Moving body detecting apparatus

• US 20040057600A1
• Filed: 09/16/2003
• Published: 03/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Niwa, Akimasa
• Granted Patent: US 7,433,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/104 characterised by the type of theft warning signal, e.g. visual or audible signals with special characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/305 using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/215 Motion-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/254 involving subtraction of images

Abstract

Provided is a moving body detecting apparatus capable of detecting only a body to be notified without detecting a body similar in feature to the body to be notified. To confirm whether a break-in body appears in static images from a camera, the apparatus sets a monitoring region for monitoring a window portion in the static images and a monitoring region for monitoring a door body portion therein, and produces difference images from the static images. A pixel set existing in common to the difference images continuing in time sequence is extracted from an image composed so that pixel values reach a maximum. On the basis of the motion vector, a decision is made as to whether the movement of the pixel set from the window portion to the door body portion occurs or not.

Claims

1. A moving body detecting apparatus comprising:

image acquiring means for acquiring static images continuing in time sequence in the same monitoring range; and

decision processing means for receiving a plurality of static images continuing in time sequence from said image acquiring means to make a comparison among said static images for making a decision as to whether or not a body moves from an area allowing the existence of a body (which will hereinafter be referred to as an “

allowable area”

), set in advance in said monitoring range, to an area inhibiting the existence of a body (which will hereinafter be referred to as an “

unallowable area”

), set in advance in said monitoring range.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said allowable area and said unallowable area are set in the form of a point set.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said allowable area and said unallowable area are prescribed by a boundary line of its outer circumference.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said decision processing means calculates an absolute value of a difference in luminance value between each of said plurality of static images from said image acquiring means and a background image stored in advance for each pixel to produce a plurality of difference images, and makes a comparison between said difference images to make a decision as to whether a body moving from said allowable area to said unallowable area exists or not.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising preliminary decision processing means for making a comparison with respect to said allowable area between said background image stored in advance and said static image from said image acquiring means to make a preliminary decision as to whether or not a difference therebetween exceeds a predetermined value so that said decision processing means carries out the decision processing only when a preliminary decision result in said preliminary decision processing means shows a difference exceeding said predetermined value.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said decision processing means converts said difference images into binary image data and labels them so that, on the basis of information on an area and position of a pixel set obtained through the conversion and labeling, a decision is made as to whether a moving body exists or not.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein, simultaneously with the labeling, said decision processing means calculates the area of said pixel set through the use of a counter.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said decision processing means includes motion vector calculating means for calculating, on the basis of information on a position of a pixel set, a motion vector indicative of a motion of said pixel set, and said decision processing means implements the decision processing on the basis of the calculated motion vector.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising notifying means for notifying the existence of a moving body to a user so that said decision processing means issues a command to said notifying means to notify the existence of a moving body to said user when making a decision that said moving body exists in said monitoring range.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising warning means for warning a moving body so that said decision processing means issues a command to said warning means to warn a moving body when making a decision that said moving body continuously exists in said monitoring range for a predetermined period of time.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said moving body detecting apparatus is used as an antitheft apparatus.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said decision processing means receives static images from said image acquiring means to produce a composite image by successively carrying out image composing on said static images so that each pixel has the highest luminance value, and when the number of static images used for the image composing reaches a predetermined value, makes a decision as to whether or not a body moving exists in said composite image.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said decision processing means receives static images from said image acquiring means to produce difference images by calculate, with respect to each pixel, the absolute value of a difference in luminance value between said static images from said image acquiring means and a background image stored in advance for producing a composite image by successively carrying out image composing on said difference images so that each pixel has the highest absolute value, and when the number of difference images used for the image composing reaches a predetermined value, conducts decision processing as to whether or not a body moving exists in said composite image.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said decision processing means conducts the decision processing repeatedly.

15. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising preliminary decision processing means for making a comparison with respect to a predetermined region between a background image stored in advance and said static image from said image acquiring means to make a preliminary decision as to whether or not a difference therebetween exceeds a predetermined value so that said decision processing means carries out the decision processing only when a preliminary decision result in said preliminary decision processing means shows a difference exceeding said predetermined value.

16. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, when receiving said static images from said image acquiring means, said decision processing means makes a decision as to whether to select said static images, and continues the decision processing only when selecting said static images.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said decision processing means converts said composite image into binary image data and labels them so that, on the basis of information on an area and shape of a pixel set obtained through the conversion and labeling, a decision is made as to whether a moving body exists or not.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein, simultaneously with the labeling, said decision processing means calculates the area of said pixel set through the use of a counter.

19. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising notifying means for notifying the existence of a moving body to a user so that said decision processing means issues a command to said notifying means to notify the existence of a moving body to said user when making a decision that said moving body exists in a monitoring range.

20. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said motion vector calculating means including:

an image pickup device made to take a photograph continuously;

image composing means for, on the basis of a plurality of input images continuously by said image pickup device, acquiring, as each of representative pixel values, a maximum value of pixels existing at the same positions in frames of said input images to produce a composite image comprising said representative pixel values; and

composite image processing means for extracting a motion vector indicative of a displacement of a photographed body in said frames on the basis of a trajectory of an image pickup point appearing in said composite image produced by said image composing means.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said image pickup device is fixed in place, and a movement quantity of a moving body is obtained on the basis of said motion vector extracted by said composite image processing means.