KR100723834B1 - Method and apparatus for compensating for car position in car navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for correcting a vehicle position in a car navigation system. The vehicle position correcting apparatus includes a vehicle position detecting unit for detecting a position of a vehicle based on a satellite signal received from a GPS satellite, geographical information and position specific object information, geographical information according to the position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detecting unit, A photographing unit for photographing a position-specific object around a road of a vehicle under driving, a photographing unit for photographing a specific object information, and a photographing unit for photographing a position- And a correcting unit for correcting the position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detecting unit based on the trajectory of the position specifying object according to the running of the vehicle by analyzing the specific object information and the captured image signal to match the extracted position specifying object, To better understand your current location and provide lane information. Route guidance service and more accurate location service can be provided.

Vehicle navigation system, lane information provision, vehicle position compensation

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for compensating a vehicle position in a car navigation system,

Figs. 1 (a) and 1 (b) illustrate examples of error occurrence in detecting the position of a vehicle through absolute position information by GPS navigation.

Fig. 2 shows an overall configuration block of a vehicle position correcting apparatus as a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 (a) shows an image captured on a CCD image at a time point when characteristic points of a traffic light are captured.

Fig. 3 (b) shows the image captured on the CCD image just before the characteristic point of the signal lamp captured in Fig. 3 (a) disappears.

4 (a) to 4 (c) illustrate a locus of a location-specific object by taking a signal light from a CCD as an example of a location-specifying object.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of correcting the position information of the vehicle after mapping the data information extracted from the map database unit and the image information captured by the current vehicle based on the position information of the vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a process for acquiring lane information by processing data information of a traffic light DB based on the vehicle location information, and traffic light navigation information synchronized with the current vehicle location information.

Description of the Related Art

210 vehicle position detection unit 220 map database unit

230 photographing section 240 correcting section

The present invention relates to an apparatus for correcting a vehicle position of a vehicle navigation system. In particular, after correcting the current position information of the vehicle corresponding to the absolute position on the coordinate axis on the earth surface detected by the GPS receiver by map matching or inferential navigation, It is to grasp accurately.

The method used to detect the position of the vehicle in the car navigation system is based on Dead-Reckonin and Map-Matching techniques, and the GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation A hybrid method of calculating the final position by combining absolute position information by the hybrid method is generally utilized.

Generally, in the case of a navigation system in a car navigation system, the allowable absolute error is 5 to 10 m, which requires a fairly high accuracy in the case of route guidance and automatic driving. In the case of a digital map which is precisely measured, The accuracy is within 3-10 m.

This means that the error of the position sensor can be reduced to a level similar to the accuracy of the map, which is the currently used tracking navigation and map matching technology. However, up to now, it has not been possible to provide information on the lane in which the vehicle is located only by the vehicle GPS, the tracking navigation method and the map matching method.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a navigation system for a vehicle, which uses a database in which a relative trajectory of a vehicle's running direction of an identifiable position-specific object located in a surrounding environment of a vehicle, A method and an apparatus for correcting a vehicle position in a car navigation system by correcting and compensating position information obtained from a GPS navigation using a tracking navigation method and a map matching method together.

In particular, the present invention provides information on a currently driving lane through a vehicle correction position method and apparatus.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle position correcting apparatus including: a vehicle position detecting unit detecting a position of a vehicle based on a satellite signal received from a GPS satellite; A map database unit for storing geographical information and location-specific object information and grasping geographic information and location-specific object information according to the location of the vehicle detected by the vehicle location detecting unit; A photographing unit for photographing a location-specific object in the vicinity of a road of a vehicle during driving to generate a video signal, and a controller for controlling the photographing unit to display the geographical information and the location- And a corrector for matching the extracted location-specific object by analyzing the signal and correcting the position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detecting unit based on the locus of the position-specifying object according to the running of the vehicle.

Preferably, the location-specific object includes a traffic light, a traffic sign, and a traffic facility.

Further, the vehicle position correcting apparatus is characterized by recognizing the lane of the vehicle based on the running direction of the vehicle and the deviation of the locus of the position specifying object.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle position correcting method comprising: detecting a position of a vehicle based on a satellite signal received from a GPS satellite; Storing geographical information and location specific object information and grasping geographical information and location specific object information according to the detected location of the vehicle; An image pickup step of photographing a position-specific object in the vicinity of a road of a vehicle being driven to generate an image signal, and a step of analyzing the geographical information and the position-specific object information corresponding to the detected position of the vehicle, Matching the position-specifying object, and correcting the detected position of the vehicle based on a locus of the position-specifying object in accordance with the running of the vehicle.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle position correcting method for a vehicle navigation system for guiding a traveling route of a vehicle based on a map database and a current vehicle position, A traffic sign, and a traffic facility to generate a video signal; And analyzing the video signal of the photographed object to extract a trajectory of the object relative to a running direction of the vehicle and grasping a lane based on the trajectory.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the same components of the drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals and signs as possible even if they are shown on different drawings.

In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

 Figs. 1 (a) and 1 (b) illustrate examples of error occurrence in detecting the position of a vehicle through absolute position information by GPS navigation.

GPS is the most effective position detection method that can obtain absolute coordinates in 24 hours world by capturing the radio waves coming from the satellites. However, in an environment with bad reception conditions such as a tunnel, a high-rise building, There is no problem.

For example, it is an error caused by a refraction occurring when a radio wave from a satellite floating above 20,000 Km as shown in Fig. 1 (a) reaches the ground.

Even when such an error due to the refraction does not occur, an error may occur due to a multi-path caused by the building as shown in Fig. 1 (b). In addition, errors due to the time difference between the GPS satellite and the GPS receiver, an error due to the center fluctuation of the receiver, and an error due to the noise of the receiver may occur.

Therefore, it is necessary to compensate the position data measured by GPS. To reduce the error, it is necessary to use dead-reckoning and map matching Map-matching method.

Guided navigation is a method of tracking the current position of a vehicle. It calculates the moving direction and the moving distance of the vehicle and tracks the current position from the reference position.

The calculation principle of the speculative navigation is such that the coordinates at the start of a certain point (X0, Y0) and reaching an arbitrary point (Xn, Yn) are stored in the coordinates obtained from the data acquired per unit time through the orientation sensor and the distance sensor Distance and azimuth) are obtained, and vector addition is performed.

The map matching method is a technique of automatically recognizing that a specific road is being traveled by using the coordinates of the position of the coordinates and the traveling direction of the vehicle when an error that does not coincide with the GPS coordinates actually occurs, .

The map matching calculation principle sets a range (polygon setting: matching object range) actually traveling at the estimated position obtained by the guessing navigation on the map.

Thereafter, it should be corrected by the decision criteria such as the determination of the probability of correlation between the driving direction and the road bearing, the probability determination of the correlation between the estimated position and the road, and the determination of the correlation between the driving trajectory and the geometrical shape of the road. We decide road choice.

Fig. 2 shows an overall configuration block of a vehicle position correcting apparatus as a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The vehicle position correcting apparatus 200 includes a vehicle position detecting unit 210, a map database unit 220, a photographing unit 230, and a correcting unit 240.

The vehicle position detecting unit 210 includes a GPS receiver 211 and a dead reckoning (DR) unit 212.

The GPS receiver 211 is a position sensor that receives the radio wave transmitted from the GPS (Global Positioning System) and determines the absolute position of the vehicle. The GPS receiver 211 is composed of a GPS antenna and a receiver and is interfaced with the navigation computer by serial communication, Direction, time, and navigation.

The vehicle position detecting unit 210 detects the current absolute position of the vehicle by capturing a radio wave coming from the satellite and uses DR (dead reckoning) Corrects the error of the absolute position of the vehicle detected through the satellite signal.

The map database unit 220 stores information on the road network, road width and lane information, traffic information, lane, geographical information, and traffic light information of each area (for example, real world coordinates X, Y, and Z), installed lane information, traffic light features, modeling information and type), a database in which the image is built, a location database of traffic signs and traffic facilities in each area, Characteristic information, and image information for a predetermined location-specific object that can be specified or can be identified.

It should be noted that the above description is merely illustrative, and the map database portion 220 may include other information that is obvious to a person skilled in the art.

The photographing unit 230 photographs a location-specific object in the vicinity of the road of the vehicle being driven to generate a video signal, and displays a location-specific object such as a traffic light, a traffic sign, a traffic facility, And extracts a region in which the specified object or object is located from the photographed image signal. This will be described in more detail below.

The correcting unit 240 matches the geographical information and the location-specific object information corresponding to the vehicle location information detected by the vehicle position detecting unit 210 and the location-specific object extracted from the photographing unit.

Thereafter, when the matching is matched, the position of the vehicle is more accurately corrected using the database information obtained from the map database unit 220 and the locus of the position specifying object extracted by the photographing unit.

That is, the corrector 240 obtains the position-specific object information (eg, position information) related to the current position of the vehicle, which is acquired through the navigation sensor or the like in the vehicle position detector 210, For example, a traffic light data base in the area where the current vehicle is located) from the map database unit 220, or displays the vehicle location information.

Thereafter, the geographical information and the location-specific object information (for example, traffic light information, traffic sign information, traffic facility information, etc.) corresponding to the detected vehicle location inputted from the map database unit 220 and the captured image signal are analyzed (E.g., a traffic light, a traffic sign, a traffic facility, etc.) extracted by the location matching unit.

If the information of the location-specific object in the area where the vehicle is located is compared with the location-specific object extracted by the photographing unit 230 from the map database unit 220 and the comparison is made from the database in the map database unit 220, The position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detecting unit is corrected based on the trajectory of the position specifying object according to the position of the vehicle.

3 (a) shows an image captured on a CCD image at a time point when characteristic points of a traffic light are captured.

Fig. 3 (b) shows the image captured on the CCD image just before the characteristic point of the signal lamp captured in Fig. 3 (a) disappears.

4 (a) to 4 (c) illustrate a locus of a location-specific object by taking a signal light from a CCD as an example of a location-specifying object.

3 and FIG. 4, the correcting unit 240 searches the map database 220, for example, for the traffic light database based on the current vehicle position, And compares and analyzes the signal light information extracted by the photographing unit 230 after matching and acquiring the signal light characteristic information and the image information lying at the same position.

As an example of the matching method in the photographing unit 230, there is a method of extracting the form of the signal light standardized according to laws and ordinances from the image. That is, the traffic lights standardized by the ordinance are classified into three colors, four colors, variable lanes, pedestrians, etc. When information modeled by each traffic light is stored in the traffic light database together with the location information of the traffic lights, (E.g., corner points, center points of red, blue, orange, etc. of the traffic lights, etc.) to distinguish the traffic lights, and the driving lane of the vehicle is discriminated on the basis of the traffic lights.

(GIS information: real world coordinate (X, Y, Z), installed lane information, traffic light characteristics and type, etc.) from the database when the information matches.

Thereafter, the correcting unit 240 more accurately grasps the position of the vehicle based on the locus of the position of the signal lamp relative to the traveling vehicle extracted by the photographing unit 230.

That is, when the locus of the signal lamp is deflected to the left with respect to the vehicle running direction using the locus of the position of the feature point of the signal lamp on the CCD screen, the corrector 240 determines that the position of the vehicle is located in the right lane (Fig. 4- (a)).

When the locus of the position of the feature point of the traffic light changes on the CCD screen coincides with the vehicle running direction, the corrector 240 determines that the vehicle is located in the same lane as the traffic lights (Fig. 4- (b)).

When the locus of the position of the characteristic point of the traffic light changes on the CCD screen to the right with respect to the vehicle running direction, the corrector 240 judges that the position of the vehicle is located in the left lane of the traffic light (Fig. 4- (c )).

In other words. The vehicle position detection unit 210 obtains accurate position information of the vehicle, which is difficult to be detected, and determines the lane of the vehicle during driving. Even in the case of an object in which traffic facilities, traffic signs, and other locations are specified in the same manner as the traffic lights, the traffic facilities, traffic signs, and other locations recognized by the photographing unit 230 are detected using the direction components and trajectories of the specified objects The geographical information and the location object information stored in the map database unit 220 can be used to determine a more accurate position of the current vehicle, and as an example, the lane of the current vehicle can be determined.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of correcting the position information of the vehicle after mapping the data information extracted from the map database unit and the image information captured by the current vehicle based on the position information of the vehicle.

The absolute position of the vehicle is detected based on the satellite signal received from the GPS satellite, and the position of the current vehicle is detected by compensating for the absolute positional error detected by the GPS navigation through the speculative navigation and the map matching method S510, and S551).

The vehicle photographs the vicinity of the road on which the vehicle is traveling and photographs the geographical and position-specific objects around the vehicle based on the position-specific object such as an object capable of specifying the position, for example, a traffic light, a traffic sign, (S520).

From the database including the geographical information corresponding to the detected location of the vehicle and the location object information of the area, information related to the road, the road width and lane of each area, traffic information, (Eg, real world coordinates (X, Y, Z), installed lane information, traffic light features, modeling information and type), database of images, traffic signs in each area, A database in which location information and images of traffic facilities are constructed, and location information, characteristic information, and image information of a predetermined location specific object that can specify or distinguish a location representative of each area.

Thereafter, a portion corresponding to the captured image of the position-specifying object is found and matched (S530, S540).

In operation S550, the vehicle position detected in the vehicle position detecting step S510 is corrected or supplemented using information related to the current vehicle position extracted from the map database and the trajectory of the photographed position-specifying object relative to the running of the vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a process for acquiring lane information by processing data information of a traffic light DB based on location information of a vehicle according to the present invention, and traffic light navigation information synchronized with current vehicle location information.

The position information of the current vehicle is acquired using a navigation sensor, and a video image of a signal light whose GPS time is synchronized and the image quality is improved by a preprocessing process is obtained (S610).

Synchronization can be done in two ways. As a first method, an external trigger for controlling a photographing part (for example, a CCD camera) and a GPS event mark can be synchronized through the manufacture of an external synchronizing device. That is, the shutter of the CCD camera is opened and the event mark is recognized by the GPS.

The second method is to synchronize the CCD camera by providing an external trigger signal whenever 1PPS (1 Pulse Per Second) signal is generated by GPS.

The preprocessing process can be processed by hardware or software, which aims to prevent image blur due to camera vibration and to improve the image quality according to backlight or weather.

The acquired navigation information is obtained by integrating with the general map matching algorithm (S610, S651)

In step S620, the traffic light image is classified into three colors, four colors, variable lanes, and so on, which are classified into pedestrians according to characteristics of the traffic lights standardized according to laws and ordinances in the image information photographed by the photographing unit.

The traffic light database in the area where the vehicle is located is searched and the traffic light database based on the current vehicle position is searched to obtain the traffic light image information located at the closest position in front of the vehicle and the traffic light image information is compared and analyzed. Information (GIS information: real world coordinate (X, Y, Z), installed lane information, traffic light characteristics and type, etc.) (S630, S640).

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to determine whether the traffic light is on the left, right, or front side of the vehicle by using the feature points of the traffic lights photographed by the photographing unit and tracking the trajectory of the characteristic points on the CCD screen. And determines the driving lane by referring to the precise position of the corresponding traffic light in step S650.

Also, since the navigation map has information about the width and the lane of the road, the current vehicle speed and the directional component of the traffic sign recognized in the image are used for the current vehicle You can find the lane.

The present invention can also be embodied as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. A computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored.

Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like, and also implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet) . The computer readable recording medium may also be distributed over a networked computer system so that computer readable code can be stored and executed in a distributed manner.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed preferred embodiments. Although specific terms have been employed herein, they are used for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention as defined in the claims or the claims.

Therefore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and equivalent embodiments are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

The present invention combines the current position information of the vehicle and the road periphery information that the current vehicle travels to generate a more accurate grasp of the current position of the vehicle.

Further, even in the case of using the tracking navigation method and the map matching technique in the conventional car navigation system, it is not possible to provide a more accurate vehicle position to the lane information where the vehicle is located. However, in the present invention, The lane information can be provided using the trajectory of the location specific object.

In addition, the present invention can provide a route guidance service and a more accurate location service.

Claims (13)

A lane determining device of a vehicle navigation system for guiding a traveling path of a vehicle based on a map database and a current vehicle position, A photographing unit for photographing at least one of a position, a traffic light, a traffic sign, and a traffic facility to generate a video signal; And a determination unit for extracting a trajectory of the object relative to a traveling direction of the vehicle by analyzing the image signal of the object and capturing a lane on the basis of the trajectory. The method according to claim 1, And a matching unit for matching at least one of a database of a traffic light database, a traffic sign database, and a traffic facility database related to the position of the vehicle read from the map database, and a video signal of the photographed object corresponding thereto And the lane determining device determines that the lane determining device is operating. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determination unit Determines that the vehicle is in the left lane of the object when the trajectory of the object is right with respect to the vehicle running direction, Determines that the vehicle is in the same lane as the object when the trajectory of the object coincides with the vehicle running direction, And determines that the vehicle is in the right lane of the object when the trajectory of the object is left with respect to the vehicle running direction. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the matching unit When the image signals of the database and the photographed object are matched, information on the width and lane of the road on which the vehicle is located, traffic information, geographical information, and object related information are extracted from the database. Determination device. A vehicle position determination unit for determining a position of the vehicle using a satellite navigation device; A map database for storing geographical information and identifiable object information having a fixed location within the geographical area; A photographing unit for photographing an identifiable object having a fixed position around a traveling road of the vehicle to generate a video signal; The identifiable object information having the fixed position in the geographical information corresponding to the recognized vehicle position inputted from the map database and the identifiable object having the fixed position extracted by analyzing the photographed video signal are matched And a correcting unit for correcting the position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detecting unit based on the locus of the identifiable object having the fixed position according to the running of the vehicle. . 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identifiable object having the fixed location A traffic light, a traffic sign, and a traffic facility. 6. The method of claim 5, And recognizes the lane of the vehicle based on the running direction of the vehicle and the deviation of the locus of the position-specifying object. A lane determining method of a vehicle navigation system for guiding a traveling route of a vehicle based on a map database and a current vehicle position, The method comprising the steps of: capturing at least one object of a position-specified traffic light, a traffic sign, and a traffic facility to generate a video signal; And extracting a trajectory of the object relative to the running direction of the vehicle by analyzing the video signal of the photographed object and determining a lane based on the trajectory. 9. The method of claim 8, And matching the video signal of the photographed object corresponding to at least one database among a traffic light database, a traffic sign database, and a traffic facility database related to the position of the vehicle read from the map database The lane determining method comprising: The method according to claim 8, wherein the step of grasping the lane Determines that the vehicle is in the left lane of the object when the trajectory of the object is right with respect to the vehicle running direction, Determines that the vehicle is in the same lane as the object when the trajectory of the object coincides with the vehicle running direction, And when the trajectory of the object is to the left with respect to the vehicle running direction, it is determined that the vehicle is in the right lane of the object. Determining a position of the vehicle using a satellite navigation device; Capturing an identifiable object having a fixed position around a driving road of a vehicle to generate a video signal; Wherein the geographical information and the identifiable object information having the fixed position in the position information of the identified vehicle inputted from the map database storing the identifiable object information having the fixed position in the geographical area and the captured image signal are analyzed and extracted Matching the identifiable object having the fixed location with the fixed location; And correcting the detected position of the vehicle based on the locus of the identifiable object having the fixed position according to the running of the vehicle. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifiable object having the fixed location A traffic light, a traffic sign, a traffic facility, and the like. 12. The method of claim 11, Wherein the lane of the vehicle is grasped based on a running direction of the vehicle and a deviation of a locus of the position specifying object.

Images