Lane correction system, lane correction apparatus and method of correcting lane

• US 9,257,043 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2013
• Issued: 02/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Innotek Company Limited (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Innotek Company Limited (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Woo, Jeong Woo, Kim, Ki Dae
• Primary Examiner(s): Harold, Jefferey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rahman, Mustafizur
• Application Number:
  US13/755,855
• Publication Number:
  US 20140063251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 348/148, 348/149, 348/142, 348/130, 348/173, 348/120, 348/118, 348/116, 348/135, 348/94, 348/63, 348/50, 348/49, 348/211.8, 348/211.9, 348/211.14, 348/227.1, 348/230.1, 348/231.3, 348/231.5, 348/231.9, 348/236, 348/237, 348/238, 348/260, 348/294, 348/425.2, 348/466, 348/608, 348/636, 348/658, 348/680, 348/693, 348/706, 348/714, 348/725, 348/837, 340/905, 340/904, 340/903, 340/902, 340/928, 340/933, 340/988, 340/989, 340/992, 340/993, 340/994, 340/435, 382/103, 382/104
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0967 Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

The embodiment provides a method of correcting a lane. The method includes receiving first lane information detected by a lane departure warning system; comparing the received first lane information with previously stored second lane information to identify a degree of variation of a lane as a function for time; sensing whether a fault detection of the received first lane information exists according to the identified degree of variation of the lane; correcting the received first lane information when the fault detection of the first lane information is sensed; and transmitting the corrected lane information to the lane departure warning system.

Claims

1. A lane correction system comprising:

an image acquisition apparatus for acquiring a forward image in front of a vehicle;

a lane detection apparatus for receiving the forward image from the image acquisition apparatus to detect lane information based on the forward image; and

a lane correction apparatus for receiving first lane information detected at a present time from the lane detection apparatus and for sensing whether a fault detection of the first lane information exists by comparing the first lane information with a second lane information which is previously stored,

wherein the lane correction apparatus corrects the first lane information when the fault detection is sensed in the first lane information and transfers the corrected first lane information to the lane detection apparatus;

wherein the lane correction apparatus detects a feature of the first lane information by using the received first and second lane information, and senses whether the fault detection of the first lane information exists by using the detected feature; and

wherein the feature includes a degree of variation of a lane information as a function of time.

2. The lane correction system of claim 1, wherein the second lane information is reference lane information generated based on lane information transferred from the lane detection apparatus during a predetermined time in past, and the lane correction apparatus generates the second lane information by using the first lane information detected through the lane detection apparatus during a predetermined time from a present time point.

3. The lane correction system of claim 1, wherein the first lane information and the second lane information include information about at least one of a left lane angle, a right lane angle, a top end lane width, and a bottom end lane width.

4. The lane correction system of claim 3, wherein the feature of the lane information includes at least one of a variation value of the left lane angle, a variation value of the right lane angle, a variation value of the top end lane width, and a variation value of the bottom end lane width created based on a difference between the first lane information and the second lane information, and

wherein the lane correction apparatus corrects the first lane information when at least one of the variation values is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

5. The lane correction system of claim 3, wherein the lane correction apparatus initiates the previously stored second lane information to regenerate the second lane information when the fault detection of the first lane information is repeated for a predetermined number of times or more.

20. The lane correction system of claim 1, wherein the lane correction apparatus identifies whether the degree of variation of the lane information as the function of time is equal to a threshold value or below.

6. A lane correction apparatus comprising:

a lane information transceiving unit connected to a lane departure warning system for receiving first lane information detected by the lane departure warning system;

a lane feature generating unit for comparing the first lane information received at a present time point through the lane information transceiving unit with second lane information previously stored in order to generate a feature of the first lane information according to a comparison result;

a lane fault detection sensing unit for identifying a degree of variation of a lane varying as a function for time based on the feature of the first lane information generated through the lane feature generating unit, and for sensing whether a fault detection of the first lane information exists based on the identified degree of variation; and

a lane information correcting unit for correcting a fault-detected first lane information when the fault detection of the first lane information is sensed through the lane fault detection sensing unit, and for transferring the corrected first lane information to the lane departure warning system.

7. The lane correction apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a reference lane information generating unit for generating the second lane information by using a plurality of first lane information detected by the lane departure warning system during a predetermine time,

wherein the reference lane information generating unit generates the second lane information by using the plurality of first lane information when the second lane information does not exist at a time point of receiving the first lane information.

8. The lane correction apparatus of claim 7, wherein the reference lane information generating unit updates the second lane information by using a normally detected first lane information when a normal detection of the first lane information is sensed.

9. The lane correction apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first lane information and the second lane information include information about at least one of a left lane angle, a right lane angle, a top end lane width, and a bottom end lane width.

10. The lane correction apparatus of claim 9, wherein the lane fault detection sensing apparatus detects a feature of the first lane information by using the received first and second lane information, and senses whether the fault detection of the first lane information exists by using the detected feature, and

wherein the feature of the lane information includes at least one of a variation value of the left lane angle, a variation value of the right lane angle, a variation value of the top end lane width, and a variation value of the bottom end lane width created based on a difference between the first lane information and the second lane information.

11. The lane correction apparatus of claim 10, wherein the lane fault detection sensing unit senses the fault detection of the first lane information when at least one of the variation values is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

12. The lane correction apparatus of claim 10, wherein the reference lane generating unit initiates the previously stored second lane information to regenerate the second lane information when the fault detection of the first lane information is repeated for a predetermined number of times or more.

13. A method of correcting a lane, the method comprising:

receiving first lane information detected by a lane departure warning system;

comparing the received first lane information with previously stored second lane information to identify a degree of variation of a lane as a function for time;

sensing whether a fault detection of the received first lane information exists according to the identified degree of variation of the lane;

correcting the received first lane information when the fault detection of the first lane information is sensed; and

transmitting the corrected lane information to the lane departure warning system.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating the second lane information by using a plurality of first lane information detected by the lane departure warning system during a predetermine time.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the generating of the second lane information comprises:

identifying a feature of the plurality of first lane information;

determining whether the plurality of first lane information is normally detected based on the identified feature; and

registering the first lane information received at a latest time point as the second lane information when the plurality of first lane information is normally detected.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first lane information and the second lane information include information about at least one of a left lane angle, a right lane angle, a top end lane width, and a bottom end lane width.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the identifying of the degree of variation of the lane includes identifying at least one of a variation value of the left lane angle, a variation value of the right lane angle, a variation value of the top end lane width, and a variation value of the bottom end lane width created based on a difference between the first lane information and the second lane information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the sensing of the fault detection includes sensing the fault detection of the first lane information when at least one of the variation values is greater than a predetermined threshold value, and

wherein the correcting of the received first lane information includes changing the first lane information into the second lane information when the first lane information is fault-detected.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

initiating the previously stored second lane information to regenerate the second lane information when the fault detection of the first lane information is repeated for a predetermined number of times or more.