Travel distance detection device and travel distance detection method
First Claim
1. A travel distance detection device comprising:
- an image-capturing unit mounted on a rear part of a vehicle and configured to capture, at a predetermined downward view angle, an image of a predetermined region comprising at least one detection region;
an alignment unit configured to align images of the predetermined region in a position of a bird'"'"'s-eye view image, the images being captured at different times by the image-capturing unit; and
a solid object detection unit configured to detect a solid object based on difference image data for the at least one detection region between data of the images captured at the different times and aligned by the alignment unit,wherein the solid object detection unit is configured todefine at least one line in a direction in which a solid object is inclined when the image of the predetermined region is converted into the bird'"'"'s-eye view image,count a number of pixels on the at least one line, each pixel expressing a certain difference with respect to the difference image data,locate an intersection between the at least one line and a reference line in a running direction of the vehicle,determine a position on an axis, the position corresponding to the counted number of pixels on the at least one line,produce a frequency distribution of the counted number of pixels along the reference line in the running direction of the vehicle,generate a difference waveform in the inclined direction in which the solid object is inclined due to conversion to the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, andcalculate a travel distance of the solid object based on time variation of the difference waveform.
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Abstract
A travel distance detection device includes: an image-capturing unit configured to capture an image; an alignment unit configured to align images in position of bird'"'"'s-eye view image, the images captured at different times by the image-capturing unit; and a solid object detection unit configured to detect a solid object based on difference image data between data of the images captured at the different times and aligned by the alignment unit. The solid object detection unit counts the number of pixels which each express a certain difference on the difference image data and which are arranged in a direction in which the solid object is inclined when the image of the predetermined region is converted into the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, then produces a frequency distribution of the counted pixels to generate a difference waveform, and calculates a travel distance of the solid object based on time variation of the difference waveform.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A travel distance detection device comprising:
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an image-capturing unit mounted on a rear part of a vehicle and configured to capture, at a predetermined downward view angle, an image of a predetermined region comprising at least one detection region; an alignment unit configured to align images of the predetermined region in a position of a bird'"'"'s-eye view image, the images being captured at different times by the image-capturing unit; and a solid object detection unit configured to detect a solid object based on difference image data for the at least one detection region between data of the images captured at the different times and aligned by the alignment unit, wherein the solid object detection unit is configured to define at least one line in a direction in which a solid object is inclined when the image of the predetermined region is converted into the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, count a number of pixels on the at least one line, each pixel expressing a certain difference with respect to the difference image data, locate an intersection between the at least one line and a reference line in a running direction of the vehicle, determine a position on an axis, the position corresponding to the counted number of pixels on the at least one line, produce a frequency distribution of the counted number of pixels along the reference line in the running direction of the vehicle, generate a difference waveform in the inclined direction in which the solid object is inclined due to conversion to the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, and calculate a travel distance of the solid object based on time variation of the difference waveform. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A travel distance detection method comprising:
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performing viewpoint conversion to convert an image of a predetermined region comprising at least one detection region into a bird'"'"'s-eye view image, the image captured by an image-capturing unit mounted on a rear part of a vehicle and configured to capture the image of the predetermined region at a predetermined downward view angle; aligning positions in bird'"'"'s-eye view image data at different times after the viewpoint conversion; and detecting a solid object based on difference image data for the at least one detection region between the aligned bird'"'"'s-eye view image data, wherein the detecting of the solid object based on difference image data between the aligned bird'"'"'s-eye view image data comprises defining at least one line in a direction in which a solid object is inclined when the image of the predetermined region is converted into the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, counting a number of pixels on the at least one line, each pixel expressing a certain difference with respect to the difference image data, locating an intersection between the at least one line and a reference line in a running direction of the vehicle, determining a position on an axis, the position corresponding to the counted number of pixels on the at least one line, producing a frequency distribution of the counted pixels along the reference line in the running direction of the vehicle, generating a difference waveform in the inclined direction in which the solid object is inclined due to conversion to the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, and calculating a travel distance of the solid object based on time variation of the difference waveform. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A travel distance detection device comprising:
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means for capturing an image of a predetermined region comprising at least one detection region at a predetermined downward view angle, the means for capturing the image being mounted on a rear part of a vehicle; means for aligning images of the predetermined region in a position of a bird'"'"'s-eye view image, the images captured at different times by the means for capturing the image; and means for detecting a solid object based on difference image data for the at least one detection region between data of the images captured at the different times and aligned by the means for aligning images, wherein the means for detecting the solid object defines at least one line in a direction in which a solid object is inclined when the image of the predetermined region is converted into the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, counts the number of pixels on the at least one line, each pixel expressing a certain difference with respect to the difference image data, locates an intersection between the at least one line and a reference line in a running direction of the vehicle, determines a position on an axis, the position corresponding to the counted number of pixels on the at least one line, produces a frequency distribution of the counted pixels along the reference line in the running direction of the vehicle, generates a difference waveform in the inclined direction in which the solid object is inclined due to conversion to the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, and calculates a travel distance of the solid object based on time variation of the difference waveform.
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21. A travel distance detection device comprising:
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an image-capturing unit mounted on a vehicle and configured to capture an image of a predetermined region; an alignment unit configured to align images of the predetermined region in a position of a bird'"'"'s-eye view image, the images being captured at different times by the image-capturing unit; and a solid object detection unit configured to detect a solid object based on difference image data between data of the images captured at the different times and aligned by the alignment unit, wherein the solid object detection unit is configured to count a number of pixels each expressing a certain difference with respect to the difference image data and which are arranged in a direction in which the solid object is inclined when the image of the predetermined region is converted into the bird'"'"'s-eye view image, then produce a frequency distribution of the counted number of pixels in a running direction of the vehicle to generate a difference waveform, divide each of difference waveforms generated at different times into a plurality of regions, calculate an offset amount of each of the difference waveforms for each of the regions, based on a difference waveform overlapped with another one of the difference waveforms with a minimum difference, produce a histogram by counting offset amounts calculated for each of the regions, and calculate the travel distance of the solid object based on the histogram.
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Specification