Position detection apparatus and position detection program

• US 8,301,369 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2010
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd. (Faurecia SA)
• Original Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd. (Faurecia SA)
• Inventors: Hiruta, Tomoaki, Aoki, Toshiyuki, Yokota, Takayoshi, Bando, Mikio, Okada, Kazuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kim T
• Application Number:
  US12/818,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20100324815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• Field of Search: 701/408, 701/409, 701/412, 701445-447, 701/461, 701467-470
• US Class Current: 701/408
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching

Abstract

A position detection apparatus includes a storage unit for storing map information including road information; a detection unit for detecting information for calculating an absolute position of a moving object; a position calculation unit for calculating the absolute position of the moving object and an error variance relating to an error of the moving object from the detected information; a read-out unit for reading out from the storage unit the road information of a road relating to the calculated absolute position; an existence probability calculation unit for calculating an existence probability of the moving object existing on the road from the absolute position, the error variance, and the read-out road information; a selection unit for selecting a position whose existence probability is maximum out of the calculated existence probability; and a map-matching processing unit for making the selected position a position of the moving object on the road.

Claims

1. A position detection apparatus comprising:

a storage unit configured to store map information including road information;

a detection unit configured to detect information for calculating an absolute position of a moving object;

a position calculation unit configured to calculate the absolute position of the moving object and an error variance relating to an error of the moving object from the information detected by the detection unit;

a read-out unit configured to read out from the storage unit the road information of a road relating to the absolute position calculated by the position calculation unit;

an existence probability calculation unit configured to calculate an existence probability of the moving object existing on the road from the absolute position and the error variance calculated by the position calculation unit, and the road information read out by the read-out unit;

a selection unit configured to select a position whose existence probability is maximum out of the existence probability calculated by the existence probability calculation unit; and

a map-matching processing unit configured to make the position selected by the selection unit a position of the moving object on the road.

2. The position detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position calculation unit comprises an error variance calculation unit configured to calculate the error variance of the error distributing like an ellipse whose center is the absolute position of the moving object, and the existence probability calculation unit comprises:

an axis calculation unit configured to calculate at least one of a long axis and a short axis with respect to the error variance calculated by the error variance calculation unit;

an intersection calculation unit configured to calculate an intersection between the road information read out by the read-out unit and at least one of the long axis and the short axis calculated by the axis calculation unit; and

an intersection-existence-probability calculation unit configured to calculate an existence probability from the absolute position of the moving object and the intersection calculated by the intersection calculation unit.

3. The position detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position calculation unit comprises an error variance calculation unit configured to calculate the error variance of the error distributing like an ellipse whose center is the absolute position of the moving object, and the existence probability calculation unit comprises:

a road-distribution-function calculation unit configured to calculate a road distribution function from the road information read out by the read-out unit; and

an overlap-part extraction unit configured to extract a part where the error variance calculated by the error-variance calculation unit and the road distribution function calculated by the road-distribution-function calculation unit overlap,

wherein the selection unit selects a most overlapping position on the road, based on the overlapping part extracted by the overlap-part extraction unit.

4. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium embodying a position detection program readable and performed by a computer of a position detection apparatus for deciding a position of a moving object on a road, the program, when executed by a computer, effects operations comprising:

storing map information including road information;

detecting information for calculating an absolute position of the moving object;

calculating the absolute position of the moving object and an error variance relating to an error of the moving object from the detected information;

reading out the road information of the road relating to the calculated absolute position from the stored map information;

calculating an existence probability of the moving object existing on the road from the calculated absolute position, the calculated error variance, and the read-out road information;

selecting a position whose existence probability is maximum out of the calculated existence probability; and

making the selected position the position of the moving object on the road.

5. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium according to claim 4, wherein the calculating the error variance comprises calculating the error variance of the error distributing like an ellipse whose center is the absolute position of the moving object, and the calculating the existence probability comprises:

calculating at least one of a long axis and a short axis with respect to the calculated error variance;

calculating an intersection between the read-out road information and at least one of the calculated long axis and the calculated short axis;

calculating an existence probability from the absolute position of the moving object and the calculated intersection;

selecting a position whose existence probability is maximum out of the calculated existence probability; and

making the selected position the position of the moving object on the road.

6. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium according to claim 4, wherein the calculating the error variance comprises calculating the error variance of the error distributing like an ellipse whose center is the absolute position of the moving object, and the calculating the existence probability comprises:

calculating a road distribution function from the read-out road information; and

extracting a part where the calculated error variance and the calculated road distribution function overlap,

wherein selecting the position comprising selecting a most overlapping position on the road, based on the overlapping part extracted by the extracting the part.

7. A position detection method performed by a computer, for deciding a position of a moving object on a road, the method comprising:

storing map information including road information;

detecting information for calculating an absolute position of the moving object;

calculating the absolute position of the moving object and an error variance relating to an error of the moving object from the detected information;

reading out the road information of the road relating to the calculated absolute position from the stored map information;

calculating an existence probability of the moving object existing on the road from the calculated absolute position, the calculated error variance, and the read-out road information;

selecting a position whose existence probability is maximum out of the calculated existence probability; and

making the selected position the position of the moving object on the road.

8. The position detection method according to claim 7, wherein the calculating the error variance comprises calculating the error variance of the error distributing like an ellipse whose center is the absolute position of the moving object, and the calculating the existence probability comprises:

calculating at least one of a long axis and a short axis with respect to the calculated error variance;

calculating an intersection between the read-out road information and at least one of the calculated long axis and the calculated short axis;

calculating an existence probability from the absolute position of the moving object and the calculated intersection;

selecting a position whose existence probability is maximum out of the calculated existence probability; and

making the selected position the position of the moving object on the road.

9. The position detection method according to claim 7, wherein the calculating the error variance comprises calculating the error variance of the error distributing like an ellipse whose center is the absolute position of the moving object, and the calculating the existence probability comprises:

calculating a road distribution function from the read-out road information; and

extracting a part where the calculated error variance and the calculated road distribution function overlap,

wherein selecting the position comprising selecting a most overlapping position on the road, based on the overlapping part extracted by the extracting the part.