System and method for detecting obstacle
First Claim
1. An obstacle detecting system detecting an obstacle by using two cameras, the obstacle being on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras, the system comprising:
- image inputting means for inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively;
image transforming means for transforming the first image to a transformed image on a basis of image transform which is introduced from a geometrical relationship between the reference plane and the two cameras for transforming any given pixel in a reference plane region in the first image to a corresponding pixel in the second image;
similarity calculating means for obtaining;
a degree of similarity D indicating similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, on an assumption that any given image line in a specified region in the second image is a contact line of the obstacle with the reference plane, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the first image and the second image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction, and a degree of similarity P indicating similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the second image and the transformed image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction; and
obstacle judging means for detecting the obstacle on a basis of the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity calculating means.
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Abstract
An obstacle detecting system detecting an obstacle using two cameras the obstacle being on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras. The system includes an image-inputting device for imprinting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, an image transforming device, a similarity-calculating device, and an obstacle-judging device. The similarity calculating device obtains and degree of similarity D, and degree of similarity P. The obstacle-judging device detects the obstacle on a basis of degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity-calculating device.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. An obstacle detecting system detecting an obstacle by using two cameras, the obstacle being on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras, the system comprising:
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image inputting means for inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively;
image transforming means for transforming the first image to a transformed image on a basis of image transform which is introduced from a geometrical relationship between the reference plane and the two cameras for transforming any given pixel in a reference plane region in the first image to a corresponding pixel in the second image;
similarity calculating means for obtaining;
a degree of similarity D indicating similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, on an assumption that any given image line in a specified region in the second image is a contact line of the obstacle with the reference plane, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the first image and the second image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction, and a degree of similarity P indicating similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the second image and the transformed image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction; and
obstacle judging means for detecting the obstacle on a basis of the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity calculating means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of detecting an obstacle by using two cameras, the obstacle being on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras, the method comprising:
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the image inputting step of inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively;
the image transforming step of transforming the first image to a transformed image on the basis of image transform which is introduced from a geometrical relationship between the reference plane and the two cameras for transforming any given pixel in a reference plane region in the first image to a corresponding pixel in the second image;
the similarity calculating step of obtaining;
a degree of similarity D indicating similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, on an assumption that any given image line in a specified region in the second image is a contact line of the obstacle with the reference plane, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the first image and the second image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction, and a degree of similarity P indicating similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the second image and the transformed image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction; and
the obstacle judging step of detecting the obstacle on the basis of the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity calculating step.
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9. In a program realizing an obstacle detection method by a computer, the method using two cameras for detecting the obstacle on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras,
the improvement wherein by the computer, the program realizes: -
an image inputting function for inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively;
an image transforming function for transforming the first image to a transformed image on the basis of image transform which is introduced from a geometrical relationship between the reference plane and the two cameras for transforming any given pixel in a reference plane region in the first image to a corresponding pixel in the second image;
a similarity calculating function for obtaining;
a degree of similarity D indicating similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, on an assumption that any given image line in a specified region in the second image is a contact line of the obstacle with the reference plane, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the first image and the second image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction, and a degree of similarity P indicating similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the second image and the transformed image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction; and
an obstacle judging function for detecting the obstacle on the basis of the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity calculating function.
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Specification