Vehicle-installation obstacle detection apparatus
First Claim
1. An obstacle detection apparatus comprisingan electronic camera installed on a vehicle, configured to capture an image of an external view ahead of said vehicle, andimage processing circuitry configured to process data produced by said camera, expressing said image, for detecting objects which may constitute obstacles located ahead of said vehicle;
- wherein said obstacle detection apparatus comprises;
a memory having image parameter information specific to said camera stored therein;
communication circuitry configured to perform at least one of two modes of communication, said modes comprising inter-vehicle communication between said vehicle and a preceding vehicle and road-to-vehicle communication between said vehicle and a roadside apparatus;
information generating circuitry configured to derive size dimension information expressing a size dimension of an object detected by said image processing circuitry, as measured in an image plane of said camera;
information acquisition circuitry configured to acquire, via said communication circuitry, actual size dimension information expressing an actual size dimension of a specific obstacle located ahead of said vehicle; and
distance calculation circuitry configured to calculate a value of distance of said specific obstacle, based upon said size dimension derived by said information generating circuitry, said actual size dimension, and said image parameter information.
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Abstract
A vehicle-installed obstacle detection apparatus includes a forward-view camera, and processes resultant image data to detect objects as possible obstacles. A size value such as tail lamp spacing, transmitted from a preceding vehicle, and a corresponding size value as measured in a captured image, are used to calculate the distance of the preceding vehicle. This is used together with a height value transmitted from the preceding vehicle and a corresponding height value measured in the captured image, to calculate the relative height difference between the vehicles, which is then used to discriminate between detected objects which are actual obstacles and objects such as road surface markers.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. An obstacle detection apparatus comprising
an electronic camera installed on a vehicle, configured to capture an image of an external view ahead of said vehicle, and image processing circuitry configured to process data produced by said camera, expressing said image, for detecting objects which may constitute obstacles located ahead of said vehicle; -
wherein said obstacle detection apparatus comprises; a memory having image parameter information specific to said camera stored therein; communication circuitry configured to perform at least one of two modes of communication, said modes comprising inter-vehicle communication between said vehicle and a preceding vehicle and road-to-vehicle communication between said vehicle and a roadside apparatus; information generating circuitry configured to derive size dimension information expressing a size dimension of an object detected by said image processing circuitry, as measured in an image plane of said camera; information acquisition circuitry configured to acquire, via said communication circuitry, actual size dimension information expressing an actual size dimension of a specific obstacle located ahead of said vehicle; and distance calculation circuitry configured to calculate a value of distance of said specific obstacle, based upon said size dimension derived by said information generating circuitry, said actual size dimension, and said image parameter information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification