Patent · US Active

Obstacle detection apparatus and a method therefor

US7437244B2 · kind B2 · utility

17Cited by
9References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJan 21, 2005
Grant dateOct 14, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 29, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG08G1/166
  • WIPO fieldControl
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An obstacle detection apparatus includes an image input unit inputting a image sequence captured by an image sensor, a velocity detector deriving velocity vectors representing motions of a to-be-detected point and a to-be-compared point on each image of the image sequence, a predictive velocity vector calculator calculating a predictive velocity vector of the to-be-detected point using a detected velocity vector of the to-be-compared point, an obstacle detector detecting the to-be-detected point as a point on the obstacle when a horizontal component of a detected velocity vector of the to-be-detected point is larger than a horizontal component of the predictive velocity vector by a given threshold, and an obstacle information output unit outputting information on the to-be-detected point detected as the obstacle.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.