JP3527945B2 - Traveling vehicle detection apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traveling vehicle detection apparatus having a certainty degree determination function for determining the certainty degree of data from an output result of an image sensor for measuring the speed and position of a traveling vehicle, and a detection method thereof. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a traveling vehicle detection device and a method therefor, a device based on output data of an image sensor for measuring the speed and position of the vehicle is known.

[0003]

However, in such a detection apparatus and method, since the certainty factor of the output data is unknown, the data acquired in an unfavorable environment is not detected. , The data acquired under good conditions,
There is a problem that the processing is performed in the same way, and as a result, the safety of the detection apparatus and the entire method thereof is greatly influenced by bad data, and a sufficient result cannot be obtained.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional traveling vehicle detection device and the detection method therefor, and to give a high degree of certainty to the data acquired under a good condition, The data acquired under bad conditions is
It is an object of the present invention to provide a traveling vehicle detection device and a detection method thereof that can be handled without being handled and can improve the reliability of the traveling vehicle detection device and the detection method thereof.

[0005]

An object of the present invention is to achieve the above object. The invention according to claim 1 is an image sensor using a visible camera for measuring the speed and position of a traveling vehicle. A traveling vehicle detection device using
Input means for inputting the image signal output by the image sensor, brightness calculating means for calculating the average brightness of the entire or specific area in the image signal, and average edge of the entire or specific area in the image signal Edge calculating means for calculating intensity and each pixel of the whole or a specific area in the image signal
From the frame difference method or pattern matching method
And a speed / position detecting means for detecting speed / position information that is the speed and position of the traveling vehicle in the image signal, and a threshold value that defines the average brightness and the average edge strength in advance.
By comparing, by using the certainty factor calculating means for calculating the certainty factor, which is a criterion for judging whether or not the speed / position information is presented to the driver, and the certainty factor calculated by the certainty factor calculating means, the speed is calculated.・ A judgment means for judging the safety of position information,
The present invention is characterized by further comprising presenting means for presenting the driver with the speed / position information determined to be highly safe by the determining means.

The invention as defined in claim 2 is as set forth in claim 1.
In the traveling vehicle detection device of, the average edge strength is So
It is characterized in that it is a value obtained by averaging the edge intensities calculated from each pixel of the whole or a specific region in the image signal by using the bel operator.

[0007]

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a detection method for detecting a traveling vehicle using an image sensor with a visible camera for measuring the speed and position of the traveling vehicle, wherein the image signal output from the image sensor is detected. an input step of inputting, and brightness calculation step of calculating the average brightness of the entire or a particular region in the image signal, an edge calculating step of calculating the average edge intensity of the whole or a particular region in the image signal, the Each image of the whole or specific area in the image signal
Use frame difference method or pattern matching method
Then, the speed / position detection step of detecting speed / position information which is the speed and position of the traveling vehicle in the image signal, the average brightness and the average edge strength are predetermined.
Using a certainty factor calculation step of calculating a certainty factor that is a criterion for determining whether or not to present the speed / position information to the driver by comparing with a threshold value, and the certainty factor calculated in the certainty factor calculation step, Characterized by comprising a determination step of determining the safety of the speed / position information, and a presentation step of presenting the speed / position information determined to have high safety to the driver by the determination step. Is. The invention according to claim 4 is the traveling vehicle detection according to claim 3.
In the method, the average edge strength is a value obtained by averaging the edge strength calculated from all pixels in the image signal or each pixel in a specific area using the Sobel operator.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the overall configuration of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, 16 indicates a certainty factor determining means. The certainty determination means 16, the input means 12 for inputting the image signal from the image sensor 11, the brightness calculation means 13 for calculating the brightness from the input image signal, the edge calculation means 14 for calculating the edge strength, and the brightness And a confidence factor calculation means 15 for calculating the confidence factor from the edge strength.

The traveling vehicle detecting device includes a speed / position detecting means 17 for detecting the speed and position of the traveling vehicle from the image signals from the certainty factor determining means 16 and the input means 12.
And presenting means 19 for presenting information to the driver, and presenting means 19
And a determining means 18 for determining whether or not to send the data to.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the lightness calculation means 13, the total lightness in any target area input from the image sensor 11, the average lightness obtained by dividing by the number of pixels,
The threshold value processing indicated by st21 is performed, and if the condition is not satisfied, the process proceeds to st24, and the processing is terminated because the confidence is low. On the other hand, if the conditions are met in st21, the process proceeds to st22. Then, in st22, the edge calculation means 14 determines the edge strength at each pixel in the arbitrary target region input from the image sensor 11 as, for example, Sobel.
The average edge strength calculated by the operator and obtained by dividing the sum by the number of pixels is subjected to threshold processing, and if the conditions are not met, the process proceeds to st24 as described above and the processing is performed with low certainty. Finished,
On the other hand, if the condition is met at 22, the process proceeds to st23 and the confidence is high, and the process ends.

In this way, the certainty factor calculating means 15 can calculate the certainty factor. On the other hand, the speed / position detecting means 17 detects the speed and position of the traveling vehicle from the image signal input from the input means 12 by using the frame difference method or the pattern matching method. When the certainty factor as the output in the certainty factor calculation unit 15 is low, the determination unit 18 determines that the information has low safety and sends it to the presenting unit 19 without sending the speed and position information, and the high certainty factor. If the information is highly secure, the means of presentation
Send speed and position information to 19. In the presenting means 19,
The information output from the determination means 18 is presented to the driver.

As described above, according to the present invention, when it is assumed that a driver's safe driving support system using an image sensor is constructed, the certainty about the speed and position information from the image sensor with respect to an arbitrary time. Regarding the output from the degree determination device, only the data with high confidence is used, the data with low confidence is not adopted, and the fact is communicated to the driver to realize a more safe system. can do.

[0014]

As described above, the present invention is a traveling vehicle detection apparatus using an image sensor with a visible camera for measuring the speed and position of a traveling vehicle, wherein the image output by the image sensor is used. Input means for inputting a signal,
And brightness calculation means for calculating the average brightness of the entire or a particular region in the image signal, an edge calculating means for calculating the average edge intensity of the whole or a particular region in the image signal, before
From each pixel of the whole or specific area in the image signal,
Using a frame difference method or a pattern matching method, a speed / position detecting means for detecting speed / position information which is a speed and a position of a traveling vehicle in the image signal, the average brightness and the average edge strength . A certainty factor calculation unit that calculates a certainty factor that is a criterion for determining whether or not the speed / position information is presented to the driver by comparing with a predetermined threshold value, and the certainty factor calculated by the certainty factor calculation unit. By using the determining means for determining the safety of the speed / position information, and the presenting means for presenting the speed / position information determined to be highly safe by the determining means to the driver. ,
Assuming the case of constructing a safe driving support system for a driver using an image sensor, there is a high certainty level about the output from the certainty level determination device about the speed and position information from the image sensor for an arbitrary time. By using only the case data and not adopting the data when the confidence level is low, and notifying the driver of the fact, it is possible to realize a system with higher safety.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the certainty factor determination operation of the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 image sensor 12 input means 13 lightness calculation means 14 edge calculation means 15 confidence factor calculation means 16 confidence factor determination means 17 speed / position detection means 18 determination means 19 presenting means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI G08G 1/09 G08G 1/09 DS (56) Reference JP-A-7-78258 (JP, A) JP-A-7-334799 (JP, A) JP 2000-194985 (JP, A) Patent 3463101 (JP, B2) Detection of a forward vehicle using a projected parallax image, The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, C, Japan, March 1, 2000, Vol. ． 120-C No. 3, pp. 337-344 Rear-end collision prevention system, System / Control / Information, Japan, 1996, Vol. 40 No. 6, pp. 245-250 Perspective of applying soft computing to ITS control, Journal of Japan Fuzzy Science Society, Japan, 1999, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 196-204 (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06T ⁷ /00-7/60 G06T 1/00 G08G 1/00-1/16

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A traveling vehicle detection device using an image sensor with a visible camera for measuring the speed and position of a traveling vehicle, comprising input means for inputting an image signal output from the image sensor, and the image signal. A brightness calculating means for calculating the average brightness of the whole or a specific area in the image signal , an edge calculating means for calculating an average edge intensity of the whole or a specific area in the image signal, and an overall or specific area in the image signal
Frame difference method or pattern matching from each pixel
Using a tracking method, a speed / position detecting means for detecting speed / position information, which is the speed and position of the traveling vehicle in the image signal, and the average brightness and the average edge strength are determined in advance.
Using a certainty factor calculation unit that calculates a certainty factor that is a criterion for determining whether or not the speed / position information is presented to the driver, and the certainty factor calculated by the certainty factor calculation unit. And a presenting means for presenting to the driver the speed / position information which is judged to be highly safe by the judging means. And a traveling vehicle detection device. 2. The average edge strength is a value obtained by averaging the edge strength calculated from all pixels in an image signal or each pixel in a specific area by using a Sobel operator. Vehicle detection device. 3. A detection method for detecting a traveling vehicle using an image sensor with a visible camera for measuring the speed and position of the traveling vehicle, comprising an input step of inputting an image signal output from the image sensor, A brightness calculation step of calculating an average brightness of the whole or a specific area in the image signal ; an edge calculation step of calculating an average edge strength of the whole or a specific area in the image signal;
From the whole pixel or each pixel in a specific area.
Using a pattern matching method, a speed / position detection step of detecting speed / position information that is the speed and position of the traveling vehicle in the image signal, and a threshold value that presets the average brightness and the average edge strength. Compared with the speed
Using the certainty factor calculation step for calculating the certainty factor, which is the criterion for determining whether or not the position information is presented to the driver, and the certainty factor calculated in the certainty factor calculation step, the safety of the speed / position information is calculated. A traveling vehicle detection method comprising: a determination step of performing determination, and a presentation step of presenting to the driver the speed / position information determined to be highly safe by the determination step. 4. The average edge strength by using a Sobel operator, according to claim 3, characterized in that a value obtained by averaging the edge strength calculated from each pixel of the whole or a particular region of the image signal Moving vehicle detection method.