# US 2014/0152829 A1 · Cruising lane recognition device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0152829 A1 - Document ID: US20140152829A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 14/233,095 - Filed: 2012-07-13 - Published: 2014-06-05 - Earliest claimed: 2011-07-20 - Assignees: Denso Corporation - Inventors: Shunsuke Suzuki - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140152829A1 ## CPC - H04N 7/181: {for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources} - G06V 20/584: {of vehicle lights or traffic lights} - G06V 20/588: {Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road} - G08G 1/167: {Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection} - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) ## Abstract A cruising lane recognition device, which is to be mounted on a vehicle, includes a camera which captures an image of an area of the road ahead of a vehicle, a luminance detection section which detects luminances within the images, and a cruising lane recognizing section which recognizes a cruising lane-marker of the road in the images on the basis of the detected luminances. The device further includes a storing section in which a position of the recognized cruising lane-marker is stored, and a virtual cruising lane-marker setting means which sets a virtual cruising lane-marker, based on of a an archival record of the position of a cruising lane-marker which has been stored in the storing section, in a case where the cruising lane recognizing section cannot recognize the cruising lane-marker. ## Claims ### Claim at position 1 1-2. (canceled) ### Claim 3 A cruising lane recognition device to be mounted on a vehicle, comprising: (a) a camera which captures an image of an area including the road ahead of a vehicle: (b) a luminance detecting section which detects luminances within the images; (c) a cruising lane-marker recognizing section which recognizes a cruising lane-marker of the road in the photographic images on the basis of the luminances which are detected by the luminance detection section; (d) a storing section in which a position of the cruising lane that is recognized by the cruising lane recognizing section is stored; and (e) a virtual cruising lane-marker setting section which sets a virtual cruising lane-marker on the basis of an archival record of the position of a cruising lane-marker which has been stored in the storing section in a case where the cruising lane-marker recognizing section cannot recognize the cruising lane-marker: and (f) a tunnel detecting section which detects a fact that the vehicle is in a tunnel, wherein the virtual cruising lane-marker setting section sets the virtual cruising lane-marker, provided that the tunnel detecting section has detected that the vehicle exists in a tunnel. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 3, wherein the tunnel detecting section comprises at least one of: a first tunnel detecting section which is comprised of a navigation system being mounted on the vehicle, wherein the navigation system determines that the vehicle is in a tunnel based on map information therein and a present position of the vehicle; and a second tunnel detecting section which is comprised of the image processing engine control unit, wherein the image processing engine control unit determines that the vehicle is in a tunnel based on geometry patterns of a ceiling of the tunnel which are stored in advance. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 3, wherein in a case where the cruising lane-marker recognizing section is recognizing only one of a left side cruising lane-marker or a right side cruising lane-marker, the virtual cruising lane-marker setting section sets virtually a non-recognized cruising lane-marker at a position that is an a certain interval I from the recognized cruising lane-marker, where the certain interval is an interval between the left cruising lane-marker and the right cruising lane-marker that is stored in the storing section. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 3, wherein in a case where the cruising lane-marker recognizing section is not recognizing both of the left side cruising lane-marker and the right side cruising lane-marker, the virtual cruising lane-marker setting section sets virtually a pair of the left side cruising lane-marker and the right side cruising lane-marker such that the set pair of cruising lane-markers straddle the vehicle, so as to have the left side cruising lane-marker and the right side cruising lane-marker by a certain distance. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 6, the cruising lane recognition device further comprising: (g) a movement amount detecting section which detects a movement amount of the vehicle in a horizontal direction, wherein the virtual cruising lane-marker setting section adjusts a set position of the pair of virtual cruising lane-markers depending on the movement amount, which is detected by the movement amount detecting section, of the vehicle in a horizontal direction. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 7, the cruising lane recognition device further comprising: a yaw sensor which detects a movement amount (a yaw rate) of the vehicle in a yawing direction; and a vehicle speed sensor, wherein the movement amount of the vehicle is calculated by the yaw rate detected by the yaw sensor and the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 8, wherein the cruising lane recognition device further comprises: (h) a distance calculating section which calculates a distance in a horizontal direction from the vehicle to the recognized cruising lane-marker or the set virtual cruising lane-marker; (i) a cruising trajectory predicting section which predicts a vehicular cruising trajectory on the basis of the yaw rate which is acquired by the yaw sensor and the vehicle speed which is acquired by the vehicle speed sensor; (j) a deviation time calculating section which calculates a time required for the vehicle to depart from the cruising lane (the recognized cruising lane-marker or the set virtual cruising lane-marker) on the basis of the distance and the predicted vehicular cruising trajectory; and (k) a warning signal outputting section which outputs a warning signal to an external device in a case where the time calculated by the deviation time calculating section is less than a predetermined threshold. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 9, wherein the external device is a steering wheel of the vehicle. ### Claim 11 (depends on 3) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 3, wherein the luminance detection section, a cruising lane-marker recognizing section, the storing section and the virtual cruising lane-marker setting section are provided in an image processing engine control unit. ### Claim 12 (depends on 4) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 4, wherein in a case where the cruising lane-marker recognizing section is recognizing only one of a left side cruising lane-marker or a right side cruising lane-marker, the virtual cruising lane-marker setting section sets virtually a non-recognized cruising lane-marker at a position that is a certain interval from the recognized cruising lane-marker, where the certain interval is an interval between the left cruising lane-marker and the right cruising lane-marker that is stored in the storing section. ### Claim 13 (depends on 4) The cruising lane recognition device according to claim 4, wherein in a case where the cruising lane-marker recognizing section is not recognizing both of the left side cruising lane-marker and the right side cruising lane-marker, the virtual cruising lane-marker setting section sets virtually a pair of the left side cruising lane-marker and the right side cruising lane-marker such that the set pair of cruising lane-markers straddle the vehicle, so as to have the left side cruising lane-marker and the right side cruising lane-marker by a certain distance.