DETECTION DEVICE, METHOD AND PROGRAM THEREOF

• US 20080164985A1
• Filed: 01/10/2008
• Published: 07/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Original Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Inventors: Iketani, Takashi, Koitabashi, Hiroyoshi
• Application Number:
  US11/972,354
• Publication Number:
  US 20080164985A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4802 using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation; Target signature; Target cross-section
• 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: G06V 40/103 Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition

Abstract

The processing load of the detection without deteriorating the object detection performance is to be decreased. In one step, a position determining portion extracts objects within a detection region set based on the speed of an automotive vehicle from the objects detected by a laser radar. In another step, a speed determining portion extracts objects, whose speed in the distance direction of the automotive vehicle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value, from the objects extracted in the previous step. In another step, a ROI setting portion sets an ROI having a size corresponding to the distance of the object from the automotive vehicle for each of the extracted objects. The present invention can be applied to an in-vehicle obstacle detecting device.

Claims

1. A detection device that detects an obstacle in the surroundings of a vehicle, the detection device comprising:

an object extracting means for extracting objects, whose absolute value of the speed in the distance direction of the vehicle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value, from objects detected by a radar provided on the vehicle from the surrounding of the vehicle; and

a region setting means for setting, as a region on which the object detection is to be performed, a region having a size corresponding to the distance of the extracted object from the vehicle in an image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by a camera provided on the vehicle, the region including the entire or a portion of the extracted object.

2. The detection device according to claim 1, wherein the object extracting means extracts objects present within a region in the surroundings of the vehicle set based on the speed of the vehicle from the objects whose absolute value of the speed in the distance direction of the vehicle is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value.

3. The detection device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a feature amount calculating means for calculating a feature amount of pixels within the region; and

a feature point extracting means for detecting the features of the object from a feature point candidate, which is the pixels within the region having a feature amount equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, the feature point being extracted with a higher density as the distance of the object from a vehicle increases.

4. The detection device according to claim 3, further comprising:

a movement vector detecting means for detecting a movement vector at the feature point;

a vector transforming means for transforming the movement vector by subtracting a component generated by the rotation of the camera in the turning direction of the vehicle from the components of the detected movement vector;

a vector classifying means for classifying the movement vector by detecting whether the movement vector is a moving object movement vector, which is a movement vector of a moving object, based on the magnitude of the component of the transformed movement vector in the horizontal direction of the image, the position of the feature point corresponding to the movement vector in the horizontal direction of the image, the distance of the object from the vehicle, and the distance that the vehicle has traveled; and

a movement determining means for determining whether the object is moving based on the classification results of the movement vector within the region.

5. A detection method for detecting an obstacle in the surroundings of a vehicle, the detection method comprising:

an object extracting step for extracting objects, whose absolute value of the speed in the distance direction of the vehicle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value, from objects detected by a radar provided on the vehicle from the surrounding of the vehicle; and

a region setting step for setting, as a region on which the object detection is to be performed, a region having a size corresponding to the distance of the extracted object from the vehicle in an image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by a camera provided on the vehicle, the region including the entire or a portion of the extracted object.

6. A program for causing a computer to execute a detection process for detecting an obstacle in the surroundings of a vehicle, the detection process comprising:

an object extracting step for extracting objects, whose absolute value of the speed in the distance direction of the vehicle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value, from objects detected by a radar provided on the vehicle from the surrounding of the vehicle; and

a region setting step for setting, as a region on which the object detection is to be performed, a region having a size corresponding to the distance of the extracted object from the vehicle in an image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by a camera provided on the vehicle, the region including the entire or a portion of the extracted object.