Vehicle surroundings monitoring device

• US 8,965,056 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2011
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arriver Software AB (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Matsuda, Kodai, Nagaoka, Nobuharu, Aimura, Makoto
• Primary Examiner(s): Koziol, Stephen R
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, PINALBEN V
• Application Number:
  US13/817,466
• Publication Number:
  US 20130243261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,343 Days
• Field of Search: 382/106, 382/104, 382/103, 382/190, 382/154, 382/107, 382/118
• US Class Current: 382/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

When it is determined that a type of a physical body in real space corresponding to an image portion is a crossing pedestrian, a distance calculating unit 13 performs a first distance calculating process of calculating a distance between a vehicle 1 and the physical body, on the basis of a correlative relationship between the distance from the vehicle 1 set on assumption of a height of the pedestrian and a height of the image portion, according to the height of the image portion. When it is determined that the type of the physical body is not the crossing pedestrian, then the distance calculating unit 13 performs a second distance calculating process which calculates the distance between the physical body and the vehicle, on the basis of a change in size of the image portions of the physical body extracted from time-series captured images.

Claims

1. A vehicle surroundings monitoring device, comprising:

a distance calculating unit which calculates, on a basis of a captured image by a single camera mounted on a vehicle, a distance between the vehicle and a physical body in real space corresponding to an image portion extracted from the captured image; and

a physical body type judging unit which judges a type of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion;

wherein the distance calculating unit

determines a change in shape of the image portion or a change in shape of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion, in a predetermined period,

determines whether to execute a first distance calculating process or a second distance calculating process based on whether the change in shape of the image portion or the change in shape of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion, in a predetermined period exceeds a predetermined level,

executes the first distance calculating process, when the change in shape exceeds the predetermined level, of calculating a distance between the physical body and the vehicle, by applying the size of the image portion of the physical body extracted from the captured image to a correlative relationship between a distance from the vehicle in real space set on assumption of the type of the physical body and a size of the image portion in the captured image, and

executes the second distance calculating process, when the change in shape is equal to or less than the predetermined level, of calculating the distance between the physical body and the vehicle, on the basis of the change in size of image portions of the physical body extracted from time-series captured images by the camera.

2. The vehicle surroundings monitoring device according to claim 1,

wherein the physical body is a pedestrian crossing a road, and

the distance calculating unit calculates, in the first distance calculating process, of calculating the distance between the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion and the vehicle, by applying a height of the image portion extracted from the captured image to a correlative relationship between the distance from the vehicle in real space and the height of the image portion in the captured image, set such that a height of the pedestrian is a predetermined value.

3. A vehicle surroundings monitoring method, comprising:

capturing a captured image by a single camera mounted on a vehicle;

extracting an image portion from the captured image;

calculating a distance, using the a captured image, between the vehicle and a physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion; and

judging a type of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion;

wherein the step of calculating the distance includes;

determining a change in shape of the image portion or a change in shape of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion, in a predetermined period,

determining whether to execute a first distance calculating process or a second distance calculating process based on whether the change in shape of the image portion or the change in shape of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion, in a predetermined period exceeds a predetermined level,

executing the first distance calculating process, when the change in shape exceeds the predetermined level, of calculating a distance between the physical body and the vehicle, by applying the size of the image portion of the physical body extracted from the captured image to a correlative relationship between a distance from the vehicle in real space set on assumption of the type of the physical body and a size of the image portion in the captured image, and

executing the second distance calculating process, when the change in shape is equal to or less than the predetermined level, of calculating the distance between the physical body and the vehicle, on the basis of the change in size of image portions of the physical body extracted from time-series captured images by the camera.

4. The vehicle surroundings monitoring method according to claim 3,

wherein the physical body is a pedestrian crossing a road, and

the calculation of the distance between the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion and the vehicle in the first distance calculating process includes applying a height of the image portion extracted from the captured image to a correlative relationship between the distance from the vehicle in real space and the height of the image portion in the captured image, set such that a height of the pedestrian is a predetermined value.

5. A vehicle surroundings monitoring system, comprising:

a single camera mounted on a vehicle; and

an electronic control unit including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions to be executed by the processor,

wherein the instructions include steps of;

capturing a captured image by the single camera mounted on the vehicle;

extracting an image portion from the captured image;

calculating a distance, using the a captured image, between the vehicle and a physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion; and

judging a type of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion;

wherein the step of calculating the distance includes;

determining a change in shape of the image portion or a change in shape of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion, in a predetermined period,

determining whether to execute a first distance calculating process or a second distance calculating process based on whether the change in shape of the image portion or the change in shape of the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion, in a predetermined period exceeds a predetermined level,

executing the first distance calculating process, when the change in shape exceeds the predetermined level, of calculating a distance between the physical body and the vehicle, by applying the size of the image portion of the physical body extracted from the captured image to a correlative relationship between a distance from the vehicle in real space set on assumption of the type of the physical body and a size of the image portion in the captured image, and

executing the second distance calculating process, when the change in shape is equal to or less than the predetermined level, of calculating the distance between the physical body and the vehicle, on the basis of the change in size of image portions of the physical body extracted from time-series captured images by the camera.

6. The vehicle surroundings monitoring system according to claim 5,

wherein the physical body is a pedestrian crossing a road, and

the instructions for the calculation of the distance between the physical body in real space corresponding to the image portion and the vehicle in the first distance calculating process include applying a height of the image portion extracted from the captured image to a correlative relationship between the distance from the vehicle in real space and the height of the image portion in the captured image, set such that a height of the pedestrian is a predetermined value.