CN116767244A

CN116767244A - Car meeting auxiliary method and system based on navigation mark

Info

Publication number: CN116767244A
Application number: CN202210243046.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘照国
Original assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
Current assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
Priority date: 2022-03-11
Filing date: 2022-03-11
Publication date: 2023-09-19

Abstract

A vehicle meeting assisting method and system based on navigation marks are provided. The invention adds road marks to be met and meeting point marks in the navigation system, and the navigation marks are provided by background data of the navigation system or marked by an owner autonomously/passively. When the vehicle is ready to drive to the road needing meeting, whether the road needing meeting has a vehicle which drives in opposite directions or not is judged in real time. If the vehicle running in the opposite direction is found, judging whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the vehicle closest to the opposite direction. (1) If no meeting point exists, reminding the user to wait in situ, and after the opposite vehicle exits the road to be met, driving to the road to be met; (2) If the meeting point exists, the meeting point capable of meeting is searched, and when both vehicles travel to the meeting point, the vehicles are reminded to meet at the place, and after meeting, the vehicles continue to move forward.

Description

Car meeting auxiliary method and system based on navigation mark

Technical Field

The present invention relates to vehicle meeting assistance, and more particularly, to navigation mark based vehicle meeting assistance methods and systems.

Background

The popularization of the navigation technology is greatly convenient for the driving experience of the driver, and the existing navigation system can prompt the driver to perform the next driving action (such as left turn/right turn/straight travel/lane change and the like) in time, so that the driver can make the optimal driving plan in the urban road driving under the condition of unfamiliar with the current road.

Meeting is one of the most commonly encountered situations during driving. Specifically, a meeting is a term of traffic that refers to vehicles traveling in opposite directions (e.g., cars, trains, etc.) while passing alternately at a certain location. In practice, when meeting a vehicle on a narrower road (for example, a road through which two vehicles traveling in opposite directions cannot pass in parallel), in general, after entering a road to be met, a driver slowly passes through the accurate judgment of the distance on the right side of the road; or after the driver enters the road where the vehicle needs to be met, the driver can not or can not know the successful vehicle meeting through observation, and the driver can only select (for example, stop or reverse the vehicle to a relatively wide position) to stop, and the driver can drive the opposite vehicle and then pass the opposite vehicle.

In order to improve the safety and convenience of meeting, some auxiliary meeting systems are provided in the prior art. For example, CN112339663a proposes to install a camera on the vehicle to determine the situation around the meeting vehicle to propose driving advice when the driver meets the vehicle, CN111976725A analyzes and reminds high-risk curves, and CN108133621a installs several early warning devices on both ends of the road to send early warning signals to neighboring vehicles.

However, the existing vehicle-meeting auxiliary system basically reduces the collision probability by real-time display or dynamic reminding when the vehicle enters the road requiring vehicle-meeting under the condition of sufficient lane width, improves the vehicle-meeting safety, and still cannot solve the vehicle-meeting problem under the condition of insufficient road width (such as a small road in rural areas, a road with temporary road construction, and the like). Therefore, it would be desirable for a driver to be able to pre-warn of a potential meeting before the desired meeting is reached and to inform the appropriate meeting point.

Disclosure of Invention

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

To address the problem of meeting, the present meeting assistance system incorporates in the navigation system the on-demand road markings as well as the meeting point markings, which are provided by the navigation system background data (e.g., background data stored in the navigation system background database) or are marked autonomously/passively by the vehicle owner. When the vehicle runs on a normal road, the auxiliary system for meeting the vehicle can not be triggered, and the auxiliary system for meeting the vehicle can be triggered only when the vehicle is ready to run on the road needing meeting the vehicle, and the system can judge whether the road needing meeting the vehicle has a vehicle running in opposite directions or not in real time by utilizing navigation background data or real-time data transmitted by a navigation satellite. If the vehicle running in the opposite direction is found, judging whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the vehicle closest to the opposite direction. (1) If no meeting point exists, reminding the user to wait in situ, and after the opposite vehicle exits the road to be met, driving to the road to be met; (2) If the meeting point exists, the meeting point capable of meeting is searched, and when both vehicles travel to the meeting point, the vehicles are reminded to meet at the place, and after meeting, the vehicles continue to move forward.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle meeting assistance method for navigation mark-based, including: (a) Identifying a road in front of a current vehicle to be met based on a road mark to be met, wherein the road mark to be met marks the road to be met; (b) Detecting whether an opposite vehicle which runs opposite to the current vehicle exists on the identified road to be crossed; (c) If the opposite vehicle is detected, determining whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the opposite vehicle on the identified road requiring meeting according to the real-time position of the current vehicle, the real-time position of the opposite vehicle and a meeting point mark associated with the identified road requiring meeting, wherein the meeting point mark marks a place on the identified road requiring meeting, where meeting can be performed; (d) Prompting the current vehicle to wait in place if it is determined that the meeting point does not exist, and continuously performing step (b) during the current vehicle waiting in place; (e) If the meeting point exists, identifying a meeting point for meeting the current vehicle with the opposite vehicle; and (f) prompting the current vehicle to meet at the identified meeting point when the current vehicle approaches the identified meeting point.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle meeting assistance system for navigation mark-based, comprising: the navigation mark generation module is configured to generate a road mark to be met and a meeting point mark, wherein the road mark to be met marks the road to be met, and the meeting point mark marks the place to be met on the road to be met; the system comprises a vehicle-to-be-met road identification module, a vehicle-to-be-met road identification module and a vehicle-to-be-met road identification module, wherein the vehicle-to-be-met road identification module is configured to identify a vehicle-to-be-met road in front of a current vehicle based on a vehicle-to-be-met road mark when the current vehicle is running; a facing vehicle detection module configured to detect whether a facing vehicle traveling in a direction opposite to the current vehicle exists on the identified lane for meeting; a meeting point determination module configured to determine whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the opposing vehicle on the identified lane to be met, wherein, in the case where there are multiple opposing vehicles, the opposing vehicle is the opposing vehicle closest to the current vehicle; a meeting point identification module configured to identify a meeting point for the current vehicle and the opposing vehicle to meet; and a reminder module configured to remind the current vehicle.

These and other features and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory only and are not restrictive of aspects as claimed.

Drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a meeting assistance system 100 for navigation mark based according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of a method 200 for navigation mark-based meeting assistance in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3A illustrates a situation where there is only one meeting point on the lane of a meeting, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3B illustrates a situation where there is more than one meeting point on the desired meeting lane according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing device 400, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The features of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings.

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention is not limited to the embodiments, however, but is defined by the appended claims. Accordingly, embodiments other than those shown in the figures, such as modified versions of the illustrated embodiments, are still encompassed by the present invention.

Reference in the specification to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., means that the embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the relevant art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

For convenience of explanation, only an embodiment of applying the technical solution of the present invention to a "vehicle" is described in detail herein, but it is fully understood by those skilled in the art that the technical solution of the present invention can be applied to any vehicle such as trains, subways, ships, etc. where a meeting situation may exist. The term "a or B" as used throughout this specification refers to "a and B" and "a or B" unless otherwise indicated, and does not mean that a and B are exclusive.

Introduction of terms:

road for meeting vehicles: in the context of this document, "on-demand road" refers to the following road: the entire section or a large portion of the road is too narrow to allow simultaneous parallel passage of two vehicles traveling in opposite directions. In practice, a "road to meet" may refer to, for example, a narrow rural roadway, a road under construction in both directions and/or in one direction, a road where traffic accidents occur in both directions and/or in one direction, a road where obstacles occur on both directions and/or in one direction, or a road where natural disasters (such as debris flow, etc.) occur in both directions and/or in one direction.

Meeting point: in practice, while most sections of the road requiring a meeting are too narrow, there may be sections where a small portion is wide enough to enable two vehicles traveling in opposite directions to pass simultaneously in parallel, and in the context of this document these sections may be considered "meeting points". For example, a "meeting point" may generally refer to a fork at the side of a desired meeting lane, a building at the side of a desired meeting lane, or other somewhat wider section in a desired meeting lane. Of course, no meeting point can exist in the road needing meeting.

Navigation system: in the present context, a "navigation system" refers to a system/application that utilizes a global satellite navigation system (Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS) to provide navigation functions to a driver. In general, a "navigation system" may have the following functions: map query function, route planning/re-planning function, voice or picture navigation function, speed measurement function, positioning function, etc. In practice, "navigation system" generally refers to a navigation system or application (e.g., a high-altitude map, a hundred-degree map, etc.) or an in-vehicle navigation system (e.g., BMW Maps), etc., that is downloadable to a mobile device.

Navigation mark: in the context of this document, a "navigation mark" may include a demand road mark indicating a demand road and a meeting point mark indicating a meeting point. In practice, the "navigation markers" may be stored in background data of the navigation system and/or may be visualized on a user interface displayed to the user.

The user: in the context of this document, a "user" may refer to a driver who is driving a vehicle, other personnel on the vehicle, or personnel using a navigation system.

Opposite vehicle: in the present context, "opposing vehicle" refers to a vehicle that is traveling in a direction opposite to the current vehicle's direction of travel.

As mentioned above, the prior art vehicle-meeting assistance schemes generally require a relatively high cost for improving the hardware of the vehicle (e.g., installing a plurality of cameras or radar devices) or constructing the road where the vehicle is to be met (e.g., installing warning devices on both sides of the road, etc.). The vehicle-meeting auxiliary system utilizes the navigation technology, and can remind the road to be met in advance and inform the road to be met close to the vehicle-meeting point by adding the marks for the road to be met and the vehicle-meeting point in the background of the navigation system, so that a user can meet vehicles more efficiently and safely. In addition, the invention does not need to improve the vehicle, and does not generate extra hardware cost for users. The invention also does not need to improve the road where vehicles meet, and saves the cost in road construction. Meanwhile, the invention can be integrated into the existing navigation system, and can be easily used without additional learning cost for users.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a meeting assistance system 100 for navigation mark based according to one embodiment of the invention. According to one embodiment of the invention, the system 100 may be integrated into an existing navigation system or application (e.g., a navigation application that is downloadable to a mobile device, a car navigation system, etc.) to provide a meeting assistance function. According to another embodiment of the invention, the system 100 may be run separately from an existing navigation system or application (e.g., implemented on a remote device, cloud service, etc.) to provide a meeting assistance function independently or in conjunction with an existing navigation system to provide a meeting assistance function.

As shown in fig. 1, the meeting assistance system 100 may include a navigation mark generation module 101, a road-to-meeting identification module 102, an oncoming vehicle detection module 103, a meeting point determination module 104, a meeting point identification module 105, and a reminder module 106. It will be fully understood by those skilled in the art that the description herein is for clarity only. The functionality of one or more of the modules described above may be combined into a single module or split into multiple modules. Also, one or more of the above-described modules may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. Also, the manner in which data flows between the modules may take place in a manner known in the art, which is not within the discussion of the present invention.

In general, the navigation mark generation module 101 generates a road mark for a meeting, which marks a road where a condition for a meeting exists, and a meeting point mark, which marks a place (or section) in the road for a meeting, where a meeting is possible. While the current vehicle is traveling, the on-demand road identification module 102 identifies an on-demand road ahead of the current vehicle based on the on-demand road marking. The opposing vehicle detection module 103 detects whether or not an opposing vehicle exists on the lane to be joined, and identifies the opposing vehicle closest to the current vehicle in the case where the opposing vehicle exists. If there is no oncoming vehicle, the reminder module 106 reminds the current vehicle to enter the road to meet. If there is a closest opposing vehicle, the meeting point determination module 104 determines whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle in the on-demand road based on the meeting point indicia. If no meeting point exists, the reminding module 106 reminds the current vehicle to wait in place, and reminds the current vehicle to enter the road to be met when no opposite vehicle exists on the road to be met. If there is only one meeting point, the reminder module 106 can remind when the current vehicle approaches the meeting point. If there are multiple meeting points, the meeting point identification module 105 may identify the appropriate meeting point from the multiple meeting points, and the reminder module 106 may remind when the current vehicle approaches the appropriate meeting point, according to which the current vehicle may make a meeting when the meeting point is reached.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the navigation mark generation module 101 is configured to generate a road-to-meeting road mark that marks a road to be met and a meeting point mark that marks a meeting point in the road to be met. Generally, the road-to-meet index may indicate an index of the road-to-meet, location/geographical information of the road-to-meet, type of the road-to-meet, time of the road-to-meet, way of the road-to-meet, and the like. The meeting point indicia may indicate a desired meeting road (e.g., via an index of the desired meeting road, etc.) associated with the meeting point, an index of the meeting point, location/geographic information of the meeting point, type of the meeting point, time of the indicia of the meeting point, manner of the indicia of the meeting point, etc. For example, a meeting road tag may have a data format such as { meeting road index, location/geographic information, road type (e.g., stenosis, construction, obstacle, weather hazard, etc.), time of marking, way of marking (e.g., from background data, from user, etc.) }, a meeting point tag may have a data format such as { associated meeting road index, meeting point index, location/geographic information, meeting point type (fork, building, other), time of marking, way of marking (e.g., from background data, from user, etc.) }. It will be fully understood by those skilled in the art that the above data formats and field types are merely illustrative, that the meeting lane markers and meeting point markers may be stored and/or associated in any suitable data format in the navigation system, and that the above fields or other fields may store information and data in any suitable manner. Also, it is fully understood by those skilled in the art that the above "location/geographic information" can be understood to generally have a start point and an end point to indicate an area having a certain length. For example, any data format commonly used in the navigation system arts may be used for recording, such as absolute position, relative position from a certain location, etc.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the navigation mark generation module 101 may identify a road for meeting from background data of the navigation system and generate a road for meeting mark indicating the road for meeting. For example, the background data may include satellite data, mapping data collected on roads, or real-time information provided by related institutions (e.g., road construction information, traffic accident information, etc.). If the navigation mark generation module 101 further determines that there is a meeting point available for meeting in the identified road for meeting based on the background data, a meeting point mark indicating the meeting point is further generated.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the navigation mark generation module 101 may identify a road to be met according to information actively reported by a user, and generate a road to be met mark indicating the road to be met. For example, a user may actively report a section of road as a road requiring a meeting through a navigation system. The reporting of the road to be met can be achieved by the navigation system after the user is jammed on the road to be met (in real time) or after the user exits the road to be met (in non-real time). Specifically, the navigation system may provide the user with a functional interface that may report road conditions (e.g., report a road requiring a meeting), and the navigation mark generation module 101 may identify the road as a road requiring a meeting based on the amount of information reported by the user (e.g., that more than a threshold number of users have reported for the road). Alternatively, the navigation mark generation module 101 may identify a road to be met by combining the background data and information actively reported by the user, and generate a road to be met mark indicating the road to be met. For example, after receiving that a certain road is reported as a road to be met by more than a certain threshold number of users, the navigation mark generation module 101 may confirm in conjunction with the background data and identify the road as a road to be met after confirmation to more accurately identify the road to be met.

In this embodiment, if there is a meeting point in the section of road, the user may report the meeting point together with the road on which the meeting is to be reported, or report the meeting point separately from the road on which the meeting is to be reported, the navigation mark generation module 101 may mark the meeting point as the meeting point according to the amount of information reported by the user (for example, reporting has been performed for the meeting point by more than a certain threshold number of users), and generate a meeting point mark indicating the meeting point. Alternatively, without the user actively reporting the meeting point information, for the identified road to be met, the navigation mark generation module 101 may identify the meeting point in the road to be met based on the background data and generate a meeting point mark indicating the meeting point. Alternatively, as described above for the road to be met, the navigation mark generation module 101 may combine the background data and the information actively reported by the user to identify a meeting point in the road to be met and generate a meeting point mark indicating the meeting point.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the navigation mark generation module 101 may identify a road for meeting according to real-time data in combination with user feedback and generate a road for meeting mark indicating the road for meeting. For example, when the navigation system detects that the current vehicle is traveling at low speed (generally, representing a congestion situation), the navigation system may actively alert the user (e.g., via voice or a user interface) whether a road to be met is entered. Based on the prompt, the user may provide feedback as to whether the road on which the current vehicle is located belongs to a road on which a vehicle needs to be met. The navigation system may then identify the link as a road to be met based on the amount of confirmation feedback provided by the user (e.g., for the link, there have been more than a threshold number of users feeding it back as a road to be met).

In this embodiment, the navigation mark generation module 101 may further prompt the user for feedback about the meeting point after the user provides confirmation feedback about the road to be met, and generate the meeting point mark indicating the meeting point after receiving the feedback about the meeting point. In this regard, the user may feedback information about the meeting point in real time or non-real time. The navigation mark generation module 101 may mark the meeting point as a meeting point based on the amount of information that the user has fed back (e.g., that more than a threshold number of users have fed back for the meeting point). Alternatively, without the user feeding back the meeting point information, for the identified road to be met, the navigation mark generation module 101 may identify the meeting point in the road to be met based on the background data, and generate a meeting point mark indicating the meeting point. Alternatively, the navigation mark generation module 101 may identify a meeting point in the road to be met in combination with the background data and the information fed back by the user, and generate a meeting point mark indicating the meeting point.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the on-demand road identification module 102 is configured to identify an on-demand road based on the on-demand road marking while the current vehicle is traveling. For example, the on-demand road identification module 102 may determine whether the front road is an on-demand road based on the on-demand road markings. In practice, a forward road may be understood as a road that is a distance (e.g., 10 meters, 20 meters, etc.) from the current position of the current vehicle in the direction of travel of the current vehicle. Of course, 10 meters and 20 meters are only illustrative, and different distances can be used according to actual requirements (e.g., current road conditions, etc.).

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the opposing vehicle detection module 103 may be configured to detect whether there is an opposing vehicle traveling in opposition to the current vehicle on the road-to-be-met identified by the road-to-be-met identification module 102, and identify the closest opposing vehicle if there is an opposing vehicle. For example, the oncoming vehicle detection module 103 may detect whether an oncoming vehicle exists on a lane to be met based on real-time data (e.g., real-time data transmitted by a navigation satellite or real-time query data that triggers a real-time query to a navigation backend database of the present navigation system) and identify the oncoming vehicle that is closest to the current vehicle.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the meeting point determination module 104 may be configured to determine whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle in the road requiring a meeting. Specifically, the meeting point determination module 104 may determine whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle based on the meeting-required road marking transmitted by the meeting-required road identification module 102, the meeting point marking associated with the meeting-required road marking, the real-time location information of the closest opposing vehicle transmitted by the opposing vehicle detection module 103, and the real-time location information of the current vehicle.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the meeting point identification module 105 is configured to identify a meeting point for a meeting. For example, if the meeting point determination module 104 determines that there is only one meeting point between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle, the meeting point identification module 105 identifies the meeting point as the appropriate meeting point. If the meeting point determination module 104 determines that there is more than one (i.e., multiple) meeting point between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle, the meeting point identification module 105 may select an appropriate meeting point from the multiple meeting points for the meeting. For example, meeting point identification module 105 may select an appropriate meeting point from a plurality of meeting points according to one or more of the following various rules: the most suitable meeting point marked by other users or users of the current vehicle, the meeting point with the largest meeting area (e.g., the longest meeting point, the widest meeting point compared to the opposite side, the largest area meeting point, etc.), the meeting point where the vehicle is most, the closest meeting point to the current vehicle, the closest meeting point to the opposite vehicle, or the closest meeting point to either the current vehicle or the opposite vehicle based on real-time judgment, etc. In practice, for example, "a meeting point of the most suitable meeting marked by the other user or the user of the current vehicle", "a meeting point where the vehicle is most meeting" may be obtained from the background history data of the navigation system, "a meeting point of the largest meeting area" may be obtained based on "position/geographic information" described in the meeting point mark corresponding to each meeting point, "a meeting point closest to the current vehicle", "a meeting point closest to the oncoming vehicle", "a meeting point closest to either the current vehicle or the oncoming vehicle based on real-time judgment", and "a meeting point closest to either the current vehicle or the oncoming vehicle" may be obtained based on real-time position information of the current vehicle, real-time position information of the subject vehicle, and "position/geographic information" described in the meeting point mark corresponding to each meeting point.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the reminder module 106 may be configured to remind the current vehicle. According to one embodiment of the invention, the reminder module 106 can remind by voice, visual interface, vibration, and/or other physical means.

Specifically, the reminding module 106 may remind the current vehicle to continue driving forward based on the identification of the road ahead by the road identification module 102 as the road to be met in combination with the identification of the absence of the opposite vehicle on the road to be met by the opposite vehicle detection module 103. Alternatively, the reminding module 106 may further remind the current vehicle that the front is the road to be met, so that the user can know that the front is the road to be met and need to drive carefully, although no opposite vehicle exists on the road to be met.

In addition, the alert module 106 may alert the current vehicle to the front road segment being the road to be met and alert the current vehicle to stay in place waiting for a meeting based on the determination by the meeting point determination module 104 that there is no meeting point between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle. And, the reminding module 106 may remind the current vehicle to continue traveling forward based on the determination that the meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the closest opposite vehicle by the meeting point determining module 104, and further remind the current vehicle to make a meeting at the meeting point or wait for the opposite vehicle to make a meeting when the current vehicle approaches the meeting point identified by the meeting point identifying module 105. Alternatively, the alert module 106 may further alert the current vehicle that the vehicle has driven out of the on-demand road upon the current vehicle driving out of the on-demand road.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of a method 200 for navigation mark-based meeting assistance in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. For example, the method 200 may be implemented within at least one processor (e.g., the processor 404 of fig. 4), which may be located in a mobile device, an on-board computer system, a remote server, or a combination thereof. Of course, in various aspects of the invention, the method 200 may also be implemented by any suitable means capable of performing the relevant operations.

In step 201, a road for meeting is identified. According to one embodiment of the invention, the road in front of the current vehicle that needs to be met may be identified based on the navigation mark. The navigation mark may include a road-to-be-met mark marking the road of the road to be met. According to another embodiment of the invention, the "front" of the current vehicle may be predetermined or dynamically adjusted according to real-time traffic conditions, e.g., 10 meters, 20 meters, etc.

In step 202, it is detected whether or not there is an oncoming vehicle on the road of the meeting lane identified in step 201. If there is no opposing vehicle, step 203 is entered, and if there is an opposing vehicle, step 204 is entered. According to one embodiment of the present invention, it may be determined whether an oncoming vehicle is present on the desired lane based on real-time navigation data (e.g., satellite data). According to another embodiment of the present invention, if there are multiple opposing vehicles, the opposing vehicle closest to the current vehicle is further identified.

In step 203, the current vehicle is reminded to continue to run forward, and whether the opposite vehicle exists on the identified road requiring meeting is continuously detected during the forward running of the current vehicle. According to one embodiment of the present invention, step 202 may be performed continuously at regular intervals (e.g., every 2 seconds, every 5 seconds, etc.) during forward travel of the current vehicle, i.e., to detect whether an identified oncoming vehicle is present on the lane of the vehicle. The time intervals shown are merely illustrative and suitable time intervals may be determined based on real-time road conditions. For example, if the vehicle flow is not large, the time interval may be longer, and if the vehicle flow is large, the time interval may be shorter. Alternatively, it may be determined based on the specific distance "in front of" the current vehicle as described above.

According to one embodiment of the invention, reminding the current vehicle to continue to drive forward can further remind the user that the front will enter the road to be met so as to remind the user to drive carefully. If an oncoming vehicle is detected on the identified lane of need for a meeting while the current vehicle continues to travel forward, step 206 is entered to alert the current vehicle to a meeting as the meeting point is approached, as described below. It should be noted that, according to the technical solution of the present invention, if the current vehicle detects the opposite vehicle during the running on the identified road to be met, it represents that there is necessarily a meeting point between the current vehicle and the opposite vehicle (otherwise, the opposite vehicle will not be reminded of being able to enter the identified road to be met, because the current vehicle is already on the identified road to be met at this time), so step 206 is entered to meet at the meeting point.

If an oncoming vehicle is not detected on the identified road to meet while the current vehicle continues to travel forward, step 209 may optionally be entered upon the current vehicle exiting the identified road to meet. At step 209, the user is alerted that the drive-out road has been driven out. Step 209 is optional, i.e., the user may not be alerted to the exit of the road to meet, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In step 204, it is determined whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the opposing vehicle on the identified lane to meet, if not, step 205 is entered, and if so, step 206 is entered. According to one embodiment of the present invention, if there are multiple opposing vehicles, it is determined whether there is a meeting point between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle. According to one embodiment of the present invention, it may be determined whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle on the identified lane requiring meeting based on the real-time location of the current vehicle, the real-time location of the opposing vehicle, and the meeting point indicia associated with the lane requiring meeting identified in step 201. For example, the current vehicle's real-time location, the real-time location of the opposing vehicle, and the "location/geographic information" recorded in the meeting point markers associated with the desired meeting lane identified in step 201 may be utilized to determine whether the meeting point is located between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle.

In step 205, the current vehicle is alerted to wait in place and continues to detect whether an opposing vehicle is present on the identified lane of interest during the current vehicle waiting in place. According to one embodiment of the invention, step 202 is performed continuously at certain time intervals (e.g., every 2 seconds, every 5 seconds, etc.) during the current vehicle waiting in place, i.e., detecting whether an identified oncoming vehicle is present on the desired lane. The time intervals shown are merely illustrative, and suitable time intervals may be determined based on real-time road conditions so that the current vehicle does not remain in-situ waiting for a long period of time. For example, if the vehicle flow is not large, the time interval may be longer, and if the vehicle flow is large, the time interval may be shorter. Alternatively, it may be determined based on the specific distance "in front of" the current vehicle as described above.

At step 206, a meeting point is identified. According to one embodiment of the invention, if there are multiple meeting points, as described above, the most appropriate meeting point may be identified according to one or more of a variety of rules to make the meeting based on the meeting point indicia associated with the desired meeting lane identified in step 201. If there is only one meeting point, the meeting point is identified as the meeting point at which the meeting was conducted.

At step 207, the current vehicle is alerted to a meeting at the identified meeting point when the current vehicle approaches the meeting point. According to one embodiment of the present invention, it may be determined how far from the meeting point (e.g., 10 meters, 5 meters, etc. from the meeting point) the current vehicle is alerted of the meeting according to conditions such as the speed of the current vehicle. If the opposing vehicle has been parked at the meeting point when the current vehicle is traveling to the meeting point, the current vehicle may directly meet the opposing vehicle. If an oncoming vehicle has not yet occurred at the meeting point while the current vehicle is traveling to the meeting point, the current vehicle may stay at the meeting point to wait for the oncoming vehicle to meet. According to another embodiment of the present invention, if the opposite vehicle does not reach the meeting point yet, the current vehicle may be further reminded of the expected distance/time for the opposite vehicle to reach the meeting point, so as to prevent the user from traveling in advance without knowing the waiting time, and causing the opposite vehicle to meet the road section where the opposite vehicle cannot meet in front, thereby generating congestion.

In the event that there is only one meeting point on the identified road to meet between the current vehicle and the closest opposing vehicle, after the meeting at that meeting point, step 208 is entered, the current vehicle is reminded to continue traveling forward, and step 209 is optionally entered upon exiting the identified road to meet, thereby reminding the user that the road to meet has been exited.

And under the condition that more than one meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the nearest opposite vehicle on the identified vehicle-to-be-met road, after the meeting of the current meeting point is finished, the method enters step 203, the current vehicle is reminded to continue to drive forwards, and whether the opposite vehicle exists on the identified vehicle-to-be-met road is continuously detected in the forward driving process of the current vehicle. If an oncoming vehicle is detected on the identified lane of need to meet during forward travel of the current vehicle, step 206 is entered to again meet at the appropriate meeting point. If an oncoming vehicle is not detected on the identified road of need for meeting during forward travel of the current vehicle, step 209 may optionally be entered upon the current vehicle exiting the identified road of need for meeting.

For better illustration, fig. 3A shows a case where there is only one meeting point on the on-demand lane according to one embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 3B shows a case where there are more than one meeting point (e.g., 2 meeting points) on the on-demand lane according to one embodiment of the present invention. As can be seen from fig. 3A, in the case of only one meeting point, the detection of the opposite vehicle is not needed after the current vehicle meets the vehicle, because there is no meeting point between the current vehicle and the opposite vehicle, and the opposite vehicle is not prompted to enter the road before the current vehicle exits the current road. According to fig. 3B, in the case where there is more than one meeting point, the following opposite vehicle may be encountered if the current vehicle has already made a meeting at the meeting point 1 and continues to travel forward, because the meeting point 2 is still present between the current vehicle and the following opposite vehicle at this time, and thus the following opposite vehicle may be prompted to enter the meeting-required road when approaching the meeting-required road. It will be fully understood by those skilled in the art that the on-demand road and the meeting point shown in fig. 3A and 3B are merely illustrative and are not intended to be limiting in any way with respect to the shape, size, length, etc. of the on-demand road and the meeting point.

To sum up, in order to solve the problem of vehicle meeting, the present vehicle-meeting auxiliary system incorporates road marks to be met and meeting point marks in the navigation system, which are provided by the navigation system background data and/or marked autonomously/passively by the vehicle owner. When the vehicle runs on a normal road, the auxiliary system for meeting the vehicle can not be triggered, and the auxiliary system for meeting the vehicle can be triggered only when the vehicle is ready to run on the road needing meeting the vehicle, and the system can judge whether the road needing meeting the vehicle has a vehicle running in opposite directions or not in real time by utilizing navigation background data. If the opposite running vehicles are found, judging whether a meeting point mark exists between the current vehicle and the vehicle with the nearest opposite direction, and (1) if the meeting point mark does not exist, reminding a user to wait in situ, and after the opposite vehicle is driven out of the road to be met, driving the vehicle to the road to be met; (2) If the meeting point mark exists, the most proper meeting point is found, and when the two vehicles travel to the meeting point, the two vehicles are reminded of meeting at the place, and after meeting, the vehicles continue to move forward.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing device, which is one example of a hardware device that may be used with aspects of the invention, according to one embodiment of the invention.

With reference to FIG. 4, a computing device 400, which is one example of a hardware device that may be used with aspects of the invention, will now be described. Computing device 400 may be any machine that may be configured to implement processing and/or computing and may be, but is not limited to, a workstation, a server, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a smart phone, a vehicle mount computer, or any combination thereof. The various methods/apparatus/servers/client devices described above may be implemented, in whole or in part, by computing device 400 or a similar device or system.

Computing device 400 may include components that may be connected or in communication with bus 402 via one or more interfaces. For example, computing device 400 may include a bus 402, one or more processors 404, one or more input devices 406, and one or more output devices 408. The one or more processors 404 may be any type of processor and may include, but are not limited to, one or more general purpose processors and/or one or more special purpose processors (e.g., special purpose processing chips). Input device 406 may be any type of device capable of inputting information to a computing device and may include, but is not limited to, a mouse, keyboard, touch screen, microphone, and/or remote controller. Output device 408 may be any type of device capable of presenting information and may include, but is not limited to, a display, speakers, video/audio output terminals, vibrators, and/or printers. Computing device 400 may also include or be connected to a non-transitory storage device 410, which may be non-transitory and capable of data storage, and which may include, but is not limited to, a disk drive, an optical storage device, solid state memory, a floppy disk, a hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, an optical disk or any other optical medium, a ROM (read only memory), a RAM (random access memory), a cache memory, and/or any memory chip or cartridge, and/or any other medium from which a computer may read data, instructions, and/or code. The non-transitory storage device 410 may be separated from the interface. The non-transitory storage device 410 may have data/instructions/code for implementing the methods and steps described above. Computing device 400 may also include communication device 412. The communication device 412 may be any type of device or system capable of enabling communication with an internal apparatus and/or with a network and may include, but is not limited to, a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and/or a chipset, such as a bluetooth device, an IEEE 1302.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a cellular communication device, and/or the like.

When the computing device 400 is used as an in-vehicle device, it may also be connected with external devices (e.g., a GPS receiver, sensors for sensing different environmental data (such as acceleration sensors, wheel speed sensors, gyroscopes, etc.)). In this way, computing device 400 may receive, for example, positioning data and sensor data indicative of a vehicle-form condition. When the computing device 400 is used as an in-vehicle device, it may also be connected with other devices (e.g., an engine system, a wiper, an antilock brake system, etc.) for controlling the running and operation of the vehicle.

Further, the non-transitory storage device 410 may have map information and software components such that the processor 604 may implement route guidance processing. Further, the output device 406 may include a display for displaying a map, displaying a positioning mark of the vehicle, and displaying an image indicating a running condition of the vehicle. The output device 406 may also include a speaker or headphone interface for audio guidance.

Bus 402 can include, but is not limited to, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, an Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus. In particular, for in-vehicle devices, bus 402 may also include a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus or other architecture designed for use in automotive applications.

Computing device 400 may also include a working memory 414, which working memory 414 may be any type of working memory capable of storing instructions and/or data that facilitate the operation of processor 404 and may include, but is not limited to, random access memory and/or read-only memory devices.

Software components may reside in working memory 414 including, but not limited to, an operating system 416, one or more application programs 418, drivers, and/or other data and code. Instructions for implementing the above-described methods and steps may be included in the one or more applications 418, and modules/units/components of the various foregoing apparatus/servers/client devices may be implemented by the processor 404 reading and executing the instructions of the one or more applications 418.

It should also be appreciated that variations may be made according to particular needs. For example, custom hardware may also be used, and/or particular components may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description voices, or any combination thereof. In addition, connections to other computing devices, such as network input/output devices, etc., may be employed. For example, some or all of the disclosed methods and apparatus may be implemented with programming hardware (e.g., programmable logic circuits including Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and/or Programmable Logic Arrays (PLAs)) having an assembly language or hardware programming language (e.g., VERILOG, VHDL, C ++).

Although aspects of the present invention have been described so far with reference to the accompanying drawings, the above-described methods, systems and apparatuses are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to these aspects but is limited only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof. Various components may be omitted or replaced with equivalent components. In addition, the steps may also be implemented in a different order than described in the present invention. Furthermore, the various components may be combined in various ways. It is also important that as technology advances, many of the described components can be replaced by equivalent components that appear later.

Claims

1. A vehicle meeting assistance method for navigation mark-based, comprising:

(a) Identifying a road in front of a current vehicle to be met based on a road mark to be met, wherein the road mark to be met marks the road to be met;

(b) Detecting whether an opposite vehicle which runs opposite to the current vehicle exists on the identified road to be crossed;

(c) If the opposite vehicle is detected, determining whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the opposite vehicle on the identified road requiring meeting according to the real-time position of the current vehicle, the real-time position of the opposite vehicle and a meeting point mark associated with the identified road requiring meeting, wherein the meeting point mark marks a place on the identified road requiring meeting, where meeting can be performed;

(d) Prompting the current vehicle to wait in place if it is determined that the meeting point does not exist, and continuously performing step (b) during the current vehicle waiting in place;

(e) If the meeting point exists, identifying a meeting point for meeting the current vehicle with the opposite vehicle; and

(f) And reminding the current vehicle of meeting at the identified meeting point when the current vehicle approaches the identified meeting point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the demand meeting road indicia indicates one or more of an index of a demand meeting road, location/geographic information of a demand meeting road, type of demand meeting road, time of marking of a demand meeting road, manner of marking of a demand meeting road, and the meeting point indicia indicates one or more of an index of a demand meeting road and a meeting point associated with a meeting point, location/geographic information of a meeting point, type of meeting point, time of marking of a meeting point, manner of marking of a meeting point.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the on-demand road marking and/or the meeting point marking is generated based on one or more of: background data, information actively reported by a user, or real-time data in combination with user feedback.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: if the opposing vehicle is not detected, then:

reminding the current vehicle to continue to run forwards, and continuously detecting whether an opposite vehicle which runs opposite to the current vehicle exists on the identified road where the vehicle needs to meet in the process of running forwards of the current vehicle;

and if the opposite vehicle is detected, identifying a meeting point for meeting the current vehicle with the opposite vehicle, and reminding the current vehicle of meeting at the identified meeting point when the current vehicle approaches the identified meeting point.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, in the event that there are multiple opposing vehicles, the opposing vehicle is the opposing vehicle closest to the current vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying a meeting point for the current vehicle to meet the opposing vehicle further comprises: in a case where there are a plurality of meeting points between the current vehicle and the opposing vehicle, a meeting point at which a meeting is performed is identified from the plurality of meeting points based on one or more of the following rules: the vehicle meeting point marked by the user and most suitable for meeting, the meeting point with the largest meeting area, the meeting point with the largest meeting at which the vehicle meets, the meeting point closest to the current vehicle, the meeting point closest to the opposite vehicle or the meeting point closest to either the current vehicle or the opposite vehicle based on real-time judgment.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying a meeting point for the current vehicle to meet the opposing vehicle further comprises: and under the condition that one meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the opposite vehicle, identifying the meeting point as the meeting point for meeting.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein in the event that there are multiple points of meeting between the current vehicle and the opposing vehicle, further comprising: after the step (f) of the process,

after the current vehicle passes through the identified meeting point, reminding the current vehicle to continue to run forwards, and continuously detecting whether an opposite vehicle which runs opposite to the current vehicle exists on the identified meeting lane in the process of running forwards of the current vehicle;

9. The method of claim 1, wherein in the event that there is a meeting point between the current vehicle and the opposing vehicle, further comprising: after step (f), prompting the current vehicle to travel forward after the current vehicle passes the identified meeting point.

10. A vehicle meeting assistance system for navigation mark based, comprising:

the navigation mark generation module is configured to generate a road mark to be met and a meeting point mark, wherein the road mark to be met marks the road to be met, and the meeting point mark marks the place to be met on the road to be met;

the system comprises a vehicle-to-be-met road identification module, a vehicle-to-be-met road identification module and a vehicle-to-be-met road identification module, wherein the vehicle-to-be-met road identification module is configured to identify a vehicle-to-be-met road in front of a current vehicle based on a vehicle-to-be-met road mark when the current vehicle is running;

a facing vehicle detection module configured to detect whether a facing vehicle traveling in a direction opposite to the current vehicle exists on the identified lane for meeting;

a meeting point determination module configured to determine whether a meeting point exists between the current vehicle and the opposing vehicle on the identified lane to be met, wherein, in the case where there are multiple opposing vehicles, the opposing vehicle is the opposing vehicle closest to the current vehicle;

a meeting point identification module configured to identify a meeting point for the current vehicle and the opposing vehicle to meet; and

And the reminding module is configured to remind the current vehicle.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the demand meeting road markings indicate one or more of an index of demand meeting roads, location/geographic information of demand meeting roads, demand meeting road type, time of marking of demand meeting roads, way of marking of demand meeting roads, the meeting point markings indicate one or more of a demand meeting road associated with a meeting point and an index of meeting points, location/geographic information of meeting points, meeting point type, time of marking of meeting points, way of marking of meeting points.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the navigation mark generation module is further configured to generate the required meeting road mark and/or the meeting point mark based on one or more of: background data, information actively reported by a user, or real-time data in combination with user feedback.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the meeting point identification module is further configured to: in the case where there are a plurality of meeting points, a meeting point at which a meeting is conducted is identified from the plurality of meeting points based on one or more of the following rules: the vehicle meeting point marked by the user and most suitable for meeting, the meeting point with the largest meeting area, the meeting point with the largest meeting at which the vehicle meets, the meeting point closest to the current vehicle, the meeting point closest to the opposite vehicle or the meeting point closest to either the current vehicle or the opposite vehicle based on real-time judgment.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the reminder module is further configured to:

and reminding the current vehicle of meeting when the current vehicle approaches the meeting point identified by the meeting point identification module.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the reminder module is further configured to:

when the opposite vehicle detection module does not detect an opposite vehicle, reminding the current vehicle to continue to run forwards; or (b)

And when the meeting point determining module determines that no meeting point exists, reminding the current vehicle to wait in situ, and reminding the current vehicle to continue to run forwards when no opposite vehicle exists on the identified road needing to meet.