METHOD FOR DETERMINING AT WHICH LEVEL A VEHICLE IS WHEN THE VEHICLE IS IN A MULTI-LEVEL ROAD SYSTEM

• US 20170336209A1
• Filed: 05/12/2017
• Published: 11/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MiTAC International Corporation (MiTAC Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: MiTAC International Corporation (MiTAC Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Liu, Neng
• Granted Patent: US 10,473,467 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/01 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/16 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/74 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/97 Determining parameters from multiple pictures depth or shape recovery from multiple images G06T7/55; stereo camera calibration G06T7/85
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle

Abstract

A method for determining which level a vehicle is at when the vehicle is on a multi-level road system is to be implemented by a vehicle auxiliary system that includes a vehicle equipment unit and a server unit. The method includes the steps of: obtaining visual media data of surroundings of the vehicle generated by an image capturing module of the vehicle equipment unit; receiving reference data associated with surroundings of a vehicle in the multi-level road system from the server unit; and generating a recognition result indicating at which level the vehicle is by performing an image-matching technique on the visual media data and the reference data.

Claims

1. A method for determining which level a vehicle is at when the vehicle is in a multi-level road system that includes roads on at least two different levels, the method to be implemented by a vehicle auxiliary system that includes a vehicle equipment unit disposed on the vehicle, and a server unit, the vehicle equipment unit including an image capturing module and a processing module, the image capturing module configured to capture at least one image of surroundings of the vehicle to generate visual media data, the method comprising the steps of:

a) obtaining, by the processing module, the visual media data generated by the image capturing module;

b) receiving, by the processing module, reference data that is associated with surroundings of the vehicle in the multi-level road system from the server unit; and

c) generating, by the processing module, a recognition result that indicates which level of the multi-level road system the vehicle is at by performing an image-matching technique on the visual media data and the reference data.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising, subsequent to step c), the step of:

d) transmitting, by the processing module, the visual media data to the server unit for an update of the reference data.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein

in step a), the visual media data is video data;

and

in step b), the reference data contains a first reference image of the surroundings of the vehicle which is at one of the levels of the multi-level road system, and a second reference image of the surroundings of the vehicle which is at another one of the levels of the multi-level road system;

the method further comprising, subsequent to step a) and prior to step c), the step of

e) extracting, by the processing module, image data from the video data;

wherein step c) includes generating the recognition result that indicates which level the vehicle is at by comparing images between the image data and the first reference image, and comparing images between the image data and the second reference image.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, the vehicle equipment unit further including a positioning module that is configured to detect a current position of the vehicle, the method further comprising, prior to step a), the step of:

f) determining, by the processing module, whether the vehicle is in a predetermined area based on the current position detected by the positioning module, and performing step a) when it is determined that the vehicle is in the predetermined area.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, the vehicle equipment unit including a car video recorder and a mobile communication device, the car video recorder including the image capturing module, the positioning module and a first processor, the mobile communication device including a second processor, the first and second processors cooperatively serving as the processing module,

wherein steps f) and a) are to be performed by the first processor, and steps e), b), c) and d) are to be performed by the second processor;

the first processor transmits the image data to the second processor subsequent to step a); and

the second processor transmits the recognition result to the first processor subsequent to step c).

6. The method as claimed in claim 4, the vehicle equipment unit including a car video recorder and a mobile communication device, the car video recorder including the image capturing module and a first processor, the mobile communication device including the positioning module and a second processor, the first and second processors cooperatively serving as the processing module;

wherein steps f), e), b), c) and d) are to be performed by the second processor;

when the second processor determines that the vehicle is in the predetermined area in step f), the second processor notifies the first processor to perform step a); and

the first processor transmits the image data to the second processor subsequent to step a).

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, the vehicle equipment unit further including an output module, the method further comprising, subsequent to step c), the step of:

g) controlling, by the processing module, the output module to output predetermined driving assistance information that corresponds to the level which the vehicle is at according to the recognition result.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, the multi-level road system including an elevated road on a higher level of the multi-level road system and a ground level road on a lower level thereof, wherein step c) includes generating, by the processing module, the recognition result that indicates which one of the elevated road and the ground level road the vehicle is at.