阅读说明：本技术 用于识别车辆的行驶车道的装置和方法 (Device and method for recognizing a driving lane of a vehicle ) 是由 韩泳敏 余性润 朴书贤 文承建 于 2020-09-28 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及用于识别车辆的行驶车道的装置和方法。该装置包括：信息获取装置和处理器,所述信息获取装置获取车辆正在行驶的道路的前方信息；所述处理器基于前方信息识别车辆左前侧的入口路段和出口路段,并且通过校正入口路段和出口路段中道路的车道数来确定车辆的行驶车道。(The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for recognizing a driving lane of a vehicle. The device includes: an information acquisition device that acquires front information of a road on which a vehicle is traveling; the processor identifies an entrance section and an exit section on the left front side of the vehicle based on the front information, and determines a driving lane of the vehicle by correcting the number of lanes of the road in the entrance section and the exit section.)

1. An apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

an information acquisition device configured to acquire front information of a road on which a vehicle is traveling; and

a processor configured to:

identifying an entrance road section and an exit road section on the left front side of the vehicle based on the front information;

the driving lane of the vehicle is determined by correcting the number of lanes of the road in the entrance link and the exit link.

2. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

performing matching of a driving lane and tracking of the driving lane using the front information;

the driving lane is determined by combining the matching of the driving lane and the tracking of the driving lane.

3. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to:

determining a matching reliability for matching a driving lane;

a tracking reliability for tracking the lane of travel is determined.

4. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to:

the travel lane is determined by combining the matching of the travel lane and the tracking of the corrected travel lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability.

5. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 4, wherein the processor is configured to:

correcting the number of lanes of the road by using the number of lanes of the entrance ramp and the exit ramp;

determining a correction type based on information of start and end points of the on-ramp and the off-ramp;

and correcting the tracking of the driving lane according to the correction type.

6. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:

when identifying the entrance/exit section, the number of lanes on the road is calculated using the number of lanes on the main road and the number of lanes on the entrance ramp before the intersection point.

7. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:

when an exit link is identified, the number of lanes of the road is calculated using the number of lanes of the main road and the number of lanes of the exit ramp after the branch point.

8. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:

when the correction type is the entrance link start point, the tracking of the traveling lane is corrected based on the current traveling lane, the number of lanes of the entrance link, and the number of lanes of the road before the intersection.

9. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:

when the correction type is the entrance link end point, the tracking of the traveling lane is corrected based on the current traveling lane, the number of lanes before the entrance link, and the number of lanes of the entrance link.

10. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:

when the correction type is the exit link starting point, the tracking of the traveling lane is corrected based on the current traveling lane, the number of lanes of the exit link, and the number of lanes of the main road after the intersection.

11. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:

when the correction type is the exit link end point, the tracking of the traveling lane is corrected based on the current traveling lane, the number of lanes before the exit link, and the number of lanes of the exit link.

12. The apparatus for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:

performing matching of a driving lane and tracking of the driving lane using the front information;

determining a matching reliability for matching a driving lane;

determining a tracking reliability for tracking a driving lane;

determining a driving lane by combining the matching of the driving lane and the tracking of the driving lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability;

the determined travel lane is corrected by the number of lanes of the corrected road.

13. A method for identifying a lane of travel of a vehicle, the method comprising:

acquiring front information of a road on which a vehicle is running;

identifying an entrance road section and an exit road section on the left front side of the vehicle based on the front information;

the driving lane of the vehicle is determined by correcting the number of lanes of the road in the entrance link and the exit link.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining a lane of travel of the vehicle comprises:

performing matching of the driving lane using the front information;

performing tracking of a driving lane using the front information;

determining a matching reliability for matching a driving lane;

determining a tracking reliability for tracking a driving lane;

correcting the tracking of the driving lane by using the number of the corrected driving road;

the travel lane is determined by combining the matching of the travel lane and the tracking of the corrected travel lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein correcting tracking of a lane of travel comprises:

correcting the number of lanes of the road by using the number of lanes of the entrance ramp and the exit ramp;

determining a correction type based on information of start and end points of the on-ramp and the off-ramp;

and correcting the tracking of the driving lane according to the correction type.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein correcting the number of lanes of the travel road comprises:

when identifying the entrance/exit section, the number of lanes on the road is calculated using the number of lanes on the main road and the number of lanes on the entrance ramp before the intersection point.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein correcting the number of lanes of the road comprises:

when an exit link is identified, the number of lanes of the road is calculated using the number of lanes of the main road and the number of lanes of the exit ramp after the branch point.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein correcting tracking of the driving lane according to the type of correction comprises:

correcting, when the correction type is an entrance link start point, tracking of a driving lane based on a current driving lane, the number of lanes of the entrance link, and the number of lanes of a road before the intersection;

when the correction type is the entrance link end point, the tracking of the traveling lane is corrected based on the current traveling lane, the number of lanes before the entrance link, and the number of lanes of the entrance link.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein correcting tracking of the driving lane according to the type of correction comprises:

correcting the tracking of the driving lane based on the current driving lane, the number of lanes of the exit road section and the number of lanes of the main road after the intersection point when the correction type is the exit road section starting point;

when the correction type is the exit link end point, the tracking of the traveling lane is corrected based on the current traveling lane, the number of lanes before the exit link, and the number of lanes of the exit link.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein determining a lane of travel of the vehicle comprises:

performing matching of the driving lane using the front information;

performing tracking of a driving lane using the front information;

determining a matching reliability for matching a driving lane;

determining a tracking reliability for tracking a driving lane;

determining a driving lane by combining the matching of the driving lane and the tracking of the driving lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability;

the determined travel lane is corrected by the number of lanes of the corrected road.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for recognizing a driving lane of a vehicle.

Background

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

The traveling lane recognition technique determines which lane from the left side is a lane in which a vehicle without an accurate map is currently traveling, and is a necessary function for a driver assistance function such as a lane change assistance function and a motor vehicle lane exit-entrance ramp deceleration function.

In some road segments included in the operation range of the driver assistance function that does not utilize the accurate map, such as city highways and automobile-dedicated roads, there are roads that merge from the left side or roads that branch to the left side. Since the conventional travel lane recognition technology determines which lane from the left side is the lane on which the vehicle without an accurate map is currently traveling, when a new left lane occurs, an error of the driver assistance function may be caused due to an inconsistency between the travel lane determined before the new left lane occurs and the actual road shape. Even when the left lane disappears, the travel lane determined before the left lane disappears may not coincide with the actual road shape, thereby causing an error in the driver assist function.

Disclosure of Invention

An aspect of the present invention provides an apparatus and method for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle, which identifies a driving lane of a vehicle in consideration of a variation in the number of lanes of a driving road in an entrance/exit section located on a left front side of the vehicle.

The technical problems to be solved by the inventive concept are not limited to the above-described problems, and any other technical problems not mentioned herein will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for recognizing a driving lane of a vehicle may include: an information acquisition device configured to acquire front information of a road on which a vehicle is traveling; the processor is configured to identify an entrance/exit section on a left front side of the vehicle based on the front information, and determine a traveling lane of the vehicle by correcting the number of lanes of a traveling road in the identified entrance/exit section.

The processor may perform matching of the driving lane and tracking of the driving lane using the front information, and determine the driving lane by fusing a result of the matching of the driving lane and a result of the tracking of the driving lane.

The processor may determine a matching reliability for matching the driving lane and a tracking reliability for tracking the driving lane.

The processor may determine the driving lane by fusing a matching result for the driving lane and a tracking result of the corrected driving lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability.

The processor may correct the number of lanes of the driving road using the number of lanes of the on-off ramp, determine a correction type based on information of start and end points of the on-off ramp, and then correct a tracking result of the driving lane according to the correction type.

In identifying the entrance/exit sections, the processor may calculate the number of lanes of the driving road using the number of lanes of the main road and the number of lanes of the entrance ramp before the intersection point.

When the exit link is identified, the processor may calculate the number of lanes of the travel road using the number of lanes of the main road and the number of lanes of the exit ramp after the branch point.

When the correction type is the entrance link start point, the processor may correct the tracking result of the traveling lane using the determination result of the current traveling lane, the number of lanes of the entrance link, and the number of lanes of the road before the intersection.

When the correction type is the entrance link end point, the processor may correct the tracking result of the traveling lane using the determination result of the current traveling lane, the number of lanes before the entrance link, and the number of lanes of the entrance link.

When the correction type is the exit link starting point, the processor may correct the tracking result of the traveling lane using the determination result of the current traveling lane, the number of lanes of the exit link, and the number of lanes of the main road after the intersection.

When the correction type is the exit link end point, the processor may correct the tracking result of the traveling lane using the determination result of the current traveling lane, the number of lanes before the exit link, and the number of lanes of the exit link.

The processor may perform matching of a driving lane and tracking of the driving lane using the front information, determine a matching reliability for matching the driving lane and a tracking reliability for tracking the driving lane, determine the driving lane by fusing a matching result for the driving lane and a tracking result for the driving lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability, and correct the determined driving lane using the number of lanes of the corrected driving road.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for identifying a driving lane of a vehicle may include: front information of a road on which a vehicle is traveling is acquired, an entrance/exit section on the front left side of the vehicle is identified based on the front information, and a traveling lane of the vehicle is determined by correcting the number of lanes of the traveling road in the identified entrance/exit section.

Determining the driving lane of the vehicle may include: performing matching of the driving lane using the front information; performing tracking of a driving lane using the front information; determining a matching reliability for matching the driving lane and a tracking reliability for tracking the driving lane; correcting the tracking result of the driving lane by using the corrected number of the lanes of the driving road; and determining the driving lane by fusing the matching result of the driving lane and the tracking result of the corrected driving lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability.

Correcting the tracking result of the driving lane may include: correcting the number of lanes of a driving road by using the number of lanes of the entrance ramp and the exit ramp; determining a correction type based on information of a start point and an end point of an entrance ramp; and correcting the tracking result of the driving lane according to the correction type.

The correcting the number of lanes of the travel road may include: when identifying the entrance/exit link, the number of lanes on the traveling road is calculated using the number of lanes on the main road and the number of lanes on the entrance ramp before the intersection point.

The correcting the number of lanes of the travel road may include: when the exit link is identified, the number of lanes of the travel road is calculated using the number of lanes of the main road and the number of lanes of the exit ramp after the branch point.

Correcting the tracking result of the traveling lane according to the correction type may include: correcting a tracking result of the driving lane using a determination result of a current driving lane, the number of lanes of the entrance link, and the number of lanes of a road before the intersection point, when the correction type is the entrance link start point; when the correction type is the entrance link end point, the tracking of the traveling lane is corrected based on the current traveling lane, the number of lanes before the entrance link, and the number of lanes of the entrance link.

Correcting the tracking result of the traveling lane according to the correction type may include: when the correction type is the exit section starting point, correcting the tracking result of the traveling lane by using the determination result of the current traveling lane, the number of lanes of the exit section, and the number of lanes of the main road after the intersection; when the correction type is the exit link end point, the tracking result of the traveling lane is corrected using the determination result of the current traveling lane, the number of lanes before the exit link, and the number of lanes of the exit link.

Determining the driving lane of the vehicle may include: performing matching of the driving lane using the front information; performing tracking of a driving lane using the front information; determining a matching reliability for matching the driving lane and a tracking reliability for tracking the driving lane; determining a driving lane by fusing a matching result for the driving lane and a tracking result for the driving lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability; the determined travel lane is corrected by the number of lanes of the corrected travel road.

Drawings

The above features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description presented in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2A and 2B are schematic views for describing an exit section and an entry section according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3A and 3B are schematic views for describing a method for correcting the number of lanes on a driving road according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method of correcting a determination result of a driving lane according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method of identifying a driving lane of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of identifying a driving lane of a vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams for describing an example of preventing a lane change assist function from malfunctioning at a left side exit section according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8A and 8B are schematic views for explaining an example of the function of preventing the deceleration function of the motor vehicle lane on the entrance ramp from malfunctioning at the left exit lane according to the embodiment of the present invention; and

fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a computing system for executing a method of identifying a driving lane of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Some embodiments of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the exemplary drawings. When a reference numeral is added to a component of each drawing, it should be noted that the same or equivalent component is denoted by the same reference numeral even if it is shown in other drawings. Furthermore, in describing embodiments of the present invention, detailed descriptions of well-known features or functions are excluded so as to not unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention.

In describing components according to embodiments of the present invention, terms such as first, second, "A", "B", "a", "B", and the like may be used. These terms are only intended to distinguish one component from another component, and do not limit the nature, order, or sequence of the constituent components. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. These terms, as defined in a general dictionary, should be interpreted as having the same meaning as the contextual meaning of the related art and should not be interpreted as having an ideal or excessively formal meaning unless explicitly defined as having that meaning in this application.

In this specification, a ramp is a road connecting two roads, and may be divided into an exit ramp where vehicles are driven out of (leave) a main road and an entrance ramp where vehicles are driven into (enter) the main road. Ramp intersections (or end intersections) are locations where ramps are connected to the main road, and are collectively referred to as speed change lanes (deceleration/acceleration lanes), transition segments, and branches/intersections with the main road. The gradation section refers to a road portion provided in a lane separation section or a lane connection section in order to smoothly perform lane change of a traveling vehicle.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, fig. 2A and 2B are schematic views for describing an exit section and an entrance section according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 3A and 3B are schematic views for describing a method for correcting the number of lanes on a driving road according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1, a vehicle may include: a navigation device 100, a detection device 200, a driving lane recognition device 300, and a driver assistance device 400 connected via an in-vehicle network. The on-board network may be implemented using, for example, a Controller Area Network (CAN), a Media Oriented System Transport (MOST) network, a Local Interconnect Network (LIN), an ethernet, and/or a drive-by-wire (Flexray).

The navigation device 100 may be mounted on a vehicle to match a current position with map data and search for and guide a route to a destination. The navigation device 100 can measure its current position. The navigation device 100 may measure its current position, i.e., the position of the vehicle, using at least one of positioning technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Dead Reckoning (DR), differential GPS (dgps), and phase-carrier differential GPS (cdgps). The navigation device 100 may include: a memory (not shown) for storing map data, a display (not shown), and a processor (not shown); the display is used for displaying map information, vehicle positions and found driving routes; the processor is used to perform route searching and route guidance, for example.

The navigation device 100 may transmit information about a road on which the vehicle is traveling (i.e., a traveling road) to the traveling lane recognition device 300. The navigation device 100 may measure the vehicle position by the GPS receiver and match the measured vehicle position with map data to identify a travel road. In addition, the navigation device 100 may extract information about the identified travel road from the map data. The travel road information may include: the type of the traveling road (main road) (e.g., general road and expressway), the total number of traveling lanes (hereinafter, referred to as the number of lanes), and the branch road information. Here, the branch road information may include: the location of the branch point, the location of the intersection, the number of lanes on the exit ramp (exit road), and the number of lanes on the entrance ramp (entrance road).

The detection device 200 may detect surrounding information of the vehicle, including lane line information, object information, and the like. The detection device 200 may include a camera 210, a radar (radio detection and ranging) 220, and the like. The detection apparatus 200 may extract lane line information from an image acquired by the camera 210. In addition, the detection apparatus 200 may detect a moving object (e.g., a vehicle) and/or a fixed object (e.g., a guardrail or a central fence) located near the vehicle based on the sensing data measured by the radar 220.

The camera 210 may be installed at the front of the vehicle to capture a front image of the vehicle. The camera 210 may be implemented using at least one image sensor such as a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) image sensor, a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, a charge inducing device (CPD) image sensor, and a Charge Injection Device (CID) image sensor. The camera 210 may include an image processor that performs image processing such as noise removal, color reproduction, file compression, image quality adjustment, and saturation adjustment on an image acquired by the image sensor. The radar 220 may be mounted at the front of the vehicle to detect objects (moving and/or stationary objects) located near the front of the vehicle. The radar 220 may transmit electromagnetic waves to surrounding objects, receive electromagnetic waves reflected from the objects, and measure the distance, direction, and shape of the objects.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may recognize the position of the vehicle in the traveling road (i.e., the traveling lane) based on the front information of the road on which the vehicle is traveling (i.e., the traveling road). The traveling lane recognition device 300 may determine (recognize) the traveling lane of the vehicle by recognizing an entrance/exit section on the left front side of the vehicle based on the front information and correcting the number of lanes of the traveling road in the recognized entrance/exit section. Here, the entrance/exit link may refer to a link between a start point (start point) and an end point at which a ramp meets, which is provided for driving away from or into a driving road (i.e., main road) of a vehicle. Referring to fig. 2A, the entrance segment may refer to an entrance ramp intersection a1, which is the segment where the entrance ramp 510 connects to the main road 500. The entrance ramp intersection a1 may include an acceleration section B1 and a transition section C1. Referring to fig. 2B, an exit leg may be defined as a leg where an exit ramp 520 is connected to main road 500, i.e., exit ramp intersection a 2. The exit ramp intersection a2 may include a speed reduction segment B2 and a transition segment C2.

The driving lane recognition device 300 may include an information acquisition device 310, a storage device 320, and a processor 330.

The information acquisition device 310 may acquire the front information of the travel road (i.e., the main road) based on the travel road information and/or the surrounding information provided by the navigation device 100 and the detection device 200. The front information may include: the number of lanes of the driving road, the type of the ramp intersection, information on the start point and the end point of the ramp intersection, lane line information, and object information. The types of ramp intersections can be classified as: left exit (left branch) ramp intersection, left entry (left intersection) ramp intersection, right exit (right branch) ramp intersection, and right entry (right intersection) ramp intersection.

The storage device 320 may store a program for the operation of the processor 330, and may store input data and/or output data of the processor 330. Also, the storage device 320 may store the front information acquired by the information acquisition device 310. The storage 320 may be implemented using at least one storage medium such as a flash memory, a hard disk, an SD card (secure digital card), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (eeprom), an erasable programmable ROM (eprom), and a register.

The processor 330 may control the overall operation of the driving lane recognition device 300. The processor 330 may be implemented using at least one of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microcontroller, and a microprocessor.

The processor 330 may determine a driving lane in which the vehicle is driven among lanes of the driving road based on the front information acquired by the information acquisition device 310. The processor 330 may use a known travel lane determination method, but may correct a predetermined travel lane in consideration of a variation in the number of lanes of a travel road in a recognized entrance/exit section when the entrance/exit section is recognized at the left front side of the vehicle.

First, a process of determining a driving lane using the front information in the processor 330 will be briefly described.

The processor 330 may perform matching of a lane in which the vehicle is located (i.e., a traveling lane) in a lane of a traveling road using the front information acquired by the information acquisition device 310. The processor 330 may calculate the probability that the lane is the driving lane by assigning a matching point to each lane of the driving road, and perform matching of the driving lane using the matching points.

In addition, the processor 330 may track the driving lane of the vehicle based on the front information acquired by the information acquisition device 310. The processor 330 may recognize a change in the lateral distance of the vehicle using the front information acquired by the information acquisition device 310, thereby tracking the driving lane. The processor 330 may track the driving lane by determining whether a lane change has occurred in the driving lane determined in the previous cycle every predetermined cycle. The processor 330 may recognize the driving lane determined in the previous cycle and determine whether there is a lane change to the left or right lane using the front information acquired by the information acquiring device 310 in the current cycle. Subsequently, the processor 330 may perform the tracking of the driving lane by reflecting the confirmed lane change result to the driving lane determined in the previous cycle.

The processor 330 may determine a matching reliability for matching the driving lane and a tracking reliability for tracking the driving lane. Here, the matching reliability may represent the highest probability among the probabilities that a certain lane is a traveling lane for a plurality of lanes of the traveling road. In assigning a matching point to each lane for matching the driving lane, the processor 330 may determine a matching reliability according to the highest matching point. The tracking reliability of the current cycle may be determined using the fusion reliability, which is the accuracy of determining the driving lane performed in the previous cycle, and the reliability of the left/right lateral distance confirmed by the camera 210.

The processor 330 may determine the driving lane by fusing the matching result of the driving lane and the tracking result of the driving lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability. For example, when the matching reliability is higher than the tracking reliability, the processor 330 may determine the matched driving lane (the matching result of the driving lane) as the driving lane; when the tracking reliability is higher than the matching reliability, the tracked traveling lane (tracking result of the traveling lane) may be determined as the traveling lane.

When determining a driving lane for the vehicle, the processor 330 may control various vehicle configurations for driving using the determined driving lane. The processor 330 may transmit the determination of the driving lane to the driver assistance device 400. The driver assistance apparatus 400 may assist (support) the operation of the driver based on the determination result of the traveling lane. The driver assistance device 400 may perform driver assistance functions, such as lane change assistance functions and/or motor vehicle lane departure/entrance ramp deceleration functions.

Further, the processor 330 may determine whether to enter a branch road of the travel road based on the determined travel lane and determine whether to deviate from the route. The processor 330 may determine whether the vehicle has entered the branch road by comparing the determination result of the traveling lane with the information of the front branch road. The processor 330 may determine whether to deviate from the route using the result of determining the entry of the bifurcation road and the information of the bifurcation road.

Next, a process of correcting the determination of the traveling lane in the left entry/exit section in the processor 330 will be described in detail.

The processor 330 may acquire the front information through the information acquisition device 310. The processor 330 may determine whether an entrance/exit road segment exists at the left front side of the vehicle using the acquired front information. The processor 330 may extract information on the start point and the end point of the entrance/exit section from the image information acquired by the camera 210 or extract information on the start point and the end point of the entrance/exit section from the map data of the navigation device 100.

When the entrance/exit section is identified on the left front side of the vehicle, the processor 330 may correct the number of lanes of the traveling road in the identified entrance/exit section. In the case of a general map or an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) map, which may not completely indicate that the total number of lanes of a road has changed in a shorter link such as an entrance link or an exit link, correction may be made in such a manner as to increase the total number of lanes of the entrance/exit link.

The number of lanes of the traveling road in the entrance link (hereinafter referred to as the number of lanes of the entrance link) may be calculated as the sum of the total number of lanes on the main road before the intersection point and the total number of lanes of the entrance ramp. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the total number of lanes N of the main road when the vehicle is traveling_{Main road}Total number of lanes N of 4 and entrance ramp_{Inlet port}When the number is 1, the processor 330 may determine the number N of lanes of the main road before the intersection JC1_{Main road}Number of lanes to entrance ramp N_{Inlet port}The number of lanes N (═ 4+1 ═ 5) for the entry link is calculated by addition.

The number of lanes of the traveling road in the exit section (hereinafter referred to as the number of lanes of the exit section) may be calculated by adding the total number of lanes of the main road after the branch point to the total number of lanes of the exit ramp. For example, as shown in FIG. 3B, the total number of lanes N of the main road on which the vehicle is traveling_{Main road}Total number of lanes N of 4 and exit ramps_{An outlet}When the number is 1, the processor 330 may determine the number N of lanes of the main road after the branch point JC2_{Main road}Number of lanes to the off-ramp N_{An outlet}And adding the number N (4 + 1-5) of the lanes of the exit road section.

The processor 330 may determine (detect) a correction type and a correction time point using information on a start point and an end point of an entrance/exit section. Here, the correction type may be classified by the type of ramp intersection recognized at the left front side of the vehicle and the start point and the end point, and may be classified into an entrance link start point (intersection point), an entrance link end point, an exit link start point, and an exit link end point. The corrected time point may refer to a time point at which the vehicle passes a start point or an end point of the entrance/exit section.

TABLE 1

Here, the determination result of the current traveling lane is the traveling lane determined in the current cycle, and the number of lanes of the entrance link is the number of lanes of the traveling road in the entrance link, which is the number of lanes of the corrected traveling road. The number of lanes before the entrance link is the number of lanes of the travel road calculated immediately before the start point of the entrance link (before the number of lanes of the travel road is corrected), the number of lanes of the exit link is the number of lanes of the travel road in the exit link, which is the number of lanes of the travel road after correction, and the number of lanes before the exit link is the number of lanes of the travel road calculated immediately before the start point of the exit link. Upon reaching the determined correction time point, the processor 330 may (perform) correction of the determination result of the traveling lane with the number of lanes of the traveling road after correction according to the correction method matching the determined correction type.

For example, when the vehicle recognizes an entrance link located on the front left side when traveling on the second lane of the four lanes of the main road, the processor 330 may correct the number of lanes of the traveling road by adding the number of lanes of the main road to the number of lanes of the entrance ramp (4 + 1-5). Therefore, the number of lanes of the travel road before correction is 4, and the number of lanes of the travel road after correction is 5. Upon passing through the start point of the entry road segment, the processor 330 may correct the determination result of the current driving lane according to a correction method matched with the start point of the entry road segment as a correction type. In other words, since the determination result of the current driving lane is the second lane, the number of lanes of the entrance link is 5, and the number of lanes of the main road before the intersection is 4, the processor 330 may determine a value (i.e., 2+5-4 — 3) obtained by subtracting the number of lanes of the main road before the intersection from the sum of the determination result of the current driving lane and the number of lanes of the entrance link as the corrected driving lane.

The process of correcting the determination of the travel lane in the left entry/exit section may be performed after the process of tracking the travel lane, or after the process of fusing the matching result of the travel lane with the tracking result of the travel lane.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method of correcting a determination result of a driving lane according to an embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment describes a process of correcting the determination of the traveling lane in the entrance/exit section located on the left front side of the vehicle.

The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine whether an entrance/exit section is recognized at the left front side of the vehicle (step S110). The processor 330 of the driving lane recognition device 300 may recognize the existence of the left entry/exit section using the front information acquired through the information acquisition device 310.

When it is determined that there is a left entry/exit section, the driving lane recognition device 300 may correct the number of lanes of the driving road (step S120). The processor 330 may correct the number of lanes of the traveling road based on the number of lanes of the main road on which the vehicle is traveling and the number of lanes of the on-ramp/off-ramp.

The processor 330 may determine a correction type and a correction time point based on information on the start point and the end point of the identified entrance/exit section (step S130). Here, the correction type may be divided into an entrance link start point, an entrance link end point, an exit link start point, and an exit link end point. The corrected time point may refer to a time point when the vehicle passes through an entrance/exit section.

The processor 330 may correct the predetermined driving lane by a correction method according to a correction type at the correction time point (step S140). The processor 330 may identify the correction method matching the correction type by referring to a reference table in which the correction method according to the correction type, table 1, stored in the storage 320 in advance is defined. The processor 330 may correct the driving lane determined in the current cycle according to the identified correction method.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method of identifying a driving lane of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may acquire the front information (step S210). The information acquisition device 310 of the driving lane recognition device 300 may recognize the front information of the vehicle using at least one of the camera 210 and the radar 220. In addition, the traveling lane recognition device 300 may recognize the front information of the vehicle based on the traveling road information acquired from the navigation device 100.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may perform matching of the traveling lane using the acquired front information (step S220). The driving lane recognition device 300 may assign a matching point to each lane of the driving road and perform matching of the driving lane using the assigned matching point.

The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine the matching reliability for matching the driving lane (step S230). Here, the matching reliability may represent the highest probability among the probabilities that a certain lane is a traveling lane for a plurality of lanes.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may perform tracking of the traveling lane using the acquired front information (step S240). The driving lane recognition device 300 can recognize a change in the lateral distance of the vehicle (i.e., whether a lane change has occurred) by analyzing the image information acquired by the camera 210. The driving lane recognition device 300 may perform tracking of the driving lane using the driving lane and the change in the lateral distance determined in the previous cycle.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may determine the tracking reliability for tracking the traveling lane (step S250). Here, the tracking reliability may be identified using a fusion reliability, which is the accuracy of the driving lane determined in the previous cycle, and the reliability of the lateral distance change.

When the left entry/exit section is recognized in front of the vehicle, the driving lane recognition device 300 may correct the tracked driving lane (step S260). The traveling lane recognition device 300 may recognize an entrance/exit section located on the left front side of the vehicle based on the acquired front information. The traveling lane recognition device 300 may correct the number of lanes of the traveling road in the entrance/exit section and correct the tracked traveling lane using the corrected number of lanes of the traveling road.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may determine a traveling lane by fusing the matching result of the traveling lane and the tracking result of the corrected traveling lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability (step S270). The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine a lane with higher reliability of the lanes recognized by matching the driving lanes and the lanes recognized by tracking the driving lanes as the driving lanes.

The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine whether the vehicle enters a branch road and whether the vehicle deviates from the route based on the determined driving lane (step S280). The traveling lane recognition device 300 may determine whether the vehicle enters the branch road by comparing the determination result of the traveling lane with the information of the branch road ahead. The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine whether the vehicle deviates from the route based on the result of determining whether the vehicle enters the branch road and the information on the branch road.

The driving lane recognition device 300 may control the driver assistance function based on the determined driving lane (step S290). The driving lane recognition device 300 may transmit the determination result of the driving lane to the driver assistance device 400. The driver assistance device 400 may perform a driver assistance function based on the determination result of the driving lane.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method of identifying a driving lane of a vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may acquire the front information (step S310). The information acquisition device 310 of the driving lane recognition device 300 may recognize the front information of the vehicle using at least one of the camera 210 and the radar 220. In addition, the traveling lane recognition device 300 may recognize the front information of the vehicle based on the traveling road information acquired from the navigation device 100.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may perform matching of the traveling lane using the acquired front information (step S320). The driving lane recognition device 300 may assign a matching point to each lane of the driving road and perform matching of the driving lane using the assigned matching point.

The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine the matching reliability for matching the driving lane (step S330). Here, the matching reliability may represent the highest probability among the probabilities that a certain lane is a traveling lane for a plurality of lanes.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may perform tracking of the traveling lane using the acquired front information (step S340). The driving lane recognition device 300 can recognize a change in the lateral distance of the vehicle (i.e., whether a lane change has occurred) by analyzing the image information acquired by the camera 210. The driving lane recognition device 300 may perform tracking of the driving lane using the driving lane and the change in the lateral distance determined in the previous cycle.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may determine the tracking reliability for tracking the traveling lane (step S350). Here, the tracking reliability may be identified using a fusion reliability, which is the accuracy of the driving lane determined in the previous cycle, and the reliability of the lateral distance change.

The traveling lane recognition device 300 may determine a traveling lane by fusing the matching result of the traveling lane and the tracking result of the traveling lane based on the matching reliability and the tracking reliability (step S360). The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine a lane with higher reliability of the lanes recognized by matching the driving lanes and the lanes recognized by tracking the driving lanes as the driving lanes.

When the left entry/exit section is recognized in front of the vehicle, the driving lane recognition device 300 may correct the determined driving lane (step S370). The traveling lane recognition device 300 may recognize an entrance/exit section located on the left front side of the vehicle based on the acquired front information. The traveling lane recognition device 300 may correct the number of lanes of the traveling road in the entrance/exit section and correct the determined traveling lane using the corrected number of lanes of the traveling road.

The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine whether the road is branched and the vehicle deviates from the route based on the corrected driving lane (step S380). The traveling lane recognition device 300 may determine whether the vehicle enters the branch road by comparing the determination result of the corrected traveling lane with the information of the branch road ahead. The driving lane recognition device 300 may determine whether the vehicle deviates from the route based on the result of determining whether the vehicle enters the branch road and the information on the branch road.

The driving lane recognition device 300 may control the driver assistance function based on the corrected driving lane (step S390). The driving lane recognition device 300 may transmit the result of the corrected determination of the driving lane to the driver assistance device 400. The driver assistance device 400 may perform the driver assistance function based on the determination result of the corrected travel lane.

Fig. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams for describing an example of preventing the lane change assist function from malfunctioning at the left exit lane according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The lane change assist function does not support changing the lane to the left lane when the vehicle is traveling in the first lane. As shown in fig. 7A and 7B, when the vehicle travels on the first lane of the main road, the traveling lane recognition device 300 of the vehicle may determine the first lane as a traveling lane. Subsequently, as shown in fig. 7A, in the case where the determination result of the traveling lane is not corrected when the vehicle enters the exit section, the traveling lane recognition device 300 may determine the first lane as the traveling lane in the exit section and determine that the lane change to the left lane is impossible, thereby causing an error in which the lane change assist function is disabled. On the other hand, as shown in fig. 7B, in the case where the determination result of the traveling lane is corrected when the vehicle enters the exit section, the traveling lane recognition device 300 of the vehicle may perform correction by correcting the number of lanes of the traveling road in the exit section, correcting the first lane to the second lane as the determination result of the traveling lane. Therefore, it is possible to determine that the shift to the left lane is possible, and to activate the lane change assist function.

Fig. 8A and 8B are schematic diagrams for explaining an example in which the entrance-exit ramp deceleration function according to the embodiment of the present invention prevents a malfunction at the left-side exit section of the exclusive road.

When entering an on-off ramp on a motorway (e.g., a highway), the motorway on-off ramp deceleration function may support deceleration based on the curvature of the on-off ramp. As shown in fig. 8A and 8B, when the vehicle travels on the first lane of the main road, the traveling lane recognition device 300 of the vehicle may determine the first lane as a traveling lane. Thereafter, as shown in fig. 8A, in the case where the determination result of the traveling lane is not corrected upon entering the exit section, since the traveling lane determined by the traveling lane recognition device 300 is the first lane, the driver assistance device 400 may determine that the vehicle enters the left exit ramp and support deceleration due to the curvature of the exit ramp, resulting in an increase in the risk of a rear collision accident due to unnecessary deceleration. On the other hand, as shown in fig. 8B, in the case where the determination result of the traveling lane is corrected when the vehicle enters the exit section, the traveling lane recognition device 300 of the vehicle may perform correction by correcting the number of lanes of the traveling road in the exit section, correcting the first lane to the second lane as the determination result of the traveling lane. Since the determination result of the corrected traveling lane is the second lane, the driver assist apparatus 400 may determine whether the vehicle enters the left exit ramp, and allow the vehicle to keep the vehicle speed when the vehicle does not enter the left exit ramp.

Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a computing system for executing a method of identifying a driving lane of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 9, computing system 1000 may include: at least one processor 1100, a memory 1300, a user interface input device 1400, a user interface output device 1500, a storage device 1600, and a network interface 1700, which are connected to each other through a bus 1200.

Processor 1100 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or semiconductor device that processes instructions stored in memory 1300 and/or storage 1600. Memory 1300 and storage 1600 may include various types of volatile or non-volatile storage media. For example, the memory 1300 may include a ROM (read only memory) 1310 and a RAM (random access memory) 1320.

Thus, the operations of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware or in a software module executed by the processor 1100, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in storage media such as RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, and a CD-ROM (i.e., memory 1300 and/or storage 1600). An exemplary storage medium can be coupled to processor 1100, and processor 1100 can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor 1100. Processor 1100 and the storage medium may reside in an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In another case, the processor 1100 and the storage medium may reside as separate components in a user terminal.

The above description is only illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various modifications and variations can be made by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the technical idea of the present invention but to describe the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by the embodiments. The scope of the present invention should be construed by the appended claims, and all technical ideas within the scope equivalent thereto should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

According to the present invention, the driving lane of the vehicle is recognized in consideration of the variation in the number of lanes of the driving road in the entrance/exit section located on the left front side of the vehicle, thereby preventing the malfunction of the driver assistance function.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may make various changes and modifications of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as claimed in the appended claims.