METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW IMAGE
First Claim
1. A bird'"'"'s-eye view image generating apparatus comprising:
- an image input unit for inputting an image of an area surrounding a vehicle photographed by an image capture device installed on the vehicle;
an obstacle detecting unit for detecting an obstacle that exists in the area surrounding the vehicle in a direction the image-capture is pointed, the obstacle having a predicted contact portion at a predetermined height above a surface of a road that is captured in the image of the surroundings of the vehicle, the predicted contact portion being a portion of the obstacle which will make initial contact with the vehicle when the vehicle moves toward the obstacle; and
a bird'"'"'s-eye view image generating unit for setting, when the obstacle detecting unit detects the obstacle, a virtual projection plane at the height above the surface of the road where the predicted contact portion is detected, and performing viewpoint conversion processing in which pixels of the image input by the image input unit are projected onto the virtual projection plane, thereby generating a bird'"'"'s-eye view image that is an image of the area surrounding the vehicle in the direction the image capture device is pointed as viewed from a virtual viewpoint above the vehicle that accurately reflects the distance between the vehicle and the predicted contact portion of the obstacle.
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Abstract
An obstacle detecting unit detects whether an obstacle exists in an area surrounding a vehicle in the direction a camera installed on the vehicle is pointed. If the obstacle is determined to have a portion at a predetermined height above a road surface with which the vehicle may make initial contact when the vehicle moves toward the obstacle, a virtual projection surface is set to the height of the predicted contact portion and viewpoint conversion processing is performed so as to project pixels of an image captured by the camera onto the virtual projection plane. In this way, the height of the projection plane and the height of the predicted contact portion match each other and the distance between the predicted contact portion and the vehicle is accurately expressed on a bird'"'"'s-eye view image resulting from the viewpoint conversion.
64 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A bird'"'"'s-eye view image generating apparatus comprising:
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an image input unit for inputting an image of an area surrounding a vehicle photographed by an image capture device installed on the vehicle; an obstacle detecting unit for detecting an obstacle that exists in the area surrounding the vehicle in a direction the image-capture is pointed, the obstacle having a predicted contact portion at a predetermined height above a surface of a road that is captured in the image of the surroundings of the vehicle, the predicted contact portion being a portion of the obstacle which will make initial contact with the vehicle when the vehicle moves toward the obstacle; and a bird'"'"'s-eye view image generating unit for setting, when the obstacle detecting unit detects the obstacle, a virtual projection plane at the height above the surface of the road where the predicted contact portion is detected, and performing viewpoint conversion processing in which pixels of the image input by the image input unit are projected onto the virtual projection plane, thereby generating a bird'"'"'s-eye view image that is an image of the area surrounding the vehicle in the direction the image capture device is pointed as viewed from a virtual viewpoint above the vehicle that accurately reflects the distance between the vehicle and the predicted contact portion of the obstacle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13)
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10. A bird'"'"'s-eye view image generating method comprising:
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inputting an image of an area surrounding a vehicle captured by an image capture device installed on the vehicle; detecting whether an obstacle exists in the area surrounding the vehicle in a direction of the image-capture-device is pointed, the obstacle having a predicted contact portion at a predetermined height above a road surface, wherein the predicted contact portion is a portion with which the vehicle may make contact when the vehicle moves toward the object; and setting, when the obstacle is detected, a virtual projection plane to a height where the predicted contact portion of the obstacle exists; and performing viewpoint conversion processing so as to project pixels of the input image onto the virtual projection plane, thereby generating a bird'"'"'s-eye view image that is an image of the area surrounding the vehicle as viewed from a virtual viewpoint above the vehicle in a direction of the image capture device.
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14. A bird'"'"'s-eye view image generating apparatus comprising:
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an image input unit for inputting an image of an area surrounding a vehicle photographed by an image capture device installed on the vehicle, the vehicle comprising a protruding portion that extends away from the vehicle as compared to a non-protruding portion of the vehicle; an obstacle detecting unit for detecting an obstacle that exists in the area surrounding the vehicle in a direction the image-capture is pointed, the obstacle having a predicted contact portion at a predetermined height above a surface of a road captured in the image of the surroundings of the vehicle, the predicted contact portion being a portion of the obstacle which will make initial contact with the vehicle when the vehicle moves toward the obstacle; and a bird'"'"'s-eye view image generating unit for setting, when the obstacle detecting unit detects the obstacle, a virtual projection plane at the height above the surface of the road where the predicted contact portion is detected, and performing viewpoint conversion processing; a vehicle movement-amount detecting unit for detecting an amount of movement of the vehicle; a table storage unit that stores data in a distance table in which a height of the predicted contact portion of the obstacle and an allowable-movement distance for the vehicle are associated with each other, the allowable-movement distance for the vehicle substantially corresponding to the distance the protruding portion extends away from the non-protruding portion of the vehicle at the height of the predicted contact portion of the obstacle; and a mode control unit for switching an operation mode from a road-surface projection mode to a virtual-plane projection mode when the obstacle detecting unit
1) detects the obstacle and
2) determines, based on the detected amount of movement of the vehicle, that the vehicle has moved by an amount corresponding to the allowable-movement distance stored by the table storage unit in association with the predicted contact portion detected by the obstacle detecting unit,wherein in the road-surface projection mode, the bird'"'"'s-eye view image generating unit performs viewpoint conversion processing so as to project the pixels of the image input by the image input unit onto a projection plane set at a height of the road surface in the vehicle surroundings, and in the virtual-plane projection mode, the viewpoint conversion processing is performed so as to project the pixels of the image input by the image input unit onto the virtual projection plane, thereby altering the image to accurately reflect the distance between the vehicle and the predicted contact portion of the obstacle. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification