Driving environment surveillance apparatus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A driving environment surveillance apparatus comprising:
- an obstacle detecting unit for scanning a plurality of divided peripheral regions in a travelling direction of a vehicle so as to, if an obstacle is present in said peripheral regions, detect a relative distance and an azimuth to said obstacle from said vehicle;
an image detecting unit for detecting two-dimensional images in said peripheral regions;
an image processing region limiting unit for specifying a region where an obstacle is present depending upon said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to derive a two-dimensional image corresponding to said specified region from said image detecting unit;
an obstacle extracting unit for extracting said obstacle from said two-dimensional image derived by said image processing region limiting unit so as to calculate a size index of said obstacle; and
a driving environment output unit for specifying a position where said obstacle is present in a real spacial coordinate with respect to a driving road of said vehicle depending upon said distance and said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to display a figure indicating said size index of said obstacle at said specified position.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A driving environment surveillance apparatus is provided to specify a region where an obstacle is present depending upon an azimuth detected by an obstacle detecting unit so as to derive a two-dimensional image corresponding to the specified region from an image detecting unit, and to extract the obstacle from the two-dimensional image so as to calculate a size index of the obstacle, thereby detecting a relative distance or the azimuth to the obstacle from a vehicle with high accuracy and at a high speed.
-
Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A driving environment surveillance apparatus comprising:
-
an obstacle detecting unit for scanning a plurality of divided peripheral regions in a travelling direction of a vehicle so as to, if an obstacle is present in said peripheral regions, detect a relative distance and an azimuth to said obstacle from said vehicle; an image detecting unit for detecting two-dimensional images in said peripheral regions; an image processing region limiting unit for specifying a region where an obstacle is present depending upon said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to derive a two-dimensional image corresponding to said specified region from said image detecting unit; an obstacle extracting unit for extracting said obstacle from said two-dimensional image derived by said image processing region limiting unit so as to calculate a size index of said obstacle; and a driving environment output unit for specifying a position where said obstacle is present in a real spacial coordinate with respect to a driving road of said vehicle depending upon said distance and said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to display a figure indicating said size index of said obstacle at said specified position. - View Dependent Claims (7, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
2. A driving environment surveillance apparatus comprising:
-
an obstacle detecting unit for scanning a plurality of divided peripheral regions in a travelling direction of a vehicle so as to, if an obstacle is present in said peripheral regions, detect a relative distance and an azimuth to said obstacle from said vehicle; an image detecting unit for detecting two-dimensional images in said peripheral regions; an image processing region limiting unit for specifying a region where an obstacle is present depending upon said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to derive a two-dimensional image corresponding to said specified region from said image detecting unit; a correcting unit for limiting said region specified by said image processing region limiting unit according to said distance detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to derive a two-dimensional image corresponding to said limited region from said image processing region limiting unit; an obstacle extracting unit for extracting said obstacle from said two-dimensional image limited by said correcting unit so as to calculate a size index of said obstacle; and a driving environment output unit for specifying a position where said obstacle is present in a real spacial coordinate with respect to a driving road of said vehicle depending upon said distance and said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to display a figure indicating said size index of said obstacle at said specified position.
-
-
3. A driving environment surveillance apparatus comprising:
-
an obstacle detecting unit for scanning a plurality of divided peripheral regions in a travelling direction of a vehicle so as to, if an obstacle is present in said peripheral regions, detect a relative distance and an azimuth to said obstacle from said vehicle; an image detecting unit for detecting two-dimensional images in said peripheral regions; an image processing region limiting unit for specifying a region where an obstacle is present depending upon said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to derive a two-dimensional image corresponding to said specified region from said image detecting unit; an obstacle extracting unit for extracting said obstacle from said two-dimensional image derived by said image processing region limiting unit so as to calculate a size index of said obstacle; a first driving environment output unit for specifying a position where said obstacle is present in a real spacial coordinate with respect to a driving road of said vehicle depending upon said distance and said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to display a figure indicating said size index of said obstacle at said specified position; a predicting unit for predicting an amount of movement of said obstacle depending upon said distance and said azimuth currently detected by said first driving environment output unit and previously detected distance and azimuth; a second driving environment output unit for specifying a position where said obstacle is present in a real spacial coordinate with respect to a driving road of said vehicle depending upon said distance and said azimuth currently detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to display a figure indicating said size index and said amount of movement of said obstacle at said specified position. - View Dependent Claims (4, 8)
-
-
5. A driving environment surveillance apparatus comprising:
-
an obstacle detecting unit for scanning a plurality of divided peripheral regions in a travelling direction of a vehicle so as to, if an obstacle is present in said peripheral regions, detect a relative distance and an azimuth to said obstacle from said vehicle; an image detecting unit for detecting two-dimensional images in said peripheral regions; an image processing region limiting unit for specifying a region where an obstacle is present depending upon said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to derive a two-dimensional image corresponding to said specified region from said image detecting unit; an obstacle extracting unit for extracting said obstacle from said two-dimensional image derived by said image processing region limiting unit so as to calculate a size index of said obstacle; a driving environment output unit for specifying a position where said obstacle is present in a real spacial coordinate with respect to a driving road of said vehicle depending upon said distance and said azimuth detected by said obstacle detecting unit so as to display a figure indicating said size index of said obstacle at said specified position; a predicting unit for predicting an amount of movement and a movement direction of said obstacle depending upon said distance and said azimuth currently detected by said first driving environment output unit and previously detected distance and azimuth; and a second driving environment output unit for specifying one position where said obstacle is present depending upon said distance and said azimuth currently detected by said obstacle detecting unit and said other position where said obstacle will be present after said movement depending upon said amount of movement and said movement direction predicted by said predicting unit in a real spacial coordinate with respect to a driving road of a vehicle so as to display a figure indicating said size index of said obstacle at said position where said obstacle is present and another figure indicating said amount of movement at said position where said obstacle will be present after said movement. - View Dependent Claims (6)
-
Specification