LIQUID DROPLET RECOGNITION APPARATUS, RAINDROP RECOGNITION APPARATUS, AND ON-VEHICLE MONITORING APPARATUS
First Claim
1. A liquid droplet recognition apparatus for detecting a liquid droplet attached to a front surface of a transparent member, the apparatus comprising:
- an image pickup apparatus that picks up a vertically polarized light image and a horizontally polarized light image at the front surface of the transparent member from a side of a rear surface of the transparent member; and
a signal processing unit that determines whether the liquid droplet is attached to the front surface of the transparent member based on a polarized-light image ratio composed of the vertically polarized light image and the horizontally polarized light image picked up by the image pickup apparatus.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a liquid droplet recognition apparatus for detecting liquid droplets attached to a front surface of a transparent member. The apparatus includes an image pickup apparatus that picks up a vertically polarized light image and a horizontally polarized light image at the front surface of the transparent member from a side of a rear surface of the transparent member; and a signal processing unit that determines whether the liquid droplets are attached to the front surface of the transparent member based on a polarized-light image ratio composed of the vertically polarized light image and the horizontally polarized light image picked up by the image pickup apparatus.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A liquid droplet recognition apparatus for detecting a liquid droplet attached to a front surface of a transparent member, the apparatus comprising:
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an image pickup apparatus that picks up a vertically polarized light image and a horizontally polarized light image at the front surface of the transparent member from a side of a rear surface of the transparent member; and a signal processing unit that determines whether the liquid droplet is attached to the front surface of the transparent member based on a polarized-light image ratio composed of the vertically polarized light image and the horizontally polarized light image picked up by the image pickup apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An on-vehicle monitoring apparatus comprising:
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a light source; a pair of image pickup apparatuses; and a signal processing unit; wherein the light source, the pair of image pickup apparatuses, and the signal processing unit are mounted on a vehicle; the light source irradiates a windshield of the vehicle with a parallel light flux at an incident angle of Brewster'"'"'s angle, one of the pair of image pickup apparatuses picks up an S-polarized light image and a P-polarized light image by receiving reflection light of the light flux irradiated from the light source to the windshield while picking up an image of a subject ahead of the vehicle, the other of the pair of image pickup apparatuses picks up an image of the subject ahead of the vehicle, and the signal processing unit has a raindrop detection processing unit and an external information processing unit, the raindrop detection processing unit determining whether a raindrop is attached to the windshield based on a reflectance difference between the S-polarized light image and the P-polarized light image picked up by the one of the pair of image pickup apparatuses and the external information processing unit calculating a distance to the subject based on the images of the subject ahead of the vehicle picked up by the one of the pair of image pickup apparatuses and the other of the pair of image pickup apparatuses. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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Specification