Abstract:
A dynamic lane line detection system and method is disclosed herein. Four wide-angle lenses are respectively arranged at four sides of a vehicle and capture distorted images. A vehicular image integration unit transforms the distorted images into an ordinary planar image and presents the planar image on an image display device together with an image of lane lines as information of lane departure warning for the driver. The system undertakes moving obstacle detection, around view monitor, or parking assistant according to images captured by four wide-angle lenses and the gearshift signal, speed signal, turning angle signal received by a vehicular signal receiving device. The present invention uses the wide-angle lenses and the vehicular image integration unit to effectively integrate lane departure information with a panoramic image, whereby to decrease the economical burden of the vehicle buyer and reduce the volume of hardware.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority for Taiwan patent application no. 103112119 filed at Apr. 1, 2014, the content of which is incorporated by reference in its entirely. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a technology for detecting images surrounding a vehicle, particularly to a detection system and method, which transforms the distorted images, which are captured by wide-angle lenses, into undistorted images and dynamically provides lane line information in response to the vehicular signals. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    At present, vehicles are normally equipped with various vehicular safety devices, such as panoramic image detection systems, rear barrier detection systems, parking-assistant systems, and lane deviation detection systems, to protect the safety of drivers. Sometimes, lenses are arranged at the front, rear, left and right of a vehicle and cooperate with the vehicular computer to detect the images surrounding the vehicle; the programs inside the vehicular computer transforms the panoramic images into an aerial view for the driver&#39;s reference; the rear lens cooperates with the vehicular computer and the programs thereinside to detect barriers behind the vehicle and provide a parking-assistant function; the screen of the vehicular computer presents the predicted track for backing the vehicle; the front lens captures the image before the vehicle and cooperates with the programs to detect lane departure and present information of lane departure warning on the screen. 
         [0006]    Some of the prior arts provide vehicular safety technologies integrating all vehicular safety devices in a single system. However, the lane departure warning system and the parking-assistant system need dedicated lenses, which are different from the lenses for panoramic images. The moving obstacle detection is usually integrated with the lane departure warning system and the parking-assistant system. In such a case, the moving obstacle detection cannot detect the barriers at the left and right of the vehicle but can only detect the barriers before and behind the vehicle. If the driver intends to detect the barriers at the left and right of the vehicle, he must equip the vehicle with additional lenses. Therefore, a vehicle cannot detect panoramic images, front and rear lanes, and barriers simultaneously unless the vehicle is equipped with at least 6 lenses. So far, there has not yet been a wide-angle lens able to support the abovementioned four technical characteristics. Even though all vehicular safety devices can be mounted on a vehicle, there has not yet been a system able to effectively integrate four wide-angle lenses and process information for all the vehicular safety devices. Besides, the additional lenses would increase the fabrication cost. Therefore, the vehicles available in the market can only support some of the vehicular safety devices. 
         [0007]    In order to solve the abovementioned problems, the present invention proposes a dynamic lane line detection system and method, which uses wide-angle lenses, an image integration system and an image correction method to present lane departure warning information on an image display system, whereby various vehicular safety devices can be integrated in an identical system more effectively. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a dynamic lane line detection system and method, which uses a vehicular image integration unit to transform distorted images captured by wide-angle lenses into ordinary planar images, and which uses a vehicular signal receiving device to receive vehicular signals, whereby the present invention can automatically detect lane lines and actively warn the driver of lane departure without using lane detection-dedicated lenses, whereby the present invention can decrease the economical burden of the vehicle buyer and reduce the volume of hardware. 
         [0009]    Another objective of the present invention is to provide a dynamic lane line detection system and method, which can automatically switch the safety devices of the vehicle according to the vehicular signals, including the gearshift signal and the speed signal, to dynamically provide the most effective automatic safety detection mode and detect the traffic environment surrounding the vehicle, whereby the driver can grasp the vehicular status and driving environment without splitting his mind to manually adjust the driving safety devices. 
         [0010]    To achieve the abovementioned objectives, the present invention discloses a dynamic lane line detection system, wherein a vehicular image integration unit is electrically connected with four wide-angle lenses, which are respectively at the front, rear, left and right of a vehicle, and wherein the vehicular image integration unit is also electrically connected with a vehicular signal receiving device and an image display device. The vehicular image integration unit integrates the distorted images captured by the wide-angle lenses and the vehicular signals received by the vehicular signal receiving device, such as the gearshift signal, the speed signal, and the turning angle signal of the steering wheel. The vehicular image integration unit uses an image correction method to transform the distorted images captured by the front wide-angle lens into an ordinary planar image and presents the information of lane departure warning on the image display device. The rear wide-angle lens is to implement the track prediction of parallel parking and the track prediction of backing into a garage. The front, rear, left and right wide-angle lenses are to implement around view monitor and moving obstacle detection. 
         [0011]    The present invention also discloses a dynamic lane line detection method, which comprises steps: obtaining distorted images with wide-angle lenses respectively arranged at four sides of a vehicle; using an image correction method to correct the distorted images and generate a planar image; detecting lane departure warning while a vehicular signal receiving device receives a non-reverse shift signal and a speed signal over a default speed; transmitting the planar image to an image display device, showing lane lines on the planar image, and providing alert sounds of lane departure warning; and selectively undertaking moving obstacle detection, around view monitor, track prediction for parallel parking or track prediction for backing into a garage while the vehicular signal receiving device receives a reverse shift signal or a speed signal below the default speed. 
         [0012]    Below, the embodiments are described in detail in cooperation with the attached drawings to make easily understood the objectives, technical contents, characteristics and accomplishments of the present invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram schematically showing a dynamic lane line detection system according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a diagram schematically showing a dynamic lane line detection system  10  according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  shows a flowchart of a lane departure warning process of a dynamic lane line detection method according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  shows transformation of a distorted image according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  schematically shows the principle of an image correction method according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  shows a flowchart simultaneously involving parking assistant system and moving obstacle detection of a dynamic lane line detection method according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  shows diagrams of lane departure warning according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIGS. 8   a - 8   d  respectively show diagrams of parallel parking, track prediction for parallel backing, backing into a garage, and track prediction of backing into a garage according to one embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0021]      FIG. 9   a  and  FIG. 9   b  respectively show a panoramic image and a diagram of moving obstacle detection according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0022]    The present invention proposes a dynamic lane line detection system and method, whose technical means includes using a vehicular image integration unit to integrate wide-angle lenses, a vehicular signal receiving device, and an image correction method to transform distorted images captured by the wide-angle lenses into ordinary planar images; presenting the images of the front lane lines on an image display device; if the signal received by the vehicular signal receiving device does not direct the system to detect lane departure warning (LDW), the system automatically switches to undertake moving obstacle detection (MOD), around view monitor (AVM), parking assistant system (PAS). 
         [0023]    Refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  for a dynamic lane line detection system  10  according to one embodiment of the present invention. The dynamic lane line detection system  10  comprises a vehicular image integration unit  12 . The vehicular image integration unit  12  includes a processor, such as Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Car PC, or System on Chip (SoC), to process digital signals. The vehicular image integration unit  10  is electrically connected with a plurality of wide-angle lenses. The wide-angle lenses include a front wide-angle lens  14   a , a left wide-angle lens  14   b , a rear wide-angle lens  14   c  and a right wide-angle lens  14   d , which are respectively arranged at the front, left, rear and right of a vehicle. The vehicular image integration unit  10  is also electrically connected with a vehicular signal receiving device  16  and an image display device  18 . In one embodiment, the image display device  18  is an Light Emitting Diode(LED) display device or an liquid crystal display(LCD) device. In one embodiment, the image display device  18  can emit sounds via a speaker or a buzzer. The vehicular signal receiving device  16  receives a gearshift signal  20 , a speed signal  22  and a turning angle signal  24  (of a steering wheel) transmitted by the vehicle. 
         [0024]    Succeeding to the description of the dynamic lane line detection system, a dynamic lane line detection method will be described below. In one embodiment, the vehicular image integration unit  12  presets the default speed to be 60 Km/h. However, the present invention does not limit that the default speed must be 60 Km/h. In the present invention, the default speed can be modified according to the driving habit of the driver. Refer to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 . In Step S 10 , the front wide-angle lens  14   a , which is arranged at the front of the vehicle, captures a distorted image  26  of the environment before the vehicle. In Step S 12 , the distorted image  26  is transmitted to the vehicular image integration unit  12 , and the vehicular image integration unit  12  uses an image correction method to transform the distorted image  26  into an ordinary planar image  28  without undertaking the conversion of viewing angles. The vehicular signal receiving device  16  receives the gearshift signal  20 , the speed signal  22  and the turning angle signal  24  (of the steering wheel), and transmits these signals to the vehicular image integration unit  12 . While the vehicular image integration unit  12  receives a non-reverse shift signal and a speed signal over the default speed (60 Km/h in this embodiment), the process proceeds to Step S 14 . In Step S 14 , the system undertakes lane departure warning. In Step S 16 , the vehicular image integration unit  12  transmits the planar image  28  to the image display device  18 . In Step S 18 , the vehicular image integration unit  12  presents the planar image  28  and the lane lines on the image display device  18  simultaneously, and controls the image display device  18  to warn the driver of lane departure warning with alert sounds in realtime. 
         [0025]    Refer to  FIG. 5  for the image correction method used in Step S 12 . The image correction method obtains the coordinates (u, v) of two points at the chord of an arc. Next, the method cross-projects the two points along two non-parallel lines to a plane and generates the coordinates of two new points (ū,  v ). The distance between the two new points (ū,  v ) can be calculated from the ratio of the incident angle θ and the refractive angle Φ and the length of the arc according to Equations (1)-(3): 
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         [0000]    wherein (u, v) are the coordinates on the distorted image, (u 0 ,v 0 ) the coordinates of the center on the distorted image, (ū,  v ) the coordinates of the new points on the corrected image, and wherein ω is the curvature radius,  R  the radius of the distorted image, r is the distance between the two new points. 
         [0026]    Refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 6  shows a flowchart simultaneously involving PAS and MOD of a dynamic lane line detection method according to one embodiment of the present invention. In Step S 22 , the wide-angle lenses  14   a - 14   d  at the peripheral of the vehicle capture a plurality of distorted images  26  and transmits these distorted images  26  to the vehicular image integration unit  12 . In Step S 24 , the vehicular image integration unit  12  uses Equations (1)-(3) to transform these distorted images  26  into ordinary planar images  28 . In Step S 26 , the vehicular signal receiving device  16  receives the gearshift signal  20  and the speed signal  22  and transmits these signals to the vehicular image integration unit  12 . In Step S 28 , the vehicular image integration unit  12  examines whether the gearshift signal  20  is a non-reverse shift signal; if yes, it means that the gearshift signal  20  is a signal of a forward shift, such as the signal of the first shift, the second shift, the third shift or the D shift, and the process proceeds to Step S 30 ; if not, it means that the gearshift signal  20  is a reverse shift signal, and the process proceeds to Step S 34 . In Step S 30 , the vehicular image integration unit  12  examines whether the speed signal  22  is over the default speed (60 Km/h in this embodiment); if yes, it means that the vehicle is running at a speed over the default speed 60 Km/h, and the process proceeds to Step S 32 ; if not, it means that the vehicle is running at a speed below the default speed 60 Km/h, and the process proceeds to Step S 36 . In Step S 32 , the system undertakes lane departure warning. In Step S 34 , the system undertakes moving obstacle detection, around view monitor, track detection of parallel parking, and track prediction of backing into a garage. In Step S 36 , the system undertakes around view monitor and moving obstacle detection. 
         [0027]    The specification further provides diagrams taken in the abovementioned steps for reference. Refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 7 .  FIG. 7  shows diagrams of LDW according to one embodiment of the present invention. These images are presented on the image display device  18 . While the vehicle is going to exceed the lane line, the image display device  18  presents the word “Danger” to warn the driver. Refer to  FIGS. 8   a - 8   d  respectively showing diagrams of parallel parking, track prediction for parallel backing, backing into a garage, and track prediction of backing into a garage according to one embodiment of the present invention. Refer to  FIG. 8   a . While the vehicular signal receiving device  16  detects a reverse shift signal  20  and a turning angle signal  24  of a steering wheel, it indicates that the driver is preparing for parallel parking. Refer to  FIG. 8   b . The diagram display device  18  presents the diagram of the region behind the vehicle and shows a virtual frame of the parking bay where the driver intends to park his vehicle. Refer to  FIG. 8   c  showing a diagram of a vehicle preparing for backing into a garage. Refer to  FIG. 8   d . According to the turning angle signal, the diagram display device  18  shows the predicted track to enable the driver to park his vehicle safely. 
         [0028]    Refer to  FIG. 9   a  and  FIG. 9   b  respectively showing a panoramic image and a diagram of MOD according to one embodiment of the present invention, and refer to  FIG. 1  also. The vehicular diagram integration unit  12  integrates the planar images  28 , which are respectively captured at four different directions, into a panoramic image, and converts the panoramic image into an aerial view, and then presents the aerial view on the image display device  18 . While the vehicular signal receiving device  16  receives a reverse shift signal  20  or a speed signal below 60 Km/h, the system can simultaneously generate panoramic images and detect barriers around the vehicle. The abovementioned barriers include the barriers at the front, rear, left and right of the vehicle, as shown in  FIG. 9   a . While the vehicular signal receiving device  16  receives a reverse shift signal  20 , it means that the driver is preparing for parallel parking or backing into a garage, and the system predicts a driving track for the driver, and detects the surrounding barriers, especially the barriers behind the vehicle. The system further controls the image display device  18  to present the images of barriers and emits alert sound to warn the driver of the barriers lest the vehicle collide with the barriers, as shown in  FIG. 9   b.    
         [0029]    From the above description, it is known: the present invention can effectively integrate ordinary wide-angle lenses to detect lane departure, exempted from using special lenses dedicated to LDW. The present invention uses a vehicular image integration unit to integrate four wide-angle lenses, which are respectively arranged at the front, rear, left and right of the vehicle, and the vehicular signals to detect lane departure, predict the driving track for parallel parking or backing into a garage, generate panoramic images, and recognize surrounding barriers. The present invention can also adopt lenses able to directly convert distorted images into ordinary planar images. The present invention uses the vehicular image integration unit to automatically switch the safety detection mode according to the vehicular signals, guaranteeing the driving safety of the driver. 
         [0030]    The embodiments described above are to demonstrate the technical thought and characteristics of the present invention and enable the persons skilled in the art to understand, make, and use the present invention. However, these embodiments are only to exemplify the present invention but not to limit the scope of the present invention. Any equivalent modification or variation according to the spirit of the present invention is to be also included within the scope of the present invention.