors, upon completion of the recognition of the first lane line following the evaluation on the recognition reliability, a state of the recognition of the second lane line to adjust a timing at which a result of the recognition of the lane lines is provided to a driver.

Claims

1. A lane recognition apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:

one or more of a camera, laser, and radar, configured to obtain road surface information regarding a road on which the vehicle travels;

one or more processors, configured to;

recognize lane lines of the road on which the vehicle travels based on the obtained road surface information, the lane lines including a first lane line and a second lane line;

separately determine whether the recognized first and second lane lines are reliably recognized, based on a plurality of characteristic amounts that are derived from the road surface information and correspond to characteristics of the respective first and second recognized lane lines; and

after one of the first or second lane lines is determined to be reliably recognized, monitor a status of the determination of whether the other of the first and second lane lines is reliably recognized to adjust a timing at which a result of the recognition of both of the first and second lane lines is provided to a driver;

a display, configured to display the recognized first and second lane lines based on the adjusted timing.

2. The lane recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to estimate a recognition completion time of the determination of whether the other of the first and second lane lines is reliably recognized and compare the estimated recognition completion time with a monitoring time to adjust the timing at which the result of the recognition of both of the first and second lane lines is provided to the driver, the recognition completion time being a time required to complete the determination of whether the other of the first and second lane lines is reliably recognized, and the monitoring time being based on an elapsed time from the completion of the determination that the one of the first or second lane lines is reliably recognized.

3. The lane recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display is configured to:

wait to display both of the recognized first and second lane lines until the determination of whether the other of the first and second lane lines is reliably recognized is completed, when the recognition completion time is less than the monitoring time, and

display the one of the first or second lane lines determined to be reliably recognized without waiting for the determination of whether the other of the first and second lane lines is reliably recognized, when the recognition completion time is equal to or greater than the monitoring time.

4. The lane recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recognition completion time is estimated based on a difference between a reliability evaluation counter provided for each of the characteristic amounts and a threshold provided for each of the characteristic amounts.

5. The lane recognition apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the recognition completion time is estimated based on a difference between a reliability evaluation counter provided for each of the characteristic amounts and a threshold provided for each of the characteristic amounts.

6. The lane recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of characteristic amounts for a recognized lane line of the first or second recognized lane lines include a two or more of the following:

a length of a region in the obtained road surface information from a starting point of the recognized lane line to an ending point of the recognized lane line;

an edge intensity of the recognized lane line;

a luminance of the recognized lane line;

a rate of a first group of dots in the obtained road surface information corresponding to the starting point of the recognized lane line;

a rate of a second group of dots in the obtained road surface information corresponding to the ending point of the recognized lane line; and

a height difference of the recognized lane line from the road surface.