# US 11,994,394 B2 · System and method for validating road object data

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- Number: US 11,994,394 B2
- Document ID: US11994394B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/200,282
- Filed: 2021-03-12
- Published: 2022-09-15
- Granted: 2024-05-28
- Earliest claimed: 2021-03-12
- Assignees: HERE Global B.V.
- Applicants: HERE Global B.V.
- Inventors: Zhenhua Zhang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11994394B2

## CPC

- G01C 21/28: with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
- G01C 21/005: {with correlation of navigation data from several sources, e.g. map or contour matching (G01C21/30 takes precedence)}
- G01C 21/30: Map- or contour-matching
- G01C 21/3492: {employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968)}
- G01C 21/3602: {Input other than that of destination using image analysis, e.g. detection of road signs, lanes, buildings, real preceding vehicles using a camera}
- G01C 21/3691: {Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions (arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09)}
- G01C 21/3697: {Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level (G01C21/3679 takes precedence)}
- G01C 21/3815: {Road data}
- G06F 16/2365: {Ensuring data consistency and integrity}
- G06F 16/29: Geographical information databases
- G06Q 10/047: Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
- G06T 7/70: Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80)
- G06T 7/97: {Determining parameters from multiple pictures (depth or shape recovery from multiple images G06T7/55; stereo camera calibration G06T7/85)}
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL

## Abstract

A system for validating the road object data is provided. The system, for example, receives the road object data for a geographic region and determines, from a map database, a state of ground truth data associated with the geographic region. The state of the ground truth data comprises at least one of partial ground truth data and complete ground truth data. Further, the road object data is validated based on the determined state of the ground truth data. The validation of the road object data includes performing a first validation operation when the state of the ground truth data is the partial ground truth data and performing a second validation operation when the state of the ground truth data is the complete ground truth data.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system for validating road object data, the system comprising:
a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions; and
at least one processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
receive the road object data for a geographic region;
determine, from a map database, a state of ground truth data associated with the geographic region, wherein the state of the ground truth data comprises at least one of partial ground truth data and complete ground truth data; and
validate the road object data, based on the determined state of the ground truth data, wherein the validation comprises performing a first validation operation when the state of the ground truth data is the partial ground truth data and performing a second validation operation when the state of the ground truth data is the complete ground truth data, wherein to validate the road object data based on the first validation operation, the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify at least one road object observation associated with a road object, wherein the road object data comprises the at least one road object observation;
identify location data associated with the road object observation;
identify, from the partial ground truth data, at least ground truth route data; and
validate the road object data based on the ground truth route data and the location data associated with the at least one road object observation, when the location data is located on a path defined by the ground truth route data.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein to validate the road object data based on the first validation operation, the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify partial ground truth information from the partial ground truth data, in response to determining that the location data is located on the path defined by the ground truth route data, wherein the partial ground truth information comprises ground truth location data;
compare the ground truth location data with the location data associated with the at least one road object observation; and
validate the road object data based on the comparison.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2, wherein to validate the road object data based on the first validation operation, the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine a first link from the geographic region, based on the location data associated with the at least one road object observation and map data;
determine, based on the road object data, an association between the first link and the road object; and
validate the road object data as correct when:
the association between the first link and the road object indicates that the road object is placed on the first link, and
comparison between the ground truth location data with the location data associated with the at least one road object observation indicates that the ground truth location data is similar to the location data.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, wherein to validate the road object data based on the first validation operation, the at least one processor is further configured to:
validate the road object data as correct when:
the association between the first link and the road object indicates that the road object is not placed on the first link, and
comparison between the ground truth location data with the location data associated with the at least one road object observation indicates that the ground truth location data is not similar to the location data.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The system of claim 4, wherein to validate the road object data based on the first validation operation, the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify at least one second link from the geographic region, wherein the at least one second link is connected to the first link;
identify, from the road object data, a second association between the at least one second link and the road object; and
validate the road object data as correct when:
the association between the first link and the road object indicates that the road object is not placed on the first link and the second association between the road object and the second link indicates that the road object is placed on the second link, and
comparison between the ground truth location data and the location data associated with the at least one road object observation indicates that the ground truth location data is similar to the location data.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5, wherein to validate the road object data based on the first validation operation, the at least one processor is further configured to: exclude, from the first validation operation, checking of at least one of the at least one second link and the second association between the at least one second link and the road object, when the at least one second link is not associated with the path defined by the ground truth route data.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein to validate the road object data based on the first validation operation, the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify driving direction data associated with a road object observation;
identify, from the partial ground truth data, ground truth driving direction data;
determine whether the driving direction data is overlapping with the ground truth driving direction data; and
validate the road object data in response to determining that the driving direction data is overlapping with the ground truth driving direction data.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein to validate the road object data based on the second validation operation, the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify, from the complete ground truth data, complete ground truth information;
compare the road object data with the complete ground truth information; and
validate the road object data as at least one of correct road object data and incorrect road object data, based on the comparison.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein to determine the state of the ground truth data associated with the geographic region, the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine the geographic region, based on map data;
identify the ground truth data associated with the geographic region; and
extract the state of the ground truth data associated with the geographic region as at least one of the partial ground truth data and the complete ground truth data.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the geographic region comprises at least one of a ramp road geometry, a parallel road geometry, a merging road geometry, and an intersection road geometry,
wherein the partial ground truth data comprises ground truth data for at least one link in the at least one of the ramp road geometry, the parallel road geometry, the merging road geometry, and the intersection road geometry, and
wherein the complete ground truth data comprises ground truth data for each link in the at least one of the ramp road geometry, the parallel road geometry, the merging road geometry, and the intersection road geometry.

### Claim 11

A method for validating road object data, the method comprising:
receiving the road object data for a geographic region;
determining, from a map database, a state of ground truth data associated with the geographic region, wherein the state of the ground truth data comprises at least one of partial ground truth data and complete ground truth data; and
validating the road object data, based on the determined state of the ground truth data, wherein the validation comprises performing a first validation operation when the state of the ground truth data is the partial ground truth data and performing a second validation operation when the state of the ground truth data is the complete ground truth data, wherein validating the road object data based on the first validation operation comprises:
identifying at least one road object observation associated with a road object, wherein the road object data comprises the at least one road object observation;
identifying location data associated with the road object observation;
identifying, from the partial ground truth data, at least ground truth route data; and
validating the road object data based on the ground truth route data and the location data associated with the at least one road object observation, when the location data is located on a path defined by the ground truth route data.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein validating the road object data based on the first validation operation further comprises:
identifying partial ground truth information from the partial ground truth data, in response to determining that the location data is located on the path defined by the ground truth route data, wherein the partial ground truth information comprises ground truth location data;
comparing the ground truth location data with the location data associated with the at least one road object observation; and
validating the road object data based on the comparison.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein validating the road object data based on the first validation operation further comprises:
determining a first link from the geographic region based on the location data associated with the at least one road object observation and map data;
determining, based on the road object data, an association between the first link and the road object; and
validating the road object data as correct when:
the association between the first link and the road object indicates that the road object is placed on the first link, and
comparison between the ground truth location data with the location data associated with the at least one road object observation indicates that the ground truth location data is similar to the location data.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein validating the road object data based on the first validation operation further comprises:
validating the road object data as correct when:
the association between the first link and the road object indicates that the road object is not placed on the first link, and
comparison between the ground truth location data with the location data associated with the at least one road object observation indicates that the ground truth location data is not similar to the location data.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein validating the road object data based on the first validation operation further comprises:
identifying at least one second link from the geographic region, wherein the at least one second link is connected to the first link;
identifying, from the road object data, a second association between the at least one second link and the road object; and
validating the road object data as correct when:
the association between the first link and the road object indicates that the road object is not placed on the first link and the second association between the road object and the second link indicates that the road object is placed on the second link, and
comparison between the ground truth location data and the location data associated with the at least one road object observation indicates that the ground truth location data is similar to the location data.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein validating the road object data based on the first validation operation further comprises excluding, from the first validation operation, checking of at least one of the at least one second link and the second association between the at least one second link and the road object, when the at least one second link is not associated with the path defined by the ground truth route data.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein validating the road object data based on the second validation operation comprises:
identifying, from the complete ground truth data, complete ground truth information;
comparing the road object data with the complete ground truth information; and
validating the road object data as at least one of valid road object data and invalid road object data, based on the comparison.

### Claim 18

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instruction which when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to carry out operations for validating road object data, the operations comprising:
receiving the road object data for a geographic region;
determining, from a map database, a state of ground truth data associated with the geographic region, wherein the state of the ground truth data comprises at least one of partial ground truth data and complete ground truth data; and
validating the road object data, based on the determined state of ground truth data, wherein the validation comprises performing a first validation operation when the state of the ground truth data is the partial ground truth data and performing a second validation operation when the state of the ground truth data is the complete ground truth data, wherein validating the road object data based on the first validation operation comprises:
identifying at least one road object observation associated with a road object, wherein the road object data comprises the at least one road object observation;
identifying location data associated with the road object observation;
identifying, from the partial ground truth data, at least ground truth route data; and
validating the road object data based on the ground truth route data and the location data associated with the at least one road object observation, when the location data is located on a path defined by the ground truth route data.