Road image creation system

• US 8,094,970 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2007
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Mapmaster Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Mapmaster Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakanishi, Kenta, Ueyama, Yoshiki
• Primary Examiner(s): Cunningham, Gregory F
• Application Number:
  US11/992,689
• Publication Number:
  US 20090085923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• Field of Search: 382/284, 386/227, 701/208, 701/213
• US Class Current: 382/284
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/12 Panospheric to cylindrical image transformations
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle

Abstract

[Object]

To provide a system that is able to generate road images with the effects of obstructions such as parked vehicles eliminated.

[Solution means]

A road image generating system which films road surfaces via an optical system mounted on a vehicle and generates road images by synthesizing the display contents of particular pixels in the road surface images obtained, and in which the display contents of multiple pixels obtained by filming of the same road surface at differing times and/or with differing optical systems are blended.

Claims

1. A road image generating system comprising:

relative position identifying means that uses an optical system fixed to a vehicle to film a standard pattern in a particular positional relationship from said vehicle, and on the basis of said standard pattern filmed, identifies the relative position, from said vehicle, of road surface portions that are to be depicted by particular pixels of images filmed by said optical system;

vehicle position identifying means that identifies said vehicle'"'"'s position during filming by said optical system;

means that, on the basis of said vehicle position identifying means and said relative position identifying means, identifies the absolute positions of road surface portions that are depicted by particular pixels in the road surface images filmed by said optical system, and generates road images by synthesizing the road surface portions for which said absolute positions have been identified; and

blending means that, when there exist multiple pixels of images filmed by said optical system that depict road surface portions with identical absolute positions, blends display contents of said pixels of images filmed by said optical system.

2. A road image generating system according to claim 1, wherein said blending means averages the brightness of said pixels that depict road surface portions with identical absolute positions.

3. A road image generating system that films road surfaces via an optical system mounted on a vehicle and generates road images by synthesizing the road surface images obtained, wherein

in multiple road surface images obtained by filming of the same road surface at differing times with an optical system or with differing optical systems or at a time with differing optical systems, when there exist multiple pixels of images filmed by said optical system or optical systems that depict road surface portions with identical absolute positions, said road image generating system blends display contents of said pixels of images filmed at differing times with said optical system or with said differing optical systems or at a time with said differing optical systems.

4. A road image generating system according to claim 3, wherein blending of said multiple road surface images is via averaging of the brightness of said pixels that depict road surface portions with identical absolute positions.

5. A road image generating method comprising:

preparing a template of a road image;

specifying a first pixel corresponding to a subject road portion in said template;

identifying the absolute coordinate for said first pixel;

reading out the brightness of a second pixel, in a first filmed road surface image, that has an absolute coordinate identical to said first pixel;

reading out the brightness of a third pixel, in a second filmed road surface image, that has an absolute coordinate identical to said first pixel; and

averaging the brightness of said second pixel in the first filmed road surface image and said third pixel in the second filmed road surface image, and allocating such average as the brightness of said first pixel in said template.