Vehicle periphery monitoring system
First Claim
1. A vehicle periphery monitoring system comprising:
- an obstacle detecting unit for detecting the presence of an obstacle in a periphery of a vehicle;
an indicating unit for indicating the presence of an obstacle;
a control unit for controlling said indicating unit to indicate the presence of an obstacle when the presence of the obstacle is detected by said obstacle detecting unit; and
an imaging unit for capturing an image of the periphery of the vehicle;
wherein if the detected distance from the vehicle to the obstacle detected by said obstacle detecting unit is equal to or greater than a preset distance, said control unit performs an image processing process on a viewpoint-changed image which is produced by changing the viewpoint of the image captured by said imaging unit, for thereby acquiring the height of the detected obstacle, and controls said indicating unit to either indicate the detected obstacle as a safe obstacle or inhibit the detected obstacle from being indicated if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is less than a preset height, and controls said indicating unit to indicate the detected obstacle as a dangerous obstacle if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is equal to or greater than said preset height.
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Accused Products
Abstract
If the detected distance from a vehicle to a detected obstacle is equal to or greater than a preset distance, then a vehicle periphery monitoring system performs an image processing process on a captured image of the periphery of the vehicle to acquire the height of the vehicle. If the acquired height of the obstacle is less than a preset height, then the obstacle is displayed as a safe obstacle. If the acquired height of the obstacle is equal to or greater than the preset height, then the obstacle is displayed as a dangerous obstacle. The vehicle periphery monitoring system is able to indicate to the vehicle driver whether the detected obstacle is dangerous or safe. The vehicle periphery monitoring system is not required to perform the image processing process on the entire area of the captured image, and does not require a CPU having a high processing capability.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A vehicle periphery monitoring system comprising:
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an obstacle detecting unit for detecting the presence of an obstacle in a periphery of a vehicle;
an indicating unit for indicating the presence of an obstacle;
a control unit for controlling said indicating unit to indicate the presence of an obstacle when the presence of the obstacle is detected by said obstacle detecting unit; and
an imaging unit for capturing an image of the periphery of the vehicle;
wherein if the detected distance from the vehicle to the obstacle detected by said obstacle detecting unit is equal to or greater than a preset distance, said control unit performs an image processing process on a viewpoint-changed image which is produced by changing the viewpoint of the image captured by said imaging unit, for thereby acquiring the height of the detected obstacle, and controls said indicating unit to either indicate the detected obstacle as a safe obstacle or inhibit the detected obstacle from being indicated if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is less than a preset height, and controls said indicating unit to indicate the detected obstacle as a dangerous obstacle if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is equal to or greater than said preset height. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6)
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4. A vehicle periphery monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein said control unit controls said display unit to display the detected obstacle in combination with distance indicator lines indicative of respective distances from the vehicle and distance indicator markings associated with said distance indicator lines, overlapping in the bird'"'"'s-eye image if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is less than said preset height.
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7. A vehicle periphery monitoring system comprising:
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an obstacle detecting unit for detecting the presence of an obstacle in a periphery of a vehicle;
an indicating unit for indicating the presence of an obstacle;
a control unit for controlling said indicating unit to indicate the presence of an obstacle when the presence of the obstacle is detected by said obstacle detecting unit; and
an imaging unit for capturing an image of the periphery of the vehicle;
wherein said control unit performs an image processing process on a viewpoint-changed image which is produced by changing the viewpoint of the image captured by said imaging unit, for thereby acquiring the height of the detected obstacle, and controls said indicating unit to either indicate the detected obstacle as a safe obstacle or inhibit the detected obstacle from being indicated if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is less than a preset height, and controls said indicating unit to indicate the detected obstacle as a dangerous obstacle if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is equal to or greater than said preset height.
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8. A system for selectively indicating objects in the periphery of a vehicle, comprising:
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an object detector mounted on the vehicle for detecting the presence of an object in the periphery of the vehicle;
an imaging unit mounted on the vehicle for capturing an image of an area in the periphery of the vehicle;
an object indicator mounted on the vehicle for indicating the presence of an object detected in the periphery of the vehicle by said object detector; and
a controller mounted on the vehicle for controlling said object indicator to indicate the presence of an object detected by said obstacle detecting unit if the height of the object which is acquired from processed image data of a viewpoint-changed image converted from the image captured by said imaging unit is equal to or greater than a preset height. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification