US7583182B2
Active / In Force
US
⏱️ 0.6 years remaining
Lane departure warning method and apparatus
Assignee: Chuang Xin Shan Xing Ltd
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Filing: 2007-05-21
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Granted: 2009-09-01
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Expires: 2027-05-21
Abstract
Abstract The present invention discloses a lane departure warning method, which functions to choose the data acquiring source according to brightness of the environment surrounding a vehicle and weather status so as to reduce the erroneous judgment of lane departure during image processing and analyzing. In addition, the present invention also presents a lane departure warning apparatus using the foregoing method, which comprises at least a first information acquisition unit, at least a second information acquisition and a information processing/information processing/controlling unit. The first information acquisition unit disposed on the vehicle is capable of capturing the image around the vehicle while the second information acquisition unit disposed on the bottom of the vehicle is capable of capturing image under the bottom of the vehicle. The image acquired from the first information acquisition unit and the second information acquisition unit is then sent to the processing and information processing/controlling unit for data processing.
Inventors
- 👤 Yu-Long Wang
- 👤 Yung-Sheng Liao
- 👤 Chin-Shen Yeh
- 👤 Sian-Chiang Liu
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 22:15
CPC Classifications
B; B60; B60Q; B60Q9/00; B60Q9/008; B60W; B60W40/00; B60W40/02; G; G08; G08G; G08G1/00; G08G1/16; G08G1/167; B60T; B60T2201/00; B60T2201/08; B60T2201/082; B60T2201/089
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim
183 words
A lane departure warning method for automatically detecting lane departures of a vehicle, comprising the steps of: providing at least a first information acquisition unit and at least a second information acquisition unit, while enabling each of the at least one first information acquisition unit to acquire information relating to an environment surrounding the vehicle, and each of the at least one second information acquisition unit to be being disposed at the bottom of the vehicle for acquiring information relating to the ambient of the vehicle's bottom; using the image information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit to generate an image signal; performing an environment evaluation upon the image signal for interpreting and defining the ambient environment of the vehicle; and basing on the interpretation of the environment evaluation to select one acquired information from the group consisting of the information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit, the information acquired by the at least one second information acquisition unit, and the combination thereof while using the selected information to perform a lane departure evaluating process.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
183 words
A lane departure warning method for automatically detecting lane departures of a vehicle, comprising the steps of: providing at least a first information acquisition unit and at least a second information acquisition unit, while enabling each of the at least one first information acquisition unit to acquire information relating to an environment surrounding the vehicle, and each of the at least one second information acquisition unit to be being disposed at the bottom of the vehicle for acquiring information relating to the ambient of the vehicle's bottom; using the image information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit to generate an image signal; performing an environment evaluation upon the image signal for interpreting and defining the ambient environment of the vehicle; and basing on the interpretation of the environment evaluation to select one acquired information from the group consisting of the information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit, the information acquired by the at least one second information acquisition unit, and the combination thereof while using the selected information to perform a lane departure evaluating process.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: generating an alarm signal while the lane departure evaluating process indicate an occurrence of lane departure.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the environment evaluation further comprises the steps of: evaluating the brightness of a surrounding ambient to the vehicle; and evaluating weather status of the environment surrounding the vehicle.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 3 , wherein the brightness evaluation is performed by performing an average operation upon gray levels of the image information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit while defining an surrounding brightness according to the average operation.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 3 , wherein the weather status evaluation is performed by using the image information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit to perform a rain drop identification.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 3 , wherein the weather status evaluation is performed by using a frequency sensor to measuring the wiping frequency of a windshield wiper of the vehicle.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one first information acquisition unit can be disposed at a position of the vehicle selected from the front of the vehicle, the rear of the vehicle, the two sides of the vehicle.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: registering results of the lane departure evaluating process; and transmitting the results of the lane departure evaluating process to a control center for recording.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
112 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the lane departure evaluating process further comprises the steps of: while the environment evaluation indicates normal, using the image information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit to evaluate distances between the vehicle and traffic lanes, and using the image information acquired by the at least one second information acquisition unit to perform an evaluation for determining whether the traffic lane is pressed by the vehicle; and while the environment evaluation indicates abnormal, using the image information acquired by the at least one second information acquisition unit to perform an evaluation for determining whether the traffic lane is pressed by the vehicle.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
161 words
A lane departure warning apparatus for automatically detecting lane departures of a vehicle, comprising: at least a first information acquisition unit, for acquiring information relating to an environment surrounding the vehicle; at least a second information acquisition unit, being disposed at the bottom of the vehicle for acquiring information relating to the ambient of the vehicle's bottom; an information processing/controlling unit, coupled to each first information acquisition unit and each second information acquisition unit, capable of using an environment evaluation module to evaluate brightness of ambient environment of the vehicle and thus basing upon the evaluation to select one acquired information from the group consisting of the information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit, the information acquired by the at least one second information acquisition unit, and the combination thereof, while processing the selected information to generate an alarm signal; and an alarm unit, capable of receiving the alarm signal and thus generate an alerting response accordingly.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
161 words
A lane departure warning apparatus for automatically detecting lane departures of a vehicle, comprising: at least a first information acquisition unit, for acquiring information relating to an environment surrounding the vehicle; at least a second information acquisition unit, being disposed at the bottom of the vehicle for acquiring information relating to the ambient of the vehicle's bottom; an information processing/controlling unit, coupled to each first information acquisition unit and each second information acquisition unit, capable of using an environment evaluation module to evaluate brightness of ambient environment of the vehicle and thus basing upon the evaluation to select one acquired information from the group consisting of the information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit, the information acquired by the at least one second information acquisition unit, and the combination thereof, while processing the selected information to generate an alarm signal; and an alarm unit, capable of receiving the alarm signal and thus generate an alerting response accordingly.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
44 words
The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein each of the at least one first information acquisition unit can be disposed at a position of the vehicle selected from the front of the vehicle, the rear of the vehicle, the two sides of the vehicle.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one first information acquisition unit is a camcorder.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
32 words
The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the camcorder is configured with an image capturing device selected from the group consisting of a charge-coupled device (CCD) and a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS).
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one second information acquisition unit is a camcorder.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
32 words
The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the camcorder is configured with an image capturing device selected from the group consisting of a charge-coupled device (CCD) and a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS).
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one second information acquisition unit is an infrared image capturing device.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
22 words
The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the infrared image capturing device is comprised of an infrared projector and an infrared sensor.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
37 words
The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the alerting response generated by the alarm unit for alerting the driver is a selected from the group consisting of a sound, a light, a shake and the combination thereof.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
42 words
The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the environment evaluation module further comprises: a brightness evaluation module, for evaluating brightness of ambient environment of the vehicle; and a weather status evaluation module, for evaluating weather status of the environment surrounding the vehicle.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
45 words
The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the brightness evaluation module is able to perform an average operation upon gray levels of the image information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit while defining a surrounding brightness according to the average operation.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
66 words
The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the weather status evaluation module is able to determine whether or not it is raining by one means selected form the group consisting of: performing a rain drop identification using the image information acquired by the at least one first information acquisition unit, and measuring the wiping frequency of a windshield wiper of the vehicle using a frequency sensor.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
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| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2012-08-31 | 2013-03-02 | 2013-09-01 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2016-08-31 | 2017-03-02 | 2017-09-01 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2020-08-31 | 2021-03-02 | 2021-09-01 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |