APPARATUS FOR MONITORING SURROUNDINGS OF A VEHICLE
First Claim
1. An apparatus for monitoring surroundings of a vehicle, comprising:
- an imaging device that is mounted on a vehicle and captures an image around the vehicle; and
an image processing unit having a processor and a memory;
wherein the image processing unit is configured to;
transform a grayscale image acquired by the imaging device to a multi-value image;
detect an upper end of the head of the physical object in the multi-value image by determining a horizontal edge having a maximum edge intensity region of a first edge extraction mask applied to the multi-value image;
detect multiple vertical edges in the multi-value image by applying a second edge extraction mask extending downwards from the detected upper end of the head of the physical object;
detect a lower end of the head of the physical object based on a positional variation of the detected multiple vertical edges; and
toidentify a head region of the physical object based on the space between the upper end of the head and the lower end of the head of the physical object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus is provided with an imaging device and a device that transforms captured image to digital image. A first edge extraction mask is applied to detect multiple horizontal edges. The apparatus further includes a detector that detects upper end of the head of the object by detecting a horizontal edge having a highest edge intensity out of the multiple horizontal edges. A second edge extraction mask is used to detect the lower end of the head of the physical object by detecting multiple vertical edges and matching the positional variation of the multiple vertical edges with predetermined patterns.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. An apparatus for monitoring surroundings of a vehicle, comprising:
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an imaging device that is mounted on a vehicle and captures an image around the vehicle; and an image processing unit having a processor and a memory; wherein the image processing unit is configured to; transform a grayscale image acquired by the imaging device to a multi-value image; detect an upper end of the head of the physical object in the multi-value image by determining a horizontal edge having a maximum edge intensity region of a first edge extraction mask applied to the multi-value image; detect multiple vertical edges in the multi-value image by applying a second edge extraction mask extending downwards from the detected upper end of the head of the physical object; detect a lower end of the head of the physical object based on a positional variation of the detected multiple vertical edges; and
toidentify a head region of the physical object based on the space between the upper end of the head and the lower end of the head of the physical object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An apparatus for monitoring surroundings of a vehicle, comprising:
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an imaging means mounted on a vehicle for capturing an image around the vehicle; means for transforming a grayscale image acquired by the imaging device to a multi-value image; means for detecting an upper end of the head of the physical object in the multi-value image by determining a horizontal edge having a maximum edge intensity in the region of a first edge extraction mask applied to the multi-value image; means for detecting multiple vertical edges in the multi-value image by applying a second edge extraction mask extending downwards from the detected upper end of the head of the physical object in the multi-value image; means for detecting a lower end of the head of the physical object based on a positional variation of the detected multiple vertical edges in the multi-value image; and means for identifying a head region of the physical object in the multi-value image based on the space between the detected upper end of the head and the detected lower end of the head of the physical object. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of monitoring surroundings of a vehicle, comprising:
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capturing an image around the vehicle with an imaging device mounted on the vehicle; transforming a grayscale image acquired by the imaging device to a multi-value image; detecting an upper end of the head of the physical object in the multi-value image by determining a horizontal edge having a maximum edge intensity in the region of a first edge extraction mask applied to the multi-value image; detecting multiple vertical edges in the multi-value image by applying a second edge extraction mask extending downwards from the detected upper end of the head of the physical object in the multi-value image; detecting a lower end of the head of the physical object based on a positional variation of the detected multiple vertical edges in the multi-value image; and identifying a head region of the physical object in the multi-value image based on the space between the upper end of the head and the lower end of the head of the physical object. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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Specification