KR20180001364A - Apparatus and method for dectecting front vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for detecting a vehicle ahead can comprise: a first camera acquiring a first image by photographing the front; a second camera acquiring a second image displaying a brightness change degree of light by photographing the front; and a control unit detecting a red area in the first image, designating one or more target areas corresponding to the detected red area in the second image, and detecting a target area linearly moving among the designated target areas to a vehicle.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DECTECTING FRONT VEHICLE [0002]

The present invention relates to a front vehicle detection apparatus and method.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a system for increasing vehicle safety and driving comfort using various sensors has been introduced into vehicles. Especially, to prevent accidents, it is necessary to recognize the environment of the vehicle and warn the driver in case of a dangerous situation.

The main cause of the dangerous situation in the surrounding environment of the vehicle is the surrounding vehicle, and the forward vehicle is the first priority recognition object. To this end, many recently developed systems track the presence or absence of a forward vehicle on the road and track the relative speed or movement to alert them of the danger.

The system for detecting such a front vehicle photographs the front side with the camera and recognizes the vehicle from the photographed image. The conventional system stores the external features of the vehicle, matches the pre-stored template in the input image in real time, and recognizes the vehicle.

However, the method used in such a conventional system has a problem that a high-performance processor must be used for recognition of a vehicle because a processor has to process a large amount of data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for detecting a vehicle ahead by data throughput.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are not intended to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It can be understood.

A front vehicle detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for realizing the above-described object includes a first camera for capturing a front image and acquiring a first image, a second image capturing the front image and representing a degree of brightness change of light A red region in the second camera and the first image, one or more target regions corresponding to the detected red regions in the second image, and a linearly moving target region in the designated target region, As shown in FIG.

In one embodiment, the control unit may control the frame rate of the second camera to increase in proportion to the speed of the vehicle.

In one embodiment, the control unit may detect a pair of target areas simultaneously moving among the linearly moving target areas with the vehicle.

In one embodiment, the control unit may detect the target area as a vehicle when the direction in which the target area moves or the direction opposite to the moving direction is a direction toward the vanishing point of the second image.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a front vehicle detecting method for detecting a front image of a vehicle, the method comprising: acquiring a first image and a second image representing a degree of brightness change of light; , Designating one or more target areas corresponding to the red areas in the second image, and detecting a linearly moving target area among the designated target areas as a vehicle.

In one embodiment, the step of detecting as a vehicle a linearly moving target area of the designated target area may detect a pair of target areas simultaneously moving among the linearly moving target areas.

In one embodiment, the step of detecting as a vehicle a linearly moving target area of the designated target area may be performed when the direction in which the target area moves or the direction opposite to the moving direction is a direction toward the vanishing point of the second image , The target area can be detected as a vehicle.

Embodiments of the present invention can provide an apparatus and method for detecting a vehicle ahead with data throughput.

It should be understood, however, that the effects obtained by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned may be clearly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs It will be possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to further the understanding of the technical idea of the invention, It should not be construed as limited.
1 is a block diagram of a front vehicle detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an example of an image taken by an asynchronous camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a view showing the rear of a vehicle in an image according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating that a red region in an image moves according to time according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart showing a front vehicle detection method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a block diagram illustrating a computing system that implements a forward vehicle detection method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to exemplary drawings. It should be noted that, in adding reference numerals to the constituent elements of the drawings, the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference symbols as possible even if they are shown in different drawings. In the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the difference that the embodiments of the present invention are not conclusive.

In describing the components of the embodiment of the present invention, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), and (b) may be used. These terms are intended to distinguish the constituent elements from other constituent elements, and the terms do not limit the nature, order or order of the constituent elements. Also, unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the relevant art and are to be interpreted in an ideal or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined in the present application Do not.

1 is a block diagram of a front vehicle detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is an example of an image taken by an asynchronous camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a view showing the rear of a vehicle in an image according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating that a red region in an image moves according to time according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the front vehicle detection apparatus 100 may include a first camera 110, a second camera 120, and a controller 130.

However, the components shown in Fig. 1 are not essential, so that the vehicle detection apparatus 100 having more components or fewer components may be implemented.

The first camera 110 may capture an image of the front side of the vehicle. The first camera 110 may be a commonly used digital camera and may acquire color images.

In addition, the second camera 120 may capture an image representing the degree of brightness change of light by photographing the front of the vehicle. The second camera 120 may be an asynchronous camera. Examples of the asynchronous camera include an ACTIVE PIXEL VISION, a DYNAMIC VISION, a NEUROMORPHIC VISION, and a SILICON RETINA sensor.

 The image captured by the second camera 120 may be an image in which the degree of brightness change of light is displayed as shown in FIG. 2, rather than a color image, unlike the image captured by the first camera 110. That is, an image is acquired by using the amount of change of light entering each pixel, and the change of light can be confirmed from the image acquired by the second camera 120.

Unlike the first camera 110, the second camera 120 can acquire only a change in brightness of light. Therefore, there is an advantage that a motion blur does not appear when a moving object is photographed.

Also, the controller 130 can detect the vehicle using the first image, which is obtained by the first camera 110, and the second image, which is obtained by the second camera 120.

Specifically, the controller 130 detects a red region in the first image. The vehicle operates the taillight (a) during traveling as shown in Fig. 3, and the color of the taillight (a) is red. Accordingly, the first image captured on the road may include a red region, and the controller 130 may detect a red region in the first image to detect the vehicle.

In addition, the controller 130 may designate one or more target regions corresponding to the second image with the position of the red region detected from the first image. The color of the second image is not displayed, but the degree of brightness change of the light is displayed, so that a portion detected as a red region in the first image becomes prominent in the second image. The control unit 130 designates such a prominent area as a target area.

The controller 130 may determine whether the designated target area moves linearly and detect the linearly moving target area as a vehicle. In general, since a vehicle that travels linearly moves with time, a linearly moving target area can be judged as a vehicle.

On the other hand, the tail light of the vehicle is constituted by a pair of right and left sides, and accordingly, the tail light of the vehicle appears as a pair of red regions in the first image. Referring to FIG. 4, it can be seen that the red region b of the first image moves with time, and the red regions b move together as a pair.

Accordingly, the controller 130 may determine only a pair of target areas that are simultaneously moving among the target areas as a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. At this time, if the control unit 130 moves the target regions that are linearly moved but do not form a pair, the target regions that are separately moved do not judge to be vehicles.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the controller 130 may determine the target area as a vehicle when the moving direction of the target area moving linearly or the direction opposite to the moving direction is toward the vanishing point of the second image .

The straight moving vehicle moves in the direction from the image toward the vanishing point, and the red region (b) corresponding to the tail light of the vehicle also moves toward the vanishing point as shown in Fig. On the other hand, the signal light is fixed, so the red light of the traffic light does not move toward the vanishing point even if it moves from the image. The controller 130 may determine the target area as a vehicle when the target area moving direction of the second image corresponding to the red area of the first image is directed to the vanishing point by reflecting such a characteristic.

On the other hand, as the speed of the vehicle on which the front vehicle detection apparatus 100 of the present invention is installed increases, the object in the image relatively moves. Accordingly, if the frame rate (frame rate) at which the second camera 120 acquires an image is low, the controller 130 may not detect the vehicle.

Therefore, the controller 130 may control the frame rate of the second camera 120 to increase in proportion to the speed of the own vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. The controller 130 increases the frame rate of the second camera 120 in proportion to the speed of the own vehicle, so that the vehicle can be detected without missing even if the relative speed between the other vehicles is large.

5 is a flowchart showing a front vehicle detection method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the forward vehicle detection method will be described in detail based on the above-described configurations with reference to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 5, the forward vehicle detection method includes a step S100 of acquiring a first image and a second image representing a degree of brightness change of light by capturing a forward image, detecting a red region in the first image S200, , Designating (S300) one or more target areas corresponding to the red areas in the second image (S300), and detecting (S400) a linearly moving target area among the designated target areas as a vehicle .

Hereinafter, steps S100 to S400 will be described in detail.

In step S100, the first camera 110 acquires a first image by capturing the front of the vehicle, and the second camera 120 photographs the front of the vehicle to acquire a second image representing a degree of brightness change of light . As described above, the second camera 120 may be an asynchronous camera.

In step S200, the controller 130 may detect a red region in the first image. In the first image, the red region is a candidate group that can be the tail lamp of the vehicle, and the control unit 130 detects a candidate group that can be detected by the vehicle.

In step S300, the controller 130 may designate one or more target areas corresponding to red areas of the first image on the second image. The control unit 130 designates a candidate group that can be the tail lamp of the preceding vehicle in the second image.

In step S400, the control unit 130 may detect a linearly moving target area of the designated target area as a vehicle.

The controller 130 may determine whether the designated target area moves linearly and detect the linearly moving target area as a vehicle.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the controller 130 may determine only a pair of target regions simultaneously moving among the target regions as vehicles. At this time, if the control unit 130 moves the target regions that are linearly moved but do not form a pair, the target regions that are separately moved do not judge to be vehicles.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the controller 130 may determine the target area as a vehicle when the moving direction of the target area moving linearly or the direction opposite to the moving direction is toward the vanishing point of the second image .

6 is a block diagram illustrating a computing system that implements a forward vehicle detection method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

6, a computing system 1000 includes at least one processor 1100, a memory 1300, a user interface input device 1400, a user interface output device 1500, (1600), and a network interface (1700).

The processor 1100 may be a central processing unit (CPU) or a memory device 1300 and / or a semiconductor device that performs processing for instructions stored in the storage 1600. Memory 1300 and storage 1600 may include various types of volatile or non-volatile storage media. For example, the memory 1300 may include a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory).

Thus, the steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by processor 1100, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a storage medium (i.e., memory 1300 and / or storage 1600) such as a RAM memory, a flash memory, a ROM memory, an EPROM memory, an EEPROM memory, a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, You may. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor 1100, which can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral to the processor 1100. [ The processor and the storage medium may reside within an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The ASIC may reside within the user terminal. Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

The above-described front vehicle detecting apparatus and method are not limited to the configuration and method of the embodiments described above, but the embodiments may be modified so that all or some of the embodiments may be selectively And may be configured in combination.

100: Front vehicle detection device
110: First camera
120: Second camera
130:
1000: Computing System
1100: Processor
1200: System bus
1300: Memory
1310: ROM
1320: RAM
1400: User interface

Claims (7)

A first camera for capturing a first image by capturing a forward portion of the vehicle;
A second camera for capturing a front side of the vehicle and acquiring a second image indicating a degree of brightness change of light; And
A control unit that detects a red region in the first image, designates one or more target regions corresponding to the detected red regions in the second image, and detects a linearly moving target region of the specified target region as a vehicle And a control unit for controlling the vehicle. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit controls the frame rate of the second camera to increase in proportion to the speed of the vehicle. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit detects, as the vehicle, a pair of target areas simultaneously moving among the linearly moving target areas. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit detects the target area as a vehicle when the direction in which the target area moves or the direction opposite to the moving direction is a direction toward the vanishing point of the second image. Capturing a front side of the vehicle and obtaining a first image and a second image indicating a degree of brightness change of the light;
Detecting a red region in the first image;
Designating one or more target areas corresponding to the red areas in the second image; And
Detecting a linearly moving target area of the designated target area as a vehicle. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the step of detecting as a vehicle a linearly moving target area among the designated target areas detects a pair of target areas simultaneously moving among the linearly moving target areas as the vehicle . 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the step of detecting as a vehicle a linearly moving target area of the designated target area includes a step of moving the target area when the direction in which the target area moves or the direction opposite to the moving direction is a direction toward the vanishing point of the second image The vehicle is detected as a vehicle.

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