VEHICLE POSITIONING METHOD AND ITS SYSTEM

• US 20150185735A1
• Filed: 01/02/2014
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Original Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Inventors: LIANG, Chih-Neng
• Granted Patent: US 9,207,677 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0234 using optical markers or beacons optical beacons per se G01S1/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/245 by locating a pattern; Special marks for positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle

Abstract

A vehicle positioning method and its system are disclosed. The vehicle positioning method has a camera adapted to be mounted in front of a vehicle, multiple visible marks mounted in a photographing-available range of a camera, and a vehicle positioning system. Each visible mark contains a position information related to a location of the visible mark. The vehicle positioning system receives an image of the visible mark captured from the camera and image-processes the image to read the position information of the captured visible mark. The vehicle positioning system further calculates a distance between the captured visible mark and the vehicle and then further corrects the position information of the captured visible mark to have GPS coordinates of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A vehicle positioning method, comprising steps of:

(a) mounting multiple visible marks in a photographing-available range of a camera mounted in front of one vehicle, wherein each visible mark contains a position information related to a location of the visible mark;

(b) capturing one of the visible marks;

(c) image-processing the captured visible mark to read the position information thereof, and calculating a distance between the captured visible mark and the vehicle; and

(d) calculating GPS coordinates of the vehicle according to the position information of the captured visible mark and the distance.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

in the step (a), each visible mark is a barcode or a QR code and the position information is encoded therein;

and

in the step (c), the position information is directly obtained from the captured visible mark.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

in the step (a), each visible mark is a barcode or a QR code and a unique identification (ID) related to the position information is encoded therein;

and

in the step (c), a look-up table is further prepared, the ID is directly obtained from the captured visible mark, and the position information of the captured visible mark is further read from the look-up table according to the ID, wherein the look-up table includes the IDs and the position information of the visible marks.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

in the step (a), each visible mark is a barcode or a QR code and a network address is encoded therein;

and

in the step (c), the network address is directly obtained from the captured visible mark, and the position information of the captured visible mark stored in a local server is wirelessly downloaded by linking to the network address.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

in the step (a), each visible mark is a pattern showing an ID number;

and

in the step (c), the ID number is directly obtained from the captured visible mark, and the position information of the captured visible mark is wirelessly downloaded from a local server by sending the ID number to the local server.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the step (d) the distance includes a first distance D and a second distance E calculated by following equations:

(1) D=√

{square root over (HV×

(f²/hv))} wherein “

H”

is a length of the visible mark, “

V”

is a width of the visible mark, “

h”

represents a length of the captured visible mark on the image, “

v”

represents a width of the captured visible mark on the image, and “

f”

represents an image distance; and

(2) E=fD/e, wherein “

E”

represents a distance between the visible mark and a center of the vehicle, “

e”

represents a distance between the image and the center of the vehicle, and “

f”

represents an image distance.

7. A vehicle positioning system, comprising:

a camera mounted in front of a vehicle;

multiple visible marks, each of which is mounted within an available range of the camera and contains a position information related to a location of the visible mark; and

a vehicle positioning device mounted inside the vehicle and electronically connected to the camera and having;

an image processing module electronically connected to the camera to receive an image of the visible mark captured by the camera and image-processing the image to read the position information of the captured visible mark;

a local position calculating module electronically connected to the image processing module and the camera to obtain the image and the position information of the captured visible mark to calculate a distance between the captured visible mark and the vehicle, and then outputting the position information of the captured visible mark and the distance;

a vehicle position calculating module electronically connected to the local position calculating module to receive the distance and the position information of the captured visible mark, wherein the vehicle position calculating module corrects the position information of the captured visible mark to have GPS coordinates of the vehicle.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein

the visible mark is a barcode or a QR code and the position information is encoded therein;

and

the image processing module directly decodes the captured visible mark to obtain the position information of the captured visible mark.

9. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein

the visible mark is a barcode or a QR code and an identification (ID) is encoded therein, wherein the ID is related to a corresponding position information;

the image processing module directly decodes the captured visible mark to obtain the ID; and

the local position calculating module previously stores a look-up table including the IDs and the position information, so the position information corresponding to the ID is obtained from the look-up table after the local position calculating module receives the ID from the image processing module.

10. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein

the visible mark is a barcode or a QR code and a wireless network address is encoded therein, wherein the wireless network address is used to link to a local server;

the image processing module directly decodes the captured visible mark to obtain the wireless network address, wherein the image processing module outputs the wireless network address to the local position calculating module; and

the local position calculating module is electronically connected to a wireless network unit to link to the local server according to the wireless network address to obtain the position information corresponding to the captured visible mark.

11. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein

the visible mark is a pattern showing an ID number;

the image processing module directly decodes the captured visible mark to obtain the ID number, wherein the image processing module outputs the ID number to the local position calculating module; and

the local position calculating module is electronically connected to a wireless network unit to link to a local server and sends the ID number to the local server to obtain the position information corresponding to the ID number from the local server.

12. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the local position calculating module calculates the distance by following equations:

(1) D=√

{square root over (HV×

(f²/hv))} wherein “

H”

is a length of the visible mark, “

V”

is a width of the visible mark, “

h”

represents a length of the captured visible mark on the image, “

v”

represents a width of the captured visible mark on the image, and “

f”

represents an image distance; and

(2) E=fD/e, wherein “

E”

represents a distance between the visible mark and a center of the vehicle, “

e”

represents a distance between the image and the center of the vehicle, and “

f”

represents an image distance.