JP2001109991A - Lane marker system and device for detecting lane marker and controlling travelling of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lane marker system and a device of detecting the lane marker and for controlling the travelling of a vehicle, by which the vehicle travels along the lane markers even in the case of existence of an obstacle when the lane markers are arranged. SOLUTION: The lane markers are arranged along a travelling road to guide the vehicle in the lane marker system. In the system, a lane marker (a jump lane marker) 3 for at least reporting the direction and the distance of the lane marker which is arranged at the next position of a prescribed place on a road surface when the lane marker cannot be arranged though it has to be buried at a prescribed place is disposed on the this side of the prescribed place.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lane marker for arranging lane markers when a lane marker installed on a road surface for guiding a vehicle along a predetermined traveling route cannot be arranged at an equal distance due to an obstacle. The present invention relates to a system and a lane marker detection / vehicle travel control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, techniques in such a field include:
(1) Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-104345, "Vehicle Position Detecting Apparatus and Method", and (2) Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-21493, "IC Nail Information Control System" are disclosed. To provide route guidance,
2. Description of the Related Art A technique for detecting a relative position of a vehicle with respect to a runway is known.

[0003] A method of detecting the position of a vehicle using a magnetic sensor with reference to a position marker set along the track,
A method using an electromagnetic wave disclosed in the above document (1) and the like are known.

In this method, a position on a lane of a vehicle is measured. This method is called a position lane marker. Information such as the maximum speed is written in the lane marker, and the information is read by the vehicle. There has been an information lane marker used for vehicle control [Reference (2)].

[0005]

However, as shown in FIG. 4, since the lane markers 302 are arranged at equal intervals L on the road 301, when the lane markers are arranged on the road 301, there is an obstacle. Was not applicable.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned problems and provides a lane marker system and a lane marker detection / vehicle traveling control device that allow a vehicle to travel along the lane marker even when there is an obstacle when the lane marker is placed. The purpose is to:

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a lane marker system arranged along a traveling path for guiding a vehicle, the lane marker being provided at a predetermined position on a road surface. When the embedment is impossible and the embedment is impossible, a lane marker for notifying at least the direction and the distance of the lane marker arranged next to the predetermined location is arranged in front of the predetermined location.

[2] In a lane marker system arranged along a traveling path for guiding a vehicle, if the lane marker cannot be embedded at a predetermined location on the road surface, the lane marker cannot be embedded. A lane marker that informs at least the direction and distance of the next lane marker to be arranged is arranged in front of the predetermined location, and a distance adjustment lane marker for adjusting the distance from the base point is arranged ahead of the next lane marker. And

[3] The lane marker detection / vehicle traveling control device is characterized by including a device for detecting the position and direction of a lane marker jumping to the vehicle.

[4] The lane marker detection / vehicle travel control device according to the above [3], further comprising a vehicle travel control device for automatically controlling the travel direction of the vehicle based on detection of the direction of the lane marker. And

[5] The lane marker detection / vehicle travel control device according to [3], wherein the next lane marker detection estimation data from the lane marker detection timing estimation device is:
It is characterized by comprising a vehicle running abnormality detecting device that detects a running abnormality of the vehicle by comparing with the next lane marker detecting time information from the next lane marker detecting time storage device.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a lane marker system showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a road, 2 is a normal lane marker, 3 is a jump instruction lane marker, and 4 is an obstacle (for example, a manhole) when laying a lane marker on a road.
It is.

Here, Lo is an arrangement interval of the lane markers at equal intervals, Lx is the indicated distance of the jump instruction lane marker 3, and θ is the indicated traveling angle of the jump instruction lane marker 3. Usually, the lane markers 2 are arranged along the traveling route of the road.

Hereinafter, the operation of the lane marker system of the first embodiment will be described.

The lane markers 2 are arranged at equal intervals from the base point of the road 1. However, on general roads, obstacles 4 such as sewage and other manholes exist on the traveling route of the road 1. Since the lane marker 2 generally communicates with the vehicle using electromagnetic waves, it cannot communicate with the manhole 4 made of iron or the like. Therefore, the lane marker 2 cannot be laid at that location.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the obstacle 4
Information indicating that the lane marker 2 is different from the normal lane marker arrangement is written before the traveling direction of the lane marker 2, and the jump instruction lane marker 3 in which the distance to the next lane marker 2 and the traveling angle are also written is provided. Things.

Thus, the vehicle that has passed over the jump instruction lane marker 3 can read the information and can estimate the traveling direction of the vehicle and the timing at which the vehicle should pass on the next lane marker 2 based on the vehicle speed. become able to.

Conventional lane markers are arranged at equal intervals on a road, so that the timing at which a vehicle passes and passes the next lane marker is estimated from the vehicle speed. However, if there is an obstacle on the road, the timing may not be grasped, and it may be mistaken that the vehicle has left the lane.

Furthermore, the conventional interval between the lane markers is set to an interval at which the next lane marker can be reliably caught (about 2 m) in consideration of the handling of the vehicle. Depending on the handling, the next lane marker could not be caught.

On the other hand, according to this embodiment, these problems are indicated by storing the distance to the next lane marker 2 and the traveling direction in the jump instruction lane marker 3 disposed in front of the obstacle 4. Therefore, the vehicle has an advantage that the vehicle can reliably catch the next lane marker 2 and can smoothly control the vehicle traveling without trouble such as departure from the lane or troublesome processing such as lane marker non-detection.

Further, since the distance between the lane marker and the vehicle is short, the communication can be performed by an electromagnetic wave having a small intensity.
There is an advantage that it can be reduced as compared with the case of using an axial coaxial cable or the like.

Although the first embodiment has been described with one lane, a jump instruction lane marker 3 may be provided for each of a plurality of lanes. The position of the jump instruction lane marker 3 is arranged at the same interval as the normal arrangement of the lane markers 2, and the arrangement position is desirably one position before the obstacle. You can do it.

In the above description, the obstacle 4 is taken as an example.
Can also be applied to places where.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a lane marker system showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

In this figure, 101 is a first distance adjustment lane marker, 102 is a second distance adjustment lane marker,
103 is a third distance adjustment lane marker.

Lx is the designated distance of the jump instruction lane marker 3, Lt ₁ is the distance between the first distance adjustment lane marker 101 and the second distance adjustment lane marker 102, and Lt ₂ is the second distance adjustment lane marker 102.
Lt ₃ is the distance between the third distance adjustment lane marker 103 and the next normal lane marker 2 ′, and Lt ₃ is the distance between the distance adjustment lane marker 102 and the third distance adjustment lane marker 103. La is the distance from the jump instruction lane marker 3 to the normal lane marker 2 'in the traveling direction and has the following relationship.

La = Lx + Lt ₁ + Lt ₂ + Lt ₃ = n · Lo (1) where n is an integer.

Other numbers are the same as in the first embodiment.

The operation of the second embodiment will be described below.

If there is an obstacle 4, the distance and the running direction of the next lane marker are indicated by the jump instruction lane marker 3 as in the first embodiment.

The feature of the second embodiment is that the vehicle can pass smoothly through the location of the obstacle 4 while maintaining the distance value and the arrangement interval from the road base point written in the normal lane marker. .

Since the normal lane marker 2 and the jump instruction lane marker 3 are arranged at a constant arrangement interval with the distance value, the value obtained by dividing the distance value by the arrangement interval is an integer.

However, in a place where there is an obstacle, in order to use the lane marker system smoothly, the interval between the jump instruction lane marker 3 and the next normal lane marker is
It may deviate from a fixed arrangement interval. This is because there are the following restrictions on the intervals at which the lane markers can be arranged.

The arrangement interval of the lane markers is set within a range longer than the distance traveled by the vehicle during the processing time of the lane marker information and shorter than the distance leaving the lane by handling the vehicle (installation interval condition).

Therefore, depending on the size of the obstacle 4, there may be a situation where the installation interval condition cannot be maintained. Therefore, in order to satisfy the installation interval condition, the interval between the lane markers 101 arranged next to the jump instruction lane marker 3 may not be constant.

However, as a lane marker after the vehicle has passed over the obstacle 4, the value obtained by dividing the distance value by the array interval is an integer, which simplifies the system. To the distance adjustment lane marker 101,
The arrays 102 and 103 are arranged and adjusted so that the distance value / array interval becomes an integer.

FIG. 2 shows an example in which the number of the jump instruction lane marker 3 from the base point is 1000 and the number of the first normal lane marker 2 ′ after passing the obstacle 4 is 1003. In this example, n = 3. Without the obstacle 4, two normal lane markers 1001 and 1002 should have been originally arranged.

Therefore, in this example, three distance adjustment lane markers are arranged in order to satisfy the installation interval condition. The numbers from the road base point are 1001 and 1002 in the distance adjustment lane markers 101, 102, and 103, respectively.
And a code indicating a distance adjustment lane marker are written, so that the order from the base point is maintained.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the arrangement interval of the lane markers is disturbed in the vicinity of the obstacle, but after that, the original lane marker arrangement interval can be returned. Even if it is not known in advance, there is an advantage that the lane marker in which the order and the distance value from the base point are written may be prepared, so that labor for laying can be reduced.

In the above-described second embodiment, the number of distance adjustment lane markers has been described as three, but may be one if the installation interval condition is satisfied. Although the number and the sign of the distance adjustment lane marker are written in the distance adjustment lane marker, a number that returns to the normal lane marker may be written.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a lane marker detection / vehicle traveling control device mounted on a vehicle according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

In this figure, 3 is a jump instruction lane marker, 200 is an antenna, 300 is an electromagnetic wave radiated from the jump instruction lane marker 3, and 201 is an antenna 2
00, a receiver 202 connected to the receiver 20
A decoding device connected to 1; a distance value storage device 203;
04 is a traveling angle value storage device, 205 is a current traveling direction information storage device in which current traveling direction information is stored, 206 is a current speed information storage device in which current speed information is stored, and 207 is an operation for computing traveling direction and speed. A device 208 is a vehicle traveling control device for controlling a steering wheel of the vehicle, and 209 is an output control signal.

Reference numeral 210 denotes a next lane marker detection timing estimating device for estimating the timing of detecting the next lane marker;
Next lane marker detection time information 214 obtained from 13
A vehicle running abnormality detecting device 212 for detecting a deviation from the estimated value from the next lane marker detection timing estimating device 210 and detecting an abnormality such as lane departure, and 212 is an abnormal output signal.

The operation of the lane marker detection / vehicle traveling control device mounted on the vehicle will be described below.

First, when the vehicle is in the jump instruction lane marker 3
, A signal is transmitted from the jump instruction lane marker 3 to the antenna 200 of the vehicle by the electromagnetic wave 300. The signal is subjected to processing such as detection by the receiving device 201 and converted into a digital signal. The converted digital signal is decoded by the decoding device 202. Therefore, the distance to the next lane marker and the traveling angle can be determined at the same time as knowing that it is the jump instruction lane marker 3. A current speed information storage device 20 obtained from the information and a speedometer mounted on the vehicle.
6 and the current traveling direction data from the current traveling direction information storage device 205 obtained from the steering wheel or the gyro.

The arithmetic unit 207 calculates the traveling direction based on the data. Based on the traveling direction, the vehicle traveling control device 208 controls, for example, a control value of a steering wheel, a control value of a speed, a display display to a driver, and the like.

In addition, the next lane marker detection timing estimating device 210 estimates the detection time of the next lane marker using the speed value. If the estimated value and the next lane marker detection time information 214 obtained from the next lane marker detection time storage device 213 deviate from each other, an abnormality such as a lane departure may be considered. The driver is notified as an output signal (alarm) 212.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, since the apparatus for inputting information on the distance from the jump instruction lane marker 3 to the next lane marker and the traveling angle is provided,
There is an advantage that the appearance timing of the next lane marker can be estimated, and occurrence of false alarms can be reduced.

Further, since it is possible to instruct the traveling direction of the vehicle, there is an advantage that the next lane marker can be reliably detected.

The vehicle speed and traveling direction may be obtained by a method other than the method described in the third embodiment.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the gist of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(A) Even if there is an obstacle at a predetermined place on the road where the lane marker is to be arranged, the vehicle can smoothly travel along the lane marker and the distance at which the lane marker is set from the base point Can be arranged at equal intervals except for a place where an obstacle is present, so that a lane marker system can be constructed without greatly increasing the information incorporated in the lane marker.

(B) The arrangement interval of the lane markers is disturbed in the vicinity of the obstacle, but after that, the original arrangement interval of the lane markers can be restored. It is sufficient to prepare a lane marker in which the order and the distance value from the base point are written, so that the labor for laying can be reduced.

(C) Since a device for inputting information on the distance from the lane marker to the next lane marker and the travel angle is provided, the appearance timing of the next lane marker can be estimated, and an erroneous abnormality alarm is generated. Can be reduced.

Further, the direction of the vehicle can be instructed, so that the next lane marker can be reliably detected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a lane marker system showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a lane marker system showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a lane marker detection / vehicle traveling control device mounted on a vehicle according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional lane marker system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Road 2, 2 'normal lane marker 3 Jump instruction lane marker 4 Obstacle 101 First distance adjustment lane marker 102 Second distance adjustment lane marker 103 Third distance adjustment lane marker 200 Antenna 201 Receiving device 202 Decoding device 203 Distance value storage device 204 Travel angle value storage device 205 Current traveling direction information storage device 206 Current speed information storage device 207 Computing device 208 Vehicle traveling control device 209 Output control signal 210 Next lane marker detection timing estimating device 211 Vehicle traveling abnormality detecting device 212 Abnormal output signal 213 Next lane marker Detection time storage device 214 Next lane marker detection time information 300 Electromagnetic wave

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A lane marker system arranged along a traveling path for guiding a vehicle, wherein a lane marker cannot be embedded at a predetermined location on a road surface when the lane marker cannot be embedded. The lane marker system which arrange | positions the lane marker which alert | reports at least the direction and the distance of the lane marker arrange | positioned at the said predetermined | prescribed place. 2. A lane marker system arranged along a traveling path for guiding a vehicle, wherein when a lane marker cannot be embedded at a predetermined place on a road surface, the lane marker cannot be buried. A lane marker that informs at least the direction and the distance of the lane marker to be arranged is arranged in front of the predetermined location, and a distance adjustment lane marker for adjusting the distance from the base point is arranged ahead of the next lane marker. Lane marker system. 3. A lane marker detection / vehicle travel control device, comprising a device for detecting the position and direction of a lane marker that jumps to a vehicle. 4. The lane marker detection / vehicle traveling control device according to claim 3, further comprising a vehicle traveling control device that automatically controls a traveling direction of the vehicle based on detection of the direction of the lane marker. Lane marker detection / vehicle travel control device. 5. The lane marker detection / vehicle traveling control device according to claim 3, wherein the next lane marker detection estimation data from the lane marker detection timing estimation device is compared with the next lane marker detection time information from the next lane marker detection time storage device. A lane marker detection / vehicle traveling control device, comprising: a vehicle traveling abnormality detecting device that detects a traveling abnormality of a vehicle.