VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM AND IMAGE SENSOR

• US 20150086079A1
• Filed: 09/26/2014
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: MURAO, Toshikazu, SHIOTA, Kentarou, SUGIYAMA, Naoki, KIMURA, Takayuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,626,570 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/143 Sensing or illuminating at different wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A vehicle control system includes a light-receiving section which has a plurality of filters having different pass bands, and a plurality of light-receiving elements, each of which receives incident light via any one of the filters; an image data generation section which, when receiving general image data which is an output of the light-receiving section, extracts outputs of the light-receiving elements correlated to the filters to generate discrete image data, which is image data for each of the filters; an image data processing section which detects at least one object, based on the discrete image data generated by the image data generation section or composite image data generated by combining the discrete image data; and a vehicle control section which performs vehicle control, according to the object detected by the image data processing section.

Claims

1. A vehicle control system, comprising:

a light-receiving section which has a plurality of filters having different pass bands, and a plurality of light-receiving elements, each of which receives incident light via any one of the filters;

an image data generation section which, when receiving general image data which is an output of the light-receiving section, extracts outputs of the light-receiving elements correlated to the filters to generate discrete image data, which is image data for each of the filters;

an image data processing section which detects, based on the discrete image data generated by the image data generation section or composite image data generated by combining the discrete image data, at least one object included in a group of an obstacle, a preceding vehicle, a preceding pedestrian, a preceding object, a stationary vehicle, a stationary pedestrian, a stationary object, an on-coming vehicle, an on-coming pedestrian, an on-coming object, a lane, a road surface condition, a road shape, a light source, a road sign, a traffic signal, an entity which cuts off a field of view of the light-receiving section, and an environmental feature outside a vehicle; and

a vehicle control section which performs, according to the object detected by the image data processing section, vehicle control regarding at least one of collision avoidance, speed warning, lane departure prevention, rear-end collision warning, inter-vehicle warning, lane departure warning, auto high beam, sign indication, full speed range adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, lane change accident prevention, blind spot warning, blind spot monitoring, automatic lane change, forward cross traffic warning, rearward cross traffic warning, erroneous pedal usage prevention, and automatic parking.

2. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein the filters include at least one type of limited filter whose light-receiving band is a band to which the light-receiving elements are sensitive and whose pass band is a part of the light-receiving band, and an all-pass filter whose pass band is at least the combined pass band of the limited filters.

3. The vehicle control system according to claim 2, wherein

the light-receiving band includes a band corresponding to visible light, and

the limited filter has the pass band corresponding to any one of red, green, and blue.

4. The vehicle control system according to claim 2, wherein

the image data generation section generates, as the discrete image data, high-sensitivity image data based on the output of the light-receiving section which receives light via the all-pass filter, and low-sensitivity image data based on the output of the light-receiving section which receives light via the limited filter.

5. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein

the light-receiving section has a plurality of light-receiving element rows in which the light-receiving elements are arranged in line and reads outputs of light-receiving elements of each of the light-receiving element rows, and

types of the filters applied to the light-receiving elements are limited for each of the light-receiving element rows.

6. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, further comprising an image selection means for selecting the discrete image so data used for detecting the object, according to at least one of a type of the object to be detected and a scene of an image represented by the discrete image data, wherein

the image data processing section detects the object by using the image data selected by the image selection means.

7. The vehicle control system according to claim 4, wherein

the image selection means selects the high-sensitivity image data if an average brightness of the scene is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, and the image selection means selects the low-sensitivity image data if the average brightness is higher than the predetermined threshold.

8. The vehicle control system according to claim 4, wherein

the image data generation section includes a scene determination means for determining whether or not a scene represented by the image data is a specific scene having a probability of an insufficient dynamic range, and

if the scene determination means determines that the scene represented by the image data is the specific scene, the image data generation section generates the composite image data, in which the high-sensitivity image data is used in an area whose brightness is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold and the low-sensitivity image data is used in an area whose brightness is higher than the predetermined threshold.

9. The vehicle control system according to claim 8, wherein

the scene determination means determines that a scene in which a construction is present is the specific scene, the construction casting a shadow equal to or larger than the object.

10. The vehicle control system according to claim 8, wherein

the scene determination means performs the determination by using at least one of a detection result of the object in the past and prepared map information.

11. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein

the filters of the light-receiving section are set so that the discrete image data individually generated for the filters are under conditions in which angles of view and resolutions are substantially the same.

12. An image sensor, comprises:

a light-receiving section which has a plurality of filters having different pass bands, and a plurality of light-receiving elements, each of which receives incident light via any one of the filters; and

an image data generation section which, when receiving general image data which is an output of the light-receiving section, extracts outputs of the light-receiving elements correlated to the filters to generate discrete image data, which is image data for each of the filters.

13. The image sensor according to claim 12, wherein

the image sensor configures a monocular camera.

14. The image sensor according to claim 12, wherein

the filters includes at least one type of limited filter whose light-receiving band is a band to which the light-receiving elements are sensitive and whose pass band is a part of the light-receiving band, and an all-pass filter whose pass band is at least the combined pass band of the limited filters.

15. The image sensor according to claim 14, wherein

the light-receiving band includes a band corresponding to visible light, and

the limited filter has the pass band corresponding to an_{y o}ne of red, green, and blue.

16. The image sensor according to claim 14, wherein

the image data generation section generates, as the discrete image data, high-sensitivity image data based on the output of the light-receiving section which receives light via the all-pass filter, and low-sensitivity image data based on the output of the light-receiving section which receives light via the limited filter.

17. The image sensor according to claim 12, wherein

the light-receiving section has a plurality of light-receiving element rows in which the light-receiving elements are arranged in line and reads outputs of light-receiving elements of each of the light-receiving element rows, and types of the filters applied to the light-receiving elements are limited for each of the light-receiving element rows.

18. The image sensor according to claim 12, wherein

the image data generation section generates composite image data in which the discrete image data are combined.

19. The image sensor according to claim 12, wherein

the image data generation section outputs image data designated by an external unit.

20. The image sensor according to claim 12, wherein

the filters of the light-receiving section are set so that the discrete image data individually generated for the filters are under conditions in which angles of view and resolutions are substantially the same.

21. The image sensor according to claim 12, further comprising an image data processing section which detects, based on the discrete image data generated by the image data generation section or composite image data generated by combining the discrete image data, at least one object included in a group of an obstacle, a preceding vehicle, a preceding pedestrian, a preceding object, a stationary vehicle, a stationary pedestrian, a stationary object, an on-coming vehicle, an on-coming pedestrian, an on-coming object, a lane, a road surface condition, a road shape, a light source, a road sign, a traffic signal, an entity which cuts off a field of view of the light-receiving section, and an environmental feature outside a vehicle.

22. A vehicle control system, comprising:

a receiver section which has a plurality of filters having different pass bands, and a plurality of receiving elements, each of which receives electromagnetic waves via any one of the filters;

a scan data generation section which, when receiving general scan data which is an output of the receiver section, extracts outputs of the receiving elements correlated to the filters to generate discrete scan data, which is scan data for each of the filters;

a scan data processing section which detects, based on the discrete scan data generated by the scan data generation section or composite scan data generated by combining the discrete scan data, at least one object included in a group of an obstacle, a preceding vehicle, a preceding pedestrian, a preceding object, a stationary vehicle, a stationary pedestrian, a stationary object, an on-coming vehicle, an on-coming pedestrian, an on-coming object, a lane, a road surface condition, a road shape, a light source, a road sign, a traffic signal, an entity which cuts off a field of view of the light-receiving section, and an environmental feature outside a vehicle; and

a vehicle control section which performs, according to the object detected by the image data processing section, vehicle control regarding at least one of collision avoidance, speed warning, lane departure prevention, rear-end collision warning, inter-vehicle warning, lane departure warning, auto high beam, sign indication, full speed range adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, lane change accident prevention, blind spot warning, blind spot monitoring, automatic lane change, forward cross traffic warning, rearward cross traffic warning, erroneous pedal usage prevention, and automatic parking.

23. A vehicle control system, comprising:

a light-receiving section which has a plurality of filters having different pass bands, and a plurality of light-receiving elements, each of which receives incident light via any one of the filters;

an image data generation section which, when receiving general image data which is an output of the light-receiving section, extracts outputs of the light-receiving elements correlated to the filters of the light-receiving section to generate discrete image data, which is image data for each of the filters;

a receiver section which has a plurality of filters having different pass bands, and a plurality of receiving elements, each of which receives electromagnetic waves via any one of the filters;

a scan data generation section which, when receiving general scan data which is an output of the receiver section, extracts outputs of the receiving elements correlated to the filters of the receiver section to generate discrete scan data, which is scan data for each of the filters;

an image data processing section which detects, based on the discrete image data generated by the image data generation section or composite image data generated by combining the discrete image data, and the discrete scan data generated by the scan data generation section or composite scan data generated by combining the discrete scan data, at least one object included in a group of an obstacle, a preceding vehicle, a preceding pedestrian, a preceding object, a stationary vehicle, a stationary pedestrian, a stationary object, an on-coming vehicle, an on-coming pedestrian, an on-coming object, a lane, a road surface condition, a road shape, a light source, a road sign, a traffic signal, an entity which cuts off a field of view of the light-receiving section or the receiver section, and an environmental feature outside a vehicle; and

a vehicle control section which performs, according to the object detected by the image data processing section, vehicle control regarding at least one of collision avoidance, speed warning, lane departure prevention, rear-end collision warning, inter-vehicle warning, lane departure warning, _auto high beam, sign indication, full speed range adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, lane change accident prevention, blind spot warning, blind spot monitoring, automatic lane change, forward cross traffic warning, rearward cross traffic warning, erroneous pedal usage prevention, and automatic parking.