Systems and systems for identifying landmarks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9631943-B2
Application number	US-201615273138-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2016
Priority date	Feb 10, 2015
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

A system for identifying a landmark for use in autonomous vehicle navigation is provided. The system includes at least one processor programmed to receive at least one identifier associated with the landmark; associate the landmark with a corresponding road segment; update an autonomous vehicle road navigation model relative to the corresponding road segment to include the at least one identifier associated with the landmark; and distribute the updated autonomous vehicle road navigation model to a plurality of autonomous vehicles. The at least one identifier is determined based on acquisition, from a camera associated with a host vehicle, of at least one image representative of an environment of the host vehicle; analysis of the at least one image to identify the landmark in the environment of the host vehicle; and analysis of the at least one image to determine the at least one identifier associated with the landmark.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for identifying a landmark for use in autonomous vehicle navigation, the system comprising:
at least one processor programmed to:
receive at least one identifier associated with the landmark;
associate the landmark with a corresponding road segment;
update an autonomous vehicle road navigation model relative to the corresponding road segment to include the at least one identifier associated with the landmark; and
distribute the updated autonomous vehicle road navigation model to a plurality of autonomous vehicles,

wherein the at least one identifier is determined based on:
acquisition, from a camera associated with a host vehicle, of at least one image representative of an environment of the host vehicle;
analysis of the at least one image to identify the landmark in the environment of the host vehicle; and
analysis of the at least one image to determine the at least one identifier associated with the landmark.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identifier includes a position of the landmark.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identifier includes a shape of the landmark.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identifier includes a size of the landmark.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identifier includes a distance of the landmark relative to another landmark.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identifier is determined based on the landmark being identified as one of a plurality of landmark types.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the landmark types include a traffic sign.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the landmark types include a post.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the landmark types include a directional indicator.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the landmark types include a rectangular sign.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identifier further includes a condensed signature representation.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the condensed signature representation of the landmark is determined based on mapping an image of the landmark to a sequence of numbers of a predetermined data size.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the condensed signature representation indicates an appearance of the landmark.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the condensed signature representation indicates at least one of a color pattern of an image of the landmark or a brightness pattern of the image.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the landmark includes at least one of a directional sign, a traffic sign, a lamppost, a road marking, and a business sign.

16. A method of identifying a landmark for use in autonomous vehicle navigation, the method comprising:
receiving, by a processor, at least one identifier associated with the landmark;
associating, by a processor, the landmark with a corresponding road segment;
updating, by a processor, an autonomous vehicle road navigation model relative to the corresponding road segment to include the at least one identifier associated with the landmark; and
distributing, by a processor, the updated autonomous vehicle road navigation model to a plurality of autonomous vehicles.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising determining the at least one identifier.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining the at least one identifier includes:
acquiring, from a camera associated with a host vehicle, at least one image representative of an environment of the host vehicle;
analyzing the at least one image to identify the landmark in the environment of the host vehicle; and
analyzing the at least one image to determine the at least one identifier associated with the landmark.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one identifier includes a distance of the landmark relative to another landmark, and wherein determining the at least one identifier includes determining a distance of the landmark relative to another landmark.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one identifier further includes a condensed signature representation, and wherein determining the at least one identifier includes determining the condensed signature representation from the at least one image.

Assignees

• Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd

Inventors

• Shashua Amnon
• Shalev-Shwartz Shai

Classifications

• G01C21/32

  Structuring or formatting of map data · CPC title

• G01C21/30 Primary

  Map- or contour-matching · CPC title

• B60W2555/60

  Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way · CPC title

• G01C21/3691

  Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions (arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09) · CPC title

• G01C21/3623

  using a camera or code reader, e.g. for optical or magnetic codes · CPC title