Process for the automatic determination of speed limitations on a road and an associated system

A process for the automatic determination of a current speed limitation on a road that is being used, or about to be used, by a motor vehicle, comprising the following steps:

• establishing, by means of a first system, known as the navigation system, which involves notably a data receiver from a geographical positioning system together with cartographical data, a likely speed limitation associated with a first confidence index;
• constituting a first set of information comprising at least the likely speed limitation and the first confidence index;
• establishing, by means of a second system, known as the image processing system, which involves notably the use of a camera and image processing applications capable of identifying and interpreting speed limitation panels arranged in the vicinity of the road, a probable speed limitation associated with a second confidence index;
• constituting a second set of information comprising at least the probable speed limitation and the second confidence index;
• and
• determining the current speed limitation on the road in question, on the basis of the first set of information and the second set information and taking into consideration the first confidence index and the second confidence index;
• wherein the set of additional probable speed limitations are statutory speed limitations for which an index for the possible confusion between the figures constituting the established probable speed limitation and the figures for the set of additional probable speed limitation is greater than a threshold value, known as the critical threshold value.

A process for the automatic determination of a current speed limitation on a road that is being used, or about to be used, by a motor vehicle, comprising the following steps:

• establishing, by means of a first system, known as the navigation system, which involves notably a data receiver from a geographical positioning system together with cartographical data, a likely speed limitation associated with a first confidence index;
• constituting a first set of information comprising at least the likely speed limitation and the first confidence index;
• establishing, by means of a second system, known as the image processing system, which involves notably the use of a camera and image processing applications capable of identifying and interpreting speed limitation panels arranged in the vicinity of the road, a probable speed limitation associated with a second confidence index;
• constituting a second set of information comprising at least the probable speed limitation and the second confidence index;
• and
• determining the current speed limitation on the road in question, on the basis of the first set of information and the second set of information and taking into consideration the first confidence index and the second confidence index;
• wherein the determined current speed limitation is associated with a third confidence index, calculated at least on the basis of the first confidence index and the second confidence index.

A process for the automatic determination of a current speed limitation on a road that is being used, or about to be used, by a motor vehicle, comprising the following steps:

• establishing, by means of a first system, known as the navigation system, which involves notably a data receiver from a geographical positioning system together with cartographical data, a likely speed limitation associated with a first confidence index;
• constituting a first set of information comprising at least the likely speed limitation and the first confidence index;
• establishing, by means of a second system, known as the image processing system, which involves notably the use of a camera and image processing applications capable of identifying and interpreting speed limitation panels arranged in the vicinity of the road, a probable speed limitation associated with a second confidence index;
• constituting a second set of information comprising at least the probable speed limitation and the second confidence index;
• and
• determining the current speed limitation on the road in question, on the basis of the first set of information and the second set of information and taking into consideration the first confidence index and the second confidence index;
• wherein the second confidence index is calculated on the basis of one or more parameters, from a second set of parameters relating to one or more images obtained by the camera, from the following:
• index of the consistency of the identification of speed limitation panels from one image to the next one;
• measurement of the texture of the image in question,
• shadow factor of the image in question,
• vertical gradient of the reduction of the light,
• symmetry index of the image in question.

A process for the automatic determination of a current speed limitation on a road that is being used, or about to be used, by a motor vehicle, comprising the following steps:

• establishing, by means of a first system, known as the navigation system, which involves notably a data receiver from a geographical positioning system together with cartographical data, a likely speed limitation associated with a first confidence index;
• constituting a first set of information comprising at least the likely speed limitation and the first confidence index;
• establishing, by means of a second system, known as the image processing system, which involves notably the use of a camera and image processing applications capable of identifying and interpreting speed limitation panels arranged in the vicinity of the road, a probable speed limitation associated with a second confidence index;
• constituting a second set of information comprising at least the probable speed limitation and the second confidence index;
• and
• determining the current seed limitation on the road in question, on the basis of the first set of information and the second set of information and taking into consideration the first confidence index and the second confidence index;
• wherein said process comprises additional steps, consisting in:
• comparing the first confidence index with a first threshold value and the second confidence index with a second threshold value;
• when determining the current speed limitation, considering only the set or sets of information, from the first set of information and the second set of information, the confidence index of which is greater than the threshold value to which it is compared.

A process for the automatic determination of a current speed limitation on a road that is being used, or about to be used, by a motor vehicle, comprising the following steps:

• establishing, by means of a first system, known as the navigation system, which involves notably a data receiver from a geographical positioning system together with cartographical data, a likely speed limitation associated with a first confidence index;
• constituting a first set of information comprising at least the likely speed limitation and the first confidence index;
• establishing, by means of a second system, known as the image processing system, which involves notably the use of a camera and image processing applications capable of identifying and interpreting speed limitation panels arranged in the vicinity of the road, a probable speed limitation associated with a second confidence index;
• constituting a second set of information comprising at least the probable speed limitation and the second confidence index;
• and
• determining the current speed limitation on the road in question on the basis of the first set of information and the second set of information and taking into consideration the first confidence index and the second confidence index;
• wherein the step for the determination of the current speed limitation involves the use of a Dempster-Shafer equation.

A system for automatic determining a current speed limitation for a road being driven on, or about to be driven on, by a motor vehicle, wherein said system comprises:

• a first system, known as the navigation system, involving notably a geographical positioning system and cartographical data in order to establish a likely speed limitation associated with a first confidence index and to constitute a first set of information comprising at least the likely speed limitation and the first confidence index;
• a second system, known as the image processing system, involving notably the use of a camera and image processing applications, capable of identifying and interpreting speed limitation panels arranged in the vicinity of the road, in order to establish a probable speed limitation associated with a second confidence index and in order to constitute a second set of information comprising at least the probable speed limitation and the second confidence index;
• means for associating said first confidence index to said first set of information and said second confidence index to said second set of information and for processing information in order to determine, from said first set of information and said second set of information, said current speed limitation in force on the road in question in response to an evaluation of both said first set of information and said first confidence index and said second set of information and said second confidence index.

A system for automatic determining a current speed limitation for a road being driven on, or about to be driven on, by a motor vehicle, said system comprising:

• a geographical positioning system for establishing a likely speed limitation associated with a first confidence index;
• a camera and image processing system, capable of identifying and interpreting speed limitation panels arranged in the vicinity of the road in order to establish a probable speed limitation associated with a second confidence index;
• and
• a data fusion system for receiving a first set of information and a second set of information and for associating said first confidence index to said first set of information and said second confidence index to said second set of information and for determining said current speed limitation in force on the road in question in response to an evaluation of both said first set of information and said first confidence index and said second set of information and said second confidence index.