Lane departure warning device and method

• US 10,249,195 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2016
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HL Mando Corporation (Halla Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mando Corporation
• Inventors: Sim, Sang Kyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Alizada, Omeed
• Application Number:
  US15/349,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20170148327A1
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

The present invention relates to a lane departure warning device or the like that limits a lane departure warning in a special road environment, in a case where it is confirmed that a driver has a lane departure intention, and so on. It is possible to secure the reliability of a lane departure warning system and to provide a driver'"'"'s convenience by limiting the lane departure warning in the case where the vehicle enters into a special road region, such as a road junction/branch region by comprehensively considering information captured by a camera of the vehicle, navigation map information, and so on while using a general lane departure warning, and also limiting the lane departure warning even in the case where the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention is confirmed.

Claims

1. A lane departure warning device comprising:

a lane recognizing unit configured to recognize a lane line of a lane on which a vehicle is traveling by using image information captured by a camera;

a lane departure warning unit configured to determine whether the vehicle departs from the lane line according to a relative position between the vehicle and the recognized lane line;

a first warning limit unit configured to confirm at least one of a road junction region and a road branch region in front of the vehicle by using at least one of the image information captured by the camera and navigation map information, and to limit the lane departure warning when the vehicle enters into the road junction region or the road branch region;

a second warning limit unit configured to confirm a driver'"'"'s lane departure intention by using information including at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s transverse velocity, transverse acceleration, longitudinal acceleration, heading angle, steering angle, steering angle speed, and a hazard signal, and to limit the lane departure warning when the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention is confirmed,

wherein, when one of recognized lane lines of both sides of a traveling road vanishes, the first warning limit unit recognizes a vanishing side distant lane line, calculates a vehicle approach rate of the vanishing side distant lane line, and determines that the vehicle enters into the road junction region when the vehicle approach rate of the vanishing side distant lane line is equal to or larger than an approach threshold value for a first determination distance; and

wherein the vehicle approach rate of the vanishing side distant lane line is determined as a change rate of a vertical distance between the vanishing side distant lane line and the vehicle or a first angle between the vehicle'"'"'s traveling direction and an extension direction of the vanishing side distant lane line.

2. The lane departure warning device of claim 1, wherein the first warning limit unit is configured to confirm one or more warning limit conditions among the vehicle'"'"'s entry into a crossroad section, entry into a tollgate or an electronic toll collection section, and entry into a crosswalk region by using at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s front camera and the navigation map information, and then limiting the lane departure warning when the vehicle enters into any of the warning limit conditions.

3. The lane departure warning device of claim 2, wherein, when one of recognized lane lines of both sides of a traveling road vanishes, the first warning limit unit recognizes a vanishing side distant lane line or a non-vanishing side distant lane line, calculates a vehicle departure rate of one of the vanishing side distant lane line and the non-vanishing side distant lane line, and then determines that the vehicle enters into the road branch region when the vehicle departure rate of one of the vanishing side distant lane line and the non-vanishing side distant lane line is equal to or larger than a departure threshold value for a second determination distance.

4. The lane departure warning device of claim 3, wherein, when the vehicle departure rate of the vanishing side distant lane line is equal to or larger than the departure threshold value, the first warning limit unit determines that the vehicle travels an original traveling road in the road branch region, and when the vehicle departure rate of the non-vanishing side distant lane line is equal to or larger than the departure threshold value, the first warning limit unit determines that the vehicle enters into a road branching in the road branch region.

5. The lane departure warning device of claim 1, wherein the second warning limit unit is configured to confirm the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention by using operation/non-operation of a turn signal.

6. The lane departure warning device of claim 1, wherein the second warning limit unit determines that there is a driver'"'"'s lane departure intention when one or more conditions are satisfied among:

a first condition in which at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s transverse velocity, transverse acceleration, longitudinal velocity, steering angle, and steering angle speed exceeds a corresponding threshold value; and

a second condition in which the hazard signal is not turned ON.

7. The lane departure warning device of claim 2, wherein, when three or more similar patterns, each of which has a width of 30 cm or more and a length of 1 m or more are detected in lane information recognized from the image captured by the camera within 5 m of a traveling road, the first warning limit unit determines that the vehicle enters into a crosswalk region.

14. The lane departure warning device of claim 1, further comprising a fail-safe unit configured to determine whether the camera has a functional failure, and to deactivate a lane departure warning function when it is determined that the camera has the functional failure.

15. The lane departure warning device of claim 5, wherein the second warning limit unit determines that there is the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention when a time period in which the turn signal has been turned ON or a time in which the turn signal has been turned OFF after turned ON does not elapse a threshold time.

8. A lane departure warning method comprising:

recognizing a lane line around a lane on which a vehicle is traveling by using image information captured by a camera;

determining whether the vehicle departs from the lane line according to a relative position between the vehicle and the recognized lane line;

confirming at least one of a road junction region and a road branch region in front of the vehicle by using at least one of the image information captured by the camera and navigation map information, and limiting the lane departure warning when the vehicle enters into the road junction region or the road branch region;

confirming a driver'"'"'s lane departure intention by using information including at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s transverse velocity, transverse acceleration, longitudinal acceleration, heading angle, steering angle, steering angle speed, and a hazard signal, and limiting the lane departure warning when the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention is confirmed,

wherein, in the confirming at least one of the road junction region and the road branch region, when one of recognized lane lines of both sides of a traveling road vanishes, a vanishing side distant lane line is recognized, a vehicle approach rate of the vanishing side distant lane line is calculated, and it is determined that the vehicle enters into the road junction region when the vehicle approach rate of the vanishing side distant lane line is equal to or larger than an approach threshold value for a first determination distance; and

wherein the vehicle approach rate of the vanishing side distant lane line is determined as a change rate of a vertical distance between the vanishing side distant lane line and the vehicle or a first angle between the vehicle'"'"'s traveling direction and an extension direction of the vanishing side distant lane line.

9. The lane departure warning method of claim 8, wherein the confirming the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention comprises confirming the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention by using operation/non-operation of a turn signal.

10. The lane departure warning method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining whether a camera has a functional failure, and deactivating a lane departure warning function when it is determined that the camera has a functional failure.

11. The lane departure warning method of claim 10, wherein, in the confirming at least one of the road junction region and the road branch region, when one of recognized lane lines of both sides of a traveling road vanishes, one of a vanishing side distant lane line and a non-vanishing side distant lane line is recognized, a vehicle departure rate of one of the vanishing side distant lane line and the non-vanishing side distant lane line is calculated, and it is determined that the vehicle enters into the road branch region when the vehicle departure rate of one of the vanishing side distant lane line and the non-vanishing side distant lane line is equal to or larger than a departure threshold value for a second determination distance.

12. The lane departure warning method of claim 11, wherein, when the vehicle departure rate of the vanishing side distant lane line is equal to or larger than the departure threshold value, it is determined that the vehicle travels an original traveling road in the road branch region, and when the vehicle departure rate of the non-vanishing side distant lane line is equal to or larger than the departure threshold value, the first warning limit unit determines that the vehicle enters into a road branching in the road branch region.

13. The lane departure warning method of claim 8, wherein, in the confirming the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention, it is determined that there is the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention when one or more conditions are satisfied among:

a first condition in which at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s transverse velocity, transverse acceleration, longitudinal velocity, the vehicle'"'"'s heading angle, steering angle, and steering angle speed exceeds a corresponding threshold value; and

a second condition in which the hazard signal is not turned ON.

16. The lane departure warning method of claim 9, wherein the confirming the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention comprises confirming that there is the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention when a time period in which the turn signal has been turned ON or a time in which the turn signal has been turned OFF after turned ON does not elapse a threshold time.

17. A lane departure warning device comprising:

a lane recognizing unit configured to recognize a lane line of a lane on which a vehicle is traveling by using image information captured by a camera;

a fail-safe unit configured to determine whether a camera has a functional failure, and to deactivate a lane departure warning function when it is determined that the camera has a functional failure;

a lane departure warning unit configured to determine whether the vehicle departs from the lane line according to a relative position between the vehicle and the recognized lane line;

a first warning limit unit configured to confirm at least one of a road junction region and a road branch region in front of the vehicle by using at least one of the image information captured by the camera and navigation map information, and to limit the lane departure warning when the vehicle enters into the road junction region or the road branch region; and

a second warning limit unit configured to confirm a driver'"'"'s lane departure intention by using information including at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s transverse velocity, transverse acceleration, longitudinal acceleration, heading angle, steering angle, steering angle speed, and a hazard signal, and to limit the lane departure warning when the driver'"'"'s lane departure intention is confirmed,

wherein when three or more similar patterns, each of which has a width of 30 cm or more and a length of 1 m or more are detected in lane information recognized from the image captured by the camera within 5 m of a traveling road, the first warning limit unit determines that the vehicle enters into a crosswalk region.