A forward-facing vision system for a vehicle includes a forward-facing camera disposed in a windshield electronics module attached at a windshield of the vehicle and viewing through the windshield. A control includes a processor that, responsive to processing of captured image data, detects taillights of leading vehicles during nighttime conditions and, responsive to processing of captured image data, detects lane markers on a road being traveled by the vehicle. The control, responsive to lane marker detection and a determination that the vehicle is drifting out of a traffic lane, may control a steering system of the vehicle to mitigate such drifting, with the steering system manually controllable by a driver of the vehicle irrespective of control by the control. The processor, based at least in part on detection of lane markers via processing of captured image data, determines curvature of the road being traveled by the vehicle.

Vision system for vehicle

A vehicular vision system includes a camera having a lens and a CMOS photosensor array having a plurality of photosensor elements. The camera is disposed at an interior portion of a vehicle equipped with the vehicular vision system. The camera one of (i) views exterior of the equipped vehicle through the windshield of the equipped vehicle and forward of the equipped vehicle and (ii) views from the windshield of the equipped vehicle into the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle. A control includes an image processor that processes image data captured by the photosensor array. The image processor processes captured image data to detect an object viewed by the camera. The photosensor array is operable at a plurality of exposure periods and at least one exposure period of the plurality of exposure periods is dynamically variable.

Vehicular vision system

A driver assistance system for a vehicle includes an imaging device having a field of view forward of a vehicle and in a direction of travel of the equipped vehicle, an image processor operable to process image data captured by the imaging device, and a global positioning system operable to determine a geographical location of the vehicle. The equipped vehicle includes an adaptive speed control system for controlling the speed of the equipped vehicle. The adaptive speed control system may reduce the speed of the equipped vehicle responsive at least in part to a detection of a curve in the road ahead of the equipped vehicle via processing by the image processor of image data captured by the imaging device.

Driver assistance system for vehicle

A vehicular imaging system includes an imaging device that is part of an exterior rearview mirror assembly and having a field of view rearward and/or sideward of the vehicle. A control processes captured image data utilizing edge detection. Responsive at least in part to the processing, the control determines objects of interest present in the field of view of the imaging device. Objects of interest determined to be present in the field of view include (i) a vehicle that is rearward and/or sideward of the vehicle, (ii) a headlight of a vehicle that is rearward and/or sideward of the vehicle, (iii) a bicycle that is rearward and/or sideward of the vehicle, and/or (iv) a bicycle rider that is rearward and/or sideward of the vehicle. Responsive at least in part to the processing of captured image data, a driver of the vehicle is alerted to a hazardous condition.

Imaging system for vehicle

Disclosed herein is a lens driving device which is able to increase displacement without restriction, does not require a complex structure despite having a low power consumption, solves problems of friction and noise occurring in a gear mechanism, and realizes miniaturization and lightness. The lens driving device of the present invention includes a substrate which generates surface acoustic waves on a surface thereof, and a movable unit which is coupled to an optical lens and executes translation above the substrate using the surface acoustic waves. Therefore, the lens driving device of the present invention can implement translation of a lens without a separate mechanism, unlike conventional driving devices using motors and screws. Furthermore, the present invention satisfies the recent trend towards miniaturization and lightness, thus being usable in a variety of industrial fields that use optical lenses.

Lens driving device

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a peripheral part monitoring device for vehicle in which a caution to a driver can be more appropriately performed by discriminating the possibility of collision by more exactly detecting the motion of an object such as animal existent around a vehicle. SOLUTION: The position of an object around the vehicle on a three- dimensional coordinate is detected from images provided by two infrared cameras 1R and 1L. On the basis of plural time sequential position detection data concerning one object, the position of that object in a real space is calculated and the moving vector of the object is calculated from that real space position. On the basis of the moving vector calculated like this, the possibility of collision between that object and the relevant vehicle is discriminated. The moving vector is calculated by calculating an approximate straight line for approximating the relative moving locus of the object and correcting the detection position data while using that approximate straight line.

Peripheral part monitoring device for vehicle

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle periphery monitoring unit which stably extracts a walker by exactly deciding an unshaped binarized object to be extracted from an image imaged by a camera. SOLUTION: An image processing unit calculates a binarized object shape feature quantities in the real space by utilizing the center of gravity, area, of the binarized object, distance from its own vehicle, further aspect ratio, a height and a width of a circumscribed rectangular shape of the object and the coordinate values of the center of gravity (S41). Then, the unit obtains the height of the object on an object for a gray scale including the binarized object (S42), and sets a plurality of mask regions in the object for the gray scale and calculates a luminance mean value and a luminance change (dispersion) of each mask (S43). The unit decides whether the height, width, presence height, luminance means value, luminance dispersion of the binarized object are values within suitable ranges as the walker or not (S44 to S48). If any is decided not to be in the suitable range as a pedestrian, it is decided that the object is not a pedestrian (S49). COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Vehicle periphery monitoring unit

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a distance detecting device capable of automatically correcting the error of parallax difference utilized when a distance between a self-vehicle and an object is determined. SOLUTION: In a case when the extracted object is a road structure (YES of S19), an parallax offset value to the object is calculated (S21), and stored in a memory (S22). On the other hand, a movement average of a group of parallax difference offset values to the past N-pieces of different static objects from the present is determined to be used as an parallax difference correction value for correcting the disagreement of optical axes of two infrared ray cameras 2R, 2L (S24). Whether the determined parallax difference is more than a threshold value of the parallax difference correction value of one time or not is determined (S25), and when it is more than the threshold value of the parallax difference correction value of one time (YES of S25), for example, a camera image of the circumference of the vehicle is displayed on an image display device, and the warning is displayed to request a driver to correct the disagreement of the optical axes of two infrared ray cameras 2R, 2L, as a fail-safe function. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Distance detecting device

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To extract a pedestrian exactly discriminatingly from an artificial structure on an infrared image. SOLUTION: In artificial structure determination processing, the maximum peak position j_en is detected based on a change (lateral average brightness projection) F(J) in response to a vertical position J of an average value of brightness values along a lateral direction in the each vertical position J in a vertical direction, and a change (differential coefficient) S(J) in response to the vertical position in the F(J), in a gray scale image. A binarized object is determined to be the artificial structure, when an aspect ratio of a vertical width c_H to a lateral width c_W in an area where the brightness value is larger than an average brightness value AVE_H is larger than a prescribed upper limit value R_THU or smaller than a prescribed lower limit value R_THL, in the lateral average brightness projection F(J), and in a change (vertical average brightness projection) W(J) in response to a lateral position I of an average value of brightness values along the vertical direction in the each vertical position I in the lateral direction, in the gray scale image, including the maximum peak position j_en. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Vehicle circumference monitoring device

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a night vision system capable of accurately determining the size and the position of an unstable binarization object extracted from an image photographed with a camera, and capable of stably extracting a pedestrian. SOLUTION: A mask region is set over and under the binarization object, and brightness dispersion of the mask region MASK is determined whether it is larger than a threshold value TH1 or not (S46). Then, correlation degree Error of right and left images of the mask region is determined whether it is smaller than a threshold value TH2 or not (S48). After that, an absolute value of a difference between a parallax of the binarization object and a parallax of the mask region is determined whether the absolute value is smaller than a threshold value TH3 or not (S49). The region including the whole of the mask region meeting with all of the conditions and the binarization object is extracted as an object region. The height of the object and the height of the position of the center of gravity from a road surface are determined according as they are appropriate values for pedestrians. Thus, the object is determined whether it is the pedestrian or not. COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Shinji Nagaoka

Papers

Peripheral part monitoring device for vehicle

Vehicle periphery monitoring unit

Distance detecting device

Vehicle circumference monitoring device

Night vision system