System and method for warning drivers based on road curvature
First Claim
1. A road curvature warning system based on the analysis of multiple multi-scale images for efficiently identifying road curvature while driving at high speed on a highway, said road curvature warning system comprising:
- (a) an RCWS controller subsystem for controlling the cameras and interfacing with the vehicle, said RCWS controller subsystem comprising;
a system configuration element for dynamically managing system configuration related to camera, system thresholds, and standard road dimensions;
a camera controller element for dynamically controlling the cameras;
a vehicle interface element for obtaining vehicle related parameters comprising ground speed and slope; and
a multi-camera element for acquiring multiple multi-scale images; and
(b) an RCWS preprocessor subsystem for preprocessing an image, said RCWS preprocessor subsystem comprising;
an error correction and binarization element for image preprocessing, correcting said image for heading and offset errors, and binarization of said image;
a road parameter computation element for computing the lane width and lane marker width;
a look-ahead distance computation element for determining an appropriate look-ahead distance for configuring the cameras; and
a visibility checking element for determining the road visibility conditions; and
(c) an RCWS processor subsystem for generating curvature related over-speed warnings based on a plurality of multi-scale images, said RCWS processor subsystem comprising;
a lane identification element for identifying left and right road lane markers in said plurality of multi-scale images;
a multi-scale image processing element for analyzing said plurality of multi-scale images to correlate and correct a plurality left and right lane markers across said plurality of multi-scale images;
a mosaic construction element for constructing a road mosaic using said plurality of left and right lane markers;
a road curvature identification element for identifying a road curvature from said road mosaic; and
a warning generation element for generating an appropriate warning to the driver based on said road curvature.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for warning a driver based on the road curvature consisting of multiple integrated cameras to acquire the images of different scales simultaneously, a camera controller to configure the cameras based on the vehicle speed and visibility criteria, a processor to analyze the multi-scale images to construct the mosaic, and warning generation subsystem to warn the driver about the safety speed based on the comparison of the mosaic with the curvature templates.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A road curvature warning system based on the analysis of multiple multi-scale images for efficiently identifying road curvature while driving at high speed on a highway, said road curvature warning system comprising:
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(a) an RCWS controller subsystem for controlling the cameras and interfacing with the vehicle, said RCWS controller subsystem comprising;
a system configuration element for dynamically managing system configuration related to camera, system thresholds, and standard road dimensions;
a camera controller element for dynamically controlling the cameras;
a vehicle interface element for obtaining vehicle related parameters comprising ground speed and slope; and
a multi-camera element for acquiring multiple multi-scale images; and
(b) an RCWS preprocessor subsystem for preprocessing an image, said RCWS preprocessor subsystem comprising;
an error correction and binarization element for image preprocessing, correcting said image for heading and offset errors, and binarization of said image;
a road parameter computation element for computing the lane width and lane marker width;
a look-ahead distance computation element for determining an appropriate look-ahead distance for configuring the cameras; and
a visibility checking element for determining the road visibility conditions; and
(c) an RCWS processor subsystem for generating curvature related over-speed warnings based on a plurality of multi-scale images, said RCWS processor subsystem comprising;
a lane identification element for identifying left and right road lane markers in said plurality of multi-scale images;
a multi-scale image processing element for analyzing said plurality of multi-scale images to correlate and correct a plurality left and right lane markers across said plurality of multi-scale images;
a mosaic construction element for constructing a road mosaic using said plurality of left and right lane markers;
a road curvature identification element for identifying a road curvature from said road mosaic; and
a warning generation element for generating an appropriate warning to the driver based on said road curvature. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An apparatus for analysis of multiple multi-scale images for efficiently identifying road curvature while driving a vehicle at high speed on a highway, said apparatus comprising:
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(a) a hardware and software RCWS controller subsystem for controlling a plurality of cameras and interfacing with said vehicle comprising;
a processor of appropriate capacity;
memory devices of appropriate capacity;
an interface subsystem for interacting with ground speed sensor and slope detector of said vehicle, and a system configuration repository;
software subsystem for configuring and controlling said plurality of cameras, and for acquiring multiple multi-scale images from said plurality of cameras; and
(b) a hardware and software RCWS preprocessor subsystem to preprocessing an image of a road comprising;
a processor of appropriate capacity;
memory devices of appropriate capacity;
a software subsystem for image preprocessing, heading error and offset error correction, and binarization of said image of said road;
a software subsystem for computing a lane width and a lane marker width in said image;
a software subsystem for determining an appropriate look-ahead distance for configuring said plurality of cameras; and
a software subsystem for determining visibility conditions of said road; and
(c) a hardware and software RCWS processor subsystem to analyze a plurality of multi-scale images of a road comprising;
a processor of appropriate capacity;
memory devices of appropriate capacity;
a repository of lane templates;
a software subsystem for identifying a left lane marker and a right lane marker in each of said plurality of multi-scale images;
a software subsystem for analyzing said plurality of multi-scale images to correlate said left lane marker and said right lane marker in each of said plurality of multi-scale images across said plurality of multi-scale images, and to determine a road left lane marker and a road right lane marker;
a software subsystem for constructing a road mosaic using said road left lane marker and said road right lane marker;
a software subsystem for identifying a road curvature from said road mosaic; and
a software subsystem for generating an appropriate warning to the driver of said vehicle based on said road curvature.
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Specification