US-12623542-B2 - Apparatus and method for recognizing traffic signs

US12623542B2US 12623542 B2US12623542 B2US 12623542B2US-12623542-B2

Abstract

A traffic sign recognizing apparatus and method therefor are provided. The apparatus includes: a camera sensor to capture an image in front of a vehicle; a recognition device to: recognize a speed limit sign from the captured image; and obtain from the captured image, traffic sign information including at least one of speed limit information, conditional information, or a combination thereof; a display device; and a control device to: determine output information by combining the speed limit information and the conditional information included in each of one or more pieces of the traffic sign information when the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information related to the speed limit sign are obtained by the recognition device, and the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information satisfy a predetermined condition; and control the display device to display the output information.

Inventors

Wan Jin Kim

Assignees

HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240510
Priority Date: 20230711

Claims (12)

1 . A traffic sign recognizing apparatus comprising: a camera sensor configured to capture an image in front of a vehicle; a recognizer configured to: recognize a speed limit sign from the captured image; and obtain from the captured image, traffic sign information including at least one of speed limit information, conditional information, or a combination thereof; a display device; and a controller configured to: determine output information by combining the speed limit information and the conditional information included in each of one or more pieces of the traffic sign information when the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information related to the speed limit sign are obtained by the recognizer, and the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information satisfy a predetermined condition; control the display device to display the output information; and determine the output information by combining the speed limit information and the conditional information, when one or more pieces of the speed limit information included in the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information are the same as each other, one or more pieces of lateral distance information included in the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information are similar to each other within a specific range, and one or more pieces of height information included in the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information are similar to each other within a specific range.
2 . The traffic sign recognizing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: determine whether to output the output information to the display device, based on driving route information of the vehicle and the conditional information.
3 . The traffic sign recognizing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to: allow the output information to be displayed on the display device, when the conditional information is included in the driving route information.
4 . The traffic sign recognizing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: determine the output information by combining the speed limit information and the conditional information at a specific time when the vehicle acquires both first longitudinal distance information and second longitudinal distance information when the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information include first traffic sign information, which includes the first longitudinal distance information, and second traffic sign information which includes the second longitudinal distance information.
5 . The traffic sign recognizing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the conditional information includes information derived from at least one of a speed limit sign based on a time zone, a speed limit sign based on vehicle type, a speed limit sign based on vehicle weight, a speed limit sign based on a weather condition, or any combination thereof.
6 . The traffic sign recognizing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: determine whether the vehicle will exit from a main road to a branch road; and when it is determined that the vehicle will not exit the main road, ignore the speed limit sign related to the branch road.
7 . A traffic sign recognizing method, the method comprising: recognizing a speed limit sign from an image captured image in front of a vehicle; obtaining from the captured image, traffic sign information including at least one of speed limit information, conditional information, or a combination thereof; determining whether on or more pieces of the traffic sign information satisfy a predetermined condition when the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information related to the speed limit sign are obtained; determining output information by combining the speed limit information and the conditional information included in each of the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information when the predetermined condition is satisfied; and displaying the output information, wherein the determining of the output information includes: determining the output information by combining the speed limit information and the conditional information, when one or more pieces of the speed limit information included in the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information are the same as each other, one or more pieces of lateral distance information included in the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information are similar to each other within a specific range, and one or more pieces of height information included in the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information are similar to each other within a specific range.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining of the output information includes: determining whether to output the output information, based on driving route information of the vehicle and the conditional information.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining of whether to output the output information includes: allowing the output information to be displayed, when the conditional information is included in the driving route information.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining of the output information includes: determining the output information by combining the speed limit information and the conditional information at a specific time when the vehicle acquires both first longitudinal distance information and second longitudinal distance information when the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information include first traffic sign information, which includes the first longitudinal distance information, and second traffic sign information which includes the second longitudinal distance information.
11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the conditional information includes information derived from at least one of a speed limit sign based on a time zone, a speed limit sign based on vehicle type, a speed limit sign based on vehicle weight, a speed limit sign based on a weather condition, or any combination thereof.
12 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising: determining whether the vehicle will exit from a main road to a branch road; and when it is determined that the vehicle will not exit the main road, ignoring the speed limit sign related to the branch road.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims the benefit of priority, under 35 USC § 119, to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0089994, filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Jul. 11, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. BACKGROUND 1. Field The present disclosure relates to a traffic sign recognizing apparatus and a method thereof, and more specifically, relates to a traffic sign recognizing apparatus that may prevent erroneous output of speed limit information caused by omitting a conditional traffic sign from a speed limit sign including a traffic sign (e.g., a conditional traffic sign). 2. Description of the Related Art A traffic sign recognition (TSR) system refers to a system that prevents traffic accidents caused by speeding, by recognizing general and electronic traffic signs through a front camera while a vehicle is driving, displaying relevant information on a cluster, and providing speed limit information of a road, on which the vehicle is driving, and a warning. In particular, there is a need for a function of recognizing and displaying not only a main traffic sign but also an additional auxiliary traffic sign. Generally, unlike the main traffic sign, conditional traffic sign information provided by the auxiliary traffic sign is not speed limit information that directly affects current driving, but is speed information that needs to be referenced depending on situations when a condition of the corresponding traffic sign is satisfied. A technology for recognizing a traffic sign according to a conventional embodiment recognizes a traffic sign by using a camera and outputs and provides a driver with speed limit information at a point in time when a camera passes by. However, when failing to recognize a main traffic sign and a conditional traffic sign as one speed limit sign, the conventional technology may incorrectly recognize the one speed limit sign as a plurality of speed limit signs. In addition, when recognizing the one speed limit sign as a plurality of speed limit signs, the conventional technology may incorrectly recognize the one speed limit sign with the conditional traffic sign omitted. Accordingly, when recognizing a traffic sign without the conditional traffic sign, the speed limit may be output incorrectly. SUMMARY The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art while advantages achieved by the prior art are maintained intact. An aspect of the present disclosure provides a traffic sign recognizing apparatus that may prevent erroneous output of speed limit information caused by omitting a conditional traffic sign from a speed limit sign including a traffic sign (e.g., a conditional traffic sign), and a method thereof. An aspect of the present disclosure provides a traffic sign recognizing apparatus that may recognize traffic sign information including speed limit information and conditional information, may reflect driving route information of a host vehicle, and may determine whether to output the recognized traffic sign information, and a method thereof. The technical problems to be solved by the present disclosure are not limited to the aforementioned problems, and any other technical problems not mentioned herein will be clearly understood from the following description by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains. This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. In a general aspect of the disclosure, a traffic sign recognizing apparatus includes: a camera sensor configured to capture an image in front of a vehicle; a recognition device configured to: recognize a speed limit sign from the captured image; and obtain from the captured image, traffic sign information including at least one of speed limit information, conditional information, or a combination thereof; a display device; and a control device configured to: determine output information by combining the speed limit information and the conditional information included in each of one or more pieces of the traffic sign information when the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information related to the speed limit sign are obtained by the recognition device, and the one or more pieces of the traffic sign information satisfy a predetermined condition; and control the display device to display the output information. The control device may be further configured to determine whether to output the output information to the display device, based on driving route information of the vehicle and the conditional information. The control device may be further configured to allow