Road image analyzing apparatus and road image analyzing method

• US 8,126,209 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2007
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pasco Corporation (Secom Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Pasco Corporation (Secom Company Limited)
• Inventors: Sasakawa, Tadashi, Zhu, Lin
• Primary Examiner(s): Werner, Brian
• Application Number:
  US12/225,583
• Publication Number:
  US 20090274362A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,803 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/104
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/072 Curvature of the road
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/076 Slope angle of the road
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30256 Lane; Road marking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/12 Edge-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/593 from stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/457 by analysing connectivity, e.g. edge linking, connected component analysis or slices
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/48 by mapping characteristic values of the pattern into a parameter space, e.g. Hough transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/582 of traffic signs
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/647 by matching two-dimensional images to three-dimensional objects
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages

Abstract

In a road image analyzing apparatus capable of obviously and rapidly distinguishing a road marking from a guardrail and capable of obtaining precise position information, a pre-processing unit defines sub-areas to main image data obtained by an image pickup unit, and an edge extracting unit extracts an edge component in each of the sub-areas. A linear line extracting unit analyzes the extracted edge component to extract a linear component, and a linear component analyzing unit extracts a continuous component from the linear component by using the linear component. A matching process unit performs a matching process between a vertex of the continuous component and auxiliary image data to obtain three-dimensional position information of each continuous component. An identifying unit identifies whether the continuous component is a road marking or a guardrail on the basis of height information of each continuous component included in the three-dimensional position information.

Claims

1. A road image analyzing apparatus, comprising:

two image pickup units that photograph the same position from different directions;

a continuous component extracting unit that extracts a linear component through analysis on an edge component extracted from image data obtained by one of the image pickup units, extracts a columnar structure, a road marking, and a guardrail as the continuous component that are repetitively present in a predetermined direction or continuous in the predetermined direction in an image on the basis of a position and an inclination of the linear component and association between linear lines including data on a width of a road marker and a width between road markers, and excludes the columnar structure from the continuous component, on the basis of the inclination or the position on a road of the linear component;

a three-dimensional position calculating unit that combines an end point of the continuous component with the columnar structure excluded and image data obtained by the other image pickup unit to calculate three-dimensional position information of the continuous component; and

an identifying unit that determines whether the continuous component is a road marking or a guardrail on the basis of the three-dimensional position information calculated by the three-dimensional position calculating unit.

2. The road image analyzing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the three-dimensional position calculating unit performs a matching process between an end point of the continuous component and the image data obtained by the other image pickup unit to calculate three-dimensional position information.

3. The road image analyzing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the identifying unit determines the continuous component on the basis of height information of the continuous component included in the three-dimensional position information.

4. The road image analyzing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the continuous component extracting unit, the three-dimensional position calculating unit, and the identifying unit each performs their process in a sub-area, the sub-area defined in a direction orthogonal to a running direction of a road.

6. The road image analyzing method according to claim 2, wherein

in the step of calculating three-dimensional position information of the continuous component, a matching process is performed between an end point of the continuous component and the image data photographed from the other direction to calculate three-dimensional position information.

5. A road image analyzing method comprising:

a step of photographing the same position from two different directions;

a step of extracting a continuous linear component from image data obtained by one of the image pickup units through analysis on an edge component extracted from image data obtained by one of the image pickup units, extracting a columnar structure, a road marking, and a guardrail as the continuous component that are repetitively present in a predetermined direction or continuous in the predetermined direction in an image on the basis of a position and an inclination of the linear component and association between linear lines including data on a width of a road marker and a width between road markers, and excluding the columnar structure from the continuous component, on the basis of the inclination or the position on a road of the linear component;

a step of combining an end point of the continuous component with the columnar structure excluded and image data obtained by the other image pickup unit and calculating three-dimensional position information of the continuous component; and

a step of determining whether the continuous component is a road marking or a guardrail on the basis of the three-dimensional position information calculated by the three-dimensional position calculating unit.

7. The road image analyzing method according to claim 5, wherein

in the step of identifying a continuous component, the continuous component is determined on the basis of height information of the continuous component included in the three-dimensional position information.

8. The road image analyzing method according to claim 5, wherein

the step of extracting a continuous component, the step of calculating three-dimensional position information of a continuous component, and the step of determining a continuous component are each performed in a sub-area, the sub-area defined in a direction orthogonal to a running direction of a road.