Travel road detector
First Claim
1. A travel road detector, comprising:
- 1) an image pickup section producing a road image of a forward travel road in front of a driver'"'"'s vehicle;
2) a setting section setting, on the road image, small areas for lane marker detection;
3) a lane marker detector detecting, in the small areas, lane markers on both sides of a travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle as lane marker detection points;
4) a first calculatordetermining that a both-side lane marker detecting state is present when the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on each side of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a first predetermined numerical quantity, and at the same time the total number of lane marker detection points of the lane markers on both sides of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a second predetermined numerical quantity, andcalculating, from information on the lane marker detection points, a travel road model parameter representing a shape of the forward travel road when the both-side lane marker detecting state is satisfied;
5) a forward vehicle detector detecting a height of a predetermined part of a forward vehicle traveling ahead of the driver'"'"'s vehicle when the both-side lane marker detecting state is present; and
6) a second calculatordetermining that a one-side lane marker detecting state is present when the both-side lane marker detecting state is not present, and at the same time the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on either one side of the travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle is greater than or equal to a third predetermined numerical quantity, andcalculating the travel road model parameter from information on the lane marker detection points, and information on the height of the predetermined part of the forward vehicle detected with the forward vehicle detector.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A travel road detector includes: an image pickup section producing a road image of a forward travel road in front of a driver'"'"'s vehicle; a setting section setting small areas for lane marker detection; a lane marker detector detecting lane markers on both sides of a travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle; a first calculator calculating a travel road model parameter representing a shape of the forward travel road when a both-side lane marker detecting state is satisfied; a forward vehicle detector detecting a height of a predetermined part of a forward vehicle traveling ahead of the driver'"'"'s vehicle when the both-side lane marker detecting state is present; and a second calculator calculating the travel road model parameter from information on the lane marker detection points, and information on the height of the predetermined part of the forward vehicle detected with the forward vehicle detector.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A travel road detector, comprising:
-
1) an image pickup section producing a road image of a forward travel road in front of a driver'"'"'s vehicle; 2) a setting section setting, on the road image, small areas for lane marker detection; 3) a lane marker detector detecting, in the small areas, lane markers on both sides of a travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle as lane marker detection points; 4) a first calculator determining that a both-side lane marker detecting state is present when the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on each side of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a first predetermined numerical quantity, and at the same time the total number of lane marker detection points of the lane markers on both sides of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a second predetermined numerical quantity, and calculating, from information on the lane marker detection points, a travel road model parameter representing a shape of the forward travel road when the both-side lane marker detecting state is satisfied; 5) a forward vehicle detector detecting a height of a predetermined part of a forward vehicle traveling ahead of the driver'"'"'s vehicle when the both-side lane marker detecting state is present; and 6) a second calculator determining that a one-side lane marker detecting state is present when the both-side lane marker detecting state is not present, and at the same time the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on either one side of the travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle is greater than or equal to a third predetermined numerical quantity, and calculating the travel road model parameter from information on the lane marker detection points, and information on the height of the predetermined part of the forward vehicle detected with the forward vehicle detector. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A process of detecting a travel road, the process comprising the following operations:
-
1) producing a road image of a forward travel road in front of a driver'"'"'s vehicle; 2) setting, on the road image, small areas for lane marker detection; 3) detecting, in the small areas, lane markers on both sides of a travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle as lane marker detection points; 4) firstly determining that a both-side lane marker detecting state is present when the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on each side of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a first predetermined numerical quantity, and at the same time the total number of lane marker detection points of the lane markers on both sides of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a second predetermined numerical quantity; 5) after the first determining operation, firstly calculating, from information on the lane marker detection points, a travel road model parameter representing a shape of the forward travel road when the both-side lane marker detecting state is satisfied; 6) detecting a height of a predetermined part of a forward vehicle traveling ahead of the driver'"'"'s vehicle when the both-side lane marker detecting state is present; 7) secondly determining that a one-side lane marker detecting state is present when the both-side lane marker detecting state is not present, and at the same time the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on either one side of the travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle is greater than or equal to a third predetermined numerical quantity; and 8) after the second determining operation, secondly calculating the travel road model parameter from information on the lane marker detection points, and information on the height of the predetermined part of the forward vehicle detected with the forward vehicle detector. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
-
-
14. A travel road detecting apparatus, comprising:
-
1) image pickup means for picking up an image of a travel road in front of a driver'"'"'s vehicle; 2) setting means for setting small areas for detecting a lane marker, on the travel road which is picked with the image pickup means; 3) lane marker detecting means for detecting a part of the lane marker as a lane marker detection point, in the small areas which are set with the setting means; 4) first calculating means for determining whether or not the lane marker detection point detected with the lane marker detecting means is in a first both-side lane marker detecting state which is established when the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on each of both sides of the travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle is greater than or equal to a first predetermined numerical quantity, and at the same time for determining whether or not the lane marker detection point detected with the lane marker detecting means is in a second both-side lane marker detecting state which is established when the number of lane marker detection points of the lane markers on the both sides of the travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle is in total at least a second predetermined numerical quantity, and for calculating from a piece of information on the thus determined lane marker detection point a travel road model parameter for showing a shape of the travel road in front of the driver'"'"'s vehicle, when both the first both-side lane marker detecting state and the second both-side lane marker detecting state are determined to be established; 5) forward vehicle detecting means for detecting at least a height of a predetermined part of a forward vehicle traveling ahead of the driver'"'"'s vehicle, when both the first both-side lane marker detecting state and the second both-side lane marker detecting state are determined to be established; and 6) second calculating means for determining whether or not the lane marker detection point detected with the lane marker detecting means is in a one-side lane marker detecting state which is established as a state other than the first and second both-side lane marker detecting states and is established when the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on either one side of the travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle is greater than or equal to a third predetermined numerical quantity, for determining whether or not at least the height of the predetermined part of the forward vehicle is detected with the forward vehicle detecting means, and for calculating the travel road model parameter for showing the shape of the travel road in front of the driver'"'"'s vehicle, from the following pieces of first information and second information; the first information on the thus determined lane marker detection points, and the second information on the thus determined at least the height of the predetermined part of the forward vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (15)
-
-
16. A method of detecting a travel road, comprising:
-
producing a road image of a forward travel road in front of a driver'"'"'s vehicle; setting, on the road image, small areas for lane marker detection; detecting, in the small areas, lane markers on both sides of a travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle as lane marker detection points; firstly determining that a both-side lane marker detecting state is present when the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on each side of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a first predetermined numerical quantity, and at the same time the total number of lane marker detection points of the lane markers on both sides of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a second predetermined numerical quantity; firstly calculating, from information on the lane marker detection points, a travel road model parameter representing a shape of the forward travel road when the both-side lane marker detecting state is satisfied; detecting a height of a predetermined part of a forward vehicle traveling ahead of the driver'"'"'s vehicle when the both-side lane marker detecting state is present; secondly determining that a one-side lane marker detecting state is present when the both-side lane marker detecting state is not present, and at the same time the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on either one side of the travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle is greater than or equal to a third predetermined numerical quantity; and secondly calculating the travel road model parameter from information on the lane marker detection points, and information on the height of the predetermined part of the forward vehicle detected with the forward vehicle detector. - View Dependent Claims (17)
-
-
18. A travel road detector for an automobile vehicle, comprising:
-
an image pickup section producing a road image of a forward travel road in front of the vehicle; a setting section setting, on the road image, relatively small windows for lane marker detection; a lane marker detector detecting, in the small windows, lane markers on both sides of a travel lane for the vehicle as lane marker detection points; a first calculator determining that a both-side lane marker detecting state is present when the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on each side of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a first predetermined numerical quantity, and, at the same time, the total number of lane marker detection points of the lane markers on both sides of the travel lane is greater than or equal to a second predetermined numerical value, and calculating, from information on the lane marker detection points, a travel road model parameter representing a shape of the forward travel road when the both-side lane marker detecting state is satisfied; a forward vehicle detector detecting a height of a predetermined part of a forward vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle when the both-side lane marker detecting state is present; and a second calculator determining that a one-side lane marker detecting state is present when the both-side lane marker detecting state is not present, and, at the same time, the number of lane marker detection points of the lane marker on either one side of the travel lane for the driver'"'"'s vehicle is greater than or equal to a third predetermined numerical value, and calculating the travel road model parameter from information on the lane marker detection points, and information on the height of the predetermined part of the forward vehicle detected with the forward vehicle detector. - View Dependent Claims (19)
-
Specification