Position and heading detecting device for self controlled vehicle
First Claim
1. A position and heading direction detecting device for a self-controlled vehicle, comprising:
- image input means for inputting an image of an outer environment of the self-controlled vehicle;
edge segment extracting means for receiving said image inputted by said image input means and for extracting and outputting edge segments of said image;
guide sign searching means comprisingclustering means for entering said edge segments extracted by said edge segment extracting means, for evaluating an alignment property of said edge segments based on respective mutual angle and distance relationships between any two of said edge segments, for assembling said edge segments evaluated to be on the same line into longer edge segments, and for outputting each of the assembled longer edge segments, andselecting means for selecting one of said longer edge segments, corresponding to at least one guide sign, from among said assembled longer edge segments outputted from said clustering means, wherein said selected longer edge segment is selected based on at least one of a reference position and a reference angle of said at least one guide sign, said reference position and reference angle corresponding to a location of the outer environment; and
vehicle position/heading direction calculating means for transforming said longer edge segment selected by said selecting means into coordinates corresponding to known locations of the outer environment, for calculating a position of the vehicle relative to said selected longer edge segment in the transformed coordinates to decide a position and heading direction of the vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An outer environment of the vehicle is inputted as an image. Image processing is performed to the input image, and many edge segments are extracted. The edge segments which are colinear are clustered in order to perform a matching operation. Matching is performed in a respective set of plural longer edge segments representing plural clusters in correspondence with a set of plural guide signs as standards of guide of the vehicle mapped on the image input surface, and a set of longer edge segments being most matched each other is extracted. From position and headings of the extracted longer edge segments on the image input surface, the position and heading in the outer environment are calculated. The position and heading of the vehicle are detected from these values. The position and heading of the vehicle obtained in the above-mentioned image processing and the position and heading of the vehicle measured by other techniques and are evaluated synthetically. When the guide signs are mapped on the image input surface, the forecast values of position and heading of the vehicle at the image input time are used. In this manner, the detecting accuracy of the position and heading of the vehicle is improved.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A position and heading direction detecting device for a self-controlled vehicle, comprising:
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image input means for inputting an image of an outer environment of the self-controlled vehicle; edge segment extracting means for receiving said image inputted by said image input means and for extracting and outputting edge segments of said image; guide sign searching means comprising clustering means for entering said edge segments extracted by said edge segment extracting means, for evaluating an alignment property of said edge segments based on respective mutual angle and distance relationships between any two of said edge segments, for assembling said edge segments evaluated to be on the same line into longer edge segments, and for outputting each of the assembled longer edge segments, and selecting means for selecting one of said longer edge segments, corresponding to at least one guide sign, from among said assembled longer edge segments outputted from said clustering means, wherein said selected longer edge segment is selected based on at least one of a reference position and a reference angle of said at least one guide sign, said reference position and reference angle corresponding to a location of the outer environment; and vehicle position/heading direction calculating means for transforming said longer edge segment selected by said selecting means into coordinates corresponding to known locations of the outer environment, for calculating a position of the vehicle relative to said selected longer edge segment in the transformed coordinates to decide a position and heading direction of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification