Vehicle position detection device and program

• US 9,557,180 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd. (Faurecia SA)
• Original Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd. (Faurecia SA)
• Inventors: Okada, Kazuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kong, Sze-Hon
• Application Number:
  US14/404,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20150338222A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,372 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/10 by using measurements of speed or acceleration G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/10 Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids optical projection apparatus per se G03B

Abstract

Free state determination at a high precision is made by using a simpler mechanism. A vehicle position detection device is configured to: store conditional probability information which associates each of values to be taken in vehicle information on a state of an own vehicle, a matching conditional probability that the value occurs in a matching state, and a free conditional probability that the value occurs in a free state; use the conditional probability information to acquire the matching conditional probability and the free conditional probability corresponding to the acquired value of the vehicle information; calculate a probability index in the matching state and a probability index in the free state based on the conditional probabilities; and determine which state is to be selected based on the probability index in the matching state and the probability index in the free state.

Claims

1. A vehicle position detection device, comprising:

a vehicle information acquisition part configured to acquire vehicle information on a state of an own vehicle;

a current position of the own vehicle is determined using a GPS device;

a conditional probability information storage part configured to store conditional probability information associating each of values to be taken in the vehicle information, a matching conditional probability that the each of the values occurs in a matching state where a position of the vehicle is map-matched to a link, and a free conditional probability that the each of the values occurs in a free state where the position of the vehicle is not map-matched to a link with one another;

a probability index calculation part configured to acquire, using the conditional probability information, the matching conditional probability and the free conditional probability corresponding to a value of the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition part, to calculate a probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability, and to calculate a probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability; and

a state determination part configured to determine whether the free state or the matching state is to be selected based on the probability index in the matching state and the probability index in the free state calculated by the probability index calculation part, wherein

when the free state is determined, a position calculated as a current position of the own vehicle is output to a display device, and

when the matching state is determined a map matching position of the own vehicle is output as a current position of the own vehicle to the display device.

2. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 1, wherein:

the conditional probability information is acquired by partitioning the values to be taken in the vehicle information into one or more ranges, and associating, for each partitioned range, the matching conditional probability that a value included in the partitioned range occurs in the matching state and the free conditional probability that the value included in the partitioned range occurs in the free state with the partitioned range; and

the probability index calculation part is configured to acquire, using the conditional probability information, the matching conditional probability and the free conditional probability corresponding to a range including the value of the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition part.

3. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 1, wherein:

the vehicle information acquisition part is configured to acquire one or more pieces of vehicle information;

the conditional probability information storage part is configured to store the conditional probability information for each of the one or more pieces of vehicle information; and

the probability index calculation part is configured to acquire the matching conditional probability and the free conditional probability for each of the one or more pieces of vehicle information, to calculate the probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability for each of the one or more pieces of vehicle information, and to calculate the probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability for each of the one or more pieces of vehicle information.

4. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 1, further comprising a transition probability information storage part configured to store, for each relationship of a state transition, including a transition to the same state, between the matching state and the free state, a transition probability that the state transition of the relationship occurs,

wherein the probability index calculation part is configured to calculate the probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability and the acquired transition probability of the transition to the matching state, and to calculate the probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability and the acquired transition probability of the transition to the free state.

5. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 4, wherein the probability index calculation part is configured to:

acquire, when the state previously selected by the state determination part is the matching state, the transition probability from the matching state to the matching state, and the transition probability from the matching state to the free state; and

acquire, when the state previously selected by the state determination part is the free state, the transition probability from the free state to the free state, and the transition probability from the free state to the matching state.

6. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 4, further comprising an occurrence probability information storage part configured to store a matching occurrence probability that the matching state occurs in a predetermined period and a free occurrence probability that the free state occurs in the predetermined period,

wherein the probability index calculation part is configured to calculate the probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability, the acquired transition probability of the transition to the matching state, and the acquired matching occurrence probability, and to calculate the probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability, the acquired transition probability of the transition to the free state, and the acquired free occurrence probability.

7. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle information comprises at least one of a position error, a direction error, a likelihood, a number of times of continuous GPS positioning, a GPS signal strength, a vehicle speed, an altitude, or a road surface inclination angle.

8. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 1, wherein the probability index calculation part is configured to select the vehicle information used for calculating the probability index, or to correct the value of the vehicle information depending on the state of the own vehicle.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program for a vehicle position detection device, which when executed causes a processor to:

acquire vehicle information on a state of an own vehicle;

determine the current position of the own vehicle using a GPS device;

store conditional probability information associating each of values to be taken in the vehicle information, a matching conditional probability that the each of the values occurs in a matching state where a position of the vehicle is map-matched to a link, and a free conditional probability that the each of the values occurs in a free state where the position of the vehicle is not map-matched to a link with one another;

a acquire, using the conditional probability information, the matching conditional probability and the free conditional probability corresponding to a value of the vehicle information acquired, to calculate a probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability, and to calculate a probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability; and

determine whether the free state or the matching state is to be selected based on the probability index in the matching state and the probability index in the free state calculated by the probability index calculation part, wherein

when the free state is determined, the processor outputs to a display device a position calculated as a current position of the own vehicle, and

when the matching state is determined, the processor outputs to the display device a map matching position of the own vehicle as a current position of the own vehicle.

10. A vehicle position detection device, comprising:

a processor configured to acquire vehicle information on a state of an own vehicle, wherein the processor is also configured to determine the current position of the own vehicle using a GPS device;

store conditional probability information associating each of values to be taken in the vehicle information, a matching conditional probability that the each of the values occurs in a matching state where a position of the vehicle is map-matched to a link, and a free conditional probability that the each of the values occurs in a free state where the position of the vehicle is not map-matched to a link with one another;

acquire, using the conditional probability information, the matching conditional probability and the free conditional probability corresponding to a value of the vehicle information, to calculate a probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability, and to calculate a probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability; and

determine whether the free state or the matching state is to be selected based on the probability index in the matching state and the probability index in the free state,

when the free state is determined, the processor outputs to a display device a position calculated as a current position of the own vehicle, and

when the matching state is determined, the processor outputs to the display device a map matching position of the own vehicle as a current position of the own vehicle.

11. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 10, wherein:

the conditional probability information is acquired by partitioning the values to be taken in the vehicle information into one or more ranges, and associating, for each partitioned range, the matching conditional probability that a value included in the partitioned range occurs in the matching state and the free conditional probability that the value included in the partitioned range occurs in the free state with the partitioned range; and

the processor also acquires, using the conditional probability information, the matching conditional probability and the free conditional probability corresponding to a range including the value of the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition part.

12. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 10, wherein:

the processor acquires one or more pieces of vehicle information;

the processor stores the conditional probability information for each of the one or more pieces of vehicle information; and

the processor acquires the matching conditional probability and the free conditional probability for each of the one or more pieces of vehicle information, to calculate the probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability for each of the one or more pieces of vehicle information, and to calculate the probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability for each of the one or more pieces of vehicle information.

13. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 10, wherein the processor stores, for each relationship of a state transition, including a transition to the same state, between the matching state and the free state, a transition probability that the state transition of the relationship occurs,

wherein the processor calculates the probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability and the acquired transition probability of the transition to the matching state, and to calculate the probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability and the acquired transition probability of the transition to the free state.

14. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 13, wherein the processor is also configured to:

acquire, when the state previously selected is the matching state, the transition probability from the matching state to the matching state, and the transition probability from the matching state to the free state; and

acquire, when the state previously selected is the free state, the transition probability from the free state to the free state, and the transition probability from the free state to the matching state.

15. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 13, wherein the processor also stores a matching occurrence probability that the matching state occurs in a predetermined period and a free occurrence probability that the free state occurs in the predetermined period,

wherein the processor calculates the probability index in the matching state based on the acquired matching conditional probability, the acquired transition probability of the transition to the matching state, and the acquired matching occurrence probability, and to calculate the probability index in the free state based on the acquired free conditional probability, the acquired transition probability of the transition to the free state, and the acquired free occurrence probability.

16. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 10, wherein the vehicle information comprises at least one of a position error, a direction error, a likelihood, a number of times of continuous GPS positioning, a GPS signal strength, a vehicle speed, an altitude, or a road surface inclination angle.

17. The vehicle position detection device according to claim 10, wherein the processor selects the vehicle information used for calculating the probability index, or to correct the value of the vehicle information depending on the state of the own vehicle.