Apparatus for vehicle surroundings monitoring
First Claim
1. Apparatus for vehicle surroundings monitoring that assists checking of surroundings of a vehicle by a driver by displaying an image captured outside of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
- an imaging unit that captures a predetermined range around the vehicle with mutually differing exposure amounts;
an image recognition unit that performs recognition of a predefined recognition target by image processing plural images with mutually differing exposure amounts that are captured by the imaging unit;
an image compositing unit that generates a composite image from the images based on a recognition result of the image recognition unit; and
a display unit that displays the composite image composited by the image compositing unit,wherein the image compositing unit compares, with each or one another, plural images within which the recognition target has been recognized by the image recognition unit, extracts from each of the plural images an image area where accuracy of the recognition target is high, and generates the composite image using the extracted image areas, andwherein the image compositing unit creates, in accordance with the accuracy of the recognition target and a distance from an area where the recognition target is detected, a weight map defining a proportion with which each of the image areas is to be used in the generation of the composite image, and generates the composite image in accordance with the weight map.
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Accused Products
Abstract
There is provided apparatus for vehicle surroundings monitorings that assists so as to make it possible for a driver to check the periphery of the vehicle with ease. Plural images are obtained by capturing the periphery of the vehicle with mutually differing exposure. A process of image recognition is then performed for a target within the thus obtained images. The images are then compared, and images for which the accuracy of image recognition of the target is favorable are selected from among the images. The selected images are joined and composited to generate a host vehicle periphery composite image. Thus, an image with a wide dynamic range and high visibility is generated, thereby making it easier for the driver to check the periphery of the vehicle.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. Apparatus for vehicle surroundings monitoring that assists checking of surroundings of a vehicle by a driver by displaying an image captured outside of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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an imaging unit that captures a predetermined range around the vehicle with mutually differing exposure amounts; an image recognition unit that performs recognition of a predefined recognition target by image processing plural images with mutually differing exposure amounts that are captured by the imaging unit; an image compositing unit that generates a composite image from the images based on a recognition result of the image recognition unit; and a display unit that displays the composite image composited by the image compositing unit, wherein the image compositing unit compares, with each or one another, plural images within which the recognition target has been recognized by the image recognition unit, extracts from each of the plural images an image area where accuracy of the recognition target is high, and generates the composite image using the extracted image areas, and wherein the image compositing unit creates, in accordance with the accuracy of the recognition target and a distance from an area where the recognition target is detected, a weight map defining a proportion with which each of the image areas is to be used in the generation of the composite image, and generates the composite image in accordance with the weight map. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification