Road information generating apparatus, road information generating method, and road information generating program

• US 20090012709A1
• Filed: 06/24/2008
• Published: 01/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Miyazaki, Hideto
• Granted Patent: US 8,209,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/223
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3815 Road data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3822 Road feature data, e.g. slope data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3848 Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30256 Lane; Road marking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• 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

Host vehicle location information that indicates the location of a host vehicle is acquired, image information that includes the road along which the host vehicle is traveling is acquired, a host vehicle travel lane in which the host vehicle is traveling is detected based on the image information, lane information that indicates the position of the host vehicle travel lane is generated based on the host vehicle location information, and this lane information is registered on a storage medium.

Claims

1. A road information generating apparatus, comprising:

a host vehicle location information acquiring unit that acquires host vehicle location information that indicates a location of a host vehicle;

an image information acquiring unit that acquires image information that includes a road along which the host vehicle is traveling;

a host vehicle travel lane detecting unit that detects a host vehicle travel lane in which the host vehicle is traveling based on the image information; and

a lane information registering unit that determines whether or not lane information that indicates a position of the host vehicle travel lane is registered on a storage medium, and in the case in which the lane information is not registered, generates lane information that indicates the position of the host vehicle travel lane based on the host vehicle location information, and registers the generated lane information on the storage medium.

2. The road information generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the host vehicle travel lane detecting unit detects the host vehicle travel lane and other lane by extracting an image of a boundary of the lanes based on the image information, and

the lane information registering unit generates lane information that indicates the position of the host vehicle travel lane and the relationship between the host vehicle travel lane and the other lane.

3. The road information generating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the lane information registering unit acquires a center position of the host vehicle travel lane in a direction transverse of the road based on the image information, and registers the center position as the position of the host vehicle travel lane.

4. The road information generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the lane information registering unit acquires a center position of the host vehicle travel lane in a direction transverse to the road based on the image information, and registers the center position as the position of the host vehicle travel lane.

5. A road information generating method, comprising the steps of:

acquiring host vehicle location information that indicates a location of a host vehicle;

acquiring image information that includes a road along which the host vehicle is traveling;

detecting a host vehicle travel lane in which the host vehicle is traveling based on the image information; and

determining whether or not lane information that indicates a position of the host vehicle travel lane is registered on a storage medium and, in the case in which the lane information is not registered, generating lane information that indicates the position of the host vehicle travel lane based on the host vehicle location information, and registering the generated lane information on the storage medium.

6. A computer-readable medium having encoded thereon a road information generating program that makes a computer function as:

a host vehicle location information acquiring unit that acquires host vehicle information that indicates location of a host vehicle;

an image information acquiring unit that acquires image information that includes a road along which the host vehicle is traveling;

a host vehicle travel lane detecting unit that detects the a host vehicle travel lane in which the host vehicle is traveling based on the image information; and

a lane information registering unit that determines whether or not lane information that indicates a position of the host vehicle travel lane is registered on a storage medium, and in the case in which lane information is not registered, generates lane information that indicates the position of the host vehicle travel lane based on the host vehicle location information, and registers the generated lane information on the storage medium.