IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
|
출원번호 |
US-0653163
(2007-01-12)
|
등록번호 |
US-8175331
(2012-05-08)
|
우선권정보 |
JP-2006-9102 (2006-01-17) |
발명자
/ 주소 |
- Nagaoka, Nobuharu
- Tsuji, Takayuki
|
출원인 / 주소 |
|
대리인 / 주소 |
Carrier Blackman & Associates, P.C.
|
인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
6 인용 특허 :
51 |
초록
▼
A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus, method, and program capable of reducing a possibility of overlap between a detection object and a background object in a standard image when detecting objects around the vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors so as to detect the obje
A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus, method, and program capable of reducing a possibility of overlap between a detection object and a background object in a standard image when detecting objects around the vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors so as to detect the objects accurately. The vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus detects the objects existing around the vehicle (10) from the images obtained by the image sensors (2R, 2L) mounted on the vehicle (10). The vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus includes an object extraction process unit (1) which performs a process of extracting the objects for a predetermined standard image of the images obtained by the image sensors (2R, 2L), a driving environment detection process unit (1) which detects a driving environment of the vehicle (10), and a standard image selection process unit (1) which selects the standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit (1) anew according to the detected driving environment.
대표청구항
▼
1. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus which detects objects existing around a vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors comprising a pair of image sensors mounted on left and right sides of the vehicle, said vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus comprising: an object
1. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus which detects objects existing around a vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors comprising a pair of image sensors mounted on left and right sides of the vehicle, said vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus comprising: an object extraction process unit which extracts the objects from a predetermined standard image of the images obtained by the plurality of the image sensors;a driving environment detection process unit which detects a driving environment of the vehicle; anda standard image selection process unit which newly selects a standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit out of the images obtained by the plurality of the image sensors according to the driving environment detected by the driving environment detection process unit;wherein said standard selection process unit newly selects an image obtained by one of the image sensors as the standard image when the following conditions are satisfied: X0:X1=Z0:Z1; andX0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2,where, X0 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a detection object and the other of the image sensors;X1 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a first background object and the other of the image sensors;Z0 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the detection object and the other of the image sensors;Z1 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the first background object and the other of image sensors;Z2 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between a second background object and the other of the image sensors; andB is a distance in an X-axis direction between the pair of image sensors;wherein said X-axis direction and said Z-axis direction are arranged according to Cartesian coordinate system, where Z-axis is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and X-axis is parallel to a width-wise axis of the vehicle;wherein the detection object is extracted from the standard image obtained by said one of the image sensors;wherein said first and second background objects exist on a nearest roadside of a traveling lane of the vehicle, wherein said nearest roadside excludes an oncoming traffic lane; andwherein said standard image selection process unit is operable to select one of the pair of image sensors having a smaller angle between a straight line connecting the detection object and the image sensor and the Z-axis direction, as a standard image sensor, when said conditions X0:X1=Z0:Z1; and X0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2 are satisfied. 2. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a position detection process unit which detects the position of the object with respect to the vehicle based on the images obtained by the plurality of the image sensors and the object extracted by the object extraction process unit. 3. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: a road where the vehicle exists has a plurality of lanes;the driving environment detection process unit detects a roadside of the road where the vehicle exists as the driving environment; andthe standard image selection process unit newly selects an image obtained by an image sensor closest to the roadside of the road detected by the driving environment detection process unit among the plurality of the image sensors as the standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit. 4. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: a road where the vehicle exists has a plurality of lanes;the driving environment detection process unit detects a roadside of the road where the vehicle exists as the driving environment; andthe standard image selection process unit newly selects an image obtained by an image sensor closest to the roadside of the road detected by the driving environment detection process unit among the plurality of the image sensors as the standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit. 5. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an input device to which an occupant of the vehicle inputs information on the roadside of the road, wherein the driving environment detection process unit detects the roadside of the road where the vehicle exists on the basis of the information on the roadside of the road input to the input device. 6. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising an input device to which an occupant of the vehicle inputs information on the roadside of the road, wherein the driving environment detection process unit detects the roadside of the road where the vehicle exists on the basis of the information on the roadside of the road input to the input device. 7. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 3, wherein: the vehicle has a vehicle navigation system; andthe driving environment detection process unit detects the roadside of the road where the vehicle exists on the basis of the information on the roadside of the road obtained by the vehicle navigation system. 8. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 4, wherein: the vehicle has a vehicle navigation system; andthe driving environment detection process unit detects the roadside of the road where the vehicle exists on the basis of the information on the roadside of the road obtained by the vehicle navigation system. 9. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a relative speed calculation process unit which calculates a relative speed of each of the objects extracted by the object extraction process unit with respect to the vehicle, wherein the driving environment detection process unit selects another vehicle coming from the opposite direction to that of the vehicle out of the extracted objects on the basis of the relative speed calculated by the relative speed calculation process unit and detects the roadside of the road where the vehicle exists on the basis of the position of the selected another vehicle. 10. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a relative speed calculation process unit which calculates a relative speed of each of the objects extracted by the object extraction process unit with respect to the vehicle, wherein the driving environment detection process unit selects another vehicle coming from the opposite direction to that of the vehicle out of the extracted objects on the basis of the relative speed calculated by the relative speed calculation process unit and detects the roadside of the road where the vehicle exists on the basis of the position of the selected another vehicle. 11. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: a plurality of the image sensors are located on the left side and the right side in the front of the vehicle, respectively, and are two image sensors which image views ahead of the vehicle;the driving environment detection process unit detects a range including more objects of the left and right ranges ahead of the vehicle as the driving environment; andthe standard image selection process unit selects anew an image obtained by the image sensor on the side of the range detected by the driving environment detection process unit of the two image sensors as the standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit. 12. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: a plurality of the image sensors are located on the left side and the right side in the front of the vehicle, respectively, and are two image sensors which image views ahead of the vehicle;the driving environment detection process unit detects a range including more objects of the left and right ranges ahead of the vehicle as the driving environment; andthe standard image selection process unit selects anew an image obtained by the image sensor on the side of the range detected by the driving environment detection process unit of the two image sensors as the standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit. 13. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising an area extraction process unit which extracts an area having pixel data of a predetermined threshold value or greater in the image by binarizing the image obtained by at least one of the two image sensors, wherein the driving environment detection process unit determines an area including more areas extracted by the area extraction process unit out of the left and right areas in the image and detects a range on the same side as the determined area of the left and right ranges ahead of the vehicle as the range including more objects. 14. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising an area extraction process unit which extracts an area having pixel data of a predetermined threshold value or greater in the image by binarizing the image obtained by at least one of the two image sensors, wherein the driving environment detection process unit determines an area including more areas extracted by the area extraction process unit out of the left and right areas in the image and detects a range on the same side as the determined area of the left and right ranges ahead of the vehicle as the range including more objects. 15. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a distance calculation process unit which calculates a distance of each of the objects extracted by the object extraction process unit with respect to the vehicle, wherein the driving environment detection process unit detects a range including more extracted objects within a predetermined distance from the vehicle of the left and right ranges ahead of the vehicle as the range including more objects. 16. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a distance calculation process unit which calculates a distance of each of the objects extracted by the object extraction process unit with respect to the vehicle, wherein the driving environment detection process unit detects a range including more extracted objects within a predetermined distance from the vehicle of the left and right ranges ahead of the vehicle as the range including more objects. 17. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus which detects objects existing around a vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors comprising a pair images sensors mounted on left and right sides of the vehicle, said vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus comprising: an object extraction process unit which extracts the objects from a predetermined standard image of the images obtained by a plurality of the image sensors; anda standard image selection process unit which newly selects an image obtained by a predetermined image sensor, which is closest to a roadside of a road where the vehicle exists and having a plurality of lanes, of the plurality of the image sensors as a standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit,wherein said standard selection process unit newly selects an image obtained by one of the image sensors as the standard image when the following conditions are satisfied: X0:X1=Z0:Z1; andX0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2,where, X0 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a detection object and the other of the image sensors;X1 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a first background object and the other of the image sensors;Z0 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the detection object and the other of the image sensors;Z1 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the first background object and the other of image sensors;Z2 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between a second background object and the other of the image sensors; andB is a distance in an X-axis direction between the pair of image sensors;wherein said X-axis direction and said Z-axis direction are arranged according to Cartesian coordinate system, where Z-axis is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and X-axis is parallel to a width-wise axis of the vehicle;wherein the detection object is extracted by the object extraction process unit from the standard image obtained by said one of the image sensors;wherein said first and second background objects exist on a nearest roadside of a traveling lane of the vehicle, wherein said nearest roadside excludes an oncoming traffic lane; andwherein said standard image selection process unit is operable to select one of the pair of image sensors having a smaller angle between a straight line connecting the detection object and the image sensor and the Z-axis direction, as a standard image sensor, when said conditions X0:X1=Z0:Z1; and X0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2 are satisfied. 18. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus, which is provided with a computer having an interface circuit for accessing data of images obtained by a plurality of image sensors comprising a pair of image sensors mounted on left and right sides of a vehicle, and which detects objects existing around the vehicle by arithmetic processing performed by the computer, wherein the computer performs: an object extraction process of extracting the objects from a predetermined standard image of the images obtained by a plurality of the image sensors;a driving environment detection process of detecting a driving environment of the vehicle; anda standard image selection process of newly selecting a standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process out of the images obtained by a plurality of the image sensors according to the driving environment detected in the driving environment detection process;wherein said standard selection process newly selects an image obtained by one of the image sensors as the standard image when the following conditions are satisfied: X0:X1=Z0:Z1; andX0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2,where, X0 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a detection object and the other of the image sensors;X1 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a first background object and the other of the image sensors;Z0 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the detection object and the other of the image sensors;Z1 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the first background object and the other of image sensors;Z2 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between a second background object and the other of the image sensors; andB is a distance in an X-axis direction between the pair of image sensors;wherein said X-axis direction and said Z-axis direction are arranged according to Cartesian coordinate system, where Z-axis is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and X-axis is parallel to a width-wise axis of the vehicle; andwherein the detection object is extracted by the object extraction process from the standard image obtained by said one of the image sensors;wherein said first and second background objects exist on a nearest roadside of a traveling lane of the vehicle, wherein said nearest roadside excludes an oncoming traffic lane; andwherein said standard image selection process is configured to select one of the pair of image sensors having a smaller angle between a straight line connecting the detection object and the image sensor and the Z-axis direction, as a standard image sensor, when said conditions X0:X1=Z0:Z1; and X0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2 are satisfied. 19. A vehicle surroundings monitoring method which detects objects existing around a vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors comprising a pair of image sensors mounted on left and right sides of the vehicle, said vehicle surroundings monitoring method comprising: an object extraction step of extracting the objects from a predetermined standard image of the images obtained by a plurality of the image sensors;a driving environment detection step of detecting a driving environment of the vehicle; anda standard image selection step of newly selecting a standard image for use in the process of the object extraction step out of the images obtained by a plurality of the image sensors according to the driving environment detected in the driving environment detection step;wherein said standard selection process step newly selects an image obtained by one of the image sensors as the standard image when the following conditions are satisfied: X0:X1=Z0:Z1; andX0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2,where, X0 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a detection object and the other of the image sensors;X1 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a first background object and the other of the image sensors;Z0 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the detection object and the other of the image sensors;Z1 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the first background object and the other of image sensors;Z2 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between a second background object and the other of the image sensors; andB is a distance in an X-axis direction between the pair of image sensors;wherein said X-axis direction and said Z-axis direction are arranged according to Cartesian coordinate system, where Z-axis is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and X-axis is parallel to a width-wise axis of the vehicle; andwherein the detection object is extracted by the object extraction step from the standard image obtained by the said of the image sensors;wherein said first and second background objects exist on a nearest roadside of a traveling lane of the vehicle, wherein said nearest roadside excludes an oncoming traffic lane; andwherein said standard image selection process step further comprises the method step of selecting one of the pair of image sensors having a smaller angle between a straight line connecting the detection object and the image sensor and the Z-axis direction, as a standard image sensor, when said conditions X0:X1=Z0:Z1; and X0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2 are satisfied. 20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable vehicle surroundings monitoring program stored thereon, wherein when executed, the program causes a computer to perform a process of detecting objects existing around a vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors comprising a pair of image sensors mounted on left and right side of the vehicle, said vehicle surroundings monitoring program having functions of causing the computer to perform: an object extraction process of extracting the objects from a predetermined standard image of the images obtained by a plurality of the image sensors;a driving environment detection process of detecting a driving environment of the vehicle; anda standard image selection process of newly selecting a standard image for use in the object extraction process out of the images obtained by a plurality of the image sensors according to the driving environment detected in the driving environment detection process;wherein said standard selection process newly selects an image obtained by one of the image sensors as the standard image when the following conditions are satisfied: X0:X1=Z0:Z1; andX0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2,where, X0 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a detection object and the other of the image sensors;X1 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a first background object and the other of the image sensors;Z0 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the detection object and the other of the image sensors;Z1 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the first background object and the other of image sensors;Z2 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between a second background object and the other of the image sensors; andB is a distance in an X-axis direction between the pair of image sensors; wherein said X-axis direction and said Z-axis direction are arranged according to Cartesian coordinate system, where Z-axis is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and X-axis is parallel to a width-wise axis of the vehicle; andwherein the detection object is extracted by the object extraction process from the standard image obtained by said one of the image sensors;wherein said first and second background objects exist on a nearest roadside of a traveling lane of the vehicle, wherein said nearest roadside excludes an oncoming traffic lane; andwherein said standard image selection process is configured to select one of the pair of image sensors having a smaller angle between a straight line connecting the detection object and the image sensor and the Z-axis direction, as a standard image sensor, when said conditions X0:X1=Z0:Z1; and X0−B:X1−B=Z0:Z2 are satisfied.
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