KR101442703B1 - GPS terminal and method for modifying location position - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a GPS terminal and a position revising method and, more specifically, to a terminal which calculates a current position coordinate using a GPS signal and a method which revises the current position coordinate. An embodiment of the present invention comprises; a GPS signal processing unit which calculates a GPS calculation coordinate using the GPS signal received from a GPS satellite; a characteristic point extracting unit which extracts a characteristic point image from a peripheral image of a device in which the GPS signal processing unit is loaded; a detailed map database in which a detailed coordinate image is mapped by the map coordinate; and a position revising unit which explores the detailed map database using the GPS calculation coordinate as a standard point and extracts a detailed coordinate image consistent with the characteristic point image and determines a map coordinate which is mapped in the extracted detailed coordinate image as a current position coordinate.

Description

[0001] GPS terminal and method for modifying location position [0002]

The present invention relates to a GPS terminal and a position correction method for a terminal for calculating current position coordinates using a GPS signal and a method for correcting such current position coordinates.

Recently, a global positioning system (hereinafter referred to as 'GPS') is installed in a vehicle to check the traveling speed, mileage, and position information of the vehicle when the vehicle is traveling. The GPS calculates the position information of the vehicle using GPS data received from the four or more orbiting satellites in the vehicle. The driver displays the position coordinates of the vehicle on the map displayed on the display module such as the LCD so that the desired destination and the direction to the destination can be easily confirmed.

Such a GPS (Global Positioning System) is utilized in various fields. In particular, GPS is actively used as a navigation device for navigating a route from a vehicle to a user's destination, and is also installed in a camera and a mobile phone, and plays an essential role in providing various services. In the field of unmanned autonomous vehicles, current position information is essential information for unmanned driving.

However, in the conventional GPS, when the vehicle travels in a dense area of a high-rise building where interference of a tunnel or a signal is severe, it is difficult to receive accurate position information of the vehicle from the satellite. Even if the position information is received, since the position information having a large error value is received, it often happens that the GPS does not perform its original function properly. In order to correct the error of the position information, a gyro sensor has been recently designed in the GPS to compensate the error of the position information received from the satellite.

For example, in the field of unmanned autonomous vehicles, high performance GPS is used, and additional accurate sensors such as acceleration sensors and compass sensors are used to acquire accurate current position coordinates.

However, high-performance GPS is difficult to popularize because it is expensive, and low-performance GPS has a problem that it is difficult to use in autonomous navigation due to errors. Further, in order to commercialize the autonomous autonomous vehicle, it is difficult to keep the accuracy of the position information, which is most essential for autonomous autonomous driving, at a high level while minimizing the price of the sensor mounted on the vehicle.

(Prior Patent Document) Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-0037742

The technical problem of the present invention is to improve the accuracy of coordinates calculated using GPS. Another object of the present invention is to avoid the need for an additional sensor in order to calculate accurate coordinates. The technical problem of the present invention is to improve the accuracy by using additional information other than the GPS signal when calculating coordinates using GPS.

The embodiments of the present invention can be applied to a GPS signal processing apparatus including a GPS signal processing unit for calculating GPS calculation coordinates using a GPS signal received from a GPS satellite, a minutia point image extracting unit for extracting minutia point images from a peripheral image of a device equipped with the GPS signal processing unit, A precise map database in which a precise coordinate image is mapped according to map coordinates, a precise map database searching the precise map database using the GPS calculation coordinates as a reference point, extracting a precise coordinate image matching the minutia point image, And determines a current map coordinate as a current position coordinate.

In addition, when the map coordinate mapped to the extracted precise coordinate image is determined as the current position coordinate, when the GPS calculation coordinate of the GPS terminal changes, the position correction unit corrects the determined current position coordinate by the variation amount of the GPS calculation coordinate .

The position correcting unit corrects the determined current position coordinates by a distance and a direction between the minutia point image and the GPS terminal when determining the map coordinates mapped to the extracted fine coordinate image as the current position coordinates.

The feature point image may be at least one of a lane-shaped image, a road mark, a sign image, a traffic light image, and a building exterior image.

Also, the feature point image extracting unit provides the feature point image having the highest readout index among the candidate feature point images, which is a plurality of feature point images extracted from the peripheral image, to the position correcting unit.

When the accurate coordinate image matching the feature point image having the highest readout index can not be extracted, the feature point image extracting unit provides the feature point image having the next highest readout index among the candidate feature point images to the position correcting unit. The readout index may be any one of sharpness, brightness, and contrast, or a value obtained by combining the sharpness, brightness, and contrast by a certain ratio .

The searching of the precise map database with the GPS calculation coordinates as a reference point is performed by searching a precise coordinate image having the same shape as the minutia point image among the precise coordinate images within a search radius set in advance using the GPS calculation coordinates as a reference point do.

A GPS position correction method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of preparing an accurate map database in which precise coordinate images are mapped by map coordinates, calculating GPS coordinates using GPS signals received from GPS satellites, Extracting a minutiae point image from a surrounding image; searching the precision map database using the GPS calculation coordinates as a reference point to extract a fine coordinate image corresponding to the minutia point image; As the current position coordinates.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy with respect to the coordinates calculated using the GPS. Therefore, it is possible to provide a safe location information service to the driver and the like. Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since a separate sensor for GPG coordinate calculation is not required, the manufacturing cost of the GPS terminal can be reduced.

1 is a block diagram of a GPS terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a peripheral image and a minutiae point image according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a distance d and a direction angle? Of a minutiae point image according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram showing a lane-sequential order of a precise coordinate image of the precise map database according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a view showing a feature point image of a road mark image according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating feature point images of a building type according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a block diagram of a GPS terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, It is provided to let you know. Wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

1 is a block diagram of a GPS terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The GPS terminal is a terminal for calculating coordinates using a GPS satellite. The embodiment of the present invention corrects position coordinates using a separate database. To this end, the GPS terminal includes a precision map database 400, a GPS signal processing unit 200, a feature point image extracting unit 300, and a position correcting unit 100. In addition, a peripheral image acquisition unit 500 may be further included.

The precision map database 400 is a database in which precision coordinate images are mapped and stored for each map coordinate. The actual photographed image image of the corresponding point is mapped and stored as a precise coordinate image for each of the longitude and latitude coordinates of the map. For example, a signal light precise coordinate image is stored at coordinates of 126 degrees 03 minutes 235 seconds (126 degrees 03'235 ") and 37 degrees 56 minutes 152 seconds (37 degrees 56'152 degrees) The coordinates of the 237-second minute (126 ° 03'237 "), northern latitude 37 ° 56'155" (37 ° 56'155 ") store the building type precise coordinate image.

Such a precision map database may be a hard disk, an SSD disk (Solid State Disk), a flash memory, a CF card, an SD card (Secure Digital card), a SM card (Smart Media Card) , An MMC card (Multi-Media Card), a memory stick, or the like, as a module capable of inputting and outputting information, or may be provided in a separate device.

The GPS signal processing unit 200 calculates GPS calculation coordinates including at least one of latitude, longitude and altitude by triangulation with respect to the GPS signals received from the GPS satellites. To this end, the GPS signal processing unit 200 includes a GPS receiving module 210 for converting into GPS data, and a GPS calculating module 220 for calculating GPS calculating coordinates.

The GPS receiving module 210 receives the GPS signal from the GPS satellite and converts it into GPS data in the form of digital data. That is, GPS signals are received from at least three or more satellites through a GPS antenna and converted into digital data (hereinafter, referred to as 'GPS data') through modulation / demodulation. For reference, the GPS signal is a sign signal transmitted from a GPS satellite.

The GPS calculation module 220 calculates GPS calculation coordinates including at least one of latitude, longitude and altitude by triangulation of GPS data. (Hereinafter, referred to as 'GPS calculation coordinates') based on GPS data received and modulated from at least three GPS satellites through triangulation. Accordingly, the GPS coordinate may correspond to the longitude coordinate value and the latitude coordinate value of the GPS terminal to which the GPS antenna is attached.

The feature point image extracting unit 300 extracts feature point images from the peripheral image of a device (e.g., a vehicle) equipped with a GPS terminal equipped with the GPS signal processing unit 200. [ That is, the minutia point image extraction unit 300 extracts a minutia point image that can characterize the geographical position in the surrounding image by photographing the surrounding image. For example, in the case of the surrounding image shown in FIG. 2, a lane-shaped image 21 (lane-directing form, lane color), a road mark 21 , A sign image 23, a traffic light image 25, a building exterior image 24, and the like. The feature point image extracting unit 300 reads out a plurality of image types in the peripheral image and extracts an image matching the registered image type as a feature point image.

The feature point image extracting unit 300 may provide all of the feature point images (hereinafter referred to as 'candidate feature point images') extracted from the surrounding image to the position correcting unit 100. Or the minutiae point image extracting unit 300 may provide only the minutiae point image having the highest readout index among the plurality of candidate minutiae points extracted from the surrounding image to the position correcting unit 100. [ Since all the feature point images extracted from the surrounding image are provided, the calculation algorithm may become complicated when calculating the current position coordinates in the position correcting unit 100, so that the most readable index And only the high feature point image is provided to the position correcting unit. In the above, the readout index is a numerical value indicating the extent to which an image can be distinguished. The readout index may be any one of a sharpness, a brightness, and a contrast of an image. Or a value obtained by combining sharpness, brightness, and contrast of an image at a certain ratio can be used as a readout index. For example, the final readout index can be calculated by setting the value of sharpness to 50%, the value of brightness to 30%, and the value of the contrast ratio to 20%.

On the other hand, the feature point image extracting unit 300 provides only the feature point images having the highest readout index to the position correcting unit 100. The position correcting unit 100 can not extract the precision coordinate images corresponding to the provided feature point images There is a case. For example, if a precise coordinate image matching the feature point image does not exist in the precise map database 400, a precise coordinate image matching the feature point image can not be extracted. When the feature point image extracting unit 300 receives from the position correcting unit 100 a message that the feature point image extracting unit 300 can not extract a precise coordinate image corresponding to the feature point image, the feature point image extracting unit 300 extracts, It is possible to provide a feature point image having a high readout index to the position correcting unit 100. [ Accordingly, the minutia point image extracting unit 300 can sequentially provide the minutia point image to the position correcting unit 100 in the order of the highest readout index until the fine coordinate images are extracted.

Meanwhile, the feature point image extracting unit 300 may acquire and acquire a peripheral image through a camera provided therein, and may acquire a peripheral image through a separate peripheral image acquiring unit 500. The peripheral image acquisition unit 500 captures an image of the periphery of the device on which the GPS terminal is mounted and provides the peripheral image to the feature point image extraction unit 300 as a peripheral image. That is, the peripheral image capturing unit 500 is implemented by an external image capturing device such as a black box image, a 3D photographer, etc., and stereoscopically captures an image of the external periphery and provides the captured image to the feature point image extracting unit 300 as a peripheral image.

The position correcting unit 100 searches the precise map database 400 using the GPS calculation coordinates calculated by the GPS signal processing unit 200 as a reference point to extract a precise coordinate image matching the minutia point image and then maps the precise coordinate image to the extracted precise coordinate image The coordinates of the current map are determined as the current position coordinates.

The searching of the precise map database 400 with the GPS calculation coordinates as a reference point searches for a precise coordinate image having the same shape as the minutia point image among the precise coordinate images within the search radius set in advance with the GPS calculation coordinates as reference points do. For example, when the GPS calculation coordinates calculated by the GPS signal processing unit is 126 degrees 03 minutes 234 seconds (126 degrees 03'234 ") longitude 37 degrees 56 minutes 151 seconds (37 degrees 56 degrees 151 seconds) (E. G., +/- 10 seconds) of the reference point, and extracts a precise coordinate image corresponding to the feature point image. Therefore, it was found that 126 ° 03'229 ° (126 ° 03'229) to 126 ° 03'23'23'2 (126 ° 03'239 °) and latitude 37 ° 56'146 ° (37 ° 56'146 ') to latitude 37 ° A precise coordinate image such as a lane-shaped image, a road mark, a sign image, a traffic light image, and a building exterior image in the range of 56 minutes 156 seconds (37 degrees 56'156 ") can be searched. The search radius may be determined in proportion to the size of the device on which the GPS terminal is mounted. If the GPS terminal is mounted on a large device such as a bus car, the search radius can be determined to be 10 m (e.g., a ± 10 sec coordinate range), and if the GPS terminal is mounted on a device as small as a smart phone, Can be determined.

On the other hand, the position correcting unit 100 extracts a precise coordinate image matching the feature point image among the detected precise coordinate images, and determines the map coordinate mapped to the extracted precise coordinate image as the current position coordinate. For example, if a minutiae image is a signal light image and the corresponding precise coordinate image has coordinates of 126 degrees 03 minutes 235 seconds (126 degrees 03'235 "), latitude 37 degrees 56 minutes 152 seconds (37 degrees 56'152 degrees) , The current position coordinates are determined as coordinates of the precise coordinate image of 126 degrees 03 minutes 235 seconds (126 degrees 03'235 ") and 37 degrees 56 minutes 152 seconds (37 degrees 56'152 degrees). Therefore, even if the coordinates calculated by the GPS signal processing unit are 26 ° 03'23'4 "(126 ° 03'234"), northern latitude 37 ° 56'151 "(37 ° 56'151"), finally, 126 ° 03'23 " (126 ° 03'235 "), northern latitude 37 ° 56 '152" (37 ° 56'152 ").

When the GPS coordinate of the GPS terminal is changed, the position correcting unit 100 corrects the determined current position coordinate by the amount of change of the GPS calculation coordinate when determining the map coordinate mapped to the extracted precision coordinate image as the current position coordinate . For example, when the GPS calculation coordinates calculated by the GPS signal processing unit is 126 degrees 03 minutes 234 seconds (126 degrees 03'234 ") and 37 degrees 56 minutes 151 seconds (37 degrees 56'151 degrees) When the determined current position coordinates become 126 degrees 03 minutes 235 seconds (126 degrees 03'235 ") longitude 37 degrees 56 minutes 152 seconds (37 degrees 56 degrees 152 degrees) longitude, a vehicle or the like equipped with the GPS terminal moves When there is a + 1 second change in the longitude of the GPS calculation coordinate, the coordinates of the current position are corrected by the amount of change of the GPS calculation coordinates, and the coordinates of 126 degrees 03 minutes 236 seconds (126 degrees 03'236 degrees) 56 minutes 152 seconds (37 degrees 56'152 ") and is determined as the final current position coordinate.

The position correcting unit 100 may correct the determined current position coordinates by a distance and a direction between the minutia point image and the GPS when determining the map coordinates mapped to the extracted fine coordinate image as the current position coordinates. For example, in the case of the signal lamp feature point image 25 shown in FIG. 2, the distance d and the direction angle? Can be known as shown in FIG. 3 by measuring the distance and the direction angle with respect to the GPS terminal . Therefore, the current position coordinates can be corrected by the measured distance d and the direction angle [theta] so as to be corrected to the correct correction position.

As a result, the position correcting unit 100 can correct the position coordinate by correcting it using the precision map database 400 as described above. For reference, an example to be corrected will be described below.

For example, if the feature point image extracted by the feature point image extracting unit 300 is a lane of double straight line and dotted line, and the lane order of the precise coordinate image coincident with the precision map database within the search radius of the coordinate is If the first lane is a double lane -> a dotted line -> a dotted line -> a straight line, the current driving lane can be determined to be a lane, so that the side position coordinates can be corrected by the first lane in the running direction.

 The feature point image extracted by the feature point image extracting unit 300 is the road mark image shown in FIG. 5, and the latitude, longitude, and altitude coordinates of the roadmark precision coordinate image corresponding to the precision map database within the search radius of the coordinate The current position coordinates can be determined.

In addition, the minutia point image extracted by the minutia point image extracting unit 300 is the signal light image 25 shown in Fig. 2, and the latitude, longitude and the like of the signal light precision coordinate image matching the precision map database 400 within the search radius of the coordinate The current position coordinates can be determined using the high coordinates.

The feature point image extracted by the feature point image extracting unit 300 is a building type image shown in FIG. 6, and the latitude, longitude, and altitude coordinates of the building shape precise coordinate image corresponding to the precision map database within the search radius of the coordinate The current position coordinates can be determined.

7 is a block diagram of a GPS terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A precision map database in which precise coordinate images are mapped according to map coordinates is prepared (S710). The precision map database is a database in which precise coordinate images are mapped and stored by map coordinates. The actual photographed image image of the corresponding point is mapped and stored as a precise coordinate image by the latitude, longitude and altitude coordinates of the map.

The GPS calculation coordinates by the triangulation are calculated using the GPS signals received from the GPS satellites (S720). Then, the feature point image is extracted from the surrounding image (S730). That is, a feature point image that can characterize a geographical position is extracted from a surrounding image captured by capturing a surrounding image. The feature point image refers to an image capable of grasping the geographical position of the photographed image.

Thereafter, the precise map database is searched with the GPS calculation coordinates as reference points to extract a precise coordinate image corresponding to the minutia point image, and the map coordinate mapped to the extracted precise coordinate image is determined as the current position coordinate (S740). Extracting a precise coordinate image corresponding to a feature point image includes extracting a precise coordinate image corresponding to a feature point image having the highest readout index among a plurality of candidate feature point images extracted from a surrounding image, If a precise coordinate image is not extracted, a precise coordinate image that matches the feature point image having the next highest readout index is extracted from the candidate feature point images. Here, the readout index is a numerical value indicating the degree to which the image can be distinguished, and any one of the sharpness, brightness, and contrast of the image may be used. Or a value obtained by combining sharpness, brightness, and contrast of an image at a certain ratio may be used.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings and the preferred embodiments described above, the present invention is not limited thereto but is limited by the following claims. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the following claims.

100: Position corrector 200: GPS signal processor
300: minutia point image extracting unit 400: precision map DB
500: peripheral image acquiring unit

Claims (13)

A GPS signal processing unit for calculating a GPS calculation coordinate using a GPS signal received from a GPS satellite;
A feature point image extracting unit for extracting a feature point image from a peripheral image of an apparatus equipped with the GPS signal processing unit;
A precise map database in which precise coordinate images are mapped by map coordinates;
A position correcting unit for searching the precise map database using the GPS calculation coordinates as a reference point to extract a precise coordinate image matching the minutia point image and determining map coordinates mapped to the extracted precise coordinate image as current position coordinates;
Wherein the position correcting unit comprises:
And corrects the determined current position coordinates by a variation amount of the GPS calculation coordinates when a change in GPS calculation coordinates of the GPS terminal occurs when determining map coordinates mapped to the extracted precision coordinate images as current position coordinates. .
delete The apparatus of claim 1,
And corrects the determined current position coordinates by the distance and direction between the minutia point image and the GPS terminal when determining the map coordinates mapped to the extracted fine coordinate image as the current position coordinates.
The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the feature point image is at least one of a lane-shaped image, a road mark, a sign image, a traffic light image, and a building exterior image.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
And a feature point image having the highest readout index among the candidate feature point images, which is a plurality of feature point images extracted from the surrounding image, to the position correcting unit.
The method of claim 5,
When the accurate coordinate image corresponding to the highest feature point image having the highest readout index can not be extracted, the feature point image extracting unit extracts the feature point image having the highest readout index from the GPS terminal .
The method according to claim 5 or 6,
Wherein the brightness value is a value obtained by combining one of sharpness, brightness and contrast or a combination of the sharpness, brightness and contrast at a certain ratio GPS terminal.
The method of claim 1, wherein searching the precision map database with the GPS calculation coordinates as a reference point comprises:
And searches for a precise coordinate image having the same shape as that of the minutia point image among the precise coordinate images within a predetermined search radius with the GPS calculation coordinate set as a reference point.
9. The GPS terminal of claim 8, wherein the search radius is determined in proportion to the size of the device on which the GPS terminal is mounted.
The GPS terminal according to claim 1, wherein each of the GPS calculation coordinate and the map coordinate includes at least one of latitude, longitude, and altitude.
The GPS terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: a peripheral image acquiring unit for providing the feature point image extracting unit with a peripheral image of a peripheral image of a device on which the GPS terminal is mounted.
Preparing a precise map database in which precise coordinate images are mapped by map coordinates;
Calculating a GPS calculation coordinate using a GPS signal received from a GPS satellite;
Extracting a feature point image from a surrounding image;
Searching the precision map database using the GPS calculation coordinates as a reference point to extract a precision coordinate image matching the feature point image and determining map coordinates mapped to the extracted precision coordinate image as current position coordinates;
Correcting the determined current position coordinates by the amount of change of the GPS calculation coordinates when a change of the GPS calculation coordinates of the GPS terminal occurs;
The GPS position correction method comprising:
The method of claim 12, wherein extracting the fine coordinate image coinciding with the minutiae image comprises:
Extracting a precise coordinate image corresponding to a feature point image having the highest readout index among a plurality of candidate feature point images extracted from the peripheral image;
Extracting a precise coordinate image corresponding to the next minutiae of the candidate minutia point image when the fine coordinate image matching the minutiae point image can not be extracted;
The GPS position correction method comprising:

Images