Object recognition apparatus

• US 6,518,916 B1
• Filed: 10/19/2000
• Issued: 02/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Sugawara, Takashi, Ashihara, Jun, Kudoh, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sotomayor, John B.
• Application Number:
  US09/691,073
• Time in Patent Office: 845 Days
• Field of Search: 342/70, 342/71, 342/72, 342/90, 342/98, 342/99, 342/133, 342/135, 342/139, 342/145, 342/146, 342/157, 342/158, 342/192, 342/194, 342/196
• US Class Current: 342/70
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S13/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9325 for inter-vehicle distance regulation, e.g. navigating in platoons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/412 based on a comparison between measured values and known or stored values

Abstract

This invention relates to an object recognition apparatus. This apparatus comprises an antenna which emits transmission beams toward a plurality of directions; a receiving circuit which receives reflected signals of the transmission beams from predetermined directions; a distance and direction calculation circuit which calculates distance and direction to objects reflecting the transmission beams based on the transmission beams and the reflected signals; an object pattern storage unit which stores range direction patterns of reflected signals obtained in advance with respect to predetermined objects; an object recognition circuit which compares range direction patterns of the reflected signals received by the receiving circuit with respect to the predetermined directions, with the range direction patterns stored in the object pattern storage unit, and which recognize that a pair of reflected signals from two neighboring directions are signals reflected by the same object.

Claims

1. An object recognition apparatus comprising:

an antenna that emits transmission beams toward a plurality of directions;

a receiving circuit that receives reflected signals of the transmission beams from predetermined directions;

a distance and direction calculation circuit which transforms the reflected signals to range direction patterns composed of beat frequencies between the transmission beams and the reflected signals and signal intensities at each beat frequency and calculates distance and direction to objects reflecting the transmission beams based on the range direction patterns;

an object pattern storage unit which stores range direction patterns of reflected signals obtained in advance with respect to predetermined objects;

an object recognition circuit which compares range direction patterns of the reflected signals received by the receiving circuit with respect to the predetermined directions, with the range direction patterns stored in the object pattern storage unit, and which recognize that a pair of reflected signals from two neighboring directions are signals reflected by the same object.

2. An object recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object pattern storage unit stores range direction patterns of reflected signals obtained in advance with respect to rear portions of predetermined vehicles.

3. An object recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object pattern storage unit stores range direction patterns of reflected signals obtained in advance with respect to predetermined vehicles, and the range direction patterns are determined based on the length of each of the predetermined vehicles.

4. An object recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object recognition circuit determines the direction to a detected object by calculating the position of center of gravity based on the range direction patterns which are recognized as those generated by the same object.

5. An object recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object recognition circuit recognizes that a pair of reflected signals from two neighboring directions are signals reflected by the same object using size of vehicles as references.

6. An object recognition apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the object recognition circuit recognizes that two or more of the same kind of vehicles exist side by side, in the case where range direction patterns of a pair of reflected signals respectively obtained with respect to two neighboring directions are the same, and when a detected size is larger than a vehicle'"'"'s size stored in advance.

7. An object recognition apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a FM wave generating circuit which generates ramp waves in which frequency is increased during one cycle, wherein the antenna emits the ramp waves as the transmission beams.

8. An object recognition apparatus comprising:

antenna that emits transmission beams toward a plurality of directions;

receiving circuit that receives reflected signals of the transmission beams from predetermined directions;

distance and direction calculation circuit which calculates distance and direction to objects reflecting the transmission beams based on the transmission beams and the reflected signals;

frequency computing circuit this calculates frequency spectrums of the reflected signals from predetermined directions;

clustering processing circuit which compares with each other the frequency spectrums of the reflected signals obtained with respect to the predetermined directions, and which recognizes that reflected signals having similar frequency spectrums are signals reflected by the same object.