Image recognition processing device, method, and program for processing of image information obtained by imaging the surrounding area of a vehicle

• US 8,379,923 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2008
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Tomoaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehta, Bhavesh
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANSARI, TAHMINA N
• Application Number:
  US12/292,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20090169055A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,560 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/104
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3815 Road data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3837 Data obtained from a single source
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3848 Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors

Abstract

A feature information collecting device includes: a feature image recognizing unit that performs image recognition processing of a feature included in image information in a surrounding area of a vehicle; a construction information obtaining unit that obtains construction information including information of a construction section; a construction information storage unit that stores the obtained construction information; a construction completion determining unit that determines, when the vehicle travels a section of a road corresponding to a construction section according to the already stored construction information, completion of construction indicated by the construction information; and a feature learning unit that causes the feature image recognizing unit to perform image recognition processing of a feature in a construction section according to the construction information when the completion of construction is determined, and that generates, based on an image recognition result thereof and the vehicle position information, learned feature information including position information and attribute information of an image-recognized feature.

Claims

1. A feature information collecting device, comprising:

a vehicle position information obtaining unit that obtains vehicle position information representing a current position of a vehicle;

an image information obtaining unit that obtains image information in a surrounding area of the vehicle;

a feature image recognizing unit that performs image recognition processing of a feature included in the image information;

a construction information obtaining unit that obtains construction information including information of a construction section;

a construction information storage unit that stores the construction information obtained by the construction information obtaining unit;

a construction completion determining unit that determines, when the vehicle travels a section of a road corresponding to a construction section according to the construction information already stored in the construction information storage unit, completion of construction indicated by the construction information;

a feature learning unit that causes the feature image recognizing unit to perform image recognition processing of a feature in a construction section according to the construction information when the completion of construction is determined by the construction completion determining unit, and that generates, based on an image recognition result thereof and the vehicle position information, learned feature information including position information and attribute information of an image-recognized feature; and

a feature database that stores initial feature information including position information and attribute information which are prepared in advance for a plurality of features, wherein

the feature learning unit causes the feature image recognizing unit to perform image recognition in the construction section giving priority to a feature of a same type as a feature according to the initial feature information having position information in the construction section.

2. The feature information collecting device according to claim 1, wherein

the construction information obtaining unit includes a construction information receiving unit that receives the construction information from a transmitter disposed outside of the vehicle.

3. The feature information collecting device according to claim 1, wherein

the construction information obtaining unit includes a construction image recognizing unit that performs image recognition processing of a construction symbol included in the image information obtained by the image information obtaining unit, and a construction information generating unit that generates the construction information based on an image recognition result of a construction symbol by the construction image recognizing unit.

4. The feature information collecting device according to claim 3, wherein

the construction image recognizing unit performs image recognition processing of at least one of a construction notice sign, a construction fence, a construction barricade, a security light, a cone, and a construction guide human model as the construction symbol.

5. The feature information collecting device according to claim 3, wherein

the construction information generating unit sets a predetermined section with reference to a recognition position of the construction symbol as information of the construction section included in the construction information.

6. The feature information collecting device according to claim 5, wherein

when construction symbols are included in image information of a plurality of consecutive frames, the construction information generating unit sets a start point of the construction section with reference to a recognition position of a first construction symbol included in image information of a front side of the vehicle, and sets an end point of the construction section with reference to a recognition position of a last construction symbol included in image information of a rear side of the vehicle.

7. The feature information collecting device according to claim 3, wherein

when a construction notice sign is image-recognized as the construction symbol by the construction image recognizing unit and a construction section is recognized based on an image recognition result of the construction notice sign, the construction information generating unit sets information of a construction section included in the construction information according to a recognition result of the construction section.

8. The feature information collecting device according to claim 1, wherein

when the vehicle travels a section of a road corresponding to a construction section according to the construction information already stored in the construction information storage unit, the construction completion determining unit determines that construction indicated by the construction information is completed when construction information including a same construction section is not obtained by the construction information obtaining unit.

9. The feature information collecting device according to claim 1, wherein

when the construction information includes information of a construction period, the construction completion determining unit determines that construction indicated by the construction information is completed if the construction period according to the construction information is over when the vehicle travels a section of a road corresponding to a construction section according to the construction information already stored in the construction information storage unit.

10. The feature information collecting device according to claim 1, wherein

when the vehicle does not travel a section of a road corresponding to a construction section according to the construction information already stored in the construction information storage unit for a predetermined time period, the construction information is deleted from the construction information storage unit.

11. The feature information collecting device according to claim 1, wherein the feature learning unit comprises:

a recognition result storage unit that stores recognition position information, which represents a recognition position of a feature by the feature image recognition unit and is obtained based on the vehicle position information, and attribute information of the feature in an associated manner;

an estimated position determining unit that determines, based on a plurality of the recognition position information for a same feature, which are stored in the recognition result storage unit due to the same feature being image-recognized a plurality of times, an estimated position of the feature; and

a learned feature information generating unit that generates learned feature information by associating position information representing an estimated position of each feature determined by the estimated position determining unit with attribute information of the feature.

12. The feature information collecting device according to claim 1, wherein

the feature learning unit compares an image recognition result of a feature by the feature image recognizing unit with the initial feature information having position information in the construction section and changes a generating condition for the learned feature information according to a degree of approximation therebetween.

13. The feature information collecting device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a database that stores the learned feature information.

14. A vehicle position recognizing device, comprising:

a feature information collecting device according to claim 1; and

a vehicle position correcting unit that checks an image recognition result of a feature by the feature image recognizing unit with the learned feature information for the feature and corrects the vehicle position information.

15. A navigation device, comprising:

a vehicle position recognizing device according to claim 14;

a map database in which map information is stored;

an application program that operates referring to the map information; and

a guidance information output unit that operates according to the application program and outputs guidance information.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a feature information collecting program, the program comprising:

instructions for obtaining vehicle position information representing a current position of a vehicle;

instructions for obtaining image information in a surrounding area of the vehicle;

instruction for performing image recognition processing of a feature included in the image information;

instruction for obtaining construction information including information of a construction section;

instruction for storing the obtained construction information in a construction information storage unit;

instruction for determining, when travels a section of a road corresponding to a construction section according to the construction information already stored in the construction information storage unit, completion of construction indicated by the construction information;

instruction for performing recognition processing of a feature in a construction section according to the construction information when the completion of construction is determined, and generating, based on an image recognition result thereof and the vehicle position information, learned feature information including position information and attribute information of an image-recognized feature;

instructions for accessing stored initial feature information including position information and attribute information which are prepared in advance for a plurality of features; and

instructions for performing image recognition in the construction section giving priority to a feature of a same type as a feature according to the initial feature information having position information in the construction section.