System and method for automatically steering a vehicle within a lane in a road
First Claim
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1. A system for automatically steering a vehicle along a lane in a road, said system comprising:
- sensor means mounted to the vehicle for generating position information about the road in front of the vehicle;
cruise control means for controlling the speed of the vehicle, the cruise control means including a switch for initiating automatic speed control;
processor means, coupled to the sensor means and also to the cruise control switch, for analyzing the information from the sensor means;
the processor beginning the analysis of the information when the cruise control switch is engaged; and
steering control means for automatically controlling the steering of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle within the lane in the road as a function of the analysis by the processor.
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Abstract
An automatic vehicle steering system is provided for automatically steering a vehicle along a lane in a road. A video sensor is included for generating a plurality of frames of video images of the road. A computer processor analyzes the frames to determine the lane boundaries of the road and the position of the vehicle. The system advantageously utilizes engagement of a cruise control switch and a steering control switch to initiate processing of the image data and automatic steering of the vehicle. In such manner, the reliability and efficiency of the system is increased while at the same time minimizing complexity and cost.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A system for automatically steering a vehicle along a lane in a road, said system comprising:
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sensor means mounted to the vehicle for generating position information about the road in front of the vehicle; cruise control means for controlling the speed of the vehicle, the cruise control means including a switch for initiating automatic speed control; processor means, coupled to the sensor means and also to the cruise control switch, for analyzing the information from the sensor means;
the processor beginning the analysis of the information when the cruise control switch is engaged; andsteering control means for automatically controlling the steering of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle within the lane in the road as a function of the analysis by the processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An automatic vehicle steering system for automatically steering a vehicle along a lane in a road, said system comprising:
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video sensor means mounted to the vehicle for generating a plurality of frames of video images of the road in front of the vehicle; cruise control means for controlling the speed of the vehicle, the cruise control means including a manually actuable switch for initiating speed control; processor means coupled to the video sensor means and also to the cruise control switch, for analyzing frames of the video images; steering control means for automatically controlling the steering of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle within the lane in the road as a function of the analysis of the processor; steering control switch means including a manually actuable switch means for engaging the system to begin processing of the video images and provide automatic vehicle steering; and said system initiating automatic steering of the vehicle when the driver has actuated both the cruise control switch and the steering control switch. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for providing automatic steering of a vehicle along a lane in a road, said method comprising:
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generating a plurality of frames of video images of the road in front of the vehicle; controlling the speed of the vehicle with cruise control means having a manually actuable switch for initiating speed control; processing the plurality of frames of video images to analyze and detect the lane boundaries of the road in front of the vehicle based on predicted possible lane boundary locations in the image and determine the direction of the lane and provide a control response that will maintain the vehicle at a desired position within the lane; controlling the steering of the vehicle to maintain it within the lane in the road as a function of the analysis of the processor; and initiating processing of said video images and providing automatic steering control when a manually actuable steering control switch is engaged while the cruise control system is operating. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A system for automatically steering a vehicle along a lane in a road, said system comprising:
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video sensor means mounted to the vehicle for generating a plurality of frames of video images of the road in front of the vehicle; processor means, coupled to the video sensor means for analyzing frames of the video images; steering control means for automatically controlling the steering of the vehicle to maintain it within the lane as a function of the analysis by the processor means; said processor means including digitization means for converting said video images from analog signals to digital signals and having digital image processing means for processing the digital signals; said digital image processing means further including lane identification means for detecting a left and a right boundary of the lane by analyzing the digital signals and determining the lane boundaries as a function of a strong line response and a consistent line orientation, and further including lane centering means for determining the desired vehicle position; said processor means further including a predictor means for determining an area to be searched; and lane identification means being adapted to determine a projected tangent line from each of said left and right boundaries within a chosen search area specified by said predictor means, said lane centering means analyzing the location of said tangent lines to determine the desired vehicle direction, with said predictor means being adapted to adjust the search area to include the location of the intersection of said tangent lines therein.
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Specification