TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to vehicle navigation, more particularly, to lane guidance.

BACKGROUND

[0002] In conventional vehicle navigation methods, after a destination is set, recommended lanes are selected based on map data and a calculated route towards the destination, and notices of getting into the recommended lanes will be generated at maneuver points along the calculated route.

SUMMARY

[0003] Inventors found that in conventional methods, a notice of getting into a recommended lane is given to a driver at each maneuver point no matter whether the vehicle is in the recommended lane or not. As a result, sometimes the notice may be superfluous and even confusing. Therefore, a better method for providing lane guidance is required.

[0004] According to one embodiment, a method for providing lane guidance is provided. The method may include: determining whether a first lane of a road in which a vehicle runs is a recommended lane; and if no, generating a first notice of getting into the recommended lane. In some embodiments, if the first lane is the recommended lane, the first notice will not be generated. Thus, no superfluous notice is given.

[0005] In some embodiments, the first notice may be generated when a distance from the vehicle to a maneuver point ahead is within a predetermined range. For example, the predetermined range may be any reasonable range, for example, 1 00 meters. The maneuver point may be a point on which a driver of the vehicle may need to do some operations, for example, turn left/right, get into a ramp, or the like.

[0006] In some embodiments, the method may further include: detecting lanes of the road and which lane of the road the first lane is, where whether the first lane is the recommended lane is determined based on the detection; and illustrating on a display analogues of the lanes of the road, where the first notice includes a visual sign on the display instructing to move from the first lane to the recommended lane. In some embodiments, the visual sign may include an arrow from the analogues of the first lane to the analogues of the recommended lane. In some embodiments, analogues of road surface markers such as pedestrian crossings, lane direction markers, and the like, may be illustrated on the display.

[0007] In some embodiments, the display may include at least one of an infotainment display, a cluster display or a windshield display.

[0008] In some embodiments, lane detection may be based on image processing technologies. In some embodiments, lane detection may be based on surrounding sceneries of the vehicle. In some embodiments, lane detection may be based on detection of road surface markers in an image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle. In some embodiments, the road surface markers may include lane markers and lane direction markers. In some embodiments, lane detection may be based on detection of road surface markers and detection of surrounding vehicles in the image.

[0009] In some embodiments, the method may further include: if the first lane is determined to be the recommended lane, generating a second notice of keeping in the first lane.

[0010] In some embodiments, the first notice of getting into the recommended lane and/or the second notice of keeping in the first lane may include an audio notice. [0011] According to one embodiment, a vehicle mounted system for providing lane guidance is provided. The system may include a notification device and a processing device, where the processing device may be configured to: determine whether a first lane of a road in which a vehicle runs is a recommended lane; and if no, control the notification device to generate a first notice of getting into the recommended lane.

[0012] In some embodiments, the processing device may be configured to control the notification device to generate the first notice when a distance from the vehicle to a maneuver point ahead is within a predetermined range.

[0013] In some embodiments, the notification device may include a display, the processing device may be further configured to: detect lanes of the road and which lane of the road the first lane is; and control the display to illustrate analogues of the lanes of the road, where the first notice includes a visual sign on the display instructing to move from the first lane to the recommended lane. In some embodiments, the visual sign may include an arrow from the analogues of the first lane to the analogues of the recommended lane. In some embodiments, analogues of road surface markers such as pedestrian crossings, lane direction markers, and the like, may be illustrated on the notification device.

[0014] In some embodiments, the display may include at least one of an infotainment display, a cluster display or a windshield display.

[0015] In some embodiments, the processing device may be configured to: if the first lane is determined to be the recommended lane, control the notification device to generate a second notice of keeping in the first lane.

[0016] In some embodiments, the first notice of getting into the recommended lane and/or the second notice of keeping in the first lane may include an audio notice.

[0017] According to one embodiment, a system for providing lane guidance is provided. The system may include: means for determining whether a first lane of a road in which a vehicle runs is a recommended lane; and means for generating a first notice of getting into the recommended lane if it is determined that the first lane is not the recommended lane.

[0018] In some embodiments, the system may further include means for identifying which lane of the road the first lane is.

[0019] In some embodiments, the system may further include means for visually illustrating analogues of all lanes of the road and analogues of the vehicle which is on the analogues of the first lane.

[0020] According to one embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable medium, which contains therein a computer program for providing lane guidance, is provided. When the computer program is executed by a processor, it will instruct the processor to: determine whether a first lane of a road in which a vehicle runs is a recommended lane; and if no, control a notification device to generate a first notice of getting into the recommended lane.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] The foregoing and other features of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only several embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of its scope, the disclosure will be described with additional specificity and detail through use of the accompanying drawings.

[0022] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a flow chart of a process for providing lane guidance according to one embodiment;

[0023] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a recommended lane according to a maneuver point; [0024] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an image shown on a display for instructing to keep driving in a first lane;

[0025] FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an image shown on a display for instructing to get into a recommended lane; and

[0026] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a system for providing lane guidance according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated and make part of this disclosure.

[0028] When a vehicle is approaching a maneuver point, such as an intersection, a T road, a highway ramp, or the like, a current vehicle navigation system gives a notice to remind the driver to get into a recommended lane regarding the maneuver point. For example, if the vehicle is going to turn right at an intersection ahead according to the navigation information, a notice of getting into the right lane is given in advance, so that the driver can be well prepared and thus turn right smoothly at the intersection. However, conventional methods give the notice even when the vehicle is right in the recommended lane, which is superfluous and may confuse the driver. [0029] In various embodiments, lane guidance may be provided to avoiding confusing and unnecessary noticing.

[0030] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a flow chart of a process 100 for providing lane guidance according to one embodiment.

[0031] In S101 , obtaining route navigation information.

[0032] Once a starting position, normally a position where a vehicle is currently located, and a destination position, are provided to a navigation system, a route from the starting position to the destination position may be selected based on an algorithm and map data. Along the route, there may be several maneuver points on which a driver of the vehicle may need to do some operations, for example, turn left/right, get into a ramp, or the like. When the vehicle is approaching a maneuver point, the navigation system may give an operation instruction to the driver based on the navigation information regarding the maneuver point.

[0033] S1 01 is well known in the art and is not described in detail here.

[0034] In S1 03, detecting a first lane of a road in which the vehicle runs.

[0035] There have been developed several ways to detect the first lane. In some embodiments, the first lane may be detected based on GPS position and road map data. However, accuracy of such lane detection may not be satisfactory. More precise solutions for lane detection are needed.

[0036] In some embodiments, lanes of the road and which lane of the road the first lane is may be detected based on image processing technologies. For example, an image may be captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle, surrounding sceneries of the vehicle such as road surface markers and surrounding vehicles may be detected in the image, and lane detection may be detected based on the surrounding sceneries. In some embodiments, the first lane may be detected based on road surface markers detected in the image. The road surface markers may include lane markers. By counting the lane markers horizontally, how many lanes exist in the road and in which lane the vehicle runs may be detected. However, in urban areas, it may be difficult to detect the first lane merely based on the lane markers, because the lane markers may be sheltered by surrounding vehicles. Therefore, in some embodiments, the first lane may be detected further based on other road surface markers such as lane direction markers. Besides, in some embodiments, the first lane may be detected based on the detected road surface markers and the detected surrounding vehicles.

[0037] Reference of lane detection can be found in "Video-Based Driver Assistance- From Basic Functions to Application" written by Wilfried Enkelmann and included in "International Journal of Computer Vision 45(3), 201 -221 , 2001 ", "Multi-Lane Visual Perception for Lane Departure Warning System" written by Juan Manuel Collado et al. and included in "VISAPP 2008: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications, 2008", "A Novel Multi-lane Detection and Tracking System" written by Kun Zhao et al and published in "201 2 Intelligent Vehicles Symposium", "A New Multi-Lanes Detection Using Multi-Camera for Robust Vehicle Location" written by Sio-Song leng et al. and published in "Intelligent Vehicles Symposium, 2005" and US patent application Pub. No. 201 2/01481 04.

[0038] S1 03 may be implemented by a processor, such as a CPU or a GPU.

[0039] In S1 05, obtaining a recommended lane regarding a maneuver point ahead.

[0040] As stated in S1 01 , there may be a plurality of maneuver points along the route. When the vehicle is approaching one of the maneuver points, an operation instruction may be given based on the navigation information regarding the maneuver point. Besides, a recommended lane may be obtained based on the navigation information so as to improve driving safety.

[0041] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a recommended lane according to a maneuver point. As shown in FIG. 2, when a vehicle 201 is approaching a maneuver point 203 which is circled with a broken line in FIG. 2, i.e., an intersection of a leaving road 205 and an entering road 207, and the navigation information regarding this intersection is "turn right", right side lanes of the roads 205 and 207 may be determined to be the recommended lane which are shadowed in FIG. 2. The vehicle may pass the maneuver point 203 smoothly if the driver drives along the recommended lane.

[0042] In some embodiments, recommended lanes regarding the maneuver points along the route may be determined together with the selection of the route, and data of the determined recommended lanes may be stored in advance. When the vehicle is approaching one of the maneuver points, the recommended lane regarding this maneuver point may be obtained by extracting the data.

[0043] In some embodiments, the recommended lane regarding the maneuver point may be determined when the vehicle is approaching this maneuver point. Therefore, the recommended lane may be selected not only based on the navigation information regarding this maneuver point, but also further based on real scenarios. For example, if two turn-right lanes are detected based on lane markers and direction markers shown in the image captured by the vehicle-mounted camera, and the far right lane is detected to be crowded, the second far right lane may be selected as the recommended lane.

[0044] It should be noted that, S105 may be performed before S1 03.

[0045] In S107, determining whether the first lane is the recommended lane.

[0046] In some embodiments, whether the first lane is the recommended lane may be determined based on the lane ranking number, that is, if the ranking number of the first lane is consistent with that of the recommended lane, the first lane may be determined to be just the recommended one, vice versa. For example, if the recommended lane is the right lane, the first lane may need to be counted from right to left and the ranking number may be one or two based on how many turn-right lanes there are.

[0047] In some embodiments, whether the first lane is the recommended lane may be determined based on orientation information. For example, if the recommended lane is a middle lane, and the first lane is detected to be a right lane or left lane based on the lane direction markers, the first lane may be determined not to be the recommended lane.

[0048] If the first lane is determined to be the recommended one, go to S1 09a, in the contrary, go to S1 09b.

[0049] In S109a, generating a notice of keeping in the first lane.

[0050] In some embodiments, there may be no notice given to the driver if the first lane is determined to be the recommended one, that is, S1 09a may be optional. But in order to let the driver clearly know what to do, in some embodiments, the notice of keeping in the first lane may be given.

[0051] In some embodiments, the notice of keeping in the detected lane may include an audio notice. Therefore, S1 09a may be implemented by controlling a speaker to generate an audio reminder.

[0052] In some embodiments, a display may be used to illustrate an image for instructing to keep in the detected first lane. The display may include at least one of an infotainment display, a cluster display, or a windshield display.

[0053] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an image for instructing to keep driving in the first lane. The image may include a plurality of analogues of lanes, where a number of the plurality of lane analogues equals to a number of the lanes detected in the road. A graphical symbol representing the vehicle may be put in the lane analogues representing the detected first lane, i.e., the recommended lane. And a visual sign instructing to keep in the first lane may be illustrated, such as an arrow starting from the graphical symbol and extending along the first lane. In some embodiments, analogues of road surface markers such as pedestrian crossings, lane direction markers, and the like, may be shown in the image to illustrate a more realistic scene. In some embodiments, the analogues of road surface markers may be obtained by extracting map data regarding the maneuver point. In some embodiments, the analogues of road surface markers may be obtained by identifying road surface markers in the image captured by the vehicle-mounted camera.

[0054] In some embodiments, the audio and visual notices of keeping in the first lane may be generated together.

[0055] In S109b, generating a notice of getting into the recommended lane.

[0056] In some embodiments, the notice of getting into the recommended lane may also include an audio one. In some embodiments, the notice of getting into the recommended lane may include a visual sign shown on a display, indicating to move from the first lane to the recommended lane, which may be clearer for the driver. In some embodiments, the audio and visual notices of getting into the recommended lane may be generated together.

[0057] FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an example of an image shown on a display for instructing to move from the first lane to the recommended lane. Similarly to S1 09a, lane analogues representing the lanes in the real road are illustrated. A graphical symbol representing the vehicle may be placed in the lane analogue representing the first lane. A sign, such as an arrow or the like, starting from the lane analogue representing the first lane to the lane analogue representing the recommended lane, may be illustrated to instruct the movement. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, an arrow starts from a middle lane of a leaving road, passes through a right lane of the leaving road, turns right at an intersection, and ends in a right lane of an entering road. Besides, analogues of road surface markers such as lane directions, pedestrian crossings, and the like, may be incorporated into the image shown on the display.

[0058] In some embodiments, the first and/or the second notice may be generated when a distance from the vehicle to the maneuver point is within a predetermined range, for example, 1 00 meters. Once hearing the audio reminder or seeing the visual sign, the driver may clearly know he should get into the recommended lane and prepare for the maneuver.

[0059] By employing the method 1 00, the lane guidance may be provided more precisely and pertinently, and confusions may be avoided.

[0060] According to one embodiment, a system 300 for providing lane guidance is provided. FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a block diagram of the system 300. The system 300 may include a processing device 301 , a speaker 303 and a display 305. The system 300 may be mounted in a vehicle

[0061] The processing device 301 may be configured to: determine whether a first lane of a road in which the vehicle runs is a recommended lane; and if no, control the speaker 303 and/or the display 305 to generate a first notice of getting into the recommended lane.

[0062] In some embodiments, the processing device 301 may be configured to detect lanes of the road and which lane the first lane is based on image processing technologies, and control the display 305 and/or the display 305to generate the first notice instructing to move from the first lane to the recommended lane. The first notice may include at least one of an audio reminder or a visual sign.

[0063] In some embodiments, the processing device 301 may be further configured to control the speaker 303 and/or the display 305 to generate a second notice of keeping in the first lane, if the first lane is determined to be the recommended lane. Also, the second notice may include at least one of an audio reminder or a visual sign.

[0064] Detail configuration the processing device 301 , the speaker 303 and the display 305 may be obtained by referring above descriptions of the method 1 00.

[0065] According to one embodiment, a system for providing lane guidance is provided. The system may include: means for determining whether a first lane of a road in which a vehicle runs is a recommended lane; and means for generating a first notice of getting into the recommended lane if the first lane is determined not to be the recommended lane.

[0066] In some embodiments, the system may further include means for visually illustrating to the driver analogues of all lanes of the road and analogues of the vehicle which is on the analogues of the first lane.

[0067] In some embodiments, the system may further include means for identifying which lane of the road the first lane is.

[0068] According to one embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable medium, which contains therein a computer program for providing lane guidance, is provided. When the computer program is executed by a processor, it will instruct the processor to: determine whether a first lane of a road in which a vehicle runs is a recommended lane; and if no, control a notification device to generate a first notice of getting into the recommended lane.

[0069] There is little distinction left between hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; the use of hardware or software is generally a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and/or firmware vehicle; if flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet again alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware.

[0070] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.