Object detecting apparatus and method for detecting an object

• US 7,825,849 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2007
• Issued: 11/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Tokoro, Setsuo, Tsuchida, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza; Thomas H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barker; Matthew M
• Application Number:
  US12/224,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20090135065A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,348 Days
• Field of Search: 342/70, 342/52
• US Class Current: 342/70
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93185 Controlling the brakes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9321 Velocity regulation, e.g. cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9325 for inter-vehicle distance regulation, e.g. navigating in platoons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93271 in the front of the vehicles

Abstract

An object detection apparatus includes a radar that detects the position of an object; an imaging device that detects the position and size of an object; a fusion processing device that fuses the object detected by the radar device and the object detected by the imaging device as the same object, when the detection results of the radar device and the imaging device satisfy a prescribed fusion condition, to generate a fusion object having position information and size information. A provisional fusion object is generated if the detection result from the imaging device does not satisfy the fusion condition with respect to the detection result from the radar.

Claims

1. An object detection apparatus comprising

a radar that detects position information of an object detected by the radar;

an imaging device that detects position information and size information of an object detected by the imaging device; and

a fusion processing device that fuses the object detected by the radar and the object detected by the imaging device when the detection results of the radar and the imaging device satisfy a prescribed fusion condition to generate a fusion object having position information and size information and that provisionally fuses the object detected by the radar and the object detected by the imaging device when the detection results of the radar and the imaging device do not satisfy the prescribed fusion condition to generate a provisional fusion object having position information and size information,

wherein the fusion processing device includes an updating device that updates size information of a previously acquired fusion object or size information of a previously acquired provisional fusion object to an updated size information, which is a value smaller than a value of the size information of the previously acquired fusion object or the size information of the previously acquired provisional fusion object, the updated size information being predicted based on the size information of the previously acquired fusion or the size information of the previously acquired provisional fusion object when the detection result from the imaging device does not satisfy the prescribed fusion condition with respect to the detection result from the radar.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the updating device updates the updated size information so as to depart from a value that is close to the size information of the previously acquired fusion object or the size information of the previously acquired provisional fusion object with the passage of time in the case in which the detection result from the imaging device does not satisfy the prescribed fusion condition with respect to the detection result from the radar.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the updating device non-linearly increases the amount of change of the updated size information.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the updating device updates the size information of the previously acquired fusion object or of the previously acquired provisional fusion object by using a prescribed coefficient.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the fusion processing device sets an object search area based on the position information of the object detected by the radar and, when the image object position set based on the position and size information of an object detected by the imaging device is determined to be included within the search area, determines that the prescribed fusion condition is satisfied.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a collision predictor that predicts the possibility of a collision with another vehicle in the forward direction, based on position information of a fusion object or a provisional fusion object generated by the fusion processing device.

7. A method for detecting an object comprising the steps of

receiving position information of an object by a radar,

receiving position information and size information of an object by an imaging device,

fusing the object detected by the radar and the object detected by the imaging device when the detection result of the radar and the imaging device satisfy a prescribed fusion condition to generate a fusion object having position information and size information and provisionally fusing the object detected by the radar and the object detected by the imaging device when the detection result of the radar and the imaging device do not satisfy a prescribed fusion condition to generate a provisional fusion object having position information and size information, and

updating the size information of a previously acquired fusion object or the size information of a previously acquired provisional fusion object to an updated size information, which is a value smaller than a value of the size information of the previously acquired fusion object or the size information of the previously acquired provisional fusion object, the updated size information predicted based on the size information of the previously acquired fusion object or the size information of the previously acquired provisional fusion object, when the detection result from the imaging device does not satisfy the prescribed fusion condition with respect to the detection result from the radar.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein

in the step of generating the provisional fusion object, the updated size information is set so as to depart from a value that is close to the size information of the previously acquired fusion object or the size information of the previously acquired provisional fusion object, with the passage of time in the case in which the detection result from the imaging device does not satisfy the prescribed fusion condition with respect to the detection result from the radar.