Device for determining distance between vehicles
First Claim
1. A device for determining the distance between one vehicle traveling in a traffic lane defined by a lane line and a vehicle ahead also traveling in said traffic lane, comprising:
- a pair of light receivers each having a light sensor array;
line detecting means for determining the position of the lane line by detecting an image at a maximum point in a distribution of a quantity of light on said light sensor array of at least one of said pair of light receivers, and providing an output signal representing a position of the lane line, said output signal being based on only said maximum point;
measuring range detecting means responsive to said output signal of said line detecting means for detecting the width of the traffic lane; and
distance detecting means for determining the distance to said vehicle ahead on the basis of a position where an image of said vehicle ahead is formed on said light sensor array within a range of said traffic lane detected by said measuring range detecting means, wherein said distance detecting means disregards objects outside of said range of said traffic lane.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device for determining the distance between vehicles according to this invention is used with a vehicle for determining the distance to a vehicle ahead of the device-equipped vehicle moving on a traffic lane defined by lines drawn on a road. The device comprises a pair of light receivers each having at least one light sensor array, a line detector for detecting images at points at which the quantity of light takes maximum values on the light sensor array of at least one of the light receivers as the lines and providing an output signal representing the positions of the lines, a measuring range detector responsive to the output signal of the line detector for detecting a range of the traffic lane on which the device-equipped vehicle is moving; and a distance detector for determining the distance to the vehicle ahead on the basis of positions where an image of the vehicle ahead is formed on the light sensor array within the range of the traffic lane detected by the measuring range detector.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A device for determining the distance between one vehicle traveling in a traffic lane defined by a lane line and a vehicle ahead also traveling in said traffic lane, comprising:
-
a pair of light receivers each having a light sensor array; line detecting means for determining the position of the lane line by detecting an image at a maximum point in a distribution of a quantity of light on said light sensor array of at least one of said pair of light receivers, and providing an output signal representing a position of the lane line, said output signal being based on only said maximum point; measuring range detecting means responsive to said output signal of said line detecting means for detecting the width of the traffic lane; and distance detecting means for determining the distance to said vehicle ahead on the basis of a position where an image of said vehicle ahead is formed on said light sensor array within a range of said traffic lane detected by said measuring range detecting means, wherein said distance detecting means disregards objects outside of said range of said traffic lane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A device for detecting a lane line marking the boundary of a lane on a road, comprising;
-
a light receiver having separate first light sensor array, second light sensor array, and third light sensor array; and line detecting means detecting a straight line that connects only a point of maximum value in a distribution of quantity of light on said first light sensor array and only a point of maximum value in a distribution of quantity of light on said second light sensor array, and detecting an image of the straight line as the lane line when the straight line passes within a predetermined range centered only at a point of maximum value in a distribution of quantity of light on said third light sensor array.
-
-
9. A device for detecting a lane line on a road, comprising:
-
a light receiver having a light sensor array; and line detecting means determining a distance to an object by using a position of only a maximum point in the distribution of a quantity of light on said light sensor array and a width of an image of said object on said light sensor array, determining a width of said object using the distance to said object and the width of said image of said object, and detecting said object as the lane line when the width of said object is within a predetermined range.
-
-
10. A method for determining the distance between one vehicle moving in a traffic lane defined by a lane line and a vehicle ahead also moving in said traffic lane, including:
-
first step of detecting an image at a maximum point in a distribution of a quantity of light on a light sensor array as the lane line; second step of providing a signal representing the position of the lane line based on only said maximum point; third step of determining a width of the traffic lane using said signal; and fourth step of determining the distance to said vehicle ahead on the basis of a position where an image of the preceding vehicle is formed on said light sensor array within a range of the traffic lane, wherein objects outside of said range of the traffic lane are disregarded. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method for detecting a lane line on a road, including steps of:
-
determining a straight line that connects corresponding points of only maximum value in a distribution of quantity of light on a first light sensor array and a second light sensor array; and identifying an image of the straight line as the lane line when the straight line passes within a predetermined range centered at a point of maximum value in a distribution of quantity of light on a third light sensor array.
-
-
18. A method for detecting a lane boundary line on a road, including steps of:
-
determining a distance to an object using only a position of a maximum point in the distribution of quantity of light on a light sensor array and a width of an image of said object on said light sensor array; determining a width of said object using the distance to said object and the width of said image of said object; and detecting said object as the lane boundary line when the width of said object is within a predetermined range.
-
-
19. A device for determining the distance between one vehicle moving in a traffic lane defined by a lane line and a vehicle ahead also moving in said traffic lane, comprising:
-
a pair of light receivers each having a plurality of light sensor arrays, said plurality of light sensor arrays in each of said pair of light receivers being formed in parallel; line detecting means for determining the position of the lane line by detecting an image at a maximum point in a distribution of a quantity of light on at least one of said plurality of light sensor arrays of at least one of said pair of light receivers, and providing an output signal representing the position of the lane line, said output signal based on only said maximum point; measuring range detecting means responsive to said output signal of said line detecting means for detecting a width of the traffic lane; and distance detecting means for determining the distance to said vehicle ahead on the basis of a position where an image of said vehicle ahead is formed on said plurality of light sensor arrays within a range of said traffic lane detected by said measuring range detecting means, wherein said distance detecting means disregards objects outside of said range of said traffic lane.
-
Specification