System and method for warning drivers based on road curvature
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A road curvature warning system based on the analysis of multiple multi-scale images for efficiently identifying road curvature while driving at high speed on a highway, said road curvature warning system comprising:
- (a) an RCWS controller subsystem for controlling cameras and interfacing with a vehicle, said RCWS controller subsystem comprising;
a system configuration element for dynamically managing system configuration related to camera, system thresholds, and standard road dimensions;
a camera controller element for dynamically controlling the cameras;
a vehicle interface element for obtaining vehicle related parameters comprising ground speed and slope; and
a multi-camera element for acquiring multiple multi-scale images; and
(b) an RCWS preprocessor subsystem for preprocessing an image, said RCWS preprocessor subsystem comprising;
an error correction and binarization element for image preprocessing, correcting said image for heading and offset errors, and binarization of said image;
a road parameter computation element for computing the lane width and lane marker width;
a look-ahead distance computation element for determining an appropriate look-ahead distance for configuring the cameras; and
a visibility checking element for determining the road visibility conditions; and
(c) an RCWS processor subsystem for generating curvature related over-speed warnings based on a plurality of multi-scale images, said RCWS processor subsystem comprising;
a lane identification element for identifying left and right road lane markers in said plurality of multi-scale images;
a multi-scale image processing element for analyzing said plurality of multi-scale images to correlate and correct a plurality left and right lane markers across said plurality of multi-scale images;
a mosaic construction element for constructing a road mosaic using said plurality of left and right lane markers;
a road curvature identification element for identifying a road curvature from said road mosaic; and
a warning generation element for generating an appropriate warning to the driver based on said road curvature.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for warning a driver based on the road curvature consisting of multiple integrated cameras to acquire the images of different scales simultaneously, a camera controller to configure the cameras based on the vehicle speed and visibility criteria, a processor to analyze the multi-scale images to construct the mosaic, and warning generation subsystem to warn the driver about the safety speed based on the comparison of the mosaic with the curvature templates.
68 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A road curvature warning system based on the analysis of multiple multi-scale images for efficiently identifying road curvature while driving at high speed on a highway, said road curvature warning system comprising:
-
(a) an RCWS controller subsystem for controlling cameras and interfacing with a vehicle, said RCWS controller subsystem comprising; a system configuration element for dynamically managing system configuration related to camera, system thresholds, and standard road dimensions; a camera controller element for dynamically controlling the cameras; a vehicle interface element for obtaining vehicle related parameters comprising ground speed and slope; and a multi-camera element for acquiring multiple multi-scale images; and (b) an RCWS preprocessor subsystem for preprocessing an image, said RCWS preprocessor subsystem comprising; an error correction and binarization element for image preprocessing, correcting said image for heading and offset errors, and binarization of said image; a road parameter computation element for computing the lane width and lane marker width; a look-ahead distance computation element for determining an appropriate look-ahead distance for configuring the cameras; and a visibility checking element for determining the road visibility conditions; and (c) an RCWS processor subsystem for generating curvature related over-speed warnings based on a plurality of multi-scale images, said RCWS processor subsystem comprising; a lane identification element for identifying left and right road lane markers in said plurality of multi-scale images; a multi-scale image processing element for analyzing said plurality of multi-scale images to correlate and correct a plurality left and right lane markers across said plurality of multi-scale images; a mosaic construction element for constructing a road mosaic using said plurality of left and right lane markers; a road curvature identification element for identifying a road curvature from said road mosaic; and a warning generation element for generating an appropriate warning to the driver based on said road curvature. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. An apparatus for analysis of multiple multi-scale images for efficiently identifying road curvature while driving a vehicle at high speed on a highway, said apparatus comprising:
-
(a) a hardware and software RCWS controller subsystem for controlling a plurality of cameras and interfacing with said vehicle comprising; a processor of appropriate capacity; memory devices of appropriate capacity; an interface subsystem for interacting with ground speed sensor and slope detector of said vehicle, and a system configuration repository;
software subsystem for configuring and controlling said plurality of cameras, and for acquiring multiple multi-scale images from said plurality of cameras; and(b) a hardware and software RCWS preprocessor subsystem for preprocessing an image of a road comprising; a processor of appropriate capacity; memory devices of appropriate capacity; a software subsystem for image preprocessing, heading error and offset error correction, and binarization of said image of said road; a software subsystem for computing a lane width and a lane marker width in said image; a software subsystem for determining an appropriate look-ahead distance for configuring said plurality of cameras; and a software subsystem for determining visibility conditions of said road; and (c) a hardware and software RCWS processor subsystem to analyze a plurality of multi-scale images of a road comprising; a processor of appropriate capacity; memory devices of appropriate capacity;
a repository of lane templates;a software subsystem for identifying a left lane marker and a right lane marker in each of said plurality of multi-scale images; a software subsystem for analyzing said plurality of multi-scale images to correlate said left lane marker and said right lane marker in each of said plurality of multi-scale images across said plurality of multi-scale images, and to determine a road left lane marker and a road right lane marker; a software subsystem for constructing a road mosaic using said road left lane marker and said road right lane marker; a software subsystem for identifying a road curvature from said road mosaic; and a software subsystem for generating an appropriate warning to the driver of said vehicle based on said road curvature.
-
Specification