Distance detecting apparatus for a vehicle
First Claim
1. A distance detecting apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
- a pair of optical sensing means for individually optically sensing a plurality of objects and generating corresponding image signals;
first memory means for storing an output image signal from one of said optical sensing means as a first image signal;
second memory means for storing an output image signal from another one of said optical sensing means as a second image signal;
a display having a screen for displaying images of said objects as sensed by said pair of optical sensing means;
window setting means for successively setting an image-following window on the screen of said display at a location enclosing a target preceding vehicle as well as a plurality of distance-measuring windows at predetermined locations on the screen of said display;
distance calculating means for comparing images of said objects associated with said respective windows and stored in said first memory means with corresponding images of said objects stored in said second memory means so as to detect deviations therebetween, said distance calculating means individually calculating the distance to an object associated with each window based on the detected deviations; and
image-following-window updating means for successively comparing at predetermined intervals an image in said image-following window, which is currently sensed by one of said optical sensing means and stored in said first memory, with an image of said target vehicle, which was previously sensed by said one of said optical sensing means and stored in said first memory, so as to update the image-following window at a location which provides a best match therebetween.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A distance detecting apparatus can not only measure the distance to a target preceding vehicle but also detect obstacles such as an intervening vehicle, other vehicles running around or adjacent the target vehicle without any movement of the apparatus itself. The apparatus includes a window setting device 13 for setting a plurality of distance-measuring windows 21 through 25 on a screen 20 on the basis of one of two image signals generated by a pair of video cameras 5, 6, a switch 14 for setting an image-following window 26 enclosing the preceding vehicle to be followed, and a CPU 12 for measuring the distance to an object in each distance-measuring window as well as the distance to an object in the image-following window.
302 Citations
4 Claims
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1. A distance detecting apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
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a pair of optical sensing means for individually optically sensing a plurality of objects and generating corresponding image signals; first memory means for storing an output image signal from one of said optical sensing means as a first image signal; second memory means for storing an output image signal from another one of said optical sensing means as a second image signal; a display having a screen for displaying images of said objects as sensed by said pair of optical sensing means; window setting means for successively setting an image-following window on the screen of said display at a location enclosing a target preceding vehicle as well as a plurality of distance-measuring windows at predetermined locations on the screen of said display; distance calculating means for comparing images of said objects associated with said respective windows and stored in said first memory means with corresponding images of said objects stored in said second memory means so as to detect deviations therebetween, said distance calculating means individually calculating the distance to an object associated with each window based on the detected deviations; and image-following-window updating means for successively comparing at predetermined intervals an image in said image-following window, which is currently sensed by one of said optical sensing means and stored in said first memory, with an image of said target vehicle, which was previously sensed by said one of said optical sensing means and stored in said first memory, so as to update the image-following window at a location which provides a best match therebetween. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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Specification