Device for monitoring surroundings of a vehicle
First Claim
1. A vehicle surroundings monitoring device comprising:
- an imaging unit which is mounted in a vehicle and captures an image of surroundings of the vehicle; and
an image processing unit having a processor and a memory,the image processing unit being configured to;
extract possible image areas for a predetermined part of a desired type of object in the captured image;
set a predetermined area below each extracted image area;
when no pattern different from a background is captured in the predetermined area, or when a pattern different from the background is captured only in one of a first and a second areas each of which is a half of the predetermined area divided in a horizontal direction, exclude the extracted area related to said predetermined area and determine candidates for the desired type of object as objects in the remaining extracted image areas;
determine, for each of the candidates, whether the candidate is the desired type of object.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device for monitoring surroundings of a vehicle mounted in a vehicle, captures an image of surroundings of the vehicle, extracts from the captured image an image area for a predetermined part of a desired type of object, and sets a predetermined area below the extracted image area. The device extracts candidates for the desired type of object present outside the vehicle based on the predetermined area and determines, for each of the extracted object candidates, whether the object candidate is the desired type of object. When no pattern different from the background is captured in the predetermined area, or when a pattern different from the background is captured only in one of a first and a second areas, then the object in the image area is excluded from the candidates for the desired type of object. Thus, a pedestrian, for example, can be distinguished from an artificial structure.
17 Citations
6 Claims
-
1. A vehicle surroundings monitoring device comprising:
-
an imaging unit which is mounted in a vehicle and captures an image of surroundings of the vehicle; and an image processing unit having a processor and a memory, the image processing unit being configured to;
extract possible image areas for a predetermined part of a desired type of object in the captured image;set a predetermined area below each extracted image area; when no pattern different from a background is captured in the predetermined area, or when a pattern different from the background is captured only in one of a first and a second areas each of which is a half of the predetermined area divided in a horizontal direction, exclude the extracted area related to said predetermined area and determine candidates for the desired type of object as objects in the remaining extracted image areas; determine, for each of the candidates, whether the candidate is the desired type of object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A method of monitoring surroundings of a vehicle, comprising steps of:
-
capturing an image of surroundings of the vehicle with an imaging unit; extracting possible image areas for a predetermined part of a desired type of object in the captured image; setting a predetermined area below each extracted image areas; when no pattern different from a background is captured in the predetermined area, or when a pattern different from the background is captured only in one of a first and a second areas each of which is a half of the predetermined area divided in a horizontal direction, excluding the extracted area related to said predetermined area and determine candidates for the desired type of objects as objects in the remaining extracted image areas; determining, for each of the candidates, whether the candidate is the desired type of object. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
-
Specification