ENVIRONMENT RECOGNIZING DEVICE FOR VEHICLE

• US 20120300078A1
• Filed: 01/17/2011
• Published: 11/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Ogata, Takehito, Sakamoto, Hiroshi
• Application Number:
  US13/575,480
• Publication Number:
  US 20120300078A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9323 Alternative operation using light waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/50 by performing operations within image blocks; by using histograms, e.g. histogram of oriented gradients [HoG]; by summing image-intensity values; Projection analysis
• 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 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

There is provided an environment recognizing device for a vehicle capable of reducing false detections for an artificial object such as a utility pole, a guardrail and road paintings with smaller processing load, at the time of detecting a pedestrian by using a pattern matching method. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle includes an image acquisition unit (1011) for acquiring a picked up image in front of an own vehicle; a processing region setting unit (1021) for setting a processing region used for detecting a pedestrian from the image; a pedestrian candidate setting unit (1031) for setting a pedestrian candidate region used for determining an existence of the pedestrian from the image; and a pedestrian determination unit (1041) for determining whether the pedestrian candidate region is the pedestrian or an artificial object depending on a gray-scale variation rate in a predetermined direction within the pedestrian candidate region.

Claims

1. An environment recognizing device for a vehicle comprising:

an image acquisition unit for acquiring a picked up image in front of an own vehicle;

a processing region setting unit for setting a processing region used for detecting a pedestrian from the image;

a pedestrian candidate setting unit for setting a pedestrian candidate region used for determining an existence of the pedestrian from the image; and

a pedestrian determination unit for determining whether the pedestrian candidate region is the pedestrian or an artificial object depending on a gray-scale variation rate in a predetermined direction within the pedestrian candidate region.

2. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the pedestrian candidate setting unit extracts a pedestrian candidate region likely to be the pedestrian from the image within the processing region by using an identifier generated by off-line learning.

3. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 1,

further comprising an object detection unit for acquiring object information regarding a detected object existing in front of the own vehicle,

wherein

the processing region setting unit sets the processing region in the image based on the acquired object information.

4. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the artificial object includes any one of a utility pole, a guardrail and road paintings.

5. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the pedestrian candidate setting unit:

extracts edges from the image so as to generate an edge image;

sets a matching determination region used for determining the pedestrian based on the edge image; and

sets the matching determination region to be the pedestrian candidate region if the matching determination region is determined to be the pedestrian.

6. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the pedestrian determination unit:

calculates directional gray-scale variations in plural directions from the image;

calculates a gray-scale variation rate in a vertical direction and a gray-scale variation rate in a horizontal direction based on the calculated gray-scale variations from the pedestrian candidate region; and

determines the pedestrian candidate region to be the pedestrian if the calculated gray-scale variation rate in the vertical direction is less than a predefined threshold value for the vertical direction and if the calculated gray-scale variation rate in the horizontal direction is less than a predefined threshold value for the horizontal direction.

7. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the pedestrian candidate setting unit calculates pedestrian candidate object information from the pedestrian candidate region.

8. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 7,

further comprising a first collision determination unit for determining whether or not there is a danger that the own vehicle will collide with a detected object based on the pedestrian candidate object information, and generates an alarm signal or a brake control signal based on a result of the determination.

9. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 8, wherein the first collision determination unit:

acquires the pedestrian candidate object information;

calculates collision prediction time required for the own vehicle to collide with the object detected from the pedestrian candidate object information based on a relative distance and a relative speed between the detected object and the own vehicle;

calculates a degree of collision danger based on a distance between the object detected from the pedestrian candidate object information and the own vehicle; and

determines whether or not there is a danger of collision based on the collision prediction time and the degree of collision danger.

10. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the first collision determination unit:

selects the object having a highest degree of collision danger; and

generates an alarm signal or a brake control signal if the collision prediction time relative to the selected object is equal to or less than a predefined threshold value.

11. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 6,

further comprising a second collision determination unit for determining whether or not there is a danger that the own vehicle will collide with the pedestrian based on pedestrian information regarding the pedestrian determined at the pedestrian determination unit, and generates an alarm signal or a brake control signal based on a result of the determination.

12. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 11, wherein the second collision determination unit:

acquires the pedestrian information;

calculates collision prediction time required for the own vehicle to collide with the pedestrian based on a relative distance and a relative speed between the pedestrian detected from the pedestrian information and the own vehicle;

calculates a degree of collision danger based on a distance between the pedestrian detected from the pedestrian information and the own vehicle; and

determines whether or not there is a danger of collision based on the collision prediction time and the degree of the collision danger.

13. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 12, wherein the second collision determination unit:

selects the pedestrian having a highest degree of collision danger; and

generates an alarm signal or a brake control signal if the collision prediction time relative to the selected pedestrian is equal to or less than a predefined threshold value.

14. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 1,

further comprising a pedestrian decision unit for deciding an existence of the pedestrian in a region determined to be the pedestrian at the pedestrian determination unit, by using an identifier generated by off-line learning.

15. The environment recognizing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the pedestrian determination unit comprises a first pedestrian determination unit and a second pedestrian determination unit,

the first pedestrian determination unit determines whether the pedestrian candidate region is the pedestrian or the artificial object depending on a gray-scale variation rate in a predetermined direction within the pedestrian candidate region, and

the second pedestrian determination unit determines whether a pedestrian determination region determined to be the pedestrian at the first pedestrian determination unit is the pedestrian or the artificial object based on a number of pixels having values equal to or more than a predetermined luminance value in the pedestrian determination region.