LANE MARKER RECOGNITION APPARATUS AND LANE MARKER RECOGNITION METHOD USED BY SAID APPARATUS

• US 20100189306A1
• Filed: 01/20/2010
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Tamaoki, Tomoyasu, KAGEYAMA, Shioya
• Granted Patent: US 8,098,895 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/104
• 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 lane marker recognition apparatus which recognizes a lane marker based on a captured image of a road surface in the direction in which a vehicle is traveling, includes recognizing means for recognizing at least one left lane marker and at least one right lane marker captured in the image, and generating lane marker information indicative of the recognized lane markers; calculating means for calculating, based on the lane marker information, at least one type of control value for each potential running lane demarcated; first selecting means for selecting a control value of one of the running lanes that is to be indicated as information; generating means for generating information indicative of the selected control value; and second selecting means for, after the information has been generated, selecting the control value of the potential running lane that is closest to the control value indicated by the information.

Claims

1. A lane marker recognition apparatus which recognizes a lane marker based on a captured image of a road surface in the direction in which a vehicle is traveling, comprising:

recognizing means for recognizing at least one left lane marker and at least one right lane marker captured in the image, and generating lane marker information indicative of the recognized lane markers;

calculating means for calculating, based on the lane marker information, at least one type of control value for each potential running lane demarcated by a combination of the at least one left lane marker and the at least one right lane marker;

first selecting means for selecting a control value of one of the potential running lanes that is to be indicated as information based on the lane marker information, from among the control values for the potential running lanes calculated by the calculating means;

generating means for generating information indicative of the selected control value; and

second selecting means for, after the information has been generated, selecting the control value of the potential running lane that is closest to the control value indicated by the information, from among the control values calculated for the potential running lanes by the calculating means.

2. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generating means includes processing means for filtering the selected control value, and generating the information indicative of the filtered control value;

and the second selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane that is closest to the control value indicated by the information generated by the processing means, from among the control values calculated for the potential running lanes by the calculating means.

3. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by a predetermined given combination of the lane markers.

4. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by the combination of either the left or right lane marker that is closest to the vehicle and the lane marker on the other side that is nth closest to the vehicle (where n is an integer of 2 or higher).

5. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by the combination of the left lane marker that is closest to the vehicle and the right lane marker that is nth closest to the vehicle (where n is an integer of 2 or higher).

6. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by the left lane marker that is closest to the vehicle and the right lane marker that is nth closest to the vehicle (where n is an integer of 2 or higher) when the number of the right lane markers is a predetermined number more than the number of the left lane markers.

7. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by the left lane marker that is closest to the vehicle and the right lane marker that is second closest to the vehicle.

8. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by the combination of the right lane marker that is closest to the vehicle and the left lane marker that is nth closest to the vehicle (where n is an integer of 2 or higher).

9. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by the left lane marker that is closest to the vehicle and the right lane marker that is nth closest to the vehicle (where n is an integer of 2 or higher) when the number of the right lane markers is a predetermined number more than the number of the left lane markers.

10. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by the right lane marker that is closest to the vehicle and the left lane marker that is second closest to the vehicle.

11. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first selecting means selects the control value of the potential running lane demarcated by a combination of the left lane marker that is farthest from the vehicle and the right lane marker that is farthest from the vehicle, from among the combinations of left and right lane markers.

12. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculating means calculates, for each of the potential running lanes, the lane width indicated by the interval in the width direction between the left and right lane markers of the potential running lane as the control value.

13. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculating means calculates, for each of the running lanes, the distance from the center in the width direction between the left and right lane markers of the potential running lane to the center of the vehicle in the width direction as the control value.

14. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculating means calculates, for each of the potential running lanes, the curvature radius of the potential running lane as the control value.

15. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculating means calculates, for each of the potential running lanes, the yaw angle of the vehicle with respect to the direction of the potential running lane as the control value.

16. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculating means calculates, for each of the potential running lanes, the pitch angle of the vehicle with respect to the road surface on which the left and right lane markers of the potential running lane are drawn as the control value.

17. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processing means uses a Kalman filter for the filtering process.

18. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processing means uses the least squares method for the filtering process.

19. The lane marker recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processing means uses the moving average for the filtering process.

20. A lane marker recognition apparatus which recognizes a lane marker based on a captured image of a road surface in the direction in which a vehicle is traveling, comprising:

a recognizing device that recognizes at least one left lane marker and at least one right lane marker captured in the image, and generates lane marker information indicative of the recognized lane markers;

a calculating portion that calculates, based on the lane marker information, at least one type of control value for each potential running lane demarcated by a combination of the at least one left lane marker and the at least one right lane marker;

a first selecting portion which selects, based on the lane marker information, a control value of one of the potential running lanes to be indicated as information, from among the control values for the potential running lanes calculated by the calculating portion;

a generating portion that generates information indicative of the selected control value; and

a second selecting portion which, after the information has been generated, selects the control value of the potential running lane that is closest to the control value indicated by the information, from among the control values calculated for the potential running lanes by the calculating portion.

21. A lane marker recognition method executed by a lane marker recognition apparatus which recognizes a lane marker based on a captured image of a road surface in the direction in which a vehicle is traveling, comprising:

recognizing at least one left lane marker and at least one right lane marker captured in the image, and generating lane marker information indicative of the recognized lane markers;

calculating, based on the lane marker information, at least one type of control value for each potential running lane demarcated by a combination of the at least one left lane marker and the at least one right lane marker;

selecting a control value of one of the running lanes that is to be indicated as information based on the lane marker information, from among the calculated control values for the potential running lanes;

generating information indicative of the selected control value; and

after the information has been generated, selecting the control value of the potential running lane that is closest to the control value indicated by the information, from among the calculated control values for the potential running lanes.