KR20160128967A - Navigation system using picture and method of cotnrolling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a navigation system and a method of using photographed images. The navigation system using photographed images recognizes a current position in an area where receiving of a wireless signal for position recognition is difficult by comparing photographed surrounding images with pre-stored image information; thereby the present invention improving a quality of service by preventing errors and disconnection when a navigation service is provided. The navigation system comprises: a user input part; an image based position information processing part which recognizes a current position by comparing the photographed surrounding images with pre-stored area image information; a map information database; a wireless signal based position information processing part which recognizes the current position by receiving a wireless signal; a guide information generating part; and a control part.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a route guidance system and method using a photographed image,

[0001] The present invention relates to a system and method for guiding a route using photographed images, and more particularly, to a system and method for guiding a route using a photographed image, And more particularly, the present invention relates to a route guidance system and method using a photographed image capable of providing a route guidance service by accurately recognizing a current location even in a difficult area.

The navigation service recognizes the current location of the terminal, maps it on a map, and provides a route and additional information to a destination designated by the user. Such a route guidance service is provided through a portable terminal such as a car navigation system or a smart phone.

A Global Positioning System (GPS) system is widely used as a method for recognizing the current position of a terminal for a guidance service. GPS is a navigation system using satellites. Four GPS satellites are placed on each of six circular orbits with an inclination angle of 55 되어. The GPS satellites are moved with a period of about 12 hours, And transmits its own position information signal.

The GPS receiver receives a position information signal from at least three GPS satellites among a plurality of GPS satellites to detect a distance between the GPS satellite and itself and a position vector of the GPS satellites, And calculates its own position information.

Meanwhile, as a method of calculating the current position without using the GPS function, there are a method of receiving the current position of the terminal by requesting the position information to the position information server (LBS), a method of calculating the current position using the base station signal of the mobile communication network And a method of calculating a current position using a Wi-Fi base station signal have been proposed.

As described above, the current position recognition method according to the related art recognizes the current position by transmitting and receiving a radio signal such as a GPS signal, an LBS signal, a base station signal, a Wi-Fi signal,

Accordingly, when the user terminal enters a region where signals can not be received, such as a tunnel or underground roadway, or enters a building-dense region where radio interference is intensive, the terminal can not receive an accurate radio signal for position calculation. Accordingly, there is a problem that the guidance service is stopped or an error occurs in the recognition of the current location, thereby causing an error in guidance of the route.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for detecting a current position by comparing a photographed peripheral image with previously stored image information, There is a technical problem in providing a route guidance system and method using photographed images that can accurately recognize and provide a route guidance service.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a route guidance system comprising: a photographing apparatus for photographing a periphery and outputting photographed image information; An image input unit for inputting the captured image information from the photographing apparatus and comparing the stored image information with the stored local image information to recognize the current position; a map information DB in which the map information is stored; A route guidance information generation unit for generating route guidance information by setting a route to a destination in the map information based on a current location of the vehicle; And a controller for controlling the image-based position information processor to generate the guidance information by recognizing the current position.

Here, the navigation apparatus includes: a user input unit for receiving a destination; An image-based location information processing unit for comparing current photographed image information and previously stored local image information to recognize a current location; A map information DB in which map information is stored; A route guidance information generating unit for generating route guidance information by setting a route to the destination in the map information based on the current position; And a control unit for recognizing the current position using the photographed image information and controlling the image-based position information processing unit to generate the guidance information when the destination is input to the user input unit.

The wireless communication apparatus may further include a wireless signal-based position information processing unit for receiving a wireless signal and recognizing a current position of the wireless signal, and when the reception intensity of the wireless signal is equal to or greater than a reference intensity, The control unit can recognize the current position and control the generation of the guidance information.

The image information DB may further include an image information DB storing at least one of the local image information captured in each region, the address of the object included in the local image information, and the latitude and longitude coordinates.

The image-based location information processing unit may search local image information corresponding to the captured image information in the image information DB, and determine, based on the location information of the object included in the local image information determined to match, Location information can be generated.

In addition, the image-based position information processing unit may extract feature points of the captured image information and the local image information using a Scale-Invariant Fast Transform (SIFT) algorithm, and if the probability of similarities of the feature points is larger than a reference If it is more than the probability, it can be determined that the photographed image information matches the local image information.

The apparatus may further include a photographing unit that generates the photographed image information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a route guidance method using a photographed image, the method comprising: receiving a destination from a user; Sensing a reception strength of a wireless signal; Recognizing a current position using the radio signal when the reception intensity of the radio signal is greater than or equal to a reference intensity; Comparing the photographed image information photographed in the vicinity with pre-stored local image information when the reception intensity of the radio signal is smaller than a reference intensity, and recognizing the current position; Generating route guidance information by setting a route to a destination in pre-stored map information based on the current location; And displaying the route guidance information to the user.

The step of recognizing the current location using the radio signal when the reception intensity of the radio signal is equal to or greater than the reference intensity includes: determining whether there are three or more GPS reception signals; And recognizing the current position using the GPS reception signal when the number of the GPS reception signals is three or more.

The step of comparing the photographed image information with previously stored local image information and recognizing the current position may include extracting features of the photographed image information using a Scale-Invariant Fast Transform (SIFT) algorithm; Comparing a feature of the captured image information with a feature of the previously stored local image information to calculate a probability that the feature is similar; And determining that the photographed image information and the local image information coincide when the similarity probability is greater than or equal to a reference probability.

As described above, according to the route guidance system and method using the photographed image of the present invention, it is possible to recognize the current position by comparing the photographed peripheral image with previously stored image information, thereby making it difficult to receive a radio signal for position recognition It is possible to accurately recognize the current location in the area, and it is possible to improve the service quality by preventing errors or interruptions in providing the route guidance service.

1 is a control block diagram of a route guidance system using an image taken according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a control block diagram of a navigation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a route guidance method using a photographed image according to an embodiment of the present invention,
4 is an image analysis state diagram of a route guidance system using a photographed image according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a control block diagram of a route guidance system using a photographed image according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The system includes a photographing apparatus 300 for photographing surrounding images and generating and outputting photographed image information, and a route guidance apparatus for receiving photographed image information from the photographing apparatus 300 and recognizing the current position and providing a route guidance service 100).

The navigation apparatus 100 includes a user input unit 120 and a display unit 110, a wireless signal-based location information processing unit 160 that receives a wireless signal and recognizes a current location, A route guidance information generating unit 140 for generating route guidance information and additional data to a destination, and a route guidance information generating unit 140 for receiving the route guidance information and the additional data, Based position information processing unit 200 to provide the current position information to the guidance information generation unit 140. The control unit 130 controls the image-based position information processing unit 200 to recognize the current position.

The wireless signal-based position information processing unit 160 recognizes the current position using the wireless signal received from the outside, and provides the recognized current position information to the controller 130. The wireless signal-based position information processing unit 160 may be a GPS receiver that receives a GPS signal and calculates a current position. In addition, the wireless signal-based position information processing unit 160 receives the position information signal from the LBS server and recognizes the current position or receives the base station signal to recognize the current position, receives the Wi-Fi signal, It is also possible to receive.

The image-based location information processing unit 200 recognizes the current location by comparing the received peripheral image with the previously stored local image, and provides the recognized current location information to the control unit 130. FIG.

When the navigation system using the photographed image of the present invention is installed in a navigation system for an automobile, the photographing apparatus 300 may be a camera installed in a black box of a vehicle, a rear camera for parking, a camera installed in the navigation itself, So that the function of the photographing apparatus 300 can be performed. Accordingly, the photographing apparatus 300 may photograph the front of the vehicle or photograph the rear of the vehicle, and input the photographed image information to the image-based position information processing unit 200.

Meanwhile, when the navigation system using the photographic image of the present invention is mounted on a smartphone, the camera built in the smart phone performs the function of the photographing apparatus 300, May be input to the processing unit 200.

The guidance information generating unit 140 may receive the current position information from the controller 130, map the current position to the map data stored in the map information DB 150, and display the path to the destination designated by the user.

The display unit 110 displays the guidance information generated by the guidance information generator 140 to the user.

The user input unit 120 receives destination information from a user and inputs the information to the control unit 130.

The controller 130 can recognize the current location through the wireless signal-based location information processor 160 when the use of the route guidance service is selected through the user input unit 120. [ Here, the controller 130 determines whether the radio signal received by the radio signal-based position information processor 160 is weaker than the reference signal strength.

For example, if the GPS signal received by the wireless signal-based position information processing unit 160 is too weak to receive three or more signals, or the LBS server signal, the base station signal, or the Wi-Fi base station signal, If the strength is lower than the reference strength, it can be judged that the intensity of the radio signal is weak. The control unit 130 activates the image-based position information processing unit 200 and the photographing apparatus 300 to determine the current position using the surrounding image input to the photographing apparatus 300 .

The control unit 130 provides the destination information input by the user and the current position recognized by the wireless signal-based position information processing unit 160 or the image-based position information processing unit 200 to the guidance information generating unit 140. The control unit 130 receives the guidance information for guiding the route from the guidance information generator 140 to the destination, and displays the received guidance information on the display unit 110.

If the reception environment of the wireless signal is good, the control unit 130 recognizes the current location through the wireless signal-based location information processing unit 160 and provides the route guidance information. If the wireless signal reception environment deteriorates, If it is impossible to recognize the position, it is possible to control the image-based position information processing unit 200 to recognize the current position. Accordingly, it is possible to recognize the current position even when entering the area where the signal can not be received, such as a tunnel or underground roadway, or entering a dense building area where radio interference is severe.

On the other hand, when the wireless signal-based location information processing unit 160 is not provided, the controller 130 recognizes the current location using only the image-based location information processing unit 200 and provides the route guidance service .

2 is a control block diagram of the route guidance apparatus 100, which illustrates a configuration for recognizing a current position using image information.

The image-based location information processing unit 200 of the route guidance apparatus 100 includes an image information DB 220 in which local image information of a specific area is photographed, a photographed image information input from the photographing apparatus 300, An image analysis unit 210 for comparing the local image information stored in the DB 220 and determining an identical image by comparing the local image information stored in the DB 220, And a position information generator 230 for generating the position information.

In the image information DB 220, local image information photographed around the road by region is stored. The local image information may be stored together with location information such as an address, a place name, latitude and longitude coordinates of the corresponding area, and the like. Here, the location information may include location information of each feature included in the local image information, or only the location information of the local image information itself.

The local image information stored in the image information DB 220 may be stored in the system design or may be stored as local image information during the movement of the user. Also, with respect to the already stored local image information, the latest local image information can be updated by using the image information photographed during the movement of the user.

The image analysis unit 210 compares the photographed image information input by the camera with the local image information stored in the image information DB 220 to determine a matching image. The image analysis unit 210 may use technologies such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Independent Component Analysis (ICA), and Scale-Invariant Fast Transform (SIFT), which are widely known as image recognition technologies.

Here, the SIFT algorithm is an image recognition technique that extracts feature points that can be applied to an image obtained by moving, rotating, and magnifying the image obtained using a camera, and compares the similarity with a previously stored image in a stochastic manner to be. That is, when the probability that the feature points of the captured image information and the feature points of the local image information are similar is equal to or greater than the reference probability, the image analyzing unit 210 can determine that the two images coincide.

In this way, when the SIFT technique is used, even when the image photographed by the user or photographed by the vehicle is different from the image stored in the image information DB 220 and the photographing position or photographing angle, Information can be determined.

The location information generation unit 230 can generate the current location information based on the determination result of the image analysis unit 210. [ The location information generation unit 230 may generate the current location information using the location information of the feature included in the photographed image information or generate the current location information using the location information stored in the local image information itself It is possible. Accordingly, the user can recognize the real-time moving position of the user using the photographed image information of the feature that changes according to the movement of the user, thereby providing the guidance service corresponding to the user position change.

In addition, the location information generation unit 230 can receive the route information that was currently being moved from the control unit 130 and the location information that was last recognized using the wireless signal, and can predict the location of the current user. The location information generating unit 230 transmits the predicted location information to the image analyzing unit 210. The image analyzing unit 210 analyzes the local image information stored in the image information DB 220, The image information can be compared with the captured image information with the highest priority. Also, the local image information corresponding to the movement path can be compared with the photographed image information. That is, comparing the local image information, which is likely to be the current position, with priority, it is possible to shorten the image recognition speed and improve the image recognition success rate.

3 is a flowchart of a route guidance method using an image taken according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the present invention is applied to a navigation device for a vehicle, and the control flow when the wireless signal-based position information processing unit 160 is a GPS receiver will be described.

When the navigation operation of the navigation device starts (S110), the GPS receiver operates to receive the GPS signal (S120). The GPS receiver receives a position information signal from at least three GPS satellites among a plurality of GPS satellites to detect a distance between the GPS satellite and itself and a position vector of the GPS satellites and calculates a distance difference from each GPS satellites by a trigonometric method And calculates its own position information.

In order to determine whether the GPS reception state is good, it is confirmed whether there are three or more GPS reception signals (S130). Here, when the number of GPS reception signals is three or more, the current position recognition operation using the GPS receiver is maintained, and when the GPS reception signal is received less than three, the image based position information confirmation function is executed.

When there are less than three GPS reception signals, a surrounding image is captured using the photographing apparatus 300 installed in the vehicle, and feature points are extracted from the photographed image information (S140). Here, the minutiae points can be extracted using the SIFT technique.

The extracted feature points are compared with the feature points of the local image information stored in the image information DB 220 (S150). Here, the feature points extracted from the photographed image information and the local image information can be applied to the image in which the image information is moved, rotated, and resized.

The location information of the local image information determined to be the result of the comparison is recognized as the current location, and a route guidance operation is performed based on the image information (S160). When judging whether or not the minutiae are coincident with each other, the similarity of the minutiae extracted from the photographed image information and the local image information is probabilistically calculated. If the calculated probability is equal to or greater than the reference probability, .

FIG. 4 is an image analysis state diagram of a route guidance system using an image taken according to an embodiment of the present invention, which illustrates the case of recognizing an image using the SITF technique.

4 (a) is an image stored in the image information DB 220 and (b) is an image input by a camera. In order to determine whether or not the image a stored in the image information DB 220 matches the image b input by the camera, feature points of both side images should be extracted using the SIFT technique. Here, feature points using the SITF technique can be applied to both moving, rotating, and resized images.

The current position can be recognized by comparing the similarities between the features of the image b input by the camera and the features of the image a stored in the image information DB 220 in a stochastic manner. That is, similarities between the features of the image (b) input by the camera and the features of the image (a) stored in the image information DB 220 are compared with each other to calculate the probability that the features coincide with each other, If the probability is greater than the reference probability, it can be determined that the photographed image information matches the local image information. Accordingly, the current position can be tracked in real time using the photographed image that changes according to the movement of the user.

As described above, when the SITF technique is used, even when the image photographed by the user or photographed by the vehicle is different from the image stored in the image information DB 220 and the photographing position or the photographing angle, the feature of the image is used So that the image corresponding to the current position can be determined.

According to the present invention, when entering a region where it is difficult to receive a radio signal for location recognition, the system and method for using the photographed image according to the present invention compares the photographed peripheral image with previously stored local image information, It is possible to prevent an error or a break in the provision of the route guidance service, thereby improving the service quality.

Thus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. It is therefore to be understood that the embodiments described above are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention do.

The present invention compares a surrounding image photographed in an area where it is difficult to receive a radio signal for position recognition with previously stored local image information so that the current position can be recognized. Accordingly, even when the user enters the area where the signal can not be received, such as a tunnel or an underground car, or enters a dense area where the radio interference is severe, the user can accurately recognize the current location. And the service quality can be improved.

100: Path guide device 110:
120: user input unit 130:
140: Path information generating unit 150: Map information DB
160: Wireless signal-based position information processor
200: image-based location information processing unit 210:
220: video information DB 230: position information generating unit
300: photographing apparatus

Claims (6)

A user input unit for inputting a destination;
An image-based location information processing unit for comparing current photographed image information and previously stored local image information to recognize a current location;
A map information DB in which map information is stored;
A wireless signal-based position information processor for receiving the wireless signal and recognizing the current position;
A route guidance information generating unit for generating route guidance information by setting a route to the destination in the map information based on the current position; And
And a control unit for controlling the image-based position information processing unit to recognize the current position using the photographed image information when it is determined that the strength of the wireless signal is weak.

The method according to claim 1,
And a wireless signal-based position information processing unit for receiving the wireless signal and recognizing the current position,
Wherein the control unit recognizes the current position through the wireless signal based position information processing unit and controls the generation of the guidance information when the reception intensity of the wireless signal is equal to or greater than a reference intensity. The navigation device. The method according to claim 1,
And an image information DB in which at least one of an address of the object included in the local image information and a latitude and longitude coordinate is stored. . The method of claim 3,
Wherein the image-based location information processing unit comprises:
Searching the image information DB for local image information matching the photographed image information and generating current position information based on the position information of the object included in the local image information judged to match, Image guided device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the image-based location information processing unit comprises:
Extracting the feature points of the captured image information and the local image information using a Scale-Invariant Fast Transform (SIFT) algorithm, and if the probability that the feature points are similar is greater than or equal to a reference probability, And judges that the image information matches with each other. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a photographing unit that photographs the photographed image information.

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