METHOD FOR DETECTING MOUNTING POSTURE OF IN-VEHICLE CAMERA AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

• US 20160037032A1
• Filed: 07/29/2015
• Published: 02/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Iwama, Haruyuki
• Application Number:
  US14/812,706
• Publication Number:
  US 20160037032A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20061 Hough transform
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30244 Camera pose
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/54 Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums

Abstract

According to a method, distortion of a picked-up image is corrected. A vertical line relative to a road surface is detected from the picked-up image. A vanishing point of a group of the detected vertical lines is calculated. A rotation angle around a Z axis of an in-vehicle camera is calculated as a roll angle of the camera. A rotation angle around an X axis of the camera is calculated as a pitch angle of the camera. A boundary line between a specific part and the road surface is detected from the picked-up image, and a reference line of the vehicle is calculated based on the detected boundary line. A rotation angle around a Y axis of the camera is calculated as a yaw angle of the camera. The roll angle, pitch angle, and the yaw angle are outputted as a mounting posture of the camera.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a mounting posture of an in-vehicle camera, in which the in-vehicle camera is mounted to the vehicle such that a specific part of the vehicle is included in an imaging range, and a picked-up image is received from the in-vehicle camera so as to determine whether or not a mounting posture of the in-vehicle camera is proper, the method comprising:

an image input step of receiving the picked-up image;

a distortion correction step correcting distortion of the received picked-up image;

a vertical line detection step of detecting a vertical line relative to a road surface, from the picked-up image that has been subjected to distortion correction;

a vanishing point calculation step of calculating a vanishing point of a group of the detected vertical lines;

a roll angle calculation step of calculating, as a roll angle of the in-vehicle camera, a rotation angle around a Z axis of the in-vehicle camera, in a case where the calculated vanishing point of the group of vertical lines overlaps a center line of the image relative to an X direction;

a pitch angle calculation step of calculating, as a pitch angle of the in-vehicle camera, a rotation angle around an X axis of the in-vehicle camera, in a case where the calculated vanishing point of the group of vertical lines corresponds to infinity;

a reference line calculation step of detecting a boundary line between the specific part and the road surface from the picked-up image that has been subjected to the distortion correction, and calculating a reference line of the vehicle on the basis of the detected boundary line; and

a yaw angle calculation step of calculating, as a yaw angle of the in-vehicle camera, a rotation angle around a Y axis of the in-vehicle camera, in a case where the calculated reference line of the vehicle is parallel to an image X axis, wherein

the roll angle of the in-vehicle camera, the pitch angle of the in-vehicle camera, and the yaw angle of the in-vehicle camera are outputted as a mounting posture of the in-vehicle camera.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

in the distortion correction step, distortion of the picked-up image, which is induced by a lens provided to the in-vehicle camera, is corrected.

3. A mounting posture detection apparatus for the in-vehicle camera, in which the in-vehicle camera is mounted to the vehicle such that a specific part of the vehicle is included in an imaging range, and a picked-up image is received from the in-vehicle camera so as to determine whether or not a mounting posture of the in-vehicle camera is proper, the apparatus comprising:

an image input unit which receives the picked-up image;

a distortion correction section which corrects distortion of the picked-up image received by the image input section;

a vertical line detector which detects a vertical line relative to a road surface, from the picked-up image that has been subjected to distortion correction by the distortion correction section;

a reference line calculator which detects a boundary line between the specific part and the road surface from the picked-up image that has been subjected to distortion correction by the distortion correction section, and calculates a reference line of the vehicle 100 on the basis of the detected boundary line;

a vanishing point calculator which calculates a vanishing point of a group of detected vertical lines detected by the vertical line detector;

a roll angle calculator which calculates, as a roll angle of the in-vehicle camera, a rotation angle around a Z axis of the in-vehicle camera, in a case where the vanishing point of the group of vertical lines calculated by the vanishing point calculator overlaps a center line of the image relative to an X direction;

a pitch angle calculator which calculates, as a pitch angle of the in-vehicle camera, a rotation angle around an X axis of the in-vehicle camera, in a case where the vanishing point of the group of vertical lines calculated by the vanishing point calculator corresponds to infinity;

a yaw angle calculator which calculates, as a yaw angle of the in-vehicle camera, a rotation angle around a Y axis of the in-vehicle camera, in a case where the reference line of the vehicle calculated by the reference line calculator is parallel to an image X axis; and

an output unit which outputs the roll angle of the in-vehicle camera calculated by the roll angle calculator, the pitch angle of the in-vehicle camera calculated by the pitch angle calculator, and the yaw angle of the in-vehicle camera calculated by the pitch angle calculator as a mounting posture of the in-vehicle camera.

4. The mounting posture detection apparatus for the in-vehicle camera according to claim 3, wherein

the distortion correction section corrects distortion of the picked-up image induced by a lens provided to the in-vehicle camera.