초록 ▼

An onboard forward monitoring system is disclosed in which three television cameras, each supported by a steering mechanism, take picture of a road surface located forward of a vehicle at near distance, a medium distance and a far distance zone to detect white lines which partition a lane on the roa

An onboard forward monitoring system is disclosed in which three television cameras, each supported by a steering mechanism, take picture of a road surface located forward of a vehicle at near distance, a medium distance and a far distance zone to detect white lines which partition a lane on the road surface, thus detecting a vehicle running ahead on the lane which is defined by the white lines. To enable a reliable detection and tracking of the vehicle running ahead in any zone of the road surface even when the road is curved, the individual television cameras are steered so that a vehicle running ahead is positioned at the center of the screen whenever such vehicle is present and so that a center across the width of the lane is positioned at the center of screen when a vehicle running ahead is not detected.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] An apparatus for detecting an object located ahead of a vehicle comprising:a first camera means for taking a picture of a first scene of a wide view angle inclusive of a road surface located at a near distance forward of the vehicle;a second camera means for taking a pict

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] An apparatus for detecting an object located ahead of a vehicle comprising:a first camera means for taking a picture of a first scene of a wide view angle inclusive of a road surface located at a near distance forward of the vehicle;a second camera means for taking a picture of a second scene of narrow view angle inclusive of a road surface located at a far distance forward of the vehicle;means for detecting an object located forward of the vehicle on the road surface contained in at least one of the first and second scenes on the basis of image data which forms a picture screen of the first and second scene;first camera direction control means for altering the direction of the first camera transverse to the fore-and-aft axis of the vehicle in a direction such that a substantially full profile of the object located forward of the vehicle and detected in the first scene is contained in the first scene; andsecond camera direction control means for altering the direction of the second camera transverse to the fore-and-aft axis of the vehicle in a direction such that a substantially full profile of the object located forward of the vehicle and detected in the second scene is contained in the second scene.