Vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus, vehicle, vehicle surroundings monitoring method, and vehicle surroundings monitoring program
First Claim
1. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus comprising:
- an object extraction process unit which extracts an object existing in an imaging area of a camera mounted on a vehicle from an image captured by the camera;
an object type determination process unit which determines the type of the extracted object on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image; and
a vertical symmetry determination process unit which determines whether a degree of vertical symmetry of the extracted object is high or low on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image,wherein the object type determination process unit is constructed to determine the type of the extracted object with a distinction between a predetermined kind of living body including at least a person and other object types, and includesa first-type determination process unit constructed to determine the type of the object to be other than a living body in the case where the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be high by the vertical symmetry determination process unit, and further includesa second-type determination process unit constructed to determine whether the object is the predetermined kind of living body, on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image, for objects other than those each determined not to be a living body by the first-type determination process unit among the extracted objects, when the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be low by the vertical symmetry determination process unit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An object such as a person is extracted from images captured by cameras (2R, 2L) to determine the degree of vertical symmetry of the object (step 33). In the case where the degree of vertical symmetry is determined to be high, the object is determined to be other than a living body (step 33a). In the case where the degree of vertical symmetry is determined to be low, the object is determined likely to be a living body (step 33b). In the case where determined likely to be a living body, the object is further determined to be a predetermined kind of living body (for example, a person) or not based on the image of the object (steps 34 and 35). This allows an extremely reliable and simple determination of whether the type of the object extracted from the image captured by the camera is a living body such as a person.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus comprising:
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an object extraction process unit which extracts an object existing in an imaging area of a camera mounted on a vehicle from an image captured by the camera; an object type determination process unit which determines the type of the extracted object on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image; and a vertical symmetry determination process unit which determines whether a degree of vertical symmetry of the extracted object is high or low on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image, wherein the object type determination process unit is constructed to determine the type of the extracted object with a distinction between a predetermined kind of living body including at least a person and other object types, and includes a first-type determination process unit constructed to determine the type of the object to be other than a living body in the case where the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be high by the vertical symmetry determination process unit, and further includes a second-type determination process unit constructed to determine whether the object is the predetermined kind of living body, on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image, for objects other than those each determined not to be a living body by the first-type determination process unit among the extracted objects, when the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be low by the vertical symmetry determination process unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 9, 10)
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4. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus having a computer, wherein the computer performs:
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an object extraction process for extracting an object existing in an imaging area of a camera mounted on a vehicle from an image captured by the camera; an object type determination process for determining the type of the extracted object with a distinction between a predetermined kind of living body including at least a person and other object types; and a vertical symmetry determination process for determining whether a degree of vertical symmetry of the extracted object is high or low on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image, wherein the object type determination process performed by the computer includes a first-type determination process for determining the type of the object to be other than a living body in the case where the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be high by the determination result of the vertical symmetry determination process; and a second-type determination process for determining whether the object is the predetermined kind of living body, on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image, for objects other than those each determined not to be a living body by the first-type determination process among the extracted objects, when the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be low by the determination result of the vertical symmetry determination process. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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7. A vehicle surroundings monitoring method performed by a vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus arranged in a vehicle, said method comprising:
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a step of extracting an object existing in an imaging area of a camera mounted on a vehicle from an image captured by the camera; a step of determining the type of the extracted object with a distinction between a predetermined kind of living body including at least a person and other object types; and a step of determining whether a degree of vertical symmetry of the extracted object is high or low on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image, wherein the step of determining the type of the extracted object includes a first-type step of determining the type of the object to be other than a living body in the case where the degree of vertical symmetry is determined to be high by the step of determining the degree of vertical symmetry; and a second-type step of determining whether the object is the predetermined kind of living body, on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image, for objects other than those each determined not to be a living body by the first-type step among the extracted objects, when the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be low by the step of determining the degree of vertical symmetry.
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8. A vehicle surroundings monitoring program embodied on a computer-readable medium, and having the functions of causing a computer to perform:
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a process for extracting an object existing in an imaging area of an imaging device mounted on a vehicle from an image captured by the imaging device; a process for determining the type of the extracted object on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image; a process for determining whether a degree of vertical symmetry of the extracted object is high or low on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image;
whereinsaid process for determining the type of the extracted object determines with a distinction between a predetermined kind of living body including at least a person and other object types; said process for determining the type of the extracted object comprising a first-type determination process for determining the type of the object to be other than a living body in the case where the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be high by the determination result of the vertical symmetry determination process; and a second-type determination process for determining whether the object is the predetermined kind of living body, on the basis of the image of the object in the captured image, for objects other than those each determined not to be a living body by the first-type determination process unit among the extracted objects, when the degree of vertical symmetry of the object is determined to be low by the determination result of the vertical symmetry determination process.
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Specification