ROAD LANE MARKER DETECTION APPARATUS AND ROAD LANE MARKER DETECTION METHOD

• US 20100188507A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: TAMAOKI, Tomoyasu, KAGEYAMA, Shioya
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• 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 road lane marker detection apparatus includes an imaging portion that captures an image of the road surface such that a first road lane marker and a second road lane marker are captured in the image; a feature point obtaining portion that obtains feature points of the road lane markers; a storing portion that stores the feature points obtained; and a lane marker detecting portion that detects the road lane markers. The storing portion includes a first storage area in which the feature points of the first road lane marker are stored and a second storage area in which the feature points of the second road lane marker are stored. The number of feature points able to be stored in the first storage area and the number of feature points able to be stored in the second storage area are set independently of one another.

Claims

1. A road lane marker detection apparatus which detects a road lane marker on a road, comprising:

an imaging portion that captures an image of the road surface such that a first road lane marker provided on the left side of a lane to demarcate the left side of the lane and a second road lane marker provided on the right side of the lane to demarcate the right side of the lane are captured in the image;

a feature point obtaining portion that obtains feature points of the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker based on the captured image obtained by the imaging portion;

a storing portion that stores the feature points obtained by the feature point obtaining portion; and

a lane marker detecting portion that detects the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker based on the feature points read from the storing portion,

wherein the storing portion includes a first storage area in which the feature points of the first road lane marker are stored and a second storage area in which the feature points of the second road lane marker are stored, and the number of feature points able to be stored in the first storage area and the number of feature points able to be stored in the second storage area are set independently of one another.

2. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of the first road lane marker or the second road lane marker is formed by raised road markers, and the other is formed by a white line or a yellow line.

3. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of the first road lane marker or the second road lane marker is formed by Botts'"'"' dots or cat'"'"'s eyes, and the other is formed by a white line or a yellow line.

4. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feature point obtaining portion includes a continuous searching portion;

and the continuous searching portion searches for the feature points in each row of pixels in the width direction of the road in a predetermined region that includes the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker in the captured image, and searches the rows of pixels continuously in the length direction of the road.

5. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the feature point obtaining portion performs a morphological operation to search for the feature points.

6. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the feature point obtaining portion searches for the feature points in each row of pixels from a farthest portion to a nearest portion in the predetermined region.

7. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the feature point obtaining portion further includes a discontinuous searching portion;

and the discontinuous searching portion searches for the feature points in each row of pixels in the predetermined region and searches the rows of pixels discontinuously in the length direction of the road, and the intervals of the rows of pixels searched by the discontinuous searching portion gradually become wider from the farthest portion toward the nearest portion.

8. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the lane marker detecting portion detects the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker based on the feature points obtained from the search for the feature points conducted by the discontinuous searching portion of the feature point obtaining portion;

and when at least one of the first road lane marker or the second road lane marker is unable to be detected by the search for the feature points conducted by the discontinuous searching portion of the feature point obtaining portion, the continuous searching portion searches for the feature points of only the at least one of the first road lane marker or the second road lane marker unable to be detected by the search for the feature points conducted by the discontinuous searching portion of the feature point obtaining portion.

9. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first storage area and the second storage area each have a storage capacity capable of storing all of the feature points that are searched for when the feature points searched for by the continuous searching portion are feature points of a road lane marker formed by a white line or a yellow line.

10. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the road lane marker detection apparatus is provided in a vehicle;

and information related to the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker detected by the lane marker detecting portion is used to control the vehicle with respect to the lane that the vehicle is traveling in.

11. A road lane marker detection apparatus which detects a road lane marker on a road, comprising:

an imaging portion that captures an image of the road surface such that a first road lane marker provided on the left side of a lane to demarcate the left side of the lane and a second road lane marker provided on the right side of the lane to demarcate the right side of the lane are captured in the image;

a feature point obtaining portion that obtains feature points of the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker based on the captured image obtained by the imaging portion;

a managing portion that manages the feature points obtained by the feature point obtaining portion divided into feature points of the first road lane marker and feature points of the second road lane marker; and

a lane marker detecting portion that detects the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker based on the feature points of the first road lane marker and the feature points of the second road lane marker managed by the managing portion.

12. The road lane marker detection apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the managing portion is provided with a storing portion which includes a first storage area in which the feature points of the first road lane marker are stored and a second storage area in which the feature points of the second road lane marker are stored, and in which the number of feature points able to be stored in the first storage area and the number of feature points able to be stored in the second storage area are set independently of one another;

and the lane marker detecting portion detects the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker based on the feature points read from the storing portion.

13. A road lane marker detection method for detecting a road lane marker on a road, comprising:

capturing an image of the road surface such that a first road lane marker provided on the left side of a lane to demarcate the left side of the lane and a second road lane marker provided on the right side of the lane to demarcate the right side of the lane are captured in the image;

obtaining feature points of the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker based on the obtained captured image;

storing the obtained feature points divided into feature points of the first road lane marker that are stored in a first storage area and feature points of the second road lane marker that are stored in a second storage area;

setting the number of feature points able to be stored in the first storage area and the number of feature points able to be stored in the second storage area independently of one another; and

detecting the first road lane marker and the second road lane marker based on the stored feature points.