Apparatus and method for driver assistance

• US 9,902,426 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2015
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Seong soo
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, Randolph I
• Application Number:
  US14/884,121
• Publication Number:
  US 20160107689A1
• Time in Patent Office: 866 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/00 Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/27 providing all-round vision, e.g. using omnidirectional cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/105 using multiple cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/303 using joined images, e.g. multiple camera images
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/607 from a bird's eye viewpoint
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/806 for aiding parking
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/025 Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation B62D1/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/027 Parking aids, e.g. instruction means
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0275 by overlaying a vehicle path based on present steering angle over an image without processing that image
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20221 Image fusion; Image merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30256 Lane; Road marking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/586 of parking space
• 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 driver assisting apparatus including a top view image output unit that outputs a top view image at a view point at which a surrounding of the vehicle is downwardly watched from a top, a lane detecting unit that detects a left lane boundary of the vehicle and a right lane boundary of the vehicle from the top view image using a top hat filter, a speed measuring unit that outputs a speed of the vehicle, and an integrated control unit that selects and operates one of a parking assisting function and a lane departure warning function in accordance with the speed.

Claims

1. A driver assisting apparatus, comprising:

a top view image output unit that outputs a top view image at a view point at which a surrounding of a vehicle is downwardly watched from a top;

a lane detecting unit that detects a left lane boundary of the vehicle and a right lane boundary of the vehicle from the top view image using a top hat filter;

a speed measuring unit that outputs a speed of the vehicle; and

an integrated control unit that selects and operates one of a parking assisting function and a lane departure warning function in accordance with the speed and in accordance with the left lane boundary of the vehicle and the right lane boundary of the vehicle,

wherein the lane detecting unit applies the top hat filter to a grayscale image of the top view image in a horizontal direction and detects a maximum value of a brightness variation on each of a left side and a right side of the grayscale image and considers a portion on each of a left portion and a right portion of the grayscale image where the maximum values are detected as a left feature point and a right feature point of a lane, considers a center portion of the left feature point and the right feature point of the lane as a vehicle center point, searches all directions based on the left feature point and the right feature point to detect a portion which is detected as the lane, and determines an error of an angle formed by the left side and the right side of the lane, and determines a line component as a lane boundary and represents the line component as the lane boundary candidate group based on a center point of the lane when the error of the angle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the top view image output unit comprises a plurality of cameras that photographs a surrounding image comprising front and rear images and left and right images of the vehicle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lane detecting unit comprises:

a recognizing unit that recognizes a parking section guide line and left and right parking lines from the top view image; and

a control unit that predicts a gradient direction of a parking line which is perpendicular to the parking section guide line and a first gradient of the left and right parking lines, estimates a second gradient of the left and right parking lines based on the first gradient and a position coordinate of the vehicle to generate left and right parking guide lines corresponding to the left and right parking lines when a difference value between the first and second gradients is smaller than a predetermined threshold difference value to generate a composite image in which the left and right parking guide lines overlap the top view image.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the recognizing unit comprises:

an image converting unit that converts the top view image into a grayscale image, a top hat filter unit that extracts a plurality of guide line feature points and a plurality of parking line feature points using an illumination variation of the grayscale image; and

a lane recognizing unit that extracts line components of the plurality of guide line feature points and the plurality of parking line feature points to recognize the parking section guide lines and the left and right parking lines, and

the control unit comprises;

a predicting unit that predicts the gradient direction of the parking line that is perpendicular to the parking section guide line and the first gradient of the left and right parking lines;

an estimating unit that estimates a second gradient of the left and right parking lines based on the first gradient and the position coordinate of the vehicle; and

a generating unit that generates the composite image when the difference value between the first and second gradients is smaller than a predetermined threshold difference value.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lane detecting unit determines whether an interval between a detected left lane of the vehicle and a detected right lane of the vehicle has a set interval value to determine effectiveness of a lane component.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a parking assisting unit that detects a parking space based on the lane detected by the lane detecting unit and parks the vehicle in the parking space when the parking space is detected,

wherein the integrated control unit operates the parking assisting unit when the speed is equal to or lower than a first threshold value.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a driver warning unit that issues a warning to a driver when a vehicle leaves a lane while being driven,

wherein the integrated control unit operates the driver warning unit when the speed is equal to or higher than a second threshold value.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the driver warning unit detects movement of a steering wheel of the vehicle to determine whether there is a movement to change a driving lane and issues a warning to the driver when the vehicle leaves the driving lane without being moved to change the driving lane.

9. A driver assisting method, comprising:

capturing images at a surrounding of a vehicle to output a top view image;

converting the top view image into a grayscale image;

detecting a left lane and a right lane of the vehicle from the grayscale image using a top hat filter;

detecting an interval between a boundary of the left lane and a boundary of the right lane to determine an effectiveness of a lane component;

measuring a speed of the vehicle; and

selecting and operating one of a parking assisting function and a lane departure warning function in accordance with the measured speed and in accordance with the left lane boundary of the vehicle and the right lane boundary of the vehicle,

wherein in detecting the left lane and the right lane further comprises applying the top hat filter to the grayscale image to detect a maximum value of a brightness variation on each of a left side and a right side of the grayscale image, considering a portion on each of a left side and a right side of the grayscale image where the maximum values are detected as a left feature point and a right feature point of a lane, considering a center portion of the left feature point and the right feature point of the lane as a vehicle center point, searching all directions based on the left feature point and the right feature point to detect a portion which is detected as the lane, and determining an error of an angle formed by the left side and the right side of the lane and, determining a line component as a lane boundary and represents the line component as the lane boundary candidate group based on a center point of the lane when the error of the angle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein in detecting the boundary of the left lane and the boundary of the right lane, a parking space is detected based on the detected lane, and when the speed is equal to or lower than a first threshold value, the parking assisting function is operated.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein detecting the left lane and the right lane further comprises recognizing a parking section guide line in a first top view image photographed at a first point of time, predicting a first gradient of left and right parking lines in a second top view image photographed at a second point of time after the first point of time, and estimating a second gradient of the left and right parking lines based on position information of the vehicle, determining whether a difference value between the first and second gradients is smaller than a set threshold difference value, and generating a top view composite image including left and right parking guide lines corresponding to the left and right parking lines when the difference value is smaller than the threshold difference value, to detect the parking space.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein predicting the first gradient comprises extracting a plurality of parking line feature points using a vertical illumination variation from a second grayscale image which is converted from the second top view image, extracting a line component for the plurality of parking line feature points to recognize left and right parking lines, and predicting the first gradient based on an image coordinate of the left and right parking lines and a position coordinate of the vehicle, and in estimating a second gradient, the second gradient is estimated based on the first gradient which is predicted in predicting the first gradient and the position coordinate of the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the threshold difference value is about 1°

to about 11°

, in generating a tip view composite image, the top view composite image in which the left and right parking guide lines generated based on one of the first and second gradients overlap the left and right parking lines is generated, and displaying the top view composite image is further included.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the parking assisting function automatically parks the vehicle in the detected parking space.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein when the speed is equal to or higher than a second threshold value, the lane departure warning function is operated.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting and operating the lane departure warning function further comprises detecting movement of a steering wheel of the vehicle to determine whether there is movement to change a driving lane and issuing a warning to a driver when the vehicle leaves the driving lane without a movement of the steering wheel.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

detecting a lane after changing the lane when the vehicle leaves the driving lane in accordance with movement to change the driving lane.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein detecting the left lane and the right lane further comprises displaying the detected lane by a lane with a set color to output the lane.