Road sign recognition for connected vehicles

• US 10,762,363 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2018
• Issued: 09/01/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Watanabe, Kosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayat, Ali
• Application Number:
  US15/941,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20190303693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 382181
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0287 involving a plurality of land vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00, particularly anticollision systems G08G1/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/23 Clustering techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/762 using clustering, e.g. of similar faces in social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/582 of traffic signs
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09623 Systems involving the acquisition of information from passive traffic signs by means mounted on the vehicle G08G1/0967 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]

Abstract

The disclosure includes embodiments for providing road sign recognition for connected vehicles. In some embodiments, a method includes determining that a first set of first vehicles have assessed by that a content for a road sign is a first value. In some embodiments, the method includes determining that the content for the road sign is a second value assessed by a second set of second vehicles based, at least in part, on the first vehicles having a same make and model.

Claims

1. A method that is executed by an onboard vehicle computer system of an ego vehicle, the method comprising:

determining first content data from a first set of vehicles that describes content for a road sign;

determining second content data from a second set of vehicles that describes the content for the road sign; and

accepting the second content data as describing the content of the road sign based, at least in part, on a number of vehicles in the first set of vehicles having a same make and model exceeding a threshold value.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a first weight to the first content data based on the number of vehicles in the first set of vehicles exceeding the threshold value; and

assigning a second weight to the second content data based on a number of vehicles in the second set of vehicles failing to have the same make and model;

wherein accepting the second content data as describing the content of the road sign is further based on the second weight being greater than the first weight.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining a presence of a cluster of vehicles in the first set of vehicles having the same make and model responsive to the number of vehicles in the first set of vehicles exceeding the threshold value; and

lowering the first weight based on determining the presence of the cluster.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the ego vehicle is included in the first set of vehicles.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the ego vehicle included in the second set of vehicles.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the ego vehicle receives a Vehicle-to-Anything (V2X) message transmitted by a remote vehicle that includes sensor data that includes an image of the road sign.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining that the content for the road sign is the second content data based at least in part on the image of the road sign.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the first content data includes determining a type of road sign or a rule described by the road sign.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving sensor data from the first set of vehicles and the second set of vehicles, wherein the sensor data includes images of the road sign; and

comparing the sensor data to a sign database, wherein determining the first content data and the second content data is based on comparing the sensor data to the sign database.

10. An onboard vehicle computer system of an ego vehicle comprising:

a processor communicatively coupled to a non-transitory memory that stores computer code that is operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the processor to;

determine first content data from a first set of vehicles that describes content for a road sign;

determine second content data from a second set of vehicles that describes the content for the road sign; and

accept the second content data as describing the content of the road sign based, at least in part, on a number of vehicles in the first set of vehicles having a same make and model exceeding a threshold value.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the non-transitory memory stores additional computer code that is operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the processor to:

assign a first weight to the first content data based on the number of vehicles in the first set of vehicles exceeding the threshold value; and

assign a second weight to the second content data based on a number of second vehicles in the second set of vehicles failing to have the same make and model;

wherein accepting the second content data as describing the content of the road sign is further based on the second weight being greater than the first weight.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the non-transitory memory stores additional computer code that is operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the processor to:

determine a presence of a cluster of vehicles in the first set of vehicles having the same make and model responsive to the number of vehicles in the first set of vehicles exceeding the threshold value; and

lower the first weight based on determining the presence of the cluster.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the ego vehicle is included in the first set of vehicles.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the ego vehicle included in the second set of vehicles.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a Vehicle-to-Anything (V2X) radio communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the V2X radio is operable to receive a V2X message transmitted by a remote vehicle that includes sensor data that includes an image of the road sign.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein determining the first content data includes determining a type of road sign or a rule described by the road sign.

17. A non-transitory computer program product that is an element of an onboard system of an ego vehicle comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining first content data from a first set of vehicles that describes content for a road sign;

determining second content data from a second set of vehicles that describes the content for the road sign; and

accepting the second content data as describing the content of the road sign based, at least in part, on a number of vehicles in the first set of vehicles having a same make and model exceeding a threshold value.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

assigning a first weight to the first content data based on the number of vehicles in the first set of vehicles exceeding the threshold value; and

assigning a second weight to the second content data based on a number of second vehicles in the second set of vehicles failing to have the same make and model;

wherein accepting the second content data as describing the content of the road sign is further based on the second weight being greater than the first weight.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the ego vehicle includes an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS system) and the ADAS system of the ego vehicle receives digital data describing the determination of the second content data of the road sign generated by the computer program product and uses the determination of the second content data of the road sign to control an ADAS function of the ego vehicle.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the ego vehicle is an autonomous vehicle and the onboard system of the autonomous vehicle receives digital data describing the determination of the second content data of the road sign generated by the computer program product and uses the determination of the second content data of the road sign to autonomously control an operation of the autonomous vehicle.