Vehicle detection warning device and vehicle detection warning method

• US 10,417,505 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2016
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Watanabe, Takayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahman, Mohammad J
• Application Number:
  US15/232,917
• Publication Number:
  US 20170098130A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,133 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads

Abstract

A vehicle detection warning device may have a rear camera, a vehicle detecting unit that detects a rear vehicle according to high-brightness regions included in obtained images, a warning start deciding unit that causes a warning processing unit to start a warning when the rear vehicle is detected, a summarizing unit that counts the number of times the high-brightness region is included in images obtained by a plurality of imaging operations performed by the rear camera, an area calculating unit that calculates the area of the high-brightness region, and a warning termination deciding unit that causes the warning processing unit to stop the warning when the number of times counted by the summarizing unit decreases and the area calculated by the area calculating unit falls to or below a predetermined value.

Claims

1. A vehicle detection warning device comprising:

an imaging unit configured to capture an image behind a vehicle of interest;

a memory configured to store the image captured by the imaging unit; and

a processor in communication with the memory and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory and to act as;

a vehicle detecting unit configured to detect another vehicle that is approaching the vehicle of interest in a lane in which the vehicle of interest is traveling or in an adjacent lane, according to a high-brightness region included in an image obtained by imaging performed by the imaging unit;

a warning unit configured to warn a driver of the vehicle of interest in a certain manner to notify the driver that the another vehicle is approaching;

a warning start deciding unit configured to cause the warning unit to start a warning when the vehicle detecting unit detects the another vehicle;

a counting unit configured to count a number of times, over a period of time, that the high-brightness region is included in a frame of successive frames obtained by a plurality of imaging operations performed by the imaging unit;

an area calculating unit configured to calculate an area of the high-brightness region; and

a warning stop deciding unit configured to;

cause the warning unit to stop the warning when the number of times, over the period of time, that the high-brightness region is included in a frame of successive frames as counted by the counting unit decreases and the area of the high-brightness region calculated by the area calculating unit falls to or below a predetermined value;

wherein the warning stop deciding unit is configured to decide whether the number of times counted by the counting unit has decreased based on a plurality of counting results of the number of times, over the period of time, that the high-brightness region is included in a frame of successive frames counted by the counting unit.

2. The vehicle detection warning device according to claim 1, wherein:

the imaging unit is further configured to perform imaging at a predetermined frame rate; and

the counting unit is further configured to summarize a number of frames that the high-brightness region is included in a frame of the images from N frames obtained until a present time.

3. The vehicle detection warning device according to claim 1, wherein the warning stop deciding unit is configured to utilize a least squares method to calculate an inclination of a plurality of times counted by the counting unit, and if the inclination is negative, to decide that the number of times counted by the counting unit has decreased.

4. The vehicle detection warning device according to claim 1, wherein

when the number of times counted by the counting unit reaches a predetermined value, the warning start deciding unit is configured to decide to start the warning.

5. A vehicle detection warning method comprising:

a step in which an imaging unit captures an image behind a vehicle of interest;

a step in which a processor of a vehicle detecting warning device detects another vehicle that is approaching the vehicle of interest in a lane in which the vehicle of interest is traveling or in an adjacent lane, according to a high-brightness region included in an image obtained by imaging performed by the imaging unit;

a step in which the processor warns a driver of the vehicle of interest in a certain manner to notify the driver that the another vehicle is approaching;

a step in which the processor causes a warning to start when the processor detects the another vehicle;

a step in which the processor counts a number of times, over a period of time, that the high-brightness region is included in a frame of successive frames obtained by a plurality of imaging operations performed by the imaging unit;

a step in which the processor calculates an area of the high-brightness region; and

a step in which the processor stops the warning when the number of times, over the period of time, that the high-brightness region is included in a frame of successive frames as counted by the processor decreases and the area of the high-brightness region calculated by the processor falls to or below a predetermined value;

wherein the processor decides whether the number of times counted by the processor has decreased based on a plurality of counting results of the number of times, over the period of time, that the high-brightness region is included in a frame of successive frames.