Apparatus, method, and computer product for vehicle-type determination using image data of vehicle

• US 8,229,171 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2008
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Takahashi, Kunikazu, Kodama, Kenji, Ando, Atsuyoshi, Shinjo, Takako, Hata, Sahoko
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehta, Bhavesh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ansari, Tahmina
• Application Number:
  US12/292,119
• Publication Number:
  US 20090074250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/44 Local feature extraction by analysis of parts of the pattern, e.g. by detecting edges, contours, loops, corners, strokes or intersections; Connectivity analysis, e.g. of connected components
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/56 relating to colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/08 Detecting or categorising vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/015 with provision for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g. between motor-cars and cycles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors

Abstract

A vehicle-type determination apparatus includes a vehicle-portion extracting unit, a hood recognizing unit, and a vehicle-type determining unit. The vehicle-portion extracting unit extracts a vehicle portion from an image of a recognition object. The hood recognizing unit recognizes an area corresponding to a hood in the vehicle portion extracted by the vehicle-portion extracting unit. The vehicle-type determining unit determines the vehicle type based on the degree of inclination of a side of the hood area recognized by the hood recognizing unit.

Claims

1. A vehicle-type determination apparatus that determines a type of a vehicle based on an image of the vehicle captured, the vehicle-type determination apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor executes a process comprising;

extracting a vehicle portion from the image;

recognizing an area corresponding to a hood in the vehicle portion extracted at the extracting; and

determining the type of the vehicle based on an inclination of a side of the area recognized at the recognizing.

2. The vehicle-type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the side of the area corresponds to a side farther from an image capture device that has captured the image.

3. The vehicle-type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recognizing includes dividing the vehicle portion into a plurality of areas with reference to edges obtained by scanning the image in a vertical direction and recognizing the area based on a color-change pattern of the areas.

4. The vehicle-type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recognizing includes dividing the vehicle portion into a plurality of areas with reference to edges obtained by scanning the image in a vertical direction and recognizing the area based on a height-change pattern of the areas.

7. The vehicle-type determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the extracting includes comparing the image with an other image captured at same position and same angle and extracting a difference as the vehicle portion.

8. The vehicle-type determination apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the extracting includes matching brightness of the image and brightness of the other image prior to comparing the image with the other image.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium that stores therein a computer program for determining a type of a vehicle based on an image of the vehicle captured, the computer program causing a computer to execute:

extracting a vehicle portion from the image;

recognizing an area corresponding to a hood in the vehicle portion extracted at the extracting; and

determining the type of the vehicle based on an inclination of a side of the area recognized at the recognizing.

6. A vehicle-type determination method for determining a type of a vehicle based on an image of the vehicle captured, the vehicle-type determination method comprising:

extracting a vehicle portion from the image;

recognizing an area corresponding to a hood in the vehicle portion extracted at the extracting; and

determining, using a processor, the type of the vehicle based on an inclination of a side of the area recognized at the recognizing.