# US 2019/0318174 A1 · Method for Determining a Course of Lanes, Driver Assistance System, and Vehicle

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- Number: US 2019/0318174 A1
- Document ID: US20190318174A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/348,255
- Filed: 2017-11-08
- Published: 2019-10-17
- Earliest claimed: 2016-11-16
- Assignees: Continental Automotive GmbH
- Applicants: Continental Automotive GmbH
- Inventors: Mihai MIKLOS; Camelia HIREAN; Larisa Ana-Maria SCHINTEIE
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190318174A1

## CPC

- 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}
- G06V 20/588: {Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road}
- B60W 40/072: Curvature of the road
- G01C 21/3822: {Road feature data, e.g. slope data}
- G01C 21/3837: {Data obtained from a single source}
- G01C 21/3848: {Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors}
- G06T 7/70: Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80)
- G08G 1/167: {Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection}
- G06T 2207/30256: Lane; Road marking
- 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)
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- 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

The invention provides a method for determining a course of lanes (L1, L2) of a road for a vehicle (V). A distance (D1-D3) of at least one lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) of at least one lane (L1, L2) from a predetermined point of the vehicle (V) is determined (S1). Further a course of the at least one lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) is predicted (S2) based on information about a course of the road obtained from a database (DB) and based on the determined distance (D1-D3).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for determining a course of lanes (L1, L2) of a road for a vehicle (V), comprising the following steps:
determining (S1) a distance (D1-D3) of at least one lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) of at least one lane (L1, L2) from a predetermined point of the vehicle (V); and
predicting (S2) a course of the at least one lane B boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) based on information about a course of the road obtained from a database (DB) and based on the determined distance (D1-D3).

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the distance (D1-D3) is determined based on camera data provided by a camera of the vehicle (V).

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method according to claim 2, wherein a lane width (W1, W2) of the at least one lane (L1, L2) is determined based on the camera data.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method according to claim 2, wherein a number of lanes is recognized based on the camera data.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method according to claim 4,
wherein the recognized number of lanes is compared to a number of lanes of the road obtained from the database (DB); and
wherein, if the number of recognized lanes is smaller than the number of lanes obtained from the database (DB), a lane width (W1, W2) of an unrecognized lane is determined based on a lane width (W1, W2) of the nearest recognized lane (L1, L2).

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the course of the lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) is predicted further based on a current lane boundary (B1-B3), wherein the current lane boundary (B1-B3) is determined using the following steps:
obtaining a current road direction of the road from the database (DB); and
constructing the current lane boundary (B1-B3) having a distance (D1-D3) to the predetermined point of the vehicle (V) equal to the determined distance (D1-D3) and having a direction corresponding to the obtained current road direction.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method according to claim 6, wherein the course of the lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) is predicted further based on a subsequent lane boundary (N1-N3), wherein the subsequent lane boundary (N1-N3) is determined using the following steps:
obtaining a distance (D4) of a direction change point (P) from the predetermined point of the vehicle (V) and a direction change angle (a) from the database (DB); and
constructing the subsequent lane boundary (N1-N3) having a distance (D1-D3) to the direction change point (P) equal to the determined distance (D1-D3) of the corresponding lane boundary to the predetermined point of the vehicle (V), and wherein the subsequent lane boundary (N1-N3) and the current lane boundary (B1-B3) form an angle (α) equal to the direction change angle (α).

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method according to claim 7, wherein the distance (D4) of a direction change point (P) from the predetermined point of the vehicle (V) is determined further based on GPS coordinates of the vehicle (V).

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The method according to claim 7, wherein the lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) is predicted by combining a segment of the current lane boundary (B1-B3) up to an intersection with the subsequent lane boundary (N1-N3), and a segment of the subsequent lane boundary (N1-N3) after the intersection with the current lane boundary (B1-B3).

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the predicted course of the at least one lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) is uploaded to the database (DB).

### Claim 11

A driver assistance system (DAS) for a vehicle (V) for determining a course of lanes (L1, L2) of a road, comprising:
distance determination unit (1) adapted to determine a distance (D1-D3) of at least one lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) of at least one lane (L1, L2) of the road from a predetermined point of the vehicle (V),
a processing unit (2), which is adapted to predict a course of the at least one lane boundary (B1-B3, N1-N3) based on information about a course of the road obtained from a database (DB) and based on the determined distance (D1-D3).

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The driver assistance system (DAS) according to claim 11, wherein the distance determination unit (1) comprises a camera device of the vehicle (V) adapted to provide camera data.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The driver assistance system (DAS) according to claim 11, wherein the database (DB) is part of the driver assistance system (DAS).

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The driver assistance system (DAS) according to claim 11, further comprising a control unit (3) which is adapted to control at least one driving function of the vehicle (V) based on the predicted course of the at least one lane boundary.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

A combination comprising a vehicle and a driver assistance system (DAS) according to claim 11.