Apparatus and method for vehicle following with dynamic feature recognition
First Claim
1. An apparatus for controlling a following vehicle to substantially follow the path of a lead moving object, comprising:
- a distinctive mark on the lead moving object;
first means for generating image data indicative of two corresponding images of the mark on the lead moving object;
second means for generating at least one image profile for each mark image based on average values for a plurality of groups of image data points to further suppress noise in the image profiles;
third means for generating at least one characteristic feature of each mark image selected from the group including;
(i) the maximum slope of the respective image profile, (ii) the minimum slope of the respective image profile, and (iii) at least one dimension defining the distance between two edges of the respective image profile; and
fourth means for generating signals indicative of at least one of (i) the approximate distance between the lead moving object and the following vehicle and (ii) the heading angle of the lead moving object based on the characteristic features of the at least two image profiles.
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Abstract
In an apparatus and method for automatic vehicle following, a pair of video cameras are mounted on the front portion of a following vehicle, and each camera generates image data indicative of a respective image of a distinctive mark located on a rearward portion of a lead vehicle. An image processor generates two one-dimensional image-intensity distributions for each mark image based on the image data, and in turn generates a respective edge-intensity distribution based on each image-intensity distribution. The edge-intensity distributions are each generated by taking the first derivative of the respective image-intensity distribution. The image processor in turn generates a respective feature vector based on each edge-intensity distribution, wherein the vector components of each feature vector define select characteristics of the respective mark image. The center points of the two corresponding mark images are determined based on the feature vectors, and a signal processor generates signals indicative of the following distance and the heading angle of the lead vehicle based on the image center points. A window enclosing each mark image is moved upon generating a new mark image to the approximate center point of the preceding image, to substantially follow image movements from one camera image frame to the next, and thereby suppress noise and enhance the image-processing speed of the apparatus.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. An apparatus for controlling a following vehicle to substantially follow the path of a lead moving object, comprising:
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a distinctive mark on the lead moving object; first means for generating image data indicative of two corresponding images of the mark on the lead moving object; second means for generating at least one image profile for each mark image based on average values for a plurality of groups of image data points to further suppress noise in the image profiles; third means for generating at least one characteristic feature of each mark image selected from the group including;
(i) the maximum slope of the respective image profile, (ii) the minimum slope of the respective image profile, and (iii) at least one dimension defining the distance between two edges of the respective image profile; andfourth means for generating signals indicative of at least one of (i) the approximate distance between the lead moving object and the following vehicle and (ii) the heading angle of the lead moving object based on the characteristic features of the at least two image profiles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for controlling a following vehicle to substantially follow the path of a lead moving object, comprising the steps of:
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generating image data indicative of two corresponding images of a distinctive mark on the lead moving object; generating at least one image profile for each mark image based on average values for a plurality of groups of image data points to further suppress noise in the image profiles; generating at least one characteristic feature of each mark image selected from the group including (i) the maximum slope of the respective image profile, (ii) the minimum slope of the respective image profile, and (iii) at least one dimension defining the distance between two edges of the respective image profile; and generating signals indicative of at least one of (i) the approximate distance between the lead moving object and the following vehicle and (ii) the heading angle of the lead moving object based on the characteristic features of the at least two image profiles. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification