OBJECT RECOGNITION PROCESSING APPARATUS, OBJECT RECOGNITION PROCESSING METHOD, AND AUTONOMOUS DRIVING SYSTEM

• US 20170358102A1
• Filed: 05/23/2017
• Published: 12/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: AKIYAMA, Tomohiro
• Granted Patent: US 10,460,467 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 using a video camera in combination with image processing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/256 of results relating to different input data, e.g. multimodal recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• 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

Abstract

An object recognition processing apparatus includes: an object fusion processing unit 6 for fusing detection information signals of objects existing around a vehicle, which are detected by a plurality of object detection units to output object fusion signals; a same object fusion result combination candidate selection processing unit for selecting, for a combination of object fusion signals, candidates of the object fusion signals to be combined; a same object fusion result combination determination processing unit for determining whether or not a combination of the selected object fusion signals is a combination of object fusion signals of the same object; and a same object fusion combination integration processing unit for recognizing the objects existing around the vehicle on the basis of a result of the determination.

Claims

1. An object recognition processing apparatus for detecting objects existing around a vehicle by using a plurality of object detection units, and receiving detection information of the objects from the respective object detection units, the apparatus comprising:

a processor for executing a program; and

a storage device in which the program is stored,

the processor executing the program to perform the operations of;

fusing detection information signals of the objects detected by the plurality of object detection units to output object fusion signals;

selecting, for a combination of object fusion signals, candidates of the object fusion signals to be combined;

determining whether or not a combination of the selected object fusion signals is a combination of object fusion signals of the same object; and

recognizing the objects existing around the vehicle on the basis of a result of the determination.

2. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

a combination of the object fusion signals, having higher detection reliability of object detection information, is extracted from the selected candidates of the object fusion signals, and

it is determined whether or not the combination of the extracted object fusion signals is a combination of object fusion signals of the same object.

3. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

for a combination of object fusion signals, candidates of the object fusion signals to be combined are selected on the basis of detection reliability condition signals received from the object detection units.

4. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

object fusion signals satisfying detection reliability conditions included in the detection reliability condition signals received from the object detection units are selected as the candidates.

5. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the detection reliability conditions include at least one of:

the number of times by which detection information signals of objects cannot be fused;

detection positions of the objects;

detection reliabilities of the objects; and

estimation errors of detection of the objects.

6. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the detection reliability conditions include at least one of:

the number of times by which detection information signals of objects cannot be fused;

detection positions of the objects;

detection reliabilities of the objects; and

estimation errors of detection of the objects.

7. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

for a combination of object fusion signals, candidates of the object fusion signals to be combined are selected on the basis of object motion specification difference conditions.

8. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the object motion specification difference conditions include, regarding a result of fusion of a plurality of objects, at least one of:

difference in position between the objects;

difference in speed between the objects; and

difference in acceleration between the objects.

9. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

when an object feature information signal is added to each of the object fusion signals and the object fusion signals are outputted, the object motion specification difference conditions are changed on the basis of object identification information.

10. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

when an object feature information signal is added to each of the object fusion signals and the object fusion signals are outputted, for a combination of object fusion signals, candidates of the object fusion signals to be combined are selected on the basis of the object feature information signals.

11. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

the object feature information signal includes at least one of a direction, identification information, a color, and a reception level, of the corresponding object.

12. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when determining whether or not the combination of the selected object fusion signals is a combination of object fusion signals of the same object, if, in a combination of the object fusion signals selected in latest n processing periods (n:

natural number), the number of times of object detections used for fusion of objects for the latest n processing periods is equal to or more than a determination threshold for combination of fusion signals of the same object, this combination is determined to be a combination of fusion results of the same object.

13. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when determining whether or not the combination of the selected object fusion signals is a combination of object fusion signals of the same object, if, with respect to a combination of the object fusion signals selected in latest n processing periods (n:

natural number), a plurality of detection information signals of the objects used for fusion of objects for the latest n processing periods are all detected by the same object detection unit, the determination as to whether or not this combination is a combination of object fusion signals of the same object is not performed.

14. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when determining whether or not the combination of the selected object fusion signals is a combination of object fusion signals of the same object, if the object detection units, which have generated the combination candidates of the object fusion signals, detect combination candidates of fusion results of the same object at the same timing, the determination as to whether or not the combination candidates are object fusion signals of the same object is not performed.

15. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when recognizing the object existing around the vehicle, the recognition is performed on the basis of an average value of a plurality of the object fusion signals, or estimation error values of the object fusion signals.

16. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when recognizing the object existing around the vehicle, an average value of a plurality of object fusion signals or estimation error values of the object fusion signals are determined on the basis of an object identification information signal added to each of the object fusion signals, and the recognition is performed on the basis of the determined value.

17. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

when recognizing the object existing around the vehicle, the recognition is performed by using the object fusion signals for latest n processing periods.

18. The object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein

when recognizing the objects existing around the vehicle, the recognition is performed by using the object fusion signals for latest n processing periods.

19. An autonomous driving system comprising a vehicle control unit for controlling an operation of a vehicle on the basis of an output of the object recognition processing apparatus according to claim 1.

20. An object recognition method, comprising:

a first step of detecting objects existing around a vehicle by using a plurality of object detection units, and receiving detection information of the objects from the respective object detection units;

a second step of fusing detection information signals of the objects detected by the plurality of object detection units to output object fusion signals;

a third step of selecting, for a combination of object fusion signals, candidates of the object fusion signals to be combined;

a fourth step of determining whether or not a combination of the selected object fusion signals is a combination of object fusion signals of the same object; and

a fifth step of recognizing the objects existing around the vehicle on the basis of a result of the determination.