Method of representing road lanes

摘要

A method is disclosed for representing road lanes as data in a database that can be used by a system in a vehicle to provide a safety-related function. Each data representation of a physical road lane includes data indicating start and end points of the represented lane and other data attributes pertaining to the represented lane, including data indicating what physical features are adjacent to the represented lane on right and left sides thereof and data indicating a geometry of the represented lane. Further, at least some of the data representations of lanes are associated with data representations of sublanes. Each data representation of a sublane includes data indicating start and end points thereof, defined relative to the lane of which the sublane is a part. A data representation of a sublane includes at least one data attribute associated therewith that pertains to the represented sublane and that is different than the same attribute of the lane of which the sublane is a part. The database is compatible with navigation-related applications that use a different data model to provide navigation-related functions.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a database that models roads, the database stored on a computer-readable medium, wherein the database includes data entities that represent roads, data representations of physical road lanes, wherein the data representations of physical road lanes refer to those data entities that represent roads that represent those roads of which the physical road lanes are a part, wherein each data representation of a physical road lane includes data indicating start and end points of the represented physical road lane; and an adjacency attribute indicating what lies adjacent to the represented physical road lane on a right side and a left side thereof; and a driving assistance device for a vehicle, the driving assistance device configured to:
receive measurements of an environment of a vehicle from one or more sensors;access the adjacency attribute from the database; andgenerate, in response to the adjacency attribute, a driving warning to a driver of the vehicle or engage a mechanical system for operation of the vehicle;wherein the adjacency attribute indicates at least one of the following:
(i) another lane, which can be entered by a lane change, (ii) another lane but which cannot be entered, (iii) a lane that is in the process of forming, (iv) a lane that is in the process of ending, (v) a shoulder, (vi) another drivable surface that is not a lane or shoulder but vehicle navigable, and (vii) no drivable surface.