DRIVING ASSIST APPARATUS, DRIVING ASSIST METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM STORING PROGRAM

• US 20170140230A1
• Filed: 08/21/2014
• Published: 05/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: YOSHIDA, Michinori, TSUSHIMA, Naoyuki
• Granted Patent: US 10,192,122 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/16 Tactile feedback to the driver, e.g. vibration or force feedback to the driver on the steering wheel or the accelerator pedal
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/251 of input or preprocessed data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/00 Three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30261 Obstacle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/13 Edge detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/25 Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/803 of input or preprocessed data
• 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: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A driving assist apparatus includes an image acquisition part to acquire a captured image around a vehicle, a position information acquisition part to acquire position information of a first object existing around the vehicle and detected by a sensor, a detection range determination part to determine a detection range of the first object within the captured image based on the position information of the first object, and an object recognition part to perform image processing on, within the captured image, an image existing in a range other than the detection range of the first object, thereby to recognize a second object that is different from the first object. Hence, a processing time taken for recognizing the second object from the captured image can be shortened.

Claims

1. A driving assist apparatus comprising:

an image acquisition part to acquire a captured image around a vehicle;

a position information acquisition part to acquire position information of a first object existing around the vehicle and detected by a sensor;

a detection range determination part to determine a detection range of the first object within the captured image based on the position information of the first object; and

an object recognition part to perform image processing on, within the captured image, an image existing in a range other than the detection range of the first object, and to recognize a second object that is different from the first object.

2. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object recognition part includes

a first recognition part to extract a pixel group having a color density equal to or higher than a threshold, from the range other than the detection range of the first object within the captured image, and to calculate a region based on the pixel group, and

a second recognition part to recognize the second object by performing image processing on an image within the region calculated by the first recognition part.

3. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 2, comprising a storage part to store an edge image expressing a feature of the second object,

wherein the second recognition part recognizes the second object by performing matching of the image within the region, with the edge image.

4. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first recognition part extracts the pixel group having the color density equal to or higher than the threshold from an image existing below a horizontal-direction line at such a height where a vanishing point is included, within the captured image.

5. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first recognition part extracts the pixel group having the color density equal to or higher than the threshold from an image in a traffic lane included in the captured image.

6. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a model generation part to generate a model that retains distance information of a distance between the vehicle and the second object recognized by the object recognition part.

7. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when distances among a plurality of models generated are each equal to or lower than a threshold, the model generation part generates the plurality of models, as a single model.

8. A driving assist apparatus comprising:

an image acquisition part to acquire a captured image around a vehicle;

a position information acquisition part to acquire position information of a first object existing around the vehicle and detected by radiation with a sensor in a first-line direction, and to acquire position information of a second object existing around the vehicle and detected by radiation with the sensor in a second-line direction;

a detection range determination part to determine a detection range of the first object within the captured image based on the position information of the first object, and to determine a detection range of the second object within the captured image based on the position information of the second object; and

an object recognition part to perform image processing on, within the captured image, an image existing in a range other than a composite range of the detection range of the first object and the detection range of the second object, and to recognize a third object that is different from the first object and the second object.

9. A driving assist method comprising:

acquiring a captured image around a vehicle;

acquiring position information of a first object existing around the vehicle and detected by a sensor;

determining a detection range of the first object within the captured image based on the position information of the first object; and

performing image processing on, within the captured image, an image existing in a range other than the detection range of the first object, thereby recognizing a second object that is different from the first object.

10. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute:

a process of acquiring a captured image around a vehicle;

a process of acquiring position information of a first object existing around the vehicle and detected by a sensor;

a process of determining a detection range of the first object within the captured image based on the position information of the first object; and

a process of performing image processing on, within the captured image, an image existing in a range other than the detection range of the first object, and recognizing a second object that is different from the first object.