Driving lane recognizer and driving lane recognizing method

• US 20050256636A1
• Filed: 05/03/2005
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Miyashita, Michihiro, Nishida, Makoto
• Granted Patent: US 7,403,219 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/22 by selection of a specific region containing or referencing a pattern; Locating or processing of specific regions to guide the detection or recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/44 Local feature extraction by analysis of parts of the pattern, e.g. by detecting edges, contours, loops, corners, strokes or intersections; Connectivity analysis, e.g. of connected components
• 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

Abstract

A driving lane recognizer 1 is arranged to detect a white line 30 on a driving road 20 on the basis of an image taken of the driving road 20. The driving lane recognizer 1 sets a near region 41 and a far region 42 adjacent to each other along a vehicle traveling direction in the image, detects a length of white line 30 in each of the near region 41 and the far region 42, and determines a type of white line 30 on the basis of the length of white line 30 in the near region 41 and the length of white line 30 in the far region 42. This permits the recognizer to determine the type of white line 30 on the basis of one image and to determine the type of white line 30 without use of past detection data or the like.

Claims

1. A driving lane recognizer for detecting a lane marker provided on a driving road on the basis of an image taken of the driving road, the driving lane recognizer comprising:

lane marker detector that detects a length of a lane marker in each of a near region and a far region adjacently set along a vehicle traveling direction in the image; and

determining element that determines a type of the lane marker on the basis of the length of the lane marker in the near region and the length of the lane marker in the far region, which are detected by the lane marker detector.

2. The driving lane recognizer according to claim 1, wherein when the lengths of the lane marker detected in both of the near region and the far region are longer than a predetermined value, the determining element determines that the lane marker is a solid line.

3. The driving lane recognizer according to claim 2, wherein when the length of the lane marker detected in one of the near region and the far region is longer than the predetermined value and when the length of the lane marker detected in the other is not more than the predetermined value, the determining element determines that the lane marker is a dashed line.

4. The driving lane recognizer according to claim 1, wherein lengths of the near region and the far region in the vehicle traveling direction are set to be longer than a line-drawn part of a dashed line and shorter than a lineless part of the dashed line.

5. The driving lane recognizer according to claim 1, wherein lengths of the near region and the far region in the vehicle traveling direction are set to be longer than a lineless part of a dashed line and shorter than a sum of a line-drawn part and a lineless part of the dashed line.

6. The driving lane recognizer according to claim 1, which is an apparatus to be mounted on a vehicle, and which comprises image taking means for taking an image of the driving road.

7. The driving lane recognizer according to claim 6, wherein the image taking means is a camera for taking a forward image ahead the vehicle.

8. The driving lane recognizer according to claim 1, wherein the lane marker detector and the determining element are an electronic control unit.

9. A driving lane recognizing method for detecting a lane marker provided on a driving road on the basis of an image taken of the driving road, the driving lane recognizing method comprising:

lane marker detecting step for detecting a length of a lane marker in each of a near region and a far region adjacently set along a vehicle traveling direction in the image; and

determining step for determining a type of the lane marker on the basis of the length of the lane marker in the near region and the length of the lane marker in the far region, which are detected by the lane marker detecting step.

10. The driving lane recognizing method according to claim 9, wherein when the lengths of the lane marker detected in both of the near region and the far region are longer than a predetermined value, the determining step determines that the lane marker is a solid line.

11. The driving lane recognizing method according to claim 10, wherein when the length of the lane marker detected in one of the near region and the far region is longer than the predetermined value and when the length of the lane marker detected in the other is not more than the predetermined value, the determining step determines that the lane marker is a dashed line.

12. The driving lane recognizing method according to claim 9, wherein lengths of the near region and the far region in the vehicle traveling direction are set to be longer than a line-drawn part of a dashed line and shorter than a lineless part of the dashed line.

13. The driving lane recognizing method according to claim 9, wherein lengths of the near region and the far region in the vehicle traveling direction are set to be longer than a lineless part of a dashed line and shorter than a sum of a line-drawn part and a lineless part of the dashed line.