System and method of matching of road data objects for generating and updating a precision road database
A method and a system for generating and updating a digital road description database containing object-based information about at least one of a road object, a road furniture object and a geographic object is disclosed. A vehicle is collecting ambient data like images along multiple sections of its path, generating third data sets comprising at least location information and detailed object-based information. The third data sets are forwarded to a server database. The database identifies common groups of object reference points in multiple vehicle path sections and generates alignment functions for matching and/or aligning the at least one group of object reference points in at least two of the vehicle path sections relating to the same part of the road. The same alignment function is applied to all other third data sets of the same vehicle path section. The database updates the fourth data sets in the database based on processing the third data sets.
1. A method for generating digital driving-relevant object data sets by using signals acquired by at least one vehicle sensor of at least one vehicle traveling along a vehicle path on a road, and updating a precision road property database storage containing driving-relevant object data, the driving-relevant object data comprising at least location information of the at least one vehicle, an optional object reference point, and detailed object-based information about at least one driving-relevant object including a road object, a road furniture object, a geographic object, and a further object related to driving, the method comprising the steps of:
a) with a vehicle computer processor, generating at least one ambient data set along sections of the path based on information collected by said at least one sensor of the at least one vehicle from an ambient medium, the ambient data sets relating to at least one of the object related to driving, the road furniture object, and the geographic object,
b) with a vehicle computer processor, performing processing of said at least one ambient data set by evaluating the at least one ambient data set and generating at least one transformed data set of driving-relevant object data based on a result of the evaluating,
c) with a vehicle computer processor, generating and forwarding at least one report data set related to a respective one of the sections of the vehicle path,
wherein the respective one of the sections of the vehicle path is either identified by the vehicle computer processor to be reported to said property database or has been identified by a request from an external computer processor to be reported to the property database storage,
wherein the external compute processor is operably connected to the property database storage,
wherein the at least one report data set that contains at least one of:
the at least one transformed data set, and
a difference between the at least one transformed data set and a base data set received by and stored in the vehicle computer processor, and
a partial ambient data set,
d) receiving, from the vehicle computer processor, and storing of the at least one report data set by the property database storage,
e) with the use of said external computer processor at the property database storage identifying, by their related report data sets, a first plurality of vehicle path sections related to a part of the road, wherein such identified path sections at least partially overlap each other,
f) with the use of the external computer processor at the property database storage, matching of driving relevant objects in the at least one report data set with the first plurality of vehicle path sections related to the same part of the road, based on the location information of the at least one vehicle contained in at least one report data set,
g) the database with the use of the external computer processor at the property database storage, identifying a plurality of object reference points in each vehicle path section,
h) with the use of the external computer processor at the property database storage, generating at least one group of object reference points in at least two of the vehicle path sections of the first plurality of vehicle path sections relating to the same part of the road, each such group of object reference points comprising the same object reference points, and
i) with the use of the external computer processor at the property database storage,
identifying spatial alignment operations configured to perform at least one of matching and aligning between the at least one group of object reference points and objects in said at least two of the vehicle path sections of the first plurality of vehicle path sections that relate to the same part of the road, and
forming an output data set containing driving-relevant object data by applying the same of said alignment to all report data sets of said at least two vehicle path sections.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the property database storage uses the at least one report data set previously stored in the database storage together with the at least one report data set received and stored in step d).
3. The method according to claim 1 , comprising acquiring said signals with at least one of an optical sensor, a radar sensor, and an infrared sensor, and an environmental sensor of the at least one vehicle.
4. The method according to claim 1 , comprising acquiring said signals from a field of view of said at least one vehicle sensor, wherein said field of view provides a 360 degree representation of said ambient medium.