Object type determination apparatus, vehicle, object type determination method, and program for determining object type

• US 20090041302A1
• Filed: 07/16/2008
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arriver Software AB (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Tsuji, Takayuki, Aimura, Makoto, Nagaoka, Nobuharu
• Granted Patent: US 8,306,263 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/103 Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition

Abstract

An object type determination apparatus, an object type determination method, a vehicle, and a program for determining an object type, capable of accurately determining the type of the object by appropriately determining periodicity in movement of the object from images, are provided. The object type determination apparatus includes an object area extracting means (11) for extracting an area of an object from an image picked up by an image pick-up means (2R, 2L), an object end point extracting means (12) for extracting an end point of an image portion of the object from the extracted object area, an object periodicity determination means (13) for calculating time series data of a feature value representing a size of the object using the end point of the image portion of the object extracted by the object end point extracting means (12) from the area of the object extracted by the object area extracting means (11) for respective ones of time series images picked up by the image pick-up means (2R, 2L) to determine whether the feature value changes with prescribed periodicity, and a living body determination means (14) for determining the object having the feature value determined to change with periodicity as a living body.

Claims

1. An object type determination apparatus for determining a type of an object the image of which is picked up by an image pick-up means, comprising:

an object area extracting means for extracting an area of an object from an image picked up by the image pick-up means;

an object end point extracting means for extracting an end point of an image portion of the object from the area of the object extracted by the object area extracting means;

an object periodicity determination means for calculating time series data of a feature value representing a size of the image portion of the object using the end point of the image portion of the object extracted by the object end point extracting means from the area of the object extracted by the object area extracting means for respective ones of time series images picked up by the image pick-up means, to determine whether the feature value changes with prescribed periodicity; and

a living body determination means for determining the object having the feature value which is determined to change with periodicity by the object periodicity determination means as a living body.

2. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object periodicity determination means uses a width of the image portion of the object in a lower part area in the area of the object as the feature value representing the size of the image portion of the object.

3. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object periodicity determination means uses a height of the image portion of the object as the feature value representing the size of the image portion of the object.

4. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a first specific site extracting means for extracting an image portion of a specific site of the object from the area of the object extracted by the object area extracting means, wherein

the object end point extracting means extracts an end point of the image portion of the specific site extracted by the first specific site extracting means, and

the object periodicity determination means uses a height of the image portion of the specific site as the feature value representing the size of the image portion of the object.

5. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a second specific site extracting means for extracting image portions of a pair of specific sites of the object from the area of the object extracted by the object area extracting means, wherein

the object end point extracting means extracts end points of the image portions of the pair of specific sites extracted by the second specific site extracting means, and

the object periodicity determination means uses a difference in height of the image portions of the pair of specific sites as the feature value representing the size of the object.

6. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object periodicity determination means has a plurality of determination conditions for determining whether the feature value representing the size of the image portion of the object changes with prescribed periodicity based on the time series data of the feature value, and in the case where a result of the determination according to at least a predetermined number of determination conditions among the plurality of determination conditions indicates that the feature value changes with prescribed periodicity, the object periodicity determination means determines that the feature value has prescribed periodicity.

7. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the object periodicity determination means uses, as the determination conditions, at least one of a determination condition having a width of an image portion of the object in a lower part area in the area of the object as the feature value, a determination condition having a height of the image portion of the object as the feature value, a determination condition having a height of an image portion of a specific site of the object as the feature value, and a determination condition having a difference in height of image portions of a pair of specific sites of the object as the feature value.

8. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object end point extracting means extracts an end point of the image portion of the object by performing edge extracting processing on the area of the object extracted by the object area extracting means.

9. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the object area extracting means sets a plurality of mask areas in each of two images picked up at different times, and performs a correlation operation for a respective pair of the mask areas set in the corresponding positions in the two images to extract the area of the object, and

the object end point extracting means uses positional information of the plurality of mask areas included in the area of the object extracted by the object area extracting means to extract an end point of the image portion of the object.

10. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object periodicity determination means uses an upper part area in an area of a first object extracted from one of two images picked up at different times as a template to extract an area of a second object having correlation with the first object from the other one of the two images by template matching to associate the objects in the different times with each other, to thereby calculate the time series data of the feature value representing the size of the image portion of the object.

11. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the object periodicity determination means determines whether a maximum change amount of a-converted value of the feature value in a real space is within a predetermined range, and

the living body determination means determines an object for which the object periodicity determination means determines that the feature value changes with periodicity and that the maximum change amount of the converted value of the feature value in the real space is within the predetermined range as a living body.

12. The object type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pick-up means is an infrared camera.

13. A vehicle having the object type determination apparatus as recited in claim 1 mounted thereon.

14. An object type determination method for determining a type of an object the image of which is picked up by an image pick-up means, comprising:

an object area extracting step of extracting an area of an object from an image picked up by the image pick-up means;

an object end point extracting step of extracting an end point of an image portion of the object from the area of the object extracted in the object area extracting step;

an object periodicity determining step of calculating time series data of a feature value representing a size of the image portion of the object using the end point of the image portion of the object extracted in the object end point extracting step from the area of the object extracted in the object area extracting step for respective ones of time series images picked up by the image pick-up means, to determine whether the feature value changes with prescribed periodicity; and

a living body determining step of determining the object having the feature value which is determined to change with periodicity in the object periodicity determining step as a living body.

15. A program for determining a type of an object causing a computer to execute processing of determining a type of an object the image of which is picked up by an image pick-up means, the program causing the computer to execute:

object area extracting processing of extracting an area of an object from an image picked up by the image pick-up means;

object end point extracting processing of extracting an end point of the image portion of the object from the area of the object extracted in the object area extracting processing;

object periodicity determination processing of calculating time series data of a feature value representing a size of the image portion of the object using the end point of the image portion of the object extracted in the object end point extracting processing from the area of the object extracted in the object area extracting processing for respective ones of time series images picked up by the image pick-up means, to determine whether the feature value changes with prescribed periodicity; and

living body determination processing of determining the object having the feature value which is determined to change with periodicity in the object periodicity determination processing as a living body.