TRAFFIC SIGN RECOGNIZING APPARATUS AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF

Disclosed are an apparatus for recognizing a traffic sign and an operating method thereof. The apparatus for recognizing a traffic sign according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: an image obtaining unit configured to obtain an image from a vehicle to a predetermined range; a region of interest designating unit configured to recognize a traffic sign within the image, and designate an area including the traffic sign as a region of interest; a valid area extracting unit configured to extract a valid area except for an area of a first color from the region of interest, and calculate valid area data, wherein the valid area data is data about a valid area; and a similarity calculating unit configured to calculate similarity among the traffic signs recognized from images by using the valid area data.The apparatus for recognizing the traffic sign can improve recognization performance of the traffic sign during driving of a vehicle.