Image capturing system for vehicle

• US 8,457,881 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2009
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Ishihara, Masamitsu
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Shelley
• Application Number:
  US13/000,068
• Publication Number:
  US 20110106434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: 701/202
• US Class Current: 701/411
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3602 Input other than that of destination using image analysis, e.g. detection of road signs, lanes, buildings, real preceding vehicles using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/39 Urban scenes

Abstract

An image capturing system for vehicle includes an object-to-be-captured information storage unit (12a) for storing information about an object to be captured on a map, a camera (18) for capturing an image of the object to be captured, an object-to-be-captured position determining unit (27) for determining a distance from the current position to the object to be captured, and the direction of the object to be captured, a camera control unit (28) for controlling the camera to orient the camera toward the determined direction, and to focus the camera on the determined distance, a determining unit (30) for determining whether or not an image captured by the camera is a clearly-captured one, and an information storage unit (17) for, when the determining unit determines that the captured image is a clearly-captured one, storing the image therein.

Claims

1. An image capturing system for vehicle comprising:

a current position detecting unit for detecting a current position;

a map information storage unit for storing map information;

an object-to-be-captured information storage unit for storing information about an object to be captured on a map shown by the map information stored in said map information storage unit as object-to-be-captured information;

a camera for capturing an image of the object to be captured while a vehicle travels;

an object-to-be-captured position determining unit for determining both a distance from the current position detected by said current position detecting unit to the object to be captured shown by the object-to-be-captured information stored in said object-to-be-captured information storage unit, and a direction of said object to be captured, on a basis of the map information stored in said map information storage unit;

a camera control unit for controlling said camera to orient said camera toward the direction determined by said object-to-be-captured position determining unit, and to focus said camera on the determined distance;

an image capture commanding unit for commanding said camera controlled by said camera control unit to capture an image;

a determining unit for determining whether or not the image which is captured by said camera in response to the command from said image capture commanding unit is a clearly-captured one of said object to be captured; and

an information storage unit for, when said determining unit determines that the image captured by said camera is a clearly-captured one of said object to be captured, storing the image therein, wherein the image capturing system includes an image capture possible position determining unit for, when the determining unit determines that the image captured by said camera is not a clearly-captured one of the object to be captured, determining whether or not the object to be captured is at a position where an image of the object to be captured can be captured by the camera, and the object-to-be-captured position determining unit determines both the distance from the current position detected by the current position detecting unit to the object to be captured and the direction of said object to be captured on a basis of the map information stored in the map information storage unit again when said image capture possible position determining unit determines that the object to be captured is at a position where an image of the object to be captured can be captured by the camera.

2. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the image capturing system includes an image capture possible object detecting unit for detecting an object to be captured which the image capturing system for vehicle can capture on a basis of the object-to-be-captured information stored in the object-to-be-captured information storage unit and the current position detected by the current position detecting unit, and the object-to-be-captured position determining unit determines both a distance from the current position detected by said current position detecting unit to the object to be captured detected by said image capture possible object detecting unit and a direction of said object to be captured on a basis of the map information stored in said map information storage unit.

3. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the image capturing system for vehicle includes an input unit for inputting information, a route searching unit for searching for a route from the current position detected by the current position detecting unit to a destination inputted from said input unit, an object-to-be-captured extracting unit for extracting objects to be imaged existing along the route which is searched for by said route searching unit on a basis of the object-to-be-captured information stored in the object-to-be-captured information storage unit, and an object-to-be-captured specifying unit for specifying one of the objects to be imaged extracted by said object-to-be-captured extracting unit according to a command inputted from said input unit, and the object-to-be-captured position determining unit determines both the distance from the current position detected by said current position detecting unit to the object to be captured extracted by said object-to-be-captured extracting unit and the direction of said object to be captured on a basis of the map information stored in the map information storage unit.

4. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the image capturing system for vehicle includes an output unit for outputting information, and an object-to-be-captured informing unit for informing the objects to be imaged extracted by said object-to-be-captured extracting unit to said output unit as object-to-be-captured candidates, and the object-to-be-captured specifying unit specifies an object to be captured by selecting at least one of the object-to-be-captured candidates which are informed to said output unit by said object-to-be-captured informing unit according to the command from the input unit.

5. The navigation device according to claim 3, wherein the object-to-be-captured specifying unit specifies an object to be captured through direct specification of the object to be captured on the map shown by the map information stored in the map information storage unit from the input unit.

6. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the image capturing system for vehicle includes an image recapture selecting unit for, when the determining unit determines that the image captured by said camera is not a clearly-captured one of the object to be captured and the image capture possible position determining unit determines that the object to be captured is not at a position where an image of the object to be captured can be captured by the camera, causing said image capturing system for vehicle to select whether or not to recapture an image of said object to be captured, and, when said image recapture selecting unit has selected to recapture an image of said object to be captured, the route searching unit re-searches for a route including a point where said image capturing system can capture an image of the object to be captured which is to be recaptured.

7. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the image recapture selecting unit operates in either a mode in which the image recapture selecting unit selects whether or not to recapture an image of the object to be captured or a mode in which the image recapture selecting unit does not recapture an image of the object to be captured according to a command from the input unit.

8. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the input unit inputs image capturing conditions including the distance to the object to be captured, and the direction and a size of the object to be captured, and the object-to-be-captured extracting unit extracts objects to be imaged satisfying the image capturing conditions inputted from said input unit from among the objects to be imaged existing along the route which is searched for by the route searching unit.

9. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 1, wherein when the image captured by the camera includes a person who can be identified, said image capturing system discards said image.

10. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said image capturing system includes a data input/output unit for reading image data stored in the information storage unit, or storing image data in said information storage unit.

11. The image capturing system for vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said image capturing system includes a sound recording unit for recording a sound in synchronization with the image capturing and storing the recorded sound in the information storage unit.