Driving safety system and barrier screening method thereof

• US 9,478,139 B2
• Filed: 12/25/2014
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Original Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Inventors: Hsu, Ping-Min, Li, Ming-Hung
• Primary Examiner(s): Shafi, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US14/583,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20160189547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 670 Days
• Field of Search: 701/431, 701/301, 701/302, 701/32.2, 701/428, 701/437, 701/448, 701/116, 340/937, 340/4.37, 340/4.4
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/022 Collision avoidance systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/12 for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/22 initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle , or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93271 in the front of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/256 of results relating to different input data, e.g. multimodal recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/811 the classifiers operating on different input data, e.g. multi-modal recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A driving safety system mounted in a vehicle includes an image acquisition module and a distance detection module connected to a vehicle-mounted computer and respectively acquiring at least one piece of barrier information and at least one frame of image information. The vehicle-mounted computer analyzes the barrier information and the image information, constantly receives barrier information in the course of driving, and performs a screen and analysis algorithm to screen out noise from the surrounding environment and a comparison analysis algorithm to eliminate noise reflected from objects on the ground, to accurately acquire front target information. Accordingly, the driving safety system can correctly determine barriers in the front when the vehicle is moving to achieve the goal of enhancing driving safety.

Claims

1. A barrier screening method comprising:

mounting a driving safety system in a vehicle, with the driving safety system including a computer, an image acquisition module and a distance detection module, with the computer connected to the image acquisition module and the distance detection module; and

the computer performing the method comprising;

receiving at least one piece of barrier information of at least one barrier from the distance detection module and at least one frame of image information from the image acquisition module with each frame of image information containing the at least one barrier;

performing a screen and analysis algorithm to process each one of the at least one piece of barrier information to screen out noise existing in the at least one piece of barrier information coming from any non-barrier and reflected from a surrounding environment;

generating location information of a corresponding barrier after screening out the noise from the at least one piece of barrier information;

comparing the location information of the corresponding barrier with the at least one frame of image information to eliminate the noise generated from objects on the ground and to obtain front target information;

detecting a current driving status of the vehicle by a vehicle status module; and

sending a brake activation signal to slow down the vehicle or a brake fluid cutoff signal to a brake control module according to a determined analysis based upon the at least one piece of barrier information of the at least one barrier.

2. The barrier screening method of claim 1, wherein in performing the screen and analysis algorithm, the computer performs a first noise-screening method, with the first noise-screening method comprising:

calculating distance information and estimated distance information of the at least one barrier;

determining when a variance fluctuates with variation in a variance value outside a fluctuation range; and

determining that the at least one piece of barrier information of the at least one barrier is from the noise when the variance fluctuates with variation in the variance value outside the fluctuation range.

3. The barrier screening method of claim 2, wherein in performing a screen and analysis algorithm, the computer further performs a second noise-screening method, wherein the at least one barrier comprises a first barrier and a second barrier, wherein the second noise-screening method comprises:

acquiring location information of the first barrier and the second barrier;

determining if a ratio of a distance from the location information of the second barrier to the vehicle to a distance from the location information of the first barrier to the vehicle meets a preset value;

determining when the distance of the first barrier and the distance of the second barrier fall within a distance range when the ratio meets the preset value; and

determining that the location information of the second barrier is from the noise caused by a second harmonic generation from the second barrier.

4. The barrier screening method of claim 3, wherein in comparing the location information of the corresponding barrier, the computer performs a ground noise screening method according to a first distance between the location information of the first barrier and the vehicle and a second distance between the location information of the second barrier and the vehicle, wherein the ground noise screening method comprises:

locking the first barrier as a target;

keeping track of the location information of the first barrier to generate estimated location information;

comparing the estimated location information with the location information of the first barrier subsequently acquired to obtain an absolute value;

determining when the absolute value is, less than an error threshold; and

determining that the location information of the first barrier is from the noise when the absolute value is less than an error threshold.

5. The barrier screening method of claim 4, with the computer acquiring driving status information and a piece of barrier information and calculating a barrier speed using the driving status information and the piece of barrier information, and when the barrier speed exceeds a speed threshold, the at least one barrier is determined as a dynamic barrier, otherwise, the at least one barrier is determined as a static barrier.

6. The barrier screening method of claim 4, with the computer identifying one of the at least one piece of barrier information most adjacent to a vehicle moving path through the at least one piece of barrier information and the at least one frame of image information and determining when the identified piece of barrier information is from a static barrier, and when the identified piece of barrier information is from the static barrier, the computer further performing vehicle recognition according to the location information of the identified piece of barrier information to ascertain if the front target information is associated with a vehicle.

7. The barrier screening method of claim 5, with the computer identifying one of the at least one piece of barrier information most adjacent to a vehicle moving path through the at least one piece of barrier information and the at least one frame of image information and determining when the identified piece of barrier information is from a static barrier, and when the identified piece of barrier information is from the static barrier, the computer further performing vehicle recognition according to the location information of the identified piece of barrier information to ascertain if the front target information is associated with a vehicle.

8. The barrier screening method of claim 1, with the computer acquiring driving status information and a piece of barrier information and calculating a barrier speed using the driving status information and the piece of barrier information, and when the barrier speed exceeds a speed threshold, the at least one barrier is determined as a dynamic barrier, otherwise, the at least one barrier is determined as a static barrier.

9. The barrier screening method of claim 8, with the computer identifying one of the at least one piece of barrier information most adjacent to a vehicle moving path through the at least one piece of barrier information and the at least one frame of image information and determining when the identified piece of barrier information is from a static barrier, and when the identified piece of barrier information is from the static barrier, the computer further performing vehicle recognition according to the location information of the identified piece of barrier information to ascertain if the front target information is associated with a vehicle.

10. The barrier screening method of claim 1, with the computer identifying one of the at least one piece of barrier information most adjacent to a vehicle moving path through the at least one piece of barrier information and the at least one frame of image information and determining when the identified piece of barrier information is from a static barrier, and when the identified piece of barrier information is from the static barrier, the computer further performing vehicle recognition according to the location information of the identified piece of barrier information to ascertain if the front target information is associated with a vehicle.

11. A driving safety system mounted in a vehicle, comprising:

a distance detection module configured to acquire at least one piece of barrier information from at least one barrier;

an image acquisition module configured to acquire at least one frame of image information with each frame of image information containing the at least one barrier; and

a vehicle-mounted computer connected to the distance detection module and the image acquisition module, configured to receive the at least one piece of barrier information and the at least one frame of image information, configured to perform a screen and analysis algorithm to screen out noise coming from any non-barrier and reflected from a surrounding environment, configured to generate location information of the at least one barrier after screening the noise, and configured to compare the location information of the at least one barrier with the at least one frame of image information to eliminate noise generated from objects on ground and to acquire front target information.

12. The driving safety system of claim 11, further comprising:

a brake control module configured to receive a brake activation signal or a brake fluid cutoff signal from the vehicle-mounted computer according to a determined analysis result done by the vehicle-mounted computer to slow down the vehicle;

a vehicle status module configured to detect a current driving status of the vehicle and configured to provide driving status information to the vehicle-mounted computer for the vehicle-mounted computer to use the driving status information in other analysis; and

an alert module configured to provide instant information or an alarm.

13. The driving safety system of claim 12, wherein the vehicle-mounted computer configured to determine a vehicle moving path according to the at least one frame of image information acquired from the image acquisition module, the at least one piece of barrier information acquired from the distance detection module and the driving status information returned from the vehicle status module, and when the front target information falls within a warning range, the vehicle-mounted computer then configured to send the brake activation signal or the brake fluid cutoff signal to the brake control module to slow down the vehicle.

14. The driving safety system of claim 13, wherein the driving status information includes a vehicle speed signal and an angular speed signal, and with the driving status information and the at least one piece of barrier information, the vehicle-mounted computer configured to obtain a barrier speed of each one of the at least one barrier, and when the barrier speed exceeds a speed threshold, the barrier is determined as a dynamic barrier.

15. The driving safety system of claim 14, wherein the vehicle-mounted computer has:

a microcontroller unit (MCU) electrically connected to the distance detection module, the brake control module, the vehicle status module and the alert module; and

a sense fusion processor electrically connected to the MCU, the image acquisition module and the alert module, configured to identify one of the at least one piece of barrier information most adjacent to the vehicle moving path through the at least one piece of barrier information and the at least one frame of image information, configured to determine when the identified piece of barrier information is from a static barrier, and further configured to perform vehicle recognition according to the location information of the identified piece of barrier information to ascertain if the front target information is associated with a vehicle and configured to display a determination result with an alert pattern marked thereon through the alert module when the identified piece of barrier information is from the static barrier.

16. The driving safety system of claim 15, wherein the distance detection module is a millimeter wave radar, and the image acquisition module is a camera.

17. The driving safety system of claim 16, wherein the alert module includes:

a display unit configured to provide instant information and alert information displayed thereon; and

an audible unit configured to produce an alarm sound.

18. The driving safety system of claim 11, wherein the distance detection module is a millimeter wave radar, and the image acquisition module is a camera.

19. The driving safety system of claim 18, wherein the alert module includes:

a display unit configured to provide instant information and alert information displayed thereon; and

an audible unit configured to produce an alarm sound.