Object detecting system and object detecting method
First Claim
1. An object detecting system for a vehicle moving along a surface, the object detecting system comprising:
- an imaging device disposed on the vehicle and capturing a two-dimensional image representing a scene ahead of the vehicle, the two-dimensional image having a vertical axis generally perpendicular to the surface and a horizontal axis generally parallel to the surface; and
a controller receiving the image from the imaging device, the controller including;
a feature extraction unit reading the image, extracting from the image edges of a feature, producing an image of pixels showing the edges of the feature, and normalizing the edges of the feature;
a motion-information calculator evaluating the feature and outputting feature velocity information for each image pixel showing the normalized edges of the feature;
a coordinate transformation unit reading two-dimensional position coordinates of the image pixels and outputting transformed three-dimensional position coordinates; and
an object-attribute determination unit determining whether the feature is a moving object, the determining being based on the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates received from the coordinate transformation unit and on the feature velocity information received from the motion-information calculator.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An object detecting system includes an imaging device disposed on a vehicle and a controller that receives a two-dimensional image, which represents a scene ahead of the vehicle, from the imaging device. The controller includes a feature extraction unit, a motion-information calculator, a coordinate transformation unit, and an object-attribute determination unit. The feature extraction unit reads the image and extracts the edges of a feature in the image. The motion-information calculator evaluates the feature in the image and outputs feature velocity information for each image pixel that shows the edges of the feature. The coordinate transformation unit reads two-dimensional position coordinates of the image pixels and outputs transformed three-dimensional position coordinates. And the object-attribute determination unit determines, based on the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates and on the feature velocity information, whether the feature is a moving object.
26 Citations
13 Claims
-
1. An object detecting system for a vehicle moving along a surface, the object detecting system comprising:
-
an imaging device disposed on the vehicle and capturing a two-dimensional image representing a scene ahead of the vehicle, the two-dimensional image having a vertical axis generally perpendicular to the surface and a horizontal axis generally parallel to the surface; and a controller receiving the image from the imaging device, the controller including; a feature extraction unit reading the image, extracting from the image edges of a feature, producing an image of pixels showing the edges of the feature, and normalizing the edges of the feature; a motion-information calculator evaluating the feature and outputting feature velocity information for each image pixel showing the normalized edges of the feature; a coordinate transformation unit reading two-dimensional position coordinates of the image pixels and outputting transformed three-dimensional position coordinates; and an object-attribute determination unit determining whether the feature is a moving object, the determining being based on the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates received from the coordinate transformation unit and on the feature velocity information received from the motion-information calculator. - View Dependent Claims (2)
-
-
3. An object detecting system for a vehicle moving along a surface, the object detecting system comprising:
-
an imaging device disposed on the vehicle and capturing a two-dimensional image representing a scene ahead of the vehicle, the two-dimensional image having a vertical axis generally perpendicular to the surface and a horizontal axis generally parallel to the surface; and a controller receiving the image from the imaging device, the controller including; a feature extraction unit reading the image and extracting from the image edges of a feature; a motion-information calculator evaluating the feature and outputting feature velocity information for each image pixel showing the edges of the feature; a coordinate transformation unit reading two-dimensional position coordinates of the image pixels and outputting transformed three-dimensional position coordinates; and an object-attribute determination unit determining whether the feature is a moving object, the determining being based on the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates received from the coordinate transformation unit and on the feature velocity information received from the motion-information calculator; wherein the image comprises a first feature represented by a first set of pixels and the determining by the object-attribute determination unit comprises;
detecting that the first feature is a stationary object based on establishing that a first relationship exists between horizontal coordinates and velocity information for the first set of pixels, the first relationship being represented by a sloping line on a graph that plots horizontal coordinates along an abscissa axis and velocity along an ordinate axis;
identifying that the collection of points is disposed on an opposite side of the abscissa axis with respect to the sloping line.
-
-
4. An object detecting system for a vehicle moving along a surface, the object detecting system comprising:
-
an imaging device disposed on the vehicle and capturing a two-dimensional image representing a scene ahead of the vehicle, the two-dimensional image having a vertical axis generally perpendicular to the surface and a horizontal axis generally parallel to the surface; and a controller receiving the image from the imaging device, the controller including; a feature extraction unit reading the image and extracting from the image edges of a feature; a motion-information calculator evaluating the feature and outputting feature velocity information for each image pixel showing the edges of the feature; a coordinate transformation unit reading two-dimensional position coordinates of the image pixels and outputting transformed three-dimensional position coordinates; and an object-attribute determination unit determining whether the feature is a moving object, the determining being based on the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates received from the coordinate transformation unit and on the feature velocity information received from the motion-information calculator; wherein the image comprises a second set of pixels, and the determining by the object-attribute determination unit comprises;
detecting that the second feature is a moving object based on establishing that a second relationship exists between horizontal coordinates and velocity information for the second set of pixels, the second relationship being represented by a collection of points plotted on the graph, the detecting that the second feature is a moving object including at least one of;
identifying that the collection of points has a velocity magnitude different from the sloping line.
-
-
5. An object detecting system for a vehicle moving along a surface, the object detecting system comprising;
-
an imaging device disposed on the vehicle and capturing a two-dimensional image representing a scene ahead of the vehicle, the two-dimensional image having a vertical axis generally perpendicular to the surface and a horizontal axis generally parallel to the surface; and a controller receiving the image from the imaging device, the controller including; a feature extraction unit reading the image and extracting from the image edges of a feature; a motion-information calculator evaluating the feature and outputting feature velocity information for each image pixel showing the edges of the feature; a coordinate transformation unit reading two-dimensional position coordinates of the image pixels and outputting transformed three-dimensional position coordinates; and an object-attribute determination unit determining whether the feature is a moving object, the determining being based on the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates received from the coordinate transformation unit and on the feature velocity information received from the motion-information calculator; wherein the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates lie in a transformation plane that is generally parallel to the surface, and a grid splits a specified area on the transformation plane into a plurality of regions; the object detecting system further comprising; a grouping unit associating in a group the image pixels that are
1) adjacent in the vertical direction of the image and
2) have relative feature velocity information that is within a predetermined range,wherein the determining by the object-attribute determination unit is based on the transformed three-dimensional positional coordinates of
1) a vertically uppermost pixel of the group of image pixels and
2) a vertically lowermost pixel of the group of image pixels. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. An object detecting system comprising:
-
image capturing means for capturing an image of a scene ahead of a vehicle; feature extracting means for extracting normalized edges of a feature from the image captured by the image capturing means, the normalized edges being represented by pixels; motion-information calculating means for calculating feature velocity information about the pixels representing the normalized edges of the feature; coordinate transforming means for transforming position coordinates of the pixels into three-dimensional position coordinates of a three-dimensional coordinate system; and object-attribute determining means for determining whether the feature is a moving object, the determining being based on the three-dimensional position coordinates of the pixels and the feature velocity information.
-
-
10. An object detecting method for detecting a moving object in an image representing a scene ahead of the vehicle, the method comprising:
-
preparing velocity information about a first set of pixels showing a feature of an object in the image; transforming two-dimensional coordinates of the first set of pixels into three-dimensional coordinates; determining whether the object is a moving object based on the prepared feature velocity information and on the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates; splitting into a plurality of regions a specified area of a transformation plane defined by the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates; and grouping together in a separate group those of the first set of pixels that are both adjacent in a vertical direction of the image and have relative velocity information that is within a predetermined range; wherein the determining is based on the transformed three-dimensional position coordinates of a vertically uppermost pixel of the group and of a vertically lowermost pixel of the group. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
-
Specification