System and method for detecting obstacle
First Claim
1. An obstacle detecting system detecting an obstacle by using two cameras, the obstacle being on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras, the system comprising:
- image inputting means for inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively;
image transforming means for transforming the first image to a transformed image on a basis of image transform which is introduced from a geometrical relationship between the reference plane and the two cameras for transforming any given pixel in a reference plane region in the first image to a corresponding pixel in the second image;
similarity calculating means for obtaining;
a degree of similarity D indicating similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image,said similarity calculating means treating any given image line in a specified region in the second image as being a contact line of the obstacle with the reference plane, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the first image and the second image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction, anda degree of similarity P indicating similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image,the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the second image and the transformed image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction; and
obstacle judging means for detecting the obstacle on a basis of the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity calculating means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for realizing support of safety driving or automatic driving, in which a vehicle-mounted stereo camera is used to detect obstacles on a road surface even in the presence of a reflected image of an obstacle under a wet road condition. The system includes two cameras, an image transforming section transforming a first camera'"'"'s image by image transform T that transforms any given pixel in a road surface region in the first camera'"'"'s image to a corresponding pixel in a second camera'"'"'s image, a lane detecting section detecting a traffic lane on a road on the basis of characteristics of the image obtained from the second camera, a similarity calculating section sequentially establishing processing regions, each having a base formed by one of image lines in a region within a lane, for carrying out inter-image arithmetic operations on the assumption that an obstacle stands from a contact line on a road surface as an image line, and obtaining respective degrees of similarity between the first cameras s image and the second camera'"'"'s image and between the second camera'"'"'s image and the transformed image, and an obstacle judging section detecting the object from a difference between the two kinds of degrees of similarity on the road region sequentially obtained.
36 Citations
11 Claims
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1. An obstacle detecting system detecting an obstacle by using two cameras, the obstacle being on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras, the system comprising:
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image inputting means for inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively; image transforming means for transforming the first image to a transformed image on a basis of image transform which is introduced from a geometrical relationship between the reference plane and the two cameras for transforming any given pixel in a reference plane region in the first image to a corresponding pixel in the second image; similarity calculating means for obtaining; a degree of similarity D indicating similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, said similarity calculating means treating any given image line in a specified region in the second image as being a contact line of the obstacle with the reference plane, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the first image and the second image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction, and a degree of similarity P indicating similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the second image and the transformed image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction; and obstacle judging means for detecting the obstacle on a basis of the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity calculating means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11)
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8. A method of detecting an obstacle by using two cameras, the obstacle being on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras, the method comprising:
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an image inputting step of inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively; an image transforming step of transforming the first image to a transformed image on the basis of image transform which is introduced from a geometrical relationship between the reference plane and the two cameras for transforming any given pixel in a reference plane region in the first image to a corresponding pixel in the second image; an similarity calculating step of obtaining; a degree of similarity D indicating similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, said similarity calculating means treating any given image line in a specified region in the second image as being a contact line of the obstacle with the reference plane, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the first image and the second image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction, and a degree of similarity P indicating similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the second image and the transformed image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction; and an obstacle judging step of detecting the obstacle on the basis of the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity calculating step.
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9. A computer program product storing computer program instructions which when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform an obstacle detection method in conjunction with two cameras for detecting the obstacle on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras,
the method comprising: -
an image inputting step of inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively; an image transforming step of transforming the first image to a transformed image on the basis of image transform which is introduced from a geometrical relationship between the reference plane and the two cameras for transforming any given pixel in a reference plane region in the first image to a corresponding pixel in the second image; a similarity calculating step of obtaining; a degree of similarity D indicating similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, said similarity calculating means treating any given image line in a specified region in the second image as being a contact line of the obstacle with the reference plane, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the first image and the second image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction, and a degree of similarity P indicating similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image and being a function of position in the vertical direction of the image, the processing region being established for an inter-image arithmetic operation between the second image and the transformed image, and a plurality of the processing regions being established with the image line being shifted in the vertical direction; and an obstacle judging step of detecting the obstacle on the basis of the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region obtained by the similarity calculating function.
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Specification