Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho

Makoto Nishida

Akihiro Watanabe

Hiroyuki Yoshida

Goro Asai

Isamu Takai

Michihiro Miyashita

Masaaki Amano

Yuka Shidochi

Tomoyasu Tamaoki

Masuji Oshima

Yohei Satomi

Tatsuya Hattori

Hiroaki Yamashita

A video display apparatus includes video output units to output signals representing first videos captured or received, respectively, and when a predetermined signal is input from an outside, only for a predetermined period, to output signals representing second videos having fixed images, instead of the signals representing the first videos, respectively; a display to display a video based on the signal output by one of the video output units; and a control apparatus to output the predetermined signal to the video output units, and after having output the predetermined signal, to execute switching a signal representing a video output to the display among the signals representing the videos output by the video output units, while the video output units having the signals representing the videos output to the display before and after the switching, respectively, output the signals representing the second videos, respectively.

Video display apparatus, video switching apparatus, and video display method

The present invention relates to a lane-dividing line detection device and has an object of detecting a lane-dividing line with high accuracy by accurately extracting characteristic points of the lane-dividing line while responding flexibly to road surface conditions. According to the present invention, pixel parts where a brightness variation is larger than a predetermined threshold are extracted from an image picked up by a camera that picks up an area ahead of a vehicle as edge points representing the lane-dividing line on a road surface (step). Next, candidates for the lane-dividing line drawn on a road are generated based on the extracted edge points (step). Then, the predetermined threshold for the brightness variation used to extract the edge points is changed based on the number of the generated candidates for the lane-dividing line (stepsthrough). Specifically, if the number of the candidate lines exceeds a predetermined number, the threshold is changed to a high value so as to increase difficulty in extracting the edge points. On the other hand, if the number of the candidate lines does not reach the predetermined number, the threshold is changed to a low value so as to facilitate the extraction of the edge points.

Road division line detector

A lane boundary detector includes an edge point extracting unit that extracts a plurality of edge points of a lane sign from the input image, and an edge line extracting unit that extracts a plurality of edge lines of the lane sign from the edge points to formulate a position and a direction of each of the edge lines as a straight line on the road surface, using a parameter set consisting of at least two variables. The detector further includes a branch point detecting unit that determines whether a crossing point of two of the edge lines can be a branch point of the lane, based on whether a characteristic difference vector defined with the variables with respect to the two edge lines falls within a predetermined appropriate range, and a lane boundary determining unit that determines the left and the right boundary positions of the lane.

Lane boundary detector

The present invention discloses a lane detecting apparatus mounted on a vehicle including a camera for obtaining an image of a lane marking drawn on a road, a candidate line selecting part for selecting one or more candidate lines having edge information no less than an edge threshold from the image obtained by the camera, and a car pool lane determining part for determining whether the difference in the number of the candidate lines between the left side of the vehicle and the right side of the vehicle is no less than a predetermined value. When the difference is no less than the predetermined value, the lane detecting apparatus transfers to a car pool lane detection mode in which the candidate line selecting part detects the one or more candidate lines in accordance with a threshold that is less than the edge threshold.

Lane detecting apparatus

A boundary detector includes a candidate line detecting unit that detects a candidate line of a lane boundary position drawn on a road surface based on image data of a predetermined detection time period acquired from a camera. The detector also includes a lane boundary position selecting unit that selects a lane boundary position based on the candidate line; a branch lane boundary position selecting unit that selects a lane boundary position of a branch lane that diverts from a main lane based on the candidate line; and a branch processing unit that sets a branch process mode in which the detection time period is short without using the selected lane boundary position of the branch lane when the branch lane boundary position selecting unit selects the lane boundary position of the branch lane.

A driving lane recognizeris arranged to detect a white lineon a driving roadon the basis of an image taken of the driving road. The driving lane recognizersets a near regionand a far regionadjacent to each other along a vehicle traveling direction in the image, detects a length of white linein each of the near regionand the far region, and determines a type of white lineon the basis of the length of white linein the near regionand the length of white linein the far region. This permits the recognizer to determine the type of white lineon the basis of one image and to determine the type of white linewithout use of past detection data or the like.

Driving lane recognizer and driving lane recognizing method

In a vehicle lane detector that detects a lane sign on a road surface, a condition for determining that the lane sign is detected is changed based on one of a frequency and a ratio of detection error of the lane sign.

Vehicle lane detector

A boundary detector includes a candidate line detecting unit that detects a candidate line of a lane boundary position drawn on the road surface based on image information from a camera. The detector also includes a lane boundary position selecting unit that selects the lane boundary position based on the candidate line; an additional lane boundary position selecting unit that selects a lane boundary position of an additional lane that is added to a main lane based on the candidate line; and an additional processing unit that stops adopting the lane boundary position for a predetermined time period when the additional lane boundary position selecting unit selects a lane boundary position of the additional lane.

An engine controller includes a accelerator stroke detector, vehicle speed and vehicle acceleration sensors, first and second model learning units and a drive control unit. The first model learning unit constructs a vehicle acceleration model that exhibits and updates vehicle acceleration characteristics as required by a driver. The first unit includes a first learning program for updating acceleration model, and generates a first output (Gx) in response to the detected accelerator stroke and vehicle speed according to the first program. The first unit calculates a deviation (.DELTA.G) between the detected vehicle acceleration (G) and the first output (Gx), and modifies the first output (Gx) to decrease the deviation (.DELTA.G) to provide an updated acceleration model as required by the driver. The second model learning unit is for constructing a sensitivity model used to regulate the opening angle of an engine throttle valve. The second unit includes a second learning program for updating the sensitivity model and generating a second output (Thx) in response to the detected accelerator stroke and vehicle speed. As a consequence, the output (Thx) is modified to decrease the deviation (.DELTA.G) which provides for an update to the sensitivity model. The drive control unit controls the throttle angle referring to a target value determined on the basis of the second output (Thx).

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Makoto Nishida