US 11,748,967 B2
Vehicle exterior environment recognition apparatus
Naoki Takahashi, Tokyo (JP); Yusuke Goto, Tokyo (JP); and Yuki Katsuno, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Jan. 21, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/154,734.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-041648 (JP), filed on Mar. 11, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0284151 A1, Sep. 16, 2021
Int. Cl. G06V 10/25 (2022.01); B60W 30/14 (2006.01); G06V 20/64 (2022.01); G06F 18/22 (2023.01); G06V 10/774 (2022.01); G06V 40/20 (2022.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01)
CPC G06V 10/25 (2022.01) [B60W 30/146 (2013.01); G06F 18/22 (2023.01); G06V 10/774 (2022.01); G06V 20/64 (2022.01); G06V 40/20 (2022.01); B60W 2554/4041 (2020.02); B60W 2554/4049 (2020.02); G06V 20/56 (2022.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle exterior environment recognition apparatus included on an own vehicle, the vehicle exterior environment recognition apparatus comprising:
a stereo speed derivation unit configured to derive a stereo speed, the stereo speed indicating a speed of a three-dimensional object extracted from a distance image, the distance image being derived from luminance images of two image-capturing units;
a monocular speed derivation unit configured to derive a monocular speed, the monocular speed indicating a speed of the three-dimensional object extracted from the luminance image of one of the image-capturing units;
a predicted speed derivation unit configured to derive a predicted speed, the predicted speed indicating a current speed of the three-dimensional object predicted on a basis of a past speed of the three-dimensional object;
a mixture ratio derivation unit configured to derive a mixture ratio of the stereo speed, the monocular speed, and the predicted speed; and
an object speed derivation unit configured to mix the stereo speed, the monocular speed, and the predicted speed at the mixture ratio, to derive an object speed indicating a speed of the three-dimensional object,
wherein the mixture ratio derivation unit includes:
a stereo weight derivation unit configured to derive a stereo weight indicating a ratio of the stereo speed;
a monocular weight derivation unit configured to derive a monocular weight indicating a ratio of the monocular speed; and
a prediction weight derivation unit configured to derive a prediction weight indicating a ratio of the predicted speed, and
wherein the object speed derivation unit is configured to derive the object speed by an expression (1),
V=(Ws×Vs+Wm×Vm+Wp×Vp)/(Ws+Wm+Wp)  (1)
where Vs denotes the stereo speed, Vm denotes the monocular speed, Vp denotes the predicted speed, Ws denotes the stereo weight, Wm denotes the monocular weight, Wp denotes the prediction weight, and V denotes the object speed,
wherein the distance image comprises blocks that include first blocks from which parallax is derived and second blocks from which parallax is not derived,
wherein the stereo weight derivation unit is configured to:
obtain (1) a relative distance between the own vehicle and the three-dimensional object using the luminance image that is obtained from the one of the image-capturing units and that is used to obtain the distance image, and (2) a ratio of the first blocks having parallax to all of the blocks of the distance image;
determine a reliability value of the distance image based on the relative distance and the ratio; and
derive the stereo weight in accordance with the reliability value of the distance image.