Travel lane boundary line detection apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9317755-B2
Application number	US-201514609572-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2015
Priority date	Feb 7, 2014
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

A travel lane boundary line detection apparatus includes: a determination unit configured to distinguish and determine a composite line region and a non-composite line region from a travel road surface image of a road surface; a calculation unit configured to calculate a candidate point of a central point of the composite line in a travel lane width direction; an extraction unit configured to detect a travel lane boundary line segment of the travel lane boundary line in the non-composite line region, and to extract a travel lane boundary point from the travel lane boundary line segment; an integration unit configured to create an integrated travel lane boundary point group based on the candidate point and on the travel lane boundary point; and an estimation unit configured to estimate a travel lane boundary line parameter representing the travel lane boundary line based on the integrated travel lane boundary point group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A travel lane boundary line detection apparatus comprising:
a determination unit configured to distinguish and determine a composite line region, in which a composite line including a travel lane boundary line and an auxiliary line along the travel lane boundary line is drawn on a travel road surface, and a non-composite line region in which a single line formed by the travel lane boundary line is drawn on the travel road surface, from a travel road surface image of the road surface on which a vehicle travels;
a calculation unit configured to calculate a candidate point of a central point of the composite line in a travel lane width direction that intersects a travel lane direction along the travel lane boundary line in the composite line region of the travel road surface image;
an extraction unit configured to detect a travel lane boundary line segment of the travel lane boundary line in the non-composite line region of the travel road surface image, and to extract a travel lane boundary point from the travel lane boundary line segment;
an integration unit configured to create an integrated travel lane boundary point group based on the candidate point of the central point of the composite line calculated by the calculation unit and on the travel lane boundary point extracted by the extraction unit; and
an estimation unit configured to estimate a travel lane boundary line parameter representing the travel lane boundary line based on the integrated travel lane boundary point group created by the integration unit.

2. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the calculation unit
combines a plurality of edge points on one side of the travel lane width direction and a plurality of edge points on the other side of the travel lane width direction, respectively, the plurality of the edge points on both sides being the edge points that are estimated to configure the travel lane boundary line and the auxiliary line, from a plurality of edge point groups of the composite line arranged along the travel lane width direction, in the composite line region of the travel road surface image,
performs voting for central positions of the respective combinations in the travel lane width direction, and
calculates the central position with the largest number of votes as the candidate point of the central point of the composite line.

3. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein, at the time the number of votes for the respective central positions is the same, the calculation unit calculates all the respective central positions as the candidate points of the central point of the composite line.

4. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the calculation unit
selects the combinations of the edge points on the one side and the edge points on the other side, the edge points being disposed at intervals along the travel lane width direction within a predetermined threshold value, and
performs voting for the central positions of the selected combinations in the travel lane width direction.

5. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
the travel lane boundary line is a solid line,
the auxiliary line is a dotted line,
and the travel lane boundary line segment detected by the extraction unit is an edge line segment of the travel lane boundary line on the travel lane central side.

6. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the travel lane boundary line is a solid line,
the auxiliary line is a dotted line,
and the travel lane boundary line segment detected by the extraction unit is an edge line segment of the travel lane boundary line on the travel lane central side.

7. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the calculation unit
selects the combinations of the edge points on the one side and the edge points on the other side, the edge points being disposed at intervals along the travel lane width direction within a predetermined threshold value, and
performs voting for the central positions of the selected combinations in the travel lane width direction.

8. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the travel lane boundary line is a solid line,
the auxiliary line is a dotted line,
and the travel lane boundary line segment detected by the extraction unit is an edge line segment of the travel lane boundary line on the travel lane central side.

9. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the travel lane boundary line is a solid line,
the auxiliary line is a dotted line,
and the travel lane boundary line segment detected by the extraction unit is an edge line segment of the travel lane boundary line on the travel lane central side.

10. The travel lane boundary line detection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the travel lane boundary line is a solid line,
the auxiliary line is a dotted line,
and the travel lane boundary line segment detected by the extraction unit is an edge line segment of the travel lane boundary line on the travel lane central side.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kataoka Yusuke

Classifications

• G06V20/588

  Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road · CPC title

• G06T7/13 Primary

  Edge detection · CPC title

• G06T2207/20164

  Salient point detection; Corner detection · CPC title

• G06V10/48

  by mapping characteristic values of the pattern into a parameter space, e.g. Hough transformation · CPC title

• G06V10/421

  by analysing segments intersecting the pattern · CPC title