Verification of digital maps

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9310210-B2
Application number	US-74017308-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2008
Priority date	Nov 2, 2007
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

An assessment module for assessing data from a digital map for a vehicle. The assessment is made on the basis of a piece of dedicated map quality information and measurement data from an ambient sensor system in the vehicle. The connected driver assistance systems and safety systems in the vehicle use the digital map data on the basis of the assessment.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle system for assessing data from a digital map, and controlling a vehicle, said vehicle system comprising:
a computation unit including a processor located in the vehicle configured to accept data from the digital map and to perform an assessment of the data by computing a quality of the data based on a plurality of pieces of dedicated map quality information and validating the data based on measurement data from an ambient sensor system in the vehicle;
a driver assistance system located in the vehicle, the driver assistance system coupled to the processor of the computation unit via a data bus and configured to control the vehicle; and
an interface located in the vehicle for transferring, via the data bus, the assessment to the driver assistance system which uses at least a portion of both the data from the digital map and the data from the ambient sensor system to control the vehicle:
based more on the data from the digital map than the data from the ambient sensor system when the transferred assessment via the data bus indicates that the computed quality is greater than or equal to a threshold, and
based more on the data from the ambient sensor system than the data from the digital map when the transferred assessment via the data bus indicates that the computed quality is less than the threshold.

2. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the assessment comprises a determination of a quality and a validity for the data from the digital map.

3. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the assessment module is configured to determine the validity of the data from the digital map on a basis of the measurement data from the ambient sensor system.

4. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein the piece of dedicated map quality information has at least one piece of information selected from a group consisting of a piece of timestamp information, a piece of information regarding a measurement accuracy with which relevant data have been recorded, a piece of information regarding a discrepancy between a measured position for the vehicle and a map-matching position, a piece of information regarding a density of the data, and a piece of information regarding a type of the data.

5. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the assessment comprises authentication of the data from the digital map.

6. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the assessment of the data from the digital map comprises determination of a currentness of the data from the digital map; wherein the assessment module is configured to determine the currentness of the data from the digital map using a return channel to a control center.

7. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the measurement data from the ambient sensor system which are used to assess the data are selected from the group consisting of information regarding a traffic lane, a road sign, a building and vegetation.

8. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 configured to assess data from a digital map on a mobile appliance, which digital map data is then transferred to a driver assistance system or a safety system in the vehicle, which then uses the data from the digital map on the mobile appliance on the basis of the assessment.

9. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the interface transfers measured position data for the vehicle, including attributes to the driver assistance system.

10. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a first memory area for storing first data from the digital map, wherein the first memory area meets first safety demands; and
a second memory area for storing second data from the digital map, wherein the second memory area meets second safety demands, which are different than the first safety demands.

11. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the system in the vehicle is a driver assistance system, and is included in the assessment module.

12. The assessment module as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the system in the vehicle is a safety system, and is included in the assessment module.

13. A method for assessing data from a digital map for a vehicle system of a vehicle, and controlling the vehicle, said method comprising the following steps:
accepting, by a processor located in the vehicle system, data from the digital map;
assessing, by the processor located in the vehicle system, the data by computing a quality of the data based on a plurality of pieces of dedicated map quality information and validating the data based on measurement data from an ambient sensor system located in the vehicle;
controlling, by a driver assistance system located in the vehicle and coupled to the processor via a data bus located in the vehicle, the vehicle; and
transferring, by the processor located in the vehicle system, via the data bus located in the vehicle, the assessment to the driver assistance system which uses at least a portion of both the data from the digital map and data from the ambient sensor system to control the vehicle:
based more on the data from the digital map than the data from the ambient sensor when the transferred assessment via the data bus indicates that the computed quality is greater than or equal to a threshold, and
based more on the data from the ambient sensor system than the data from the digital map when the transferred assessment via the data bus indicates that the computed quality is less than the threshold.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium which stores a program element which, when executed on a processor located in a vehicle system of a vehicle, instructs the processor to control the vehicle by performing the following steps:
accept, by the processor located in the vehicle system, data from a digital map;
perform, by the processor located in the vehicle system, an assessment of the data by computing a quality of the data based on a plurality of pieces of dedicated map quality information and validating the data based on measurement data from the ambient sensor system located in the vehicle;
controlling, by a driver assistance system located in the vehicle and coupled to the processor via a data bus located in the vehicle, the vehicle; and
transfer, by the processor located in the vehicle system, via the data bus located in the vehicle, the assessment to the driver assistance system which uses at least a portion of both the data from the digital map and the data from the ambient sensor system to control the vehicle:
based more on the data from the digital map than the data from the ambient sensor system when the transferred assessment via the data bus indicates that the computed quality is greater than or equal to a threshold, and
based more on the data from the ambient sensor system than the data from the digital map when the transferred assessment via the data bus indicates that the computed quality is less than the threshold.

Assignees

• Stählin Ulrich
• Schreiner Otmar
• Kircher Andreas
• Kelling Enno
• Schorn Matthias
• Continental Teves Ag & Co Ohg

Inventors

• Stählin Ulrich
• Schreiner Otmar
• Kircher Andreas
• Kelling Enno
• Schorn Matthias

Classifications

• B60W2420/52

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• G01C21/32 Primary

  Structuring or formatting of map data · CPC title

• H04W4/046

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01C21/30

  Map- or contour-matching · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title