Lane monitoring with electronic horizon
First Claim
1. Apparatus for a vehicle operated on a roadway having lane markers, comprising:
- an optical sensor providing optical data of the roadway;
a first lane model stored in an electronic memory in response to detected lane markers in the optical data;
an electronic horizon system tracking a position of the vehicle and providing roadway data in response to the position, wherein the electronic horizon system includes a map database representing the roadway as a plurality of segments along a pathline;
a second lane model stored in the electronic memory in response to the roadway data;
a confidence checker comparing a discrepancy between the first and second lane models to a threshold in order to determine a confidence level; and
an output selector that selects the first lane model when lane markers are detected in the optical data, and that selects the second lane model if the lane markers are not detected in the optical data and the confidence level is greater than a predetermined level;
wherein the confidence checker a) determines a point on the pathline closest to the vehicle, b) determines a pathline heading in response to a direction of the pathline at the closest point, c) determines a lateral offset distance between the vehicle and the closest point, d) determines a virtual offset distance by shifting the pathline according to a difference between the lateral offset distance of the pathline and a lane marker offset distance from the first lane model, and e) determines the discrepancy in response to a difference between the lateral offset distance and the lane marker offset for a plurality of time samples.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for a vehicle operated on a roadway having lane markers includes an optical sensor providing optical data of the roadway. A first lane model is stored in an electronic memory in response to detected lane markers in the optical data. An electronic horizon system tracks a position of the vehicle and provides roadway data in response to the position. A second lane model is stored in the electronic memory in response to the roadway data. A confidence checker compares a discrepancy between the first and second lane models to a threshold in order to determine a confidence level. An output selector selects the first lane model when lane markers are detected in the optical data, and selects the second lane model if the lane markers are not detected in the optical data and the confidence level is greater than a predetermined level.
54 Citations
15 Claims
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1. Apparatus for a vehicle operated on a roadway having lane markers, comprising:
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an optical sensor providing optical data of the roadway; a first lane model stored in an electronic memory in response to detected lane markers in the optical data; an electronic horizon system tracking a position of the vehicle and providing roadway data in response to the position, wherein the electronic horizon system includes a map database representing the roadway as a plurality of segments along a pathline; a second lane model stored in the electronic memory in response to the roadway data; a confidence checker comparing a discrepancy between the first and second lane models to a threshold in order to determine a confidence level; and an output selector that selects the first lane model when lane markers are detected in the optical data, and that selects the second lane model if the lane markers are not detected in the optical data and the confidence level is greater than a predetermined level; wherein the confidence checker a) determines a point on the pathline closest to the vehicle, b) determines a pathline heading in response to a direction of the pathline at the closest point, c) determines a lateral offset distance between the vehicle and the closest point, d) determines a virtual offset distance by shifting the pathline according to a difference between the lateral offset distance of the pathline and a lane marker offset distance from the first lane model, and e) determines the discrepancy in response to a difference between the lateral offset distance and the lane marker offset for a plurality of time samples. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of detecting a lane position of a vehicle on a roadway, comprising the steps of:
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maintaining a first lane model based on optical sensor data, wherein the first lane model includes a lane heading and a lane marker offset distance; maintaining a second lane model based on monitored vehicle position and a map database, wherein the second lane model includes a pathline heading and a virtual offset distance; obtaining a pathline representing the roadway from the map database; determining a point on the pathline closest to the vehicle; determining the pathline heading in response to a direction of the pathline at the closest point; determining a lateral offset distance between the vehicle and the closest point; determining the virtual offset distance by shifting the pathline according to a difference between the lateral offset distance of the pathline and the lane marker offset distance of the first lane model; evaluating a similarity of the models; and selecting an active lane model in response to whether lane markers are being detected in the optical sensor data and whether the similarity is above a predetermined similarity. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. Apparatus for a vehicle operated on a roadway having lane markers, comprising:
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an optical sensor providing optical data of the roadway; a first lane model stored in an electronic memory in response to detected lane markers in the optical data; an electronic horizon system tracking a position of the vehicle and providing roadway data in response to the position; a second lane model stored in the electronic memory in response to the roadway data; a confidence checker comparing a discrepancy between the first and second lane models to a threshold in order to determine a confidence level; and an output selector that selects the first lane model when lane markers are detected in the optical data, and that selects the second lane model if the lane markers are not detected in the optical data and the confidence level is greater than a predetermined level; wherein the first lane model includes an optical heading (φ
Lane), wherein the second lane model includes an electronic horizon heading (φ
EH), and wherein the discrepancy compared by the confidence checker to the threshold is comprised of an absolute value of a difference φ
EH−
φ
Lane.
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15. Apparatus for a vehicle operated on a roadway having lane markers, comprising:
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an optical sensor providing optical data of the roadway; a first lane model stored in an electronic memory in response to detected lane markers in the optical data; an electronic horizon system tracking a position of the vehicle and providing roadway data in response to the position; a second lane model stored in the electronic memory in response to the roadway data; a confidence checker comparing a discrepancy between the first and second lane models to a threshold in order to determine a confidence level; and an output selector that selects the first lane model when lane markers are detected in the optical data, and that selects the second lane model if the lane markers are not detected in the optical data and the confidence level is greater than a predetermined level; wherein the first lane model includes an optical vehicle to lane offset distance (dLane), wherein the second lane model includes an electronic horizon vehicle to pathline offset distance (dEH), and wherein the discrepancy compared by the confidence checker to the threshold is comprised of a variance of dEH−
dLane.
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Specification