IMAGE CAPTURING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE
First Claim
1. An image capturing system for vehicle comprising:
- a current position detecting unit for detecting a current position;
a map information storage unit for storing map information;
an object-to-be-captured information storage unit for storing information about an object to be captured on a map shown by the map information stored in said map information storage unit as object-to-be-captured information;
a camera for capturing an image of the object to be captured while a vehicle travels;
an object-to-be-captured position determining unit for determining both a distance from the current position detected by said current position detecting unit to the object to be captured shown by the object-to-be-captured information stored in said object-to-be-captured information storage unit, and a direction of said object to be captured, on a basis of the map information stored in said map information storage unit;
a camera control unit for controlling said camera to orient said camera toward the direction determined by said object-to-be-captured position determining unit, and to focus said camera on the determined distance;
an image capture commanding unit for commanding said camera controlled by said camera control unit to capture an image;
a determining unit for determining whether or not the image which is captured by said camera in response to the command from said image capture commanding unit is a clearly-captured one of said object to be captured; and
an information storage unit for, when said determining unit determines that the image captured by said camera is a clearly-captured one of said object to be captured, storing the image therein.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An image capturing system for vehicle includes an object-to-be-captured information storage unit (12a) for storing information about an object to be captured on a map, a camera (18) for capturing an image of the object to be captured, an object-to-be-captured position determining unit (27) for determining a distance from the current position to the object to be captured, and the direction of the object to be captured, a camera control unit (28) for controlling the camera to orient the camera toward the determined direction, and to focus the camera on the determined distance, a determining unit (30) for determining whether or not an image captured by the camera is a clearly-captured one, and an information storage unit (17) for, when the determining unit determines that the captured image is a clearly-captured one, storing the image therein.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An image capturing system for vehicle comprising:
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a current position detecting unit for detecting a current position; a map information storage unit for storing map information; an object-to-be-captured information storage unit for storing information about an object to be captured on a map shown by the map information stored in said map information storage unit as object-to-be-captured information; a camera for capturing an image of the object to be captured while a vehicle travels; an object-to-be-captured position determining unit for determining both a distance from the current position detected by said current position detecting unit to the object to be captured shown by the object-to-be-captured information stored in said object-to-be-captured information storage unit, and a direction of said object to be captured, on a basis of the map information stored in said map information storage unit; a camera control unit for controlling said camera to orient said camera toward the direction determined by said object-to-be-captured position determining unit, and to focus said camera on the determined distance; an image capture commanding unit for commanding said camera controlled by said camera control unit to capture an image; a determining unit for determining whether or not the image which is captured by said camera in response to the command from said image capture commanding unit is a clearly-captured one of said object to be captured; and an information storage unit for, when said determining unit determines that the image captured by said camera is a clearly-captured one of said object to be captured, storing the image therein. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16)
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10. An image capturing system for vehicle comprising:
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a camera for capturing an image while a vehicle travels; an image capturing condition setting unit for setting up image capturing conditions including a direction of said camera and a distance; a camera control unit for controlling said camera according to the image capturing conditions set up by said image capturing condition setting unit; an image capture commanding unit for commanding said camera controlled by said camera control unit to capture an image; and an object-to-be-captured information storage unit for storing information about the image which is acquired by said camera according to the command from said image capture commanding unit as object-to-be-captured information. - View Dependent Claims (11, 13, 15, 17)
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Specification