Route guidance at intersections

• US 10,295,357 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2014
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Strassenburg-Kleciak, Marek
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti, Hussein
• Assistant Examiner(s): Castro, Paul A
• Application Number:
  US14/196,838
• Publication Number:
  US 20140249748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,904 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3626 Details of the output of route guidance instructions traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance

Abstract

Various embodiments relate to techniques of providing route guidance along a planned route leading through at least one intersection. Predetermined attributes for a respective transition through the at least one intersection are retrieved from a database, the attributes specifying at least a curved path modelling a geometrical form of the transition. The curved path is displayed in a map view for route guidance along a planned route.

Claims

1. A method of providing route guidance along a planned route by means of a navigation system, the method comprising:

upon determining that the planned route along a plurality of road segments of a road network graph comprises at least two adjacent intersections, retrieving from a database predetermined attributes for a transition between an incoming road segment of the plurality of road segments and leading towards a first one of the at least two adjacent intersections and an outgoing road segment of the plurality of road segments and leading away from a last one of the at least two adjacent intersections, wherein;

the predetermined attributes specify at least a curved path modelling a geometrical form of the transition,

the curved path is defined from the incoming road segment leading toward the first one of the at least two adjacent intersections and the outgoing road segment leading away from the last one of the at least two adjacent intersections,

the curved path is defined with respect to a first point on the incoming road segment, a second point on the outgoing road segment, and at least one further point in-between the incoming road segment and the outgoing road segment,

the respective points are at given geolocations and have associated tangents to the curved path thereby defining a curvature of the curved path, and

the curved path is distinct from the plurality of road segments and at least partially deviates from the plurality of road segments; and

controlling a display to display the curved path in a map view for route guidance along the planned route.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the predetermined attributes for the transition further specify intersection features of the at least two adjacent intersections with respect to at least one point at a given geolocation along the curved path, the intersection features being selected from the group comprising:

stop line;

traffic lights;

pedestrian crossing;

bicycle crossing;

turning restrictions;

driving lane markings; and

driving lanes with usage restriction; and

wherein the method further comprises controlling the display to display a graphical representation of the intersection features in the map view for route guidance along the planned route.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the curved path models the geometrical form of the transition taking into account a given one of a plurality of driving lanes of the at least two adjacent intersections.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein controlling the display includes continuously highlighting the given one of the plurality of driving lanes along the curved path throughout the at least two adjacent intersections between the incoming and outgoing road segments.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two adjacent intersections form an assembly of intersections where a choice of a given driving lane at the first one of the at least two adjacent intersections determines an exit point from the assembly of intersections.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing route finding to obtain the planned route, the route finding considering weights for at least one of road segments and nodes of a road network graph; and

for the at least one of road segments and nodes which correspond to the at least two adjacent intersections, determining the weights depending on the predetermined attributes of the transition.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a current position of a vehicle for which the route guidance is executed,

wherein said displaying is selectively executed if the retrieved current position is within a predefined distance to said at least one intersection.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a graphical representation of the current position is displayed in the map view.

9. The method of claim 7,

wherein the predetermined attributes for the transition further specify intersection features of the at least two adjacent intersections with respect to at least one point at a given geolocation along the curved path, the intersection features being selected from the group comprising:

stop line;

traffic lights;

pedestrian crossing;

bicycle crossing;

turning restrictions;

driving lane markings; and

driving lanes with usage restriction; and

further comprising selectively issuing a warning to a driver of the vehicle, if the current position approaches the at least one point.

10. The method of claim 1,

wherein the predetermined attributes of the transition are associated with entries of the database which are selected from the group comprising:

a given one of the at least two adjacent intersections;

the incoming road segment; and

the outgoing road segment.

11. A navigation system for providing route guidance along a planned route, the navigation system comprising:

a database configured for storing map data comprising road segments of a road network graph and further configured for storing predetermined attributes for transitions of intersections of the road segments;

at least one processor which is configured for, upon determining that the planned route along a plurality of road segments of the road network graph comprises at least two adjacent intersections, retrieving from the database predetermined attributes for a transition between an incoming road segment of the plurality of road segments and leading toward a first one of the at least two adjacent intersections and an outgoing road segment of the plurality of road segments and leading away from a last one of the at least two adjacent intersections, wherein;

the predetermined attributes specify at least a curved path modelling a geometrical form of the transition, the curved path is defined from the incoming road segment leading toward the first one of the at least two adjacent intersections and the outgoing road segment leading away from the last one of the at least two adjacent intersections, the curved path is defined with respect to a first point on the incoming road segment, a second point on the outgoing road segment, and at least one further point in-between the incoming road segment and the outgoing road segment,

the respective points are at given geolocations and have associated tangents to the curved path thereby defining a curvature of the curved path,

and the curved path is distinct from the plurality of road segments and at least partially deviates from the plurality of road segments; and

a display configured for selectively displaying the curved path in a map view for route guidance along the planned route.

12. A navigation system for providing route guidance along a planned route, the navigation system comprising:

a database configured to store map data comprising road segments of a road network and further configured to store predetermined attributes for transitions of intersections of the road segments;

at least one processor configured to retrieve from the database predetermined attributes for a transition of at least two adjacent intersections along the planned route that includes a plurality of road segments of the road network graph, wherein;

the predetermined attributes comprise at least one attribute for a transition between an incoming road segment of the plurality of road segments and leading toward a first one of the at least two adjacent intersections and an outgoing road segment of the plurality of road segments and leading away from a last one of the at least two adjacent intersections,

the predetermined attributes specify at least a curved path modelling a geometrical form of the transition,

the curved path is defined from the incoming road segment leading toward the first one of the at least two adjacent intersections and the outgoing road segment leading away from the last one of the at least two adjacent intersections,

the curved path is defined by a first point on the incoming road segment, a second point on the outgoing road segment, and a third point arranged between the incoming road segment and the outgoing road segment,

the respective points are at given geolocations and have associated tangents to the curved path thereby defining a curvature of the curved path, and

the curved path is distinct from the plurality of road segments and at least partially deviates from the plurality of road segments; and

a display configured to display the curved path for route guidance.

13. The navigation system of claim 12, wherein the predetermined attributes for the transition further specify at least one feature of the at least two adjacent intersections, wherein the at least one feature comprises at least one of:

a stop line;

a traffic light;

a pedestrian crossing;

a bicycle crossing;

a turning restriction;

a driving lane marking; and

a driving lane with a usage restriction; and

wherein the display is further configured to display a graphical representation of the at least one feature of the at least two adjacent intersections.

14. The navigation system of claim 12, wherein the curved path models the geometrical form of the transition taking into account a given one of a plurality of driving lanes of the at least two adjacent intersections.

15. The navigation system of claim 12, further comprising a positioning unit configured to determine a current position;

and

wherein the display is configured to display the current position.