Vehicle-to-vehicle distance calculation apparatus and method
US9135709B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 31, 2014 |
| Grant date | Sep 15, 2015 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 31, 2034 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T2207/30252
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The distance to a target vehicle is calculated comparatively accurately. To achieve this, a target vehicle traveling ahead of one's own vehicle is imaged by a camera and it is determined to what vehicle group the image of the target vehicle belongs. A first distance from one's own vehicle to the target vehicle is calculated by a circuit using the representative vehicle width of the vehicle group decided. A vanishing point is detected from the captured image by a vanishing point detection circuit and a second distance from one's own vehicle to the target vehicle is calculated utilizing the vanishing point. The distance to the target vehicle is decided from the first and second distances by a distance decision circuit, wherein the shorter the distance to the vanishing point, the more the value of a weighting coefficient of the second distance is reduced.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.