Device for tracing movement of mobile robot and method thereof

• US 20060100742A1
• Filed: 04/19/2005
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Jin-Seok
• Application Number:
  US11/108,652
• Publication Number:
  US 20060100742A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/259
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0253 extracting relative motion information from a plurality of images taken successively, e.g. visual odometry, optical flow determining position or orientation from images G06T7/70

Abstract

Disclosed are a device for tracing a movement of a mobile robot and a method thereof. The device for tracing a movement of a mobile robot includes: a camera for capturing a specific object; a movement tracing and image generating unit for setting a reference area in the present image produced by capturing the specific object by the camera and generating the present image in which the reference area is set; a difference image extracting unit for extracting a difference image of pixels of the edge of the reference area of the present image and pixels of the reference area of a previous image; and a microcomputer for tracing a movement of the specific object based on the extracted difference image.

Claims

1. A device for tracing a movement of a mobile robot, comprising:

a camera for capturing a specific object;

a movement tracing and image generating unit for setting a reference area in the present image produced by capturing the specific object by the camera and generating the present image in which the reference area is set;

a difference image extracting unit for extracting a difference image of pixels of the edge of the reference area of the present image and pixels of the reference area of a previous image; and

a microcomputer for tracing a movement of the specific object based on the extracted difference image,

wherein the reference area set in the present image is identical with that of the previous image.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a storing unit for storing information on the pixels corresponding to the edge of the reference area of the previous image.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a storing unit for storing information on all the pixels of the previous image.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the reference area is formed by various shapes and is variable in size.

5. A method for tracing a movement of a mobile robot, comprising:

capturing a specific object;

setting a reference area in the present image produced by capturing the specific object and generating the present image in which the reference area is set;

extracting a difference image of pixels of the edge of the reference area of the generated present image and pixels of the edge of the reference area of a previous image which was captured a certain time ago; and

tracing a movement of the specific object based on the extracted difference image,

wherein the reference area set in the present image is identical with that of the previous image.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of extracting a difference image further comprises:

storing information on the pixels corresponding to the edge of the reference area of the previous image.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of extracting a difference image further comprises:

storing information on all the pixels of the previous image.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the reference area is formed by various shapes and is variable in size.

9. A method for tracing a movement of a mobile robot, comprising:

capturing a specific object;

comparing pixels corresponding to the edge of a preset reference area among pixels of the present image produced by currently capturing the specific object with pixels corresponding to the edge of the reference area among pixels of a previous image of the specific object which was captured a certain time ago; and

tracing a movement of the specific object on the basis of the result of such comparison.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of comparing the pixels further comprises:

extracting a difference image only of an image corresponding to the reference area of the present image and an image corresponding to the reference area of the previous image.

11. A device for tracing a movement, comprising:

a camera for capturing a specific object;

a movement tracing and image generating unit for setting a reference area in the present image produced by capturing the specific object by the camera and generating the present image in which the reference image is set;

a difference image extracting unit for extracting a difference image of pixels of the edge of the reference area of the present image and pixels of the edge of the reference area of the previous image; and

a microcomputer for tracing a movement of the specific object based on the extracted difference image.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

a storing unit for storing information on the pixels corresponding to the edge of the reference area of the previous image.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

a storing unit for storing information on all the pixels of the previous image.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the reference area is formed by various shapes and is variable in size.

15. A method for tracing a movement, comprising:

capturing a specific object;

setting a reference area in the present image produced by capturing the specific object and generating the present image in which the reference area is set;

extracting a difference image of pixels of the edge of the reference area of the generated present image and pixels of the edge of the reference area of a previous image which was captured a certain time ago; and

tracing a movement of the specific object based on the extracted difference image.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of extracting the difference image further comprises:

storing information on the pixels corresponding to the edge of the reference area.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of extracting the difference image further comprises:

storing information on all the pixels of the previous image.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the reference area is formed by various shapes and is variable in size.