Mapping road illumination

• US 9,651,390 B1
• Filed: 02/25/2016
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (HERE Holding Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (HERE Holding Corporation)
• Inventors: Thompson, Joshua, Zhao, Yunjie
• Primary Examiner(s): Frejd, Russell
• Application Number:
  US15/053,548
• Time in Patent Office: 446 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/1423 Automatic dimming circuits, i.e. switching between high beam and low beam due to change of ambient light or light level in road traffic
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/143 combined with another condition, e.g. using vehicle recognition from camera images or activation of wipers
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/32 Road surface or travel path
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/337 Tunnels or bridges
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/60 characterised by a variable light distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3602 Input other than that of destination using image analysis, e.g. detection of road signs, lanes, buildings, real preceding vehicles using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3815 Road data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3837 Data obtained from a single source
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• 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

Abstract

A method and apparatus for mapping road illumination. A server receives high beam data. The server receives roadway conditions. The server calculates a high beam frequency for a road segment based on the high beam data and the roadway conditions. The server calculates road illumination from the high beam frequency. The server augments a geographic database with road illumination information.

Claims

1. A method using vehicular high beam data to augment a geographic database, the method comprising:

receiving high beam data, wherein the high beam data is indicative of whether a vehicle'"'"'s high beams were active at a location on a road segment;

receiving one or more roadway conditions for the location;

calculating, by a processor, a high beam confidence value based on the high beam data and the one or more roadway conditions;

calculating, by the processor, a high beam frequency for the road segment based on a plurality of high beam confidence values for one or more locations on the road segment; and

augmenting, by the processor, the geographic database by including the high beam frequency for the road segment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the high beam data is not received from a vehicle operating during daylight hours.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway conditions include weather conditions occurring in the vicinity of vehicle'"'"'s location on the road segment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway conditions include a volume of vehicles at the location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the high beam confidence value is further based on a length of time the vehicle'"'"'s high beams are active.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the high beam confidence value is further based on the type of roadway for the location.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

estimating, by the processor, overhead illumination for the plurality of road segments based on the high beam frequency for the plurality of road segments.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating, by the processor, a route based on the estimated overhead illumination for the plurality of road segments.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, ambient light data, wherein the ambient light data is representative of the ambient light at the location.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

estimating, by the processor, overhead illumination for the plurality of road segments based on the ambient light data and the high beam frequency for the plurality of road segments.

11. A method using vehicular high beam data and ambient light data to estimate road illumination, the method comprising:

receiving high beam data from a plurality of devices;

receiving ambient light data from the plurality of devices;

calculating, by a processor, a high beam frequency for one or more road segments based on the high beam data;

calculating, by the processor, an ambient light value for the one or more road segments based on the ambient light data; and

generating, by the processor, an estimated road illumination value for the one or more road segments based on the high beam frequency and the ambient light value.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating an ambient light value includes removing contamination of the ambient light data caused by headlights of one or more passing cars.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating a high beam frequency includes removing one or more high beam events that do not meet a duration threshold.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

augmenting, by the processor, a geographic database including the estimated road illumination.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a request from a requestor for a route with illumination above an illumination threshold;

generating, by the processor, the route using the geographic database using one or more road segments with estimated road illumination above the illumination threshold; and

transmitting the route to the requestor.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

calculating, by the processor, a confidence value for the estimated road illumination based on the high beam frequency and the ambient light value.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the high beam data includes a time and location for when a high beam use was detected and a time and location for when the high beam use ended.

18. An apparatus for storing vehicular high beam data comprising:

a processor;

data storage that is operatively coupled to the processor;

road segment data entities stored in the data storage and accessible by the processor;

wherein the road segment data entities represent locations of a road network located in a geographic region wherein a high beam value or high beam frequency is calculated for a respective location of the road network based on high beam data from a plurality of devices; and

high beam data entities stored in the data storage and accessible by the processor, wherein each high beam data entity represents the high beam value or high beam frequency at the respective location.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

road illumination data entities stored in the data storage and accessible by the processor, wherein the road illumination data entities are derived from the high beam data entities and represent an illumination at the respective location.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a display coupled to the data storage and the processor;

wherein the display is operable to display the road network with the high beam frequency for one or more locations represented by the high beam data entities.

21. A method using vehicular high beam data to augment a geographic database, the method comprising:

receiving high beam data, wherein the high beam data is indicative of whether a vehicle'"'"'s high beams were active on a road segment;

calculating, by a processor, a high beam value or high beam frequency for the road segment based on the high beam data; and

augmenting, by the processor, the geographic database by including the high beam value or high beam frequency for the road segment.