Opening and closing system

• US 10,655,379 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2017
• Issued: 05/19/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsui Kinzoku Act Corporation (Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Mitsui Kinzoku Act Corporation (Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ichinose, Mikio
• Primary Examiner(s): Mattei, Brian D
• Application Number:
  US15/648,782
• Publication Number:
  US 20180016835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,041 Days
• Field of Search: 49 25, 49 27, 49 28, 49333, 49334, 49 31
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 5/0472 the door having a hinge axis in horizontal direction transverse to vehicle longitudinal axis
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/73 responsive to movement or presence of persons or objects
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 2015/767 using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2400/44 Sensors therefore E05Y2400/322, E05Y2400/33, E05Y2400/55, E05Y2400/56, E05Y2400/852 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/50 for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/531 Doors

Abstract

An opening and closing system includes a drive unit which drives a closing openable member of a vehicle to be opened or closed, an opening and closing control unit which controls the drive unit to open or close the closing openable member, an image capturing unit which captures an image of a periphery of the closing openable member, and a detecting unit which detects an obstacle proximity to the closing openable member based on an image captured by the image capturing unit. When the detecting unit detects an obstacle, the opening and closing unit stops the closing openable member before it comes into contact with the obstacle.

Claims

1. An opening and closing system, comprising:

a drive unit configured to drive a closing openable member to be opened or closed, the closing openable member being provided in an opening portion of a vehicle;

an opening and closing control unit configured to control the drive unit to open or close the closing openable member;

an image capturing unit comprising a camera disposed on the closing opening member, the image capturing unit configured to capture an image of a periphery of the closing openable member;

a detecting unit configured to detect an obstacle proximate to the closing openable member based on the image captured by the image capturing unit, wherein the detecting comprises extracting an image from the captured image through image analysis and calculating a direction of and a distance to the obstacle relative to the image capturing unit; and

an identifying unit configured to identify whether the obstacle detected by the detecting unit is a human body,

wherein the opening and closing control unit is further configured to;

in response to the obstacle being detected by the detecting unit, control the identifying unit to identify whether the obstacle detected by the detecting unit is the human body;

in response to the detected obstacle being identified as the human body, stop the closing openable member before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle; and

in response to the detected obstacle being identified as not the human body, move the closing openable member outwards by a predetermined angle.

2. The opening and closing system according to claim 1, wherein the opening and closing control unit is configured to stop the closing openable member moving in a first direction before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle and to cause the closing openable member to move in a second direction after the opening and closing control unit has stopped the closing openable member, the second direction being opposite to the first direction in which the closing openable member moved before the closing openable member was stopped.

3. The opening and closing system according to claim 2, wherein when the second direction is an opening direction, the opening and closing control unit is configured to fully open the closing openable member.

4. The opening and closing system according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit is configured to:

extract an object from the image captured by the image capturing unit;

determine whether or not the object is positioned on a track of the closing openable member;

calculate a distance between the object, which is positioned on the track of the closing openable member, and the closing openable member; and

when it is determined that the object is positioned on the track of the closing openable member and the distance between the object and the closing openable member is less than a threshold, detect said object as the obstacle proximate to the closing openable member.

5. The opening and closing system according to claim 1, wherein:

the image capturing unit comprises a stereocamera configured to capture a parallax image of the periphery of the closing openable member,

the detecting unit is configured to detect the obstacle proximate to the closing openable member based on the parallax image captured by the image capturing unit, and

calculating the direction of and the distance to the obstacle relative to the image capturing unit is performed using the captured parallax image and the principle of trigonometrical survey.

6. The opening and closing system according to claim 5, wherein the stereocamera comprises a first camera disposed on a first of the closing openable member and a second camera disposed on a second side of the closing openable member opposite to the first side.

7. The opening and closing system according to claim 1, wherein:

the image capturing device comprises a monocular camera configured to capture a plurality of images of the periphery of the closing openable member at predetermined time intervals,

the detecting unit is configured to detect the obstacle proximate to the closing openable member based on the plurality of images captured by the image capturing unit, and

the detecting comprises extracting an image from the captured plurality of images through image analysis and calculating a direction of and a distance to the obstacle relative to the image capturing unit based on a movement of the object in the plurality of images and based on a displacement of the monocular camera.

8. An opening and closing system, comprising:

a drive device configured to drive a closing openable member to be opened or closed, the closing openable member being provided in an opening portion of a vehicle;

an image capturing device comprising a camera disposed on the closing opening member, the image capturing device configured to capture an image of a periphery of the closing openable member; and

a controller configured to;

control the drive device to open or close the closing openable member;

detect an obstacle proximate to the closing openable member based on the image captured by the image capturing device, wherein the detecting comprises extracting an image from the captured image through image analysis and calculating a direction of and a distance to the obstacle relative to the image capturing device;

in response to the obstacle being detected, identify whether the detected obstacle is a human body;

in response to the detected obstacle being identified as the human body, stop the closing openable member before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle; and

in response to the detected obstacle being identified as not the human body, move the closing openable member outwards by a predetermined angle.

9. The opening and closing system according to claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to stop the closing openable member moving in a first direction before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle and to cause the closing openable member to move in a second direction after the controller has stopped the closing openable member, the second direction being opposite to the first direction in which the closing openable member moved before the closing openable member was stopped.

10. The opening and closing system according to claim 9, wherein when the second direction is an opening direction, the controller is configured to fully open the closing openable member.

11. The opening and closing system according to claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to:

extract an object from the image captured by the image capturing device;

determine whether or not the object is positioned on a track of the closing openable member;

calculate a distance between the object, which is positioned on the track of the closing openable member, and the closing openable member; and

when it is determined that the object is positioned on the track of the closing openable member and the distance between the object and the closing openable member is less than a threshold, detect said object as the obstacle proximate to the closing openable member.

12. The opening and closing system according to claim 8, wherein:

the image capturing device comprises a stereocamera configured to capture a parallax image of the periphery of the closing openable member,

the controller is configured to detect the obstacle proximate to the closing openable member based on the parallax image captured by the image capturing device, and

calculating the direction of and the distance to the obstacle relative to the image capturing device is performed using the captured parallax image and the principle of trigonometrical survey.

13. The opening and closing system according to claim 12, wherein the stereocamera comprises a first camera disposed on a first of the closing openable member and a second camera disposed on a second side of the closing openable member opposite to the first side.

14. The opening and closing system according to claim 8, wherein:

the image capturing device comprises a monocular camera configured to capture a plurality of images of the periphery of the closing openable member at predetermined time intervals,

the controller is configured to detect the obstacle proximate to the closing openable member based on the plurality of images captured by the image capturing device, and

the detecting comprises extracting an image from the captured plurality of images through image analysis and calculating a direction of and a distance to the obstacle relative to the image capturing device based on a movement of the object in the plurality of images and based on a displacement of the monocular camera.