JP6867088B2 - Electronic device, branch road detection program and branch road detection method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic device having a navigation function, and more particularly to a technique for detecting whether or not the own vehicle has entered a branch road.

With the driving assist function or automatic driving technology, it is necessary to accurately detect the lane in which the vehicle is traveling. Even if there is a branch road that branches off from the road, it is required to correctly judge whether or not the vehicle has entered the branch road.

In Patent Document 1, utilizing the fact that the dividing line between the main line and the branch road uses a thick broken line, it is determined whether or not the vehicle has entered the branch road depending on whether or not it crosses the thick broken line. In Patent Document 2, whether or not the vehicle has entered a branch road is determined by using an image recognition means, an operation pattern of a blinker operation, an operation pattern of a steering operation, a change pattern of a traveling direction, and the like. In Patent Document 3, it is determined whether or not the vehicle has entered the branch road based on the angle formed by the extending direction of the road and the traveling direction of the own vehicle and the moving distance of the own vehicle.

JP-A-2007-3286 JP-A-2009-109340 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-156034

In the conventional determination of entry into a branch road, as described in Patent Document 1, a thick broken line, which is a dividing line between the main line and the branch road, is used. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in a section where there is a branch road on the left side of the main line, when the own vehicle is traveling on the lane of lane number 1 of the main line with V1, the own vehicle is thick as a lane boundary line on the left side. The broken line B is detected, and the lane mark other than the thick broken line is detected on the right side. When the vehicle moves from V1 to V2 on the branch road, the vehicle detects a lane mark other than the thick dashed line on the left side and a thick dashed line on the right side. Since the position of this thick broken line has changed from the left side to the right side, it is judged that the lane has been changed and the vehicle has entered the fork.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an image when an actual main line and a branch road dividing line are imaged by a wide-angle in-vehicle camera mounted on the rear of the vehicle, and FIG. 3 shows an actual double line and an actual double line by a similar in-vehicle camera. It is a schematic diagram of the image when the triple line was imaged. FIG. 2 shows the transition from time t1 to time t2, and a branch path appears at time t2. Only the inner auxiliary line and the outer auxiliary line are displayed on the triple line in FIG. 3, and the solid line existing between them is not imaged here. As shown in these examples, the line width of the auxiliary line of the multiple line may use the same line width as the dividing line B of the main line and the branch road. Therefore, in the conventional method, for example, when the double line consists of a lane dividing line and an auxiliary line as shown in FIG. 4A, only a thick auxiliary line is marked as shown in FIG. 4B. If this is done, there is a possibility that the thick auxiliary line will be mistakenly recognized as the thick broken line B which is the dividing line of the branch road. Further, if the thick broken line B of the dividing line is deteriorated due to faintness or scratches and is damaged, the line width may not be recognized as the thick broken line.

On the other hand, when the forms of the main line and the branch road are classified, as shown in FIG. 4A (a), there are a branch road provided with a guide lane (corresponding to lane number 1) for guiding to the branch road, and FIG. 4A (b). ), There are branch roads without guidance lanes. In FIG. 3A, when traveling in lane 1, the branch road is reached as it is, so that the branch road has a guide lane. In the figure (b), no matter which lane is traveled, the branch road is not reached as it is, so that the branch road has no guidance lane. In the case of a branch road having a guide lane, it can be determined that the vehicle is entering the branch road if the vehicle is traveling on the guide lane at the point where the entry to the branch road is determined. This is possible by detecting the position of the lane in which the vehicle is traveling. However, in the case of a branch road without a guidance lane, even if the traveling lane position can be detected, it is not possible to determine the approach to the branch road because there is no guidance lane.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and an electronic device, a branch road detection program, and an electronic device capable of accurately determining entry into a branch road regardless of the line width of the main line and the branch road dividing line. The purpose is to provide a branch road detection method.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device, a branch road detection program, and a branch road detection method capable of accurately determining entry into a branch road even in a branch road without a guide lane.

The electronic device according to the present invention is provided with a branch road detection function for detecting entry into a branch road, and is a detection means for detecting a travel lane position of a road on which the vehicle travels based on the vehicle position. A determination means for determining the presence or absence of a guidance lane to a branch road, a creation means for creating a virtual guidance lane connected to the branch road when it is determined that there is no guidance lane, and a traveling lane detected by the detection means. It is provided with a branch road determination means for determining whether or not the own vehicle has entered the branch road based on the position and the guidance lane.

Preferably, the electronic device further includes a lane change determining means for determining whether or not the own vehicle has changed the traveling lane, and when the own vehicle is changed to a guidance lane by the lane change determining means, the branch road determining means. Determines that the vehicle has entered the fork. Preferably, the determination means determines the presence or absence of the guidance lane based on the connection link information connected to the node in front of the traveling road. Preferably, the electronic device further includes acquisition means for acquiring link data including lane change information regarding the number of lanes and increase / decrease of lanes based on the position of the own vehicle, and the detection means is based on the lane change information. Detect the lane position. Preferably, the creating means creates a guidance lane by adding lanes based on the lane change information of the road on which the own vehicle is traveling. Preferably, the creating means creates the guidance lane in a section defined by a first distance extending from the node in the traveling direction of the own vehicle and a second distance extending in the opposite direction to the traveling method, and the branch determining means. Determines whether or not the own vehicle has entered the branch road while traveling in the section. Preferably, the branch determining means determines whether or not the own vehicle has entered the branch road when the own vehicle passes through the node. Preferably, when the branch road determination means determines that there is a guide lane to the branch road, does the vehicle enter the branch road when the vehicle passes through the connection node between the guide lane and the branch road? Judge whether or not. Preferably, the connection link information includes entry availability information indicating whether or not each lane of the traveling road can enter another link connected to a node of the traveling road, and the determination means includes the above-mentioned determination means. The presence or absence of a guidance lane is determined based on the entry availability information.

The branch road detection program according to the present invention is executed in an electronic device provided with a control means for controlling a branch road detection function for detecting entry into a branch road, and the vehicle travels based on the vehicle position. A step of detecting the position of the driving lane of the road to be driven, a step of determining the presence or absence of a guidance lane to the branch road, and a step of creating a virtual guidance lane connected to the branch road when it is determined that there is no guidance lane. The step includes a step of determining whether or not the own vehicle has entered the branch road based on the detected traveling lane position and the guidance lane.

The branch road detection method according to the present invention is in an electronic device having a branch road detection function for detecting entry into a branch road, and detects a travel lane position of a road on which the vehicle travels based on the vehicle position. Steps, a step of determining the presence or absence of a guidance lane to a branch road, a step of creating a virtual guidance lane connected to the branch road when it is determined that there is no guidance lane, and the detected traveling lane position. And a step of determining whether or not the own vehicle has entered the branch road based on the guidance lane.

According to the present invention, if the own vehicle travels in the guidance lane by creating the guidance lane, the vehicle enters the branch road without being affected by the type and width of the dividing line at the boundary between the main line and the branch road. You can easily determine what you have done. Further, when there is no guidance lane on the branch road, a virtual guidance lane is created, so that it can be determined that the vehicle has entered the branch road only by determining the position of the lane in which the vehicle travels.

It is a figure explaining the problem of the approach decision to enter a conventional branch road. It is a schematic diagram of the image which imaged the dividing line of the actual main line and the branch road. It is a schematic diagram of the image which imaged the actual double line and triple line. FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of an image of a double line of an auxiliary line and a lane dividing line, and FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of an image when only the auxiliary line of the double lines is imaged. .. It is a figure which shows the branch road which has a guide lane, and the branch road which does not have a guide lane. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle-mounted device of the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of acquiring the information from another distribution site. It is a figure which made special mention of the branch detection device which detects the approach to a branch road among the vehicle-mounted devices which concern on this Example. This is a processing flow for determining entry into a branch road according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which illustrates the branch road which does not have a guide lane. It is a figure which shows the entry information of the node n shown in FIG. 7 to the connection link. 9 (a) is a branch road of the link j, and FIG. 9 (b) is lane change information of the main line of the link k. It is a figure which illustrates the branch road which has a guide lane. This is a processing flow for updating branch information of a traveling path according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the initialization processing of the variable bifurcation by this Example. It is a figure which shows the entry information to the connection link of the branch shown in FIG. This is a processing flow for calculating a traveling lane according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a processing flow of determination of branch road approach according to the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the variable which stores the determination result of the traveling lane change determination means which concerns on this Example. It is a figure which shows the variable which stores the lane change information of the road by this Example. It is a figure which shows the variable which manages the branch information by this Example. It is a figure which shows the variable which manages the driving information by this Example.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention is an in-vehicle device such as a navigation device fixedly mounted on a moving body such as an automobile, a portable computer device that can be carried around, or a tablet-type computer device. Can be done. The electronic device of the present invention has a navigation function for guiding a route to a destination. In one preferred embodiment, the navigation function includes a traveling lane detecting function for detecting the lane (lane) in which the vehicle travels, and the traveling lane detecting function includes a function for detecting whether or not the vehicle has entered a branch road. .. The electronic device may further include, for example, a function of reproducing audio / video data, a function of receiving a television / radio broadcast, a function of executing application software, and the like in an integrated manner as other functions.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As an example, the in-vehicle device 10 includes an input unit 100, a position information calculation unit 110, a navigation unit 120, a display unit 130, a voice output unit 140, a communication unit 150, a storage unit 160, and a control unit 170. However, the configuration of the in-vehicle device 10 disclosed here is an example, and may include other configurations.

The input unit 100 receives an instruction from the user by an input key device, a voice input recognition device, a touch panel, or the like, and provides the instruction to the control unit 170. The input unit 100 can further include an image input means for inputting an image captured by an imaging camera that captures the surroundings including the front, rear, and sides of the own vehicle.

The position information calculation unit 110 calculates the current location of the own vehicle based on the GPS signal transmitted from the GPS satellite and the output from the relative orientation sensor such as the gyro sensor. The navigation unit 120 searches for a route from the current location to the destination calculated by the position information calculation unit 110, displays the searched route on the display unit 130, or outputs voice from the voice output unit 140. To do. The navigation unit 120 further includes a branch road detection function as described later. The information detected by the branch road detection function is used for route guidance and driving assistance by the navigation unit 120.

The display unit 130 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL, and displays, for example, a map image generated by the navigation unit 120. The voice output unit 140 outputs, for example, voice guidance of the route searched by the navigation unit 120, or outputs voice necessary for driving assistance.

The communication unit 150 enables data to be sent and received to and from various external devices. For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the communication unit 150 accesses the location information distribution site 152 via the network NW, acquires the vehicle position information from the location information distribution site 152, or accesses the map data distribution site 154, and there. You can get the necessary map data from, or you can access the road traffic information distribution site 156 and get detailed information about the road traffic information from there. The own vehicle position information obtained from the position information distribution site 152 can be used instead of the own vehicle position information calculated by the position information calculation unit 110.

The storage unit 160 can store application software and programs executed by the control unit 170, map data required by the navigation unit 120, and the like. The map data can include node data related to intersections, link data related to links between nodes, and information necessary for the operation of the navigation unit 120.

In a preferred embodiment, the control unit 170 is composed of a microcontroller including a ROM, a RAM, and the like, and the ROM or the RAM can store various programs for controlling the operation of each unit of the in-vehicle device 10. In a preferred embodiment, the control unit 170 executes a program for controlling the operation of the navigation unit 120 and the branch road detection function described later.

FIG. 5C is a diagram showing a configuration of a branch road detection function according to this embodiment. The branch road detection function 200 is preferably included in the navigation unit 120, or operates in cooperation with the navigation unit 120. Further, when the in-vehicle device has a driving assist function, the branch road detection function 200 can operate in cooperation with such a driving assist function. The operation of the branch path detection function 200 is controlled by a program executed by the control unit 170.

As shown in the figure, the branch road detection function 200 of this embodiment includes an image input means 210, a lane mark detection means 220, a traveling lane change determination means 230, a current location detection means 240, a map data recording means 250, and lane change information. It includes a creating means 260, a branch information updating means 270, a traveling lane detecting means 280, and a branch determining means 290.

The image input means 210 inputs, for example, a road image from an imaging camera that captures a road including the front, the rear, or the side of the own vehicle. The lane mark detecting means 220 detects a lane mark (for example, a solid line or a broken white line) that serves as a dividing line between the left and right traveling lanes from the input road image. The traveling lane change determining means 230 determines whether or not the traveling lane has been changed from the left and right lane mark positions detected by the lane mark detecting means 220. The current location detecting means 240 detects the current location from the calculation result of the position information calculation 110 shown in FIG. 5A, for example. The map data recording means 250 includes road map data, and the road map data includes road lane change information, left branch and right branch information, branch information regarding the presence or absence of a guidance lane, and the like. Lane change information and branch information are preferably added to the link data as attribute information of the link data. The map data recording means 250 may be included in the storage unit 160 shown in FIG. 5A. The lane change information creating means 260 acquires lane change information of the road traveling from the map data recording means 250 using the current location detected by the current location detecting means 240, and creates lane change information regarding the change in the number of lanes. The branch information updating means 270 acquires branch information of the corresponding road from the map data recording means 250 using the current location detected by the current location detecting means 240, and updates the branch information. The traveling lane detecting means 280 is based on the lane change information from the traveling lane change determining means 230, the change information of the number of road lanes from the lane change information creating means 260, and the branch information from the branch information updating means 270. Is detected. The branch determining means 290 determines whether or not the vehicle has entered the branch road based on the traveling lane position from the traveling lane detecting means 280 and the branch information from the branch information updating means 270. The determination result of the branch determination means 290 is used in the navigation unit 120 and the driving assist function.

Next, the operation flow of the branch detection function 200 of this embodiment is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the lane numbers indicating the lane positions are designated as lane 1, lane 2, lane 3, ... From the left side to the right side as shown in FIG.

First, a road image is input using an image input means 210 such as a camera (S1). This road image may be either a road image behind or in front of the vehicle, and includes at least a lane mark of the lane in which the vehicle travels.

Next, the lane mark detecting means 220 detects the left and right lane marks, which are the dividing lines of the lanes in which the own vehicle travels, from the input road image (S2). As a method for detecting a lane mark, for example, an input road image is image-processed, and a lane mark such as a white line (solid line, broken line) is detected from the brightness of the image. Next, using the detected lane mark, the traveling lane change determining means 230 determines whether or not the traveling lane has been changed from the detected left and right lane mark positions (S3). For example, the traveling lane change determining means 230 determines whether or not the own vehicle straddles the lane mark, or whether or not the combination of the left and right lane marks has been changed (for example, the practice on the left and the broken line on the right). By determining (the combination is changed to the combination of the broken line on the left and the practice on the right), it is determined whether or not the own vehicle has changed the traveling lane. Further, as other information, it is also possible to make a determination by using the steering angle of the steering wheel, the blinker information, and the like. The traveling lane change determining means 230 sets the variable laneChange shown in FIG. 16 and stores this in a register or the like. For example, when there is no lane change, laneChange is set to "0", when the traveling lane is changed to the left lane, "-1" is set, and when the traveling lane is changed to the right lane, "1" is set. In this embodiment, the left end of the lane is used as a reference, the change to the left is negative, and the change to the right is positive. However, when the right end is used as a reference, the positive and negative may be reversed.

Next, the current location of the own vehicle is acquired by the current location detecting means 240 (S4), and the lane change information creating means 260 refers to the map data recording means 250 based on the acquired position of the own vehicle and travels on the road (S4). (Link) lane change information is created (S5). As described above, the road map data used in the navigation unit 120 includes link data related to roads and node data related to intersections. For example, in the case of the road shown in FIG. 7, link data (links i, j, k) and node data (node n) are included in the map data. The node data corresponds to a confluence or a branch point of a road, and includes information on whether or not to enter the connection link, as well as coordinate information and connection link information. The accessability information to the connecting link indicates whether or not each link connected to the node can be entered from each lane of the road of the current link. FIG. 8 is an example of the entry information of the node n of FIG. 7 to the connection link. This example shows whether or not it is possible to enter the branch road of the link j connected to the node n and the main line of the link k while traveling in each lane of the main line of the link i. That is, it is possible to enter the main line of link k from all lanes 1 to 3 of the main line of link i, but it is possible to enter the branch road of link j only from the lane of lane number 1. Shown.

Furthermore, the link data includes lane change information as well as road types such as national roads, prefectural roads, and expressways. The lane change information includes the number of lanes for the same road (link), the number of increase / decrease of the lane on the left side of the road, and the number of increase / decrease of the lane on the right side. 9 (a) is lane change information of the branch road of the link j shown in FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 (b) is lane change information of the main line of the link k. Since the branch road shown in FIG. 7 does not have a guide lane, the number of lanes of the link k is the same as the number of lanes of the link i.

In the process of step S5, the lane change information creating means 260 creates the lane change information of the traveling road with reference to the map data in the variable laneInfo shown in FIG. This processing method will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the variable laneInfo will be described. As shown in FIG. 17, the variable laneInfo that manages the lane change information has numLanes, incDecLeft, and incDecRight as members. numLanes stores the number of lanes, incDecLeft stores the number of increase / decrease on the left side of the lane, and incDecRight stores the number of increase / decrease on the right side of the lane. The lane change information creating means 260 creates lane change information based on the following cases.

(1) In the case of the same road When the lane change information of the corresponding link data changes, the lane change information is acquired and each value is set in the corresponding member of laneInfo. If there is no change in the lane change information, store the number of lanes in laneInfo.numLanes and set laneInfo.incDecLeft and laneInfo.incDecRight to 0. For example, in FIG. 10, when the own vehicle moves from V1 to V2 and enters the link k, the lane change information of the link k is acquired from the map data recording means 250, and "3" is set in laneInfo.numLanes, and laneInfo.incDecLeft. Is set to "-1" and laneInfo.incDecRight is set to "0".
(2) When branching Set the following value in laneInfo.
(2-1) When branching from the left side of the main line
laneInfo.incDecLeft = 0
laneInfo.incDecRight = Number of lanes of lane change information of branch lane-laneInfo.numLanes
laneInfo.numLanes = Number of lanes for branch lane change information (2-2) When branching from the right side of the main line
laneInfo.incDecLeft = Number of lanes of lane change information of branch lane-laneInfo.numLanes
laneInfo.incDecRight = 0
laneInfo.numLanes = Number of lanes of lane change information of branch lane For example, in FIG. 10, when moving from V1 to V3 and entering link j, the lane change information of link j is acquired from the map data recording means 250, and the lane change information of link j is acquired. "0" is set in laneInfo.incDecLeft, "-3" (= 1-4) is set in incDecRight, and "1" is set in numLanes.
(3) When merging Set the following values in laneInfo.
(2-1) When merging on the left side of the main line
laneInfo.incDecLeft = 0
laneInfo.incDecRight = Number of lanes of main line lane change information after merging − laneInfo.numLanes
laneInfo.numLanes = Number of lanes in the lane change information of the main line after merging (2-2) When merging on the right side of the main line
laneInfo.incDecLeft = Number of lanes of main line lane change information after merging − laneInfo.numLanes
laneInfo.incDecRight = 0
laneInfo.numLanes = Number of lanes for link information lane change information on the main line after merging

The branch information updating means 270 updates the branch information of the traveling road by referring to the map data recording means 250 with reference to the current location after creating the lane change information of the road traveling in step S5 (). S6). FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a processing flow of step S6. In this process, the variable bifurcation shown in FIG. 18 is updated. The variable bifurcation that manages branch information has state, leftRight, and guide as members. state indicates whether or not the current location of the own vehicle is within the branch range. "0" when not within the branch range, "1" when the current location of the own vehicle is within the branch range, "2" when the current location of the own vehicle is within the branch range, and the current location of the own vehicle is the branch judgment point. Set "3" when passing. The branching range is preset in a branching road without a guide lane. For example, in the example of FIG. 7, the branching range is a range _{from a fixed distance B b in} front of the node n to a fixed distance B _a after the node n. B _b and _Ba are appropriately set according to the number of lanes on the main line, the length of the boundary division between the main line and the branch road, and the like.

leftRight indicates the start position of the branch. Set "1" when the branch road branches from the left side of the main line, and "2" when the branch road branches from the right side of the main line. In the example of FIG. 7, the road branches from the left side of the main line. The left branch or right branch information is stored in association with, for example, node data or link data.

The guide indicates whether or not there is a guide lane to the fork. Set "1" when there is a guidance lane and "0" when there is no guidance lane. Since lane 1 in FIG. 10 is a lane connected to the branch road, this lane is a branch road having a guide lane. Further, as in the section A of FIG. 7, very short guidance lanes are often not described on the map data, and the branch road is in a form of directly branching from the main line. If the branch road is directly out, it will be a branch road without a guide lane. As for the variable bifurcation, the function initBifurcationInfo () shown in FIG. 12 is called when the system is started, and all the members are cleared (initialized) to 0.

Next, the flow of FIG. 11 will be specifically described. In the processing flow of FIG. 11, first, it is determined whether or not bifurucation.state is "0", and it is determined whether or not the current location is out of the branch range (S601). If the current location of the vehicle is outside the branch range, search for a branch node in front of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and whether or not the vehicle has entered the branch range from the _{distance B b (see FIG. 7) in front of the node position.} Is determined (S602). This distance is, for example, 40 m. If it is not within the branch range, the process ends. When entering the branch range, it is determined whether or not there is a guide lane on the branch road (S603). Whether or not there is a guide lane in the branch road is determined by acquiring the approach information to the connection link of the node from the map data recording means 250. In the entry information to the connecting link, if the branch road branches from the left side of the main line, the left end lane can enter only the branch road, and if the branch road branches from the right side, the right end lane can enter only the branch road. Judge that there is a guidance lane. For example, FIG. 8 shows the entry information of the branch of FIG. 7 to the connecting link. In this example, the leftmost lane 1 is the branch path of the link j with respect to the branch path branching from the left side of the main line. Since it is possible to enter both of the main lines of link k, it is judged that there is no guidance lane. Further, the entry information of the branch of FIG. 10 to the connection link is shown in FIG. This example is also a branch road that branches from the left side of the main line, but since only the branch road of link j can be entered from the left end lane 1, it is determined that there is a guide lane. In the determination of the presence or absence of the bifurcation guidance lane in step S603, "0" is set in bifurcation.guide when there is no guidance lane (S604), and "1" is set when there is a guidance lane (S605). Information regarding the presence or absence of the guide lane may be stored in advance in the node having the branch path or the link data connected to the branch path.

Next, it is determined whether or not the branch is a branch from the left side of the main line (S606). In the case of bifurcation from the left side, "1" is set in bifurcation.leftRight (S607). If it is not a branch from the left side, it is a branch from the right side, so set "2" in bifurcation.leftRight (S608). For example, referring to the approach information shown in FIG. 8, it is determined that the link j on the left side of the link k is a branch from the left side because it is possible to enter both the link j and the link k from the lane 1. can do. Similarly, referring to the approach information shown in FIG. 13, since the link j having only one possible is on the left side, it is determined that the link is a left branch. Alternatively, the end point coordinate position of the link data of the branch may be compared with the end point coordinate position of the link data of the main line to determine whether the branch is on the left side or the right side. Finally, in order to indicate that the bifurcation range has been entered, "1" is set in bifurcation.state (S609), and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S601 that it is within the branching range, it is determined whether or not the branching determination point has been passed (S610). Branch decision point is a position which has passed through the distance B _a from the position of the node n as shown in FIG. This distance is, for example, 0 m with a guide lane and 10 m without a guide lane. In other words, on the branch road with the guidance lane, the branch judgment is made at the timing when the vehicle position passes the node n, but on the branch road without the guidance lane, the branch judgment is performed at the timing after the vehicle position passes the node n. A branch decision is made. When the bifurcation judgment point is passed, "3" is set in bifurcation.state to indicate it (S611), and the process ends. If the branch determination point has not yet been passed, the process of FIG. 11 is terminated.

Returning to the flow of FIG. 6 again, the traveling lane detecting means 280 calculates the traveling lane from the traveling lane change determination result, the lane change information, and the branching information after updating the branch information of the road traveling in step S6. (S7). FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing the process of step S7. In this process, the calculated travel lane is set in the variable vehicle shown in FIG. The variable vehicle that manages driving information has numLanes and lanePos as members. numLanes stores the number of lanes on the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and lanePos stores the number of the lane on which the road is traveling. For example, when the value shown in FIG. 19 is stored, it means that the vehicle is traveling on a three-lane road and is traveling on the second lane from the left.

In the processing flow of FIG. 14, it is first determined whether or not the current location of the own vehicle is within the branching range and there is no guidance lane for the branching road (S701). If this condition is not met, that is, if the road is outside the branch range or is within the branch range but has a guidance lane, the number of lanes on the road on which the vehicle is traveling vehicle.numLanes is the lane for lane change information. Set the number laneInfo.numLnaes (S703), correct the driving lane number vehicle.lanePos with the number of lane increase / decrease laneInfo.incDeclLeft on the left side of the lane change information (S708), and correct it with the lane change judgment result laneChange. (S709), the process is terminated. If the condition of S701 is met, a correction process for creating a virtual guidance lane of the branch road is performed. The virtual guidance lane of the branch road means, for example, a virtual lane corresponding to the lane 1 of the section A from VG1 to VG2 as shown in FIG. 7 in the branch road without the guidance lane.

If the conditions are met in S701, a virtual guidance lane is created. Therefore, the number of lanes in the lane change information laneInfo.numLnaes plus the virtual guidance lane number 1 is added to the number of lanes on the road on which the vehicle is traveling. Set to .numLanes (S702). Further, when the vehicle first enters the branch range and when a virtual guidance lane is created on the left side, 1 is added to the traveling lane number vehicle.lanePos (S704, S705, S706). Next, "2" is set in bifurcation.state to indicate that the correction processing of the traveling lane number when the vehicle first enters the bifurcation range is completed (S707).

In the example of FIG. 7, a virtual guidance lane path is created on the left side in VG1, and a virtual guidance lane is deleted in VG2. In this example, since the virtual guidance lane is created on the left side, the own vehicle traveling in the lane with lane number 1 is created with the virtual guidance lane on the left side in VG1, so the traveling lane number is 2. Become. After the processing of the virtual guidance lane is completed, the traveling lane number vehicle.lanePos is corrected by the lane increase / decrease number laneInfo.incDeclLeft on the left side of the lane change information (S708), and further corrected by the lane change judgment result laneChange. (S709) Finish.

After calculating the traveling lane in step S7, the branch determining means 290 determines whether or not the vehicle has entered the branch road (S8 in FIG. 6). The process of step S8 will be described with reference to the process flow of FIG. First, it is determined whether or not the branch determination point in the branch range has been passed (S801). If the vehicle has not passed the branch determination point or is outside the branch range, it is determined that the vehicle has not entered the branch road (S802), and the process ends. When passing through the branching determination point, it is determined whether the branching road branches from the left side of the main line or from the right side (S803). When the branch road branches from the left side of the main line, it is determined whether or not the traveling lane number is the leftmost lane (S804). If it is the leftmost lane, it is determined that the vehicle is entering the branch road because it is traveling in the guidance lane of the branch road (S806). If it is other than the leftmost lane, it is determined that the vehicle has not entered the branch road because it is not traveling in the guidance lane of the branch road (S807). When the branch road branches from the right side of the main line, it is determined whether or not the traveling lane number is the rightmost lane (S805). If it is the rightmost lane, it is determined that the vehicle is entering the branch road because it is traveling in the guidance lane of the branch road (S806). If it is other than the rightmost lane, it is determined that the vehicle has not entered the branch road because it is not traveling in the guidance lane of the branch road (S808). When the branch determination point is passed, it means that the branch range has been exited. Therefore, the function initBifurcationInfo () is called to initialize the variable bifurcation that manages the branch information (S809), and the process is terminated.

In this embodiment, if the own vehicle changes lanes to the branch road side without being affected by the detection of the line width of the thick broken line of the dividing line at the boundary between the main line and the branch road, the vehicle has entered the branch road. I can judge. Further, when there is no guidance lane, a virtual guidance lane is created, so that it can be determined that the vehicle has entered the branch road only by determining the position of the lane in which the vehicle travels.

Further, in this embodiment, since the virtual guidance lane is created by the process of S702 when the guidance lane does not exist, the same method as when there is a guidance lane (method shown in FIG. 14) is used to reach the branch road. You can judge the approach. Further, since it is possible to determine the approach to the branch road without depending on the mileage, it is possible to determine the entry to the branch road without traveling a certain distance. In addition, from the viewpoint of the map database, special information such as lane links is not required, and the road links, the number of lanes, and the presence or absence of introduction lanes for branch roads (or information that can be calculated) are stored. Just by leaving it, you will be able to judge the approach to the fork.

In the above embodiment, an example of acquiring the lane change information and the connection link information from the map data recording means 270 has been shown, but the lane change information and the connection link information are downloaded from the map data distribution site 154 as shown in FIG. It may be something to do. In this case, the map data distribution site 154 may sequentially distribute the road map including the vicinity of the current position of the own vehicle in response to the request from the own vehicle.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments, and various modifications and modifications are made within the scope of the gist of the invention described in the claims. It can be changed.

210: Image input means 220: Lane mark detecting means 230: Traveling lane change determining means 240: Current location detecting means 250: Map data recording means 260: Lane change information creating means 270: Branch information updating means 280: Traveling lane detecting means 290: Branch judgment means

Claims (8)

An electronic device equipped with a branch road detection function that detects entry into a branch road.
Acquisition means for acquiring lane information including the number of lanes on the road on which the vehicle travels based on the vehicle position, and
A branch information updating means that holds branch information including information indicating a branch start position and information on the presence or absence of a guidance lane to a branch road, and updates the branch information by referring to road map data based on the own vehicle position.
A determination means for determining the presence or absence of a guidance lane to a branch road in front of a traveling road based on the branch information.
When it is determined by the determination means that there is no guidance lane, a virtual guidance lane connected to the branch road is created, the lane information is corrected to the number of lanes including the virtual guidance lane, and the branch information A correction means that corrects the traveling lane position based on the information indicating the branch start position,
A detection means for detecting the position of the vehicle and the position of the traveling lane on the road on which the vehicle travels based on the lane information.
Based on the travel lane position detected by the detection means, if the vehicle is traveling in the guidance lane or the virtual guidance lane, it is determined that the vehicle is entering a branch road, and the guidance lane or the virtual guidance is determined. It has a branch road determination means for determining that the vehicle has not entered the branch road when the vehicle is not traveling in the lane .
When the determination means determines that there is a guide lane, the detection means detects the traveling lane position based on the number of lanes in the lane information regardless of the correction means, and determines that there is no guide lane, and the virtual means. An electronic device that detects a travel lane position based on the corrected travel lane position in the number of lanes corrected by the correction means when a specific guidance lane is created. The electronic device also includes a lane change determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle has changed the driving lane.
The detection means further detects the traveling lane position by using the judgment result of the lane change determination means.
The first aspect of claim 1, wherein when the vehicle is changed to the guidance lane or the virtual guidance lane by the lane change determination means, the branch road determination means determines that the vehicle has entered the branch road. Electronic device. The branch information includes connection link information as information regarding the presence or absence of a guidance lane, and whether or not the connection link information can enter another link connecting to a node of the traveling road from each lane of the traveling road. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the determination means determines the presence or absence of a guidance lane based on the connection link information connected to the node in front of the traveling road, including the entry possibility information indicating the above. The lane information further includes lane change information regarding the increase / decrease of lanes.
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the detection means further detects a traveling lane position of the own vehicle based on the lane change information. The correction means creates the virtual guidance lane in a section defined by a first distance extending from the node in the traveling direction of the own vehicle and a second distance extending in the direction opposite to the traveling direction.
The branch determination means determines whether or not the vehicle has entered the branch road at the branch determination point, and the branch determination point is the timing of passing through the node when there is a guide lane to the branch road, and the virtual The electronic device according to claim 1, which is the timing after passing through the node when there is a specific guidance lane. When there is a guide lane to the branch road or the virtual guide lane, the branch road determination means determines whether or not the vehicle has entered the branch road when passing through the node or after passing through the node. The electronic device according to claim 5. A branch road detection program executed in an electronic device provided with a control means for controlling a branch road detection function for detecting entry into a branch road.
Steps to acquire lane information including the number of lanes on the road on which the vehicle travels based on the vehicle position, and
A step of holding branch information including information indicating a branch start position and information on the presence or absence of a guidance lane to a branch road, and updating the branch information with reference to road map data based on the own vehicle position.
Based on the branch information, a step of determining whether or not there is a guide lane to the branch road in front of the traveling road, and
When it is determined by the determination step that there is no guidance lane, a virtual guidance lane connected to the branch road is created, the lane information is corrected to the number of lanes including the virtual guidance lane, and the branch information A step to correct the traveling lane position based on the information indicating the branch start position, and
A step of detecting the driving lane position of the road on which the vehicle travels based on the vehicle position and the lane information, and
Based on the travel lane position detected by the detection step, if the vehicle is traveling in the guidance lane or the virtual guidance lane, it is determined that the vehicle is entering a branch road, and the guidance lane or the virtual guidance is determined. It has a step to determine that it has not entered the fork when it is not traveling in the lane.
When it is determined that there is a guide lane in the step to be detected, the traveling lane position is detected in the number of lanes in the lane information regardless of the step to be corrected, and it is determined that there is no guide lane. When the virtual guidance lane is created, a branch road detection program that detects a travel lane position based on the corrected travel lane position in the number of lanes corrected by the correction step. It is a branch path detection method in an electronic device having a branch path detection function for detecting entry into a branch path.
Steps to acquire lane information including the number of lanes on the road on which the vehicle travels based on the vehicle position, and
A step of holding branch information including information indicating a branch start position and information on the presence or absence of a guidance lane to a branch road, and updating the branch information with reference to road map data based on the own vehicle position.
Based on the branch information, a step of determining whether or not there is a guide lane to the branch road in front of the traveling road, and
When it is determined by the determination step that there is no guidance lane, a virtual guidance lane connected to the branch road is created, the lane information is corrected to the number of lanes including the virtual guidance lane, and the branch information A step to correct the traveling lane position based on the information indicating the branch start position, and
A step of detecting the driving lane position of the road on which the vehicle travels based on the vehicle position and the lane information, and
Based on the travel lane position detected by the detection step, if the vehicle is traveling in the guidance lane or the virtual guidance lane, it is determined that the vehicle is entering a branch road, and the guidance lane or the virtual guidance is determined. It has a step to determine that it has not entered the fork when it is not traveling in the lane.
When it is determined that there is a guide lane in the step to be detected, the traveling lane position is detected in the number of lanes in the lane information regardless of the step to be corrected, and it is determined that there is no guide lane. When the virtual guidance lane is created, the branch road detection method detects the travel lane position based on the corrected travel lane position in the number of lanes corrected by the correction step.

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