Patent ID: 8724093

Claim:
An apparatus for detecting a division line depicted on a road on which a vehicle equipped with the apparatus, comprising: beam scanning means for scanning a beam-formed electromagnetic wave toward the road viewed from the vehicle, the beam-formed electromagnetic wave being transmitted repetitively at intervals along different directions in a width direction of the vehicle and a reflected electromagnetic wave from the road being received, each beam-formed electromagnetic wave being radiated to a radiation area on the road, the radiation areas made by transmitting the beam-formed electromagnetic wave a plurality of times virtually producing a scan area on the road; measuring means for measuring, for every beam-formed electromagnetic wave, distance data indicative of a distance between a division line on the road and the vehicle, based on information about the reflected electromagnetic wave received by the beam scanning means and an interval between transmission of the beam-formed electromagnetic wave and an appearance of a peak of an electric signal responding to the received reflected electromagnetic wave; data receiving means for receiving the distance data measured by the measuring means; and detecting means for detecting the division line on the road based on a specific change predetermined in a sequence of the distance data produced by mapping the received distance data in a scanning order of the beam-formed electromagnetic wave, the specific change being up-and-down changes in the distance data that intersect a reference level previously assigned to the distance data.