Object Sensing Device

• US 20160012282A1
• Filed: 02/03/2014
• Published: 01/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Astemo Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: MATONO, Haruki, SHIMA, Takeshi, KAKEGAWA, Shinji, OTSUKA, Yuji
• Granted Patent: US 9,679,196 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/24 in front of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/31 providing stereoscopic vision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/30 characterised by the type of image processing
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/60 characterised by monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior scenes from a transformed perspective
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/804 for lane monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10021 Stereoscopic video; Stereoscopic image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20076 Probabilistic image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30196 Human being; Person
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30256 Lane; Road marking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/593 from stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/96 Management of image or video recognition tasks
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/35 Categorising the entire scene, e.g. birthday party or wedding scene
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• 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 40/103 Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/239 using two 2D image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance H04N13/243 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/0092 Image segmentation from stereoscopic image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/73 by influencing the exposure time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

In order to provide an object sensing device whereby, among limited computation resources, performance is improved in sensing an object when sense processing a plurality of objects to be sensed, an object sensing device includes image capture units which capture images external to a host vehicle, and a processing device which sense processes objects to be sensed from the images which are captured by the image capture units, said processing device further including: a scene analysis unit which analyzes a travel scene of the host vehicle; a process priority change unit which changes a sensing process priority of the object to be sensed on the basis of the travel scene which is analyzed by the scene analysis unit; and an object to be sensed sensing unit which carries out a sensing of the object to be sensed on the basis of the sensing process priority which is changed by the process priority change unit.

Claims

1. An object sensing device, comprising:

an image capture unit that captures surroundings of a host vehicle; and

a processing device that executes a sensing process of an object to be sensed from an image captured by the image capture unit,

wherein the processing device comprises;

a scene analysis unit that analyzes a travel scene of the host vehicle;

a process priority change unit that changes a sensing process priority of the object to be sensed based on the travel scene analyzed by the scene analysis unit; and

an object-to-be-sensed sensing unit that senses the object to be sensed based on the sensing process priority changed by the process priority change unit.

2. The object sensing device according to claim 1, wherein the image capture unit comprises a left image capture unit and a right image capture unit, and

the object-to-be-sensed sensing unit executes a sensing process of the object to be sensed from a left image captured by the left image capture unit and a right image captured by the right image capture unit.

3. The object sensing device according to claim 1, wherein the processing device comprises an existence probability calculation unit that calculates an existence probability of the object to be sensed based on the travel scene analyzed by the scene analysis unit, and

the process priority change unit changes the sensing process priority of the object to be sensed based on the existence probability calculated by the existence probability calculation unit.

4. The object sensing device according to claim 3, wherein the processing device comprises a vehicle speed determination unit that generates and outputs a speed command for controlling a speed of the host vehicle based on the existence probability calculated by the existence probability calculation unit.

5. The object sensing device according to claim 3, wherein the processing device comprises a parameter changing unit that changes exposure control parameters of the image capture unit based on the existence probability calculated by the existence probability calculation unit.

6. The object sensing device according to claim 1, wherein the processing device comprises:

an external information acquisition unit that acquires map information; and

an existence probability calculation unit that calculates an existence probability of the object to be sensed based on the map information acquired by the external information acquisition unit and the travel scene analyzed by the scene analysis unit,

wherein the process priority change unit changes the sensing process priority of the object to be sensed based on the existence probability calculated by the existence probability calculation unit.

7. The object sensing device according to claim 2, wherein the processing device comprises:

a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance to the object to be sensed from the left image and the right image; and

an existence probability calculation unit that calculates an existence probability of the object to be sensed based on the travel scene analyzed by the scene analysis unit,

wherein the process priority change unit changes the sensing process priority of the object to be sensed based on the existence probability calculated by the existence probability calculation unit, and

the object-to-be-sensed sensing unit executes a sensing process of the object to be sensed based on distance information calculated by the distance calculation unit and the sensing process priority changed by the process priority change unit.

8. The object sensing device according to claim 7, wherein the scene analysis unit comprises one of the following means:

a road region extraction means that extracts a road region based on the left image, the right image, and the distance information;

a parked vehicle detection means that detects a parked vehicle based on the left image, the right image, and the distance information;

a road side condition determination means that determines attributes of places in regions outside of the road region based on the left image, the right image, and the distance information; and

a crosswalk detection means that detects a crosswalk based on the left image, the right image, and the distance information.

9. The object sensing device according to claim 6, wherein the existence probability calculation unit calculates the existence probability of the object to be sensed from the map information and the travel scene using pre-stored learned data in which travel scene types, place attributes, and existence probability values are associated.

10. The object sensing device according to claim 5, wherein if the object to be sensed is a pedestrian, the parameter changing unit comprises:

a region of high probability of pedestrians extraction means that extracts regions in which a possibility that a pedestrian exists is high from the existence probability calculated by the existence probability calculation unit;

a pedestrian sensing logic changing means that changes a pedestrian sensing logic that senses a pedestrian based on the regions in which a possibility that a pedestrian exists is high;

an image preprocessing parameter changing means that performs gradation correction on an image based on the regions in which a possibility that a pedestrian exists is high; and

an exposure control parameter changing means that extracts a brightness of an image from the regions in which a possibility that a pedestrian exists is high and changes exposure control parameters based on the brightness of the image.

11. The object sensing device according to claim 1, wherein the image capture unit and the processing device are installed in an integrated housing or are installed in separate housings.