Method and system for guiding a vehicle with vision-based adjustment

• US 20060147089A1
• Filed: 04/15/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Reid, John Franklin, Han, Shufeng
• Granted Patent: US 7,233,683 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/104
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/485 whereby the further system is an optical system or imaging system
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 using a video camera in combination with image processing means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS

Abstract

A method and system for guiding a vehicle comprises a location module (e.g., location-determining receiver) for collecting preliminary location data for the vehicle. A vision module collects vision-derived location data for the vehicle during an evaluation time window. A location quality estimator estimates location quality data for the corresponding collected preliminary location data during an evaluation time window. A vision module estimates vision quality data for the corresponding collected vision-derived location data during the evaluation time window. A adjuster adjusts the preliminary location data to a revised location data based on the vision-derived location data such that the revised location data is registered with or generally coextensive with the vision-derived location data, if the vision quality data exceeds the minimum threshold level.

Claims

1. A method for guiding a vehicle, the method comprising:

collecting preliminary location data for the vehicle based on a location-determining receiver associated with the vehicle during an evaluation time window;

collecting vision-derived location data for the vehicle based on a vision module associated with the vehicle during the evaluation time window;

estimating vision quality data for the vision-derived location data during the evaluation time window; and

adjusting the preliminary location data to a revised location data based on the vision-derived location data such that the revised location data is registered with or generally coextensive with the vision-derived location data, if the vision quality data exceeds the minimum threshold level.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting the preliminary location data if the vision quality data exceeds the minimum threshold level and if the vision-derived location data is substantially the same as the preliminary location data within a defined tolerance.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising designating the vision-derived location data as in a good state if the vision quality data corresponding to the vision-derived location data meets or exceeds the minimum threshold level.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising determining if the preliminary location data is consistent with a vision-derived location data for the evaluation time window if vision quality data exceeds a minimum threshold level.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising repeating the above process for a next evaluation time window of less than or equal to approximately 0.2 seconds.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the adjusting is accomplished by providing a revised location data at a frequency of 5 Hertz.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the collected vision-derived location data estimates a vehicle location with respect one or more a visual reference landmarks in a field of view, where each visual reference landmark has a known geographic coordinates.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the visual reference marker comprises a row of plants.

9. A system for guiding a vehicle, the system comprising:

a location module for collecting preliminary location data for the vehicle based on a location-determining receiver associated with the vehicle during an evaluation time window;

a vision module for collecting vision-derived location data for the vehicle based on a vision module associated with the vehicle during the evaluation time window;

a vision quality estimator for estimating vision quality data for the vision-derived location data during the evaluation time window; and

an adjuster for adjusting the preliminary location data to a revised location data based on the vision-derived location data such that the revised location data is registered with or generally coextensive with the vision-derived location data, if the vision quality data exceeds the minimum threshold level.

10. The system according to claim 9 wherein the adjuster adjusting the preliminary location data if the vision quality data exceeds the minimum threshold level and if the vision-derived location data is substantially the same as the preliminary location data within a defined tolerance.

11. The system according to claim 9 further wherein the vision quality estimator designates the vision-derived location data as in a good state if the vision quality data corresponding to the vision-derived location data meets or exceeds the minimum threshold level.

12. The system according to claim 9 wherein an evaluator determines if the preliminary location data is consistent with a vision-derived location data for the evaluation time window if vision quality data exceeds a minimum threshold level.

13. The system according to claim 9 further comprising repeating the above process for a next evaluation time window of less than or equal to approximately 0.2 seconds.

14. The system according to claim 9 wherein the adjuster adjusts the revised location data at a frequency of 5 Hertz.

15. The system according to claim 9 wherein a vision-derived location data processing module estimates a vehicle location with respect one or more a visual reference landmarks in a field of view, where each visual reference landmark has a known geographic coordinates.

16. The system according to claim 15 wherein the visual reference marker comprises a row of plants.