Granted Patent B2

US 12,291,192 · App. 18/092,585 · Granted May 6, 2025

Inventor: Hiroya Chiba (Fuji Shizuoka-ken, JP)

Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA

B60W30/06G05D1/0234G05D1/0246G05D1/0274G06V10/141G06V10/60G06V20/586B60W2556/40

Abstract

Claims (43)

1. A control apparatus for an object moving in a specific zone while recognizing one or more markers deployed in the specific zone by a camera, the control apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute:

acquiring a brightness information, a marker map information, and an object position information, the brightness information showing brightness in the specific zone, the marker map information showing positions of the one or more markers in the specific zone, the object position information showing a position of the object in the specific zone;

detecting whether or not that the specific zone or surroundings of the object is darker than a specified brightness based on the brightness information; and

when detecting that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness, operating a headlight installed in the object to illuminate the one or more markers located around the object based on the maker map information and the object position information, wherein

the brightness information includes a luminance value of the one or more markers on an image captured by the camera,

the detecting whether or not that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness includes detecting that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness when the luminance value is less than a predetermined threshold,

the operating of the headlight includes:

calculating relative positions of the one or more markers to the object based on the marker map information and the object position information; and

controlling, in response to the calculated positions of the one or more markers to the object, at least one of an irradiation range of the headlight and an irradiation direction of the headlight viewed from the object depending on the relative positions; and

the one or more processors are configured to perform localization of the object, and correct the localization of the object by sequentially recognizing the one or more markers based on the relative positions between the one or more markers and the object.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the operating the headlight includes controlling a luminous intensity of the headlight in response to acquiring the brightness information.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the one or more markers comprises a barcode, and

the brightness information is used to determine includes a time zone, an operation state of lights in a parking lot on a ground when the time zone is a sunset time zone, and detection information of a sensor installed in the vehicle.

4. A method for controlling an object moving in a specific zone while recognizing one or more markers deployed in the specific zone by a camera, the method including:

acquiring a brightness information, a marker map information, and an object position information, the brightness information showing brightness in the specific zone, the marker map information showing positions of the one or more markers in the specific zone, the object position information showing a position of the object in the specific zone;

detecting whether or not that the specific zone or surroundings of the object is darker than a specified brightness based on the brightness information; and

when detecting that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness, operating a headlight installed in the object to illuminate the one or more markers located around the object based on the maker map information and the object position information, wherein

the brightness information includes a luminance value of the one or more markers on an image captured by the camera, and

the detecting whether or not that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness includes detecting that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness when the luminance value is less than a predetermined threshold, wherein

the operating of the headlight includes:

calculating relative positions of the one or more markers to the object based on the marker map information and the object position information; and

controlling, in response to the calculated positions of the one or more markers to the object, at least one of an irradiation range of the headlight and an irradiation direction of the headlight viewed from the object depending on the relative positions; and

performing localization of the object, and correcting the localization of the object by sequentially recognizing the one or more markers based on the relative positions between the one or more markers and the object.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein

the one or more markers comprises a barcode, and

the brightness information is used to determine a time zone, an operation state of lights in a parking lot on a ground when the time zone is a sunset time zone, and detection information of a sensor installed in the vehicle.

6. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations for controlling an object moving in a specific zone while recognizing one or more markers deployed in the specific zone by a camera, the operations comprising:

acquiring a brightness information, a marker map information, and an object position information, the brightness information showing brightness in the specific zone, the marker map information showing positions of the one or more markers in the specific zone, the object position information showing a position of the object in the specific zone;

detecting whether or not that the specific zone or surroundings of the object is darker than a specified brightness based on the brightness information; and

when detecting that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness, operating a headlight installed in the object to illuminate the one or more markers located around the object based on the maker map information and the object position information, wherein

the brightness information includes a luminance value of the one or more markers on an image captured by the camera, and

the detecting whether or not that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness includes detecting that the specific zone or the surroundings of the object is darker than the specified brightness when the luminance value is less than a predetermined threshold, wherein

the operating of the headlight includes:

calculating relative positions of the one or more markers to the object based on the marker map information and the object position information; and

controlling, in response to the calculated positions of the one or more markers to the object, at least one of an irradiation range of the headlight and an irradiation direction of the headlight viewed from the object depending on the relative positions; and

performing localization of the object, and correcting the localization of the object by sequentially recognizing the one or more markers based on the relative positions between the one or more markers and the object.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 6 , wherein

the one or more markers comprises a barcode, and

the brightness information is used to determine a time zone, an operation state of lights in a parking lot on a ground when the time zone is a sunset time zone, and detection information of a sensor installed in the vehicle.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (17)