Image processing apparatus

• US 6,272,237 B1
• Filed: 06/11/1996
• Issued: 08/07/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Hashima, Masayoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Couso, Jose L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dang, Duy M.
• Application Number:
  US08/661,828
• Time in Patent Office: 1,883 Days
• Field of Search: 382/153, 382/104, 382/103, 382/106, 382/107, 364/424.1, 364/461, 340/905, 340/901, 340/435, 340/436, 340/937, 348/116, 348/113, 348/118, 348/119, 348/148, 348/42
• US Class Current: 382/153
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition

Abstract

An image processing apparatus for extracting a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by pixels taken by a camera, includes an image dividing unit to divide the image into a plurality of regions; an arithmetic unit to calculate the absolute value of the difference between the density of each pixel of each region and a set density and to accumulate the absolute value for each region; a floor/obstacle judging portion to judge whether a target region is a floor region or an obstacle region on the basis of the result of comparison between a set value and the accumulated value of the absolute values for all the pixels within the target region or the average value of the accumulated value obtained by dividing the accumulated value by the number of pixels; and a storage portion to store the result of the floor/obstacle judging portion.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus to extract a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by pixels, comprising:

an image dividing means to divide the image, taken by a single camera, into a plurality of regions;

an arithmetic unit to calculate an absolute value of a difference between a density of each pixel of each region and a set density to accumulate the absolute values for each region;

a floor/obstacle judging portion to judge whether a target region is a floor region or an obstacle region on the basis of a comparison between a set value and an accumulated value of the absolute values for the pixels within the target region or an average value obtained by dividing the accumulated value of the absolute values for the pixels within the target region by the number of pixels; and

a storage portion to store a result of said floor/obstacle judging portion.

2. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the set value has a density equal to 0.

3. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a region dividing means to further divide each of the regions into a plurality of subregions;

wherein said floor/obstacle judging portion judges all the subregions that constitute the target region to be floor regions when the target region is judged to be a floor region, and executes said floor/obstacle judging portion for each of the subregions when the target region is judged to be an obstacle region.

4. An image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said arithmetic unit thins pixels in the target region which are used for the calculation of the accumulated value in said floor/obstacle judging portion for the target region.

5. An image processing apparatus to extract a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by pixels, comprising:

an image dividing means to divide the image, taken by a single camera, into a plurality of regions;

an average density calculator to calculate an average density of each region by dividing an accumulated value of densities of all pixels in each region by the number of pixels in the region;

an arithmetic unit to calculate an absolute value of the difference between the density of each pixel of each region and the average density of the corresponding region to accumulate the absolute values;

a floor/obstacle judging portion to judge whether a target region is a floor region or an obstacle region on the basis of a comparison between a set value and an accumulated value of the absolute values for all the pixels within the target region or an average value obtained by dividing the accumulated value of the absolute values for all the pixels within the target region by the number of pixels; and

a storage portion to store a result of said floor/obstacle judging portion.

6. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a region dividing means to further divide each of the regions into a plurality of subregions;

wherein said floor/obstacle judging portion judges all the subregions that constitute the target region to be floor regions when the target region is judged to be a floor region, and executes said floor/obstacle judging portion for each of the subregions when the target region is judged to be an obstacle region.

7. An image processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said arithmetic unit thins pixels in the target region which are used for the calculation of the accumulated value in said floor/obstacle judging portion for the target region.

8. An image processing apparatus to extract a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by pixels, comprising:

an image dividing means to divide the image, taken by a single camera, into a plurality of regions;

an arithmetic unit to calculate an absolute value of a difference between a density of each pixel of each region and a set density and to calculate an accumulated value of the absolute value every time the absolute value is calculated for each region;

a floor/obstacle judging portion to compare a set value with the accumulated value of the absolute value every time the accumulated value of the absolute value is calculated, to judge a target region to be a floor region when the accumulated value of the absolute exceeds the set value, and to judge the target region to be an obstacle region when the accumulated value of the absolute value for all the pixels in the target region is smaller than the set value; and

a storage portion to store a result of said floor/obstacle judging portion;

wherein said arithmetic unit begins accumulation for the next region when the target region is judged to be a floor region or an obstacle region.

9. An image processing apparatus to extract a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by pixels, comprising:

an image dividing means to divide the image, taken by a single camera, into a plurality of regions;

an average density calculator to calculate an average density of each region by dividing the sum of densities of all pixels in each region by the number of pixels in the region;

an arithmetic unit to calculate an absolute value of the difference between the density of each pixel of each region and the average density of the corresponding region and to calculate an accumulated value of the absolute value every time the absolute value is calculated for each region;

a floor/obstacle judging portion to compare a set value with the accumulated value of the absolute value every time the accumulated value of the absolute value is calculated, and to judge a target region to be an obstacle region when the accumulated value of the absolute value exceeds the set value, and to judge the target region to be a floor region when the accumulated value of the absolute value for all the pixels in the target region is smaller than the set value; and

a storage portion to store a result of said floor/obstacle judging portion;

wherein said arithmetic unit begins accumulation for a next region when the target region is judged to be a floor region or an obstacle region.

10. An image processing apparatus extracting a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by pixels, comprising:

an image divider dividing the image, taken by a single camera, into a plurality of regions;

an arithmetic unit calculating an absolute value of a difference between a density of each pixel of each region and a set density, said arithmetic unit accumulating the absolute values for each region; and

a floor/obstacle judging portion judging whether a target region is a floor region or an obstacle region by comparing a set value and an accumulated value of the absolute values for the pixels within the target region or an average value obtained by dividing the accumulated value of the absolute values for the pixels within the target region by the number of pixels.

11. An image processing apparatus extracting a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by pixels, comprising:

an image divider dividing the image, taken by a single camera, into a plurality of regions;

an arithmetic unit calculating an absolute value of a difference between a density of each pixel of each region and a set density to accumulate the absolute values for each region; and

a judging portion judging whether a target region is a floor region or an obstacle region on the basis of a comparison between a set value and an accumulated value of the absolute values for the pixels within the target region or an average value obtained by dividing the accumulated value of the absolute values for the pixels within the target region by the number of pixels.

12. An image processing apparatus to extract a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by a plurality of pixels, comprising:

image dividing means for dividing the image, taken by a single camera, into a plurality of regions;

reference image storing means for storing a reference image having a same size as each of the plurality of regions;

an arithmetic unit to calculate an absolute value of a difference between a density of each pixel of each region and a density of each corresponding pixel of the reference image to accumulate absolute values for each region;

a floor/obstacle judging portion to judge whether a target region is a floor region or an obstacle region on the basis of a comparison between a set value and an accumulated value of the absolute values for the pixels within the target region or an average value obtained by dividing the accumulated value of the absolute values for the pixels within the target region by the number of pixels; and

a storage portion to store a result of said floor/obstacle judging portion.

13. An image processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the densities of all the pixels in said reference image are constant.

14. An image processing apparatus to extract a floor region and an obstacle region from an image formed by a plurality of pixels, comprising:

image dividing means for dividing the image, taken by a single camera, into a plurality of regions;

reference image storing means for storing a reference image having a same size as each region;

an arithmetic unit to calculate an absolute value of a difference between a density of each pixel of each region and a density of each corresponding pixel of the reference image and to calculate an accumulated value of the absolute value every time the absolute value is calculated for each region;

a floor/obstacle judging portion to compare a set value with the accumulated value of the absolute value every time the accumulated value of the absolute value is calculated, to judge a target region to be a floor region when the accumulated value of the absolute exceeds the set value, and to judge the target region to be an obstacle region when the accumulated value of the absolute value for all the pixels in the target region is smaller than the set value; and

a storage portion to store a result of said floor/obstacle judging portion, wherein said arithmetic unit begins accumulation for the next region when the target region is judged to be a floor region or an obstacle region.

15. An image processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the densities of all the pixels in said reference image are constant.