JP2849127B2 - Mobile vehicle environment recognition device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an environment recognition apparatus for a mobile vehicle that controls traveling autonomously, and more specifically, detects vibration of image input means such as a camera, The present invention relates to an environment recognizing device for a mobile vehicle that enables high-speed and accurate environment recognition by compensating for the influence of the vibration on an input image.

(Prior Art) In recent years, various mobile vehicles that travel while autonomously avoiding obstacles have been proposed.

In such autonomous traveling control, first, an environment such as a position, a size, and a shape of an obstacle is recognized, and an avoidance action corresponding to each obstacle is performed based on the information. As a technique for controlling an autonomous vehicle, there is, for example, JP-A-64-26913. This technology is equipped with a stereo camera. When an obstacle is detected, an area including the obstacle is set along one edge of the traveling path as an obstacle area zone, and the remaining traveling path is set as a virtual traveling path of the own vehicle. The running control of the own vehicle is performed on the virtual running path. In this way, when the vehicle travels on a virtual traveling road excluding the obstacle region zone from the actual traveling road, the processing area for obstacle avoidance processing is reduced, which contributes to speeding up.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Although the camera is fixed to the vehicle body as the image input means in the above-described conventional techniques and the like, it is affected by vibration of the vehicle body (pitching motion of the vehicle body). This effect appears as shaking of the image for each captured frame. If you try to recognize the outside world using an image with this temporal variation,
Corresponding points must be detected on the screen for each different frame. This is because it is necessary to determine whether the time change of the image is due to the movement of the vehicle or the vibration of the camera.

Although this image fluctuation can be compensated for by image processing software, the processing by the software takes time and is not suitable for environment recognition that requires real-time processing. In addition, a method of making the camera mount movable and performing active vibration control to reduce the vibration itself can be considered, but such vibration control measures cannot cope with high-frequency vibration compared to the scale and cost. There is a limitation in capacity, and an image in which vibration is sufficiently suppressed cannot be obtained.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the related art, and has as its object to enable high-speed and accurate environment recognition by compensating for image shaking caused by vibration of an image input unit with respect to a road. The present invention relates to an environment recognition device for a mobile vehicle.

(Means and Actions for Achieving the Object) The configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object differs depending on the direction of vibration.

That is, the environment recognition apparatus of the present invention that copes with vertical vibration is an environment recognition apparatus for a mobile vehicle including image input means for inputting an image for environment recognition in the main scanning direction line by line in a raster scan system. Vibration detection means for detecting the magnitude and direction of vibration of the image input means with respect to the outside world; image processing means for performing image processing for environment recognition on an output signal from the image input means; Changing means for changing a processing start line position for the image by the image processing means in accordance with the magnitude and direction of the vibration of the image input means detected by the means, wherein the processing start line position is upward. It is characterized in that it is lowered for the vibration of, and raised for the vibration in the downward direction.

Further, the environment recognition apparatus of the present invention which copes with the vibration in the left-right direction is an environment recognition apparatus for a mobile vehicle including image input means for inputting an image for environment recognition in the main scanning direction line by line in a raster scan system. A vibration detection unit that detects a size and a direction of the image input unit with respect to the outside world; an image processing unit that performs image processing for environmental recognition on an output signal from the image input unit; and the vibration detection unit. Changing means for changing a main scanning direction start position of processing on the image by the image so-called means according to the detected magnitude and direction of the vibration of the image input means, wherein the main scanning direction start position is , Is accelerated for vibrations in a direction that matches the main scanning direction, and delayed for vibrations in a direction opposite to the main scanning direction.

According to the environment recognition device having the above configuration, the processing start line position (or the main scanning direction start position of the processing)
For example, assuming that the image data starts to be stored in a frame memory or the like, the frame memory stores the image data whose vibration has been canceled. If the processing start line position (or the main scanning direction start position of the processing) is, for example, a direct start position of image processing for environmental recognition, an image (image data) from which the influence of vibration has been wiped out is obtained. Image processing.

(Embodiment) With reference to the accompanying drawings, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vehicle that performs environmental recognition by compensating for vertical image vibration will be described. In this embodiment, a transfer control switch is provided during the transfer from the camera to the frame memory, so that unnecessary images that would have occurred at the top of the image in the frame memory due to the vibration of the camera in the vertical direction are cut off. I have.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of this embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes a CCD camera, and an image captured from the camera is stored in a frame memory 4 via a raster transfer control switch 5. The image in the frame memory is subjected to image processing by the environment recognition device 3. The recognition result is transmitted to actuators such as a steering wheel and a throttle, and is used for running control. Further, the pitch detector 7 is composed of, for example, a gyroscope.

Referring to FIG. 2, the principle of the process of truncating unnecessary images appearing at the top of an image in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of an image captured by a two-dimensional image sensor (not shown) in the CCD camera 1. Examples of this image are a straight road and a horizontal line extending forward. (A
-1) when the camera 1 is facing the top of the road, (a-2) is when the camera is facing the horizontal direction, and (a-3) is when the camera is facing the lowest. Is shown. When the vehicle is stationary, the position of the horizon in the image is determined by the installation angle of the camera. Also, since the pitch has upper and lower limits, even when the camera vibrates up and down the most, so that a horizontal line remains in the view as shown in FIG.
It is possible to attach the camera 1 to the vehicle body. In the environment recognition by the image processing, an image portion above the horizontal line is not a processing target, and therefore, all the portions above the horizontal line can be considered as “unnecessary images”. In the present embodiment, as will be described with reference to FIG. 3, the unnecessary image is replaced with the uppermost line (first line)
To a position higher by a predetermined number of lines than the horizontal line.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the image obtained when the camera is placed horizontally on the road, the raster line position of the horizontal line is set to the _first line from the first raster line position of the image, and “unnecessary image” storing images, i.e., when the "recognition process target image" from the first raster line position with l _0-th line, only the raster counted from the horizontal position (l ₁ -l ₀₎ and subsequent lines, the frame memory 2 not To do it.
This control is performed by the raster transfer control switch 5. The (l ₁ −l ₀ ) line counting from the horizontal line position is referred to as “image taking start raster position”.

When the camera 1 vibrates, the vibration is reflected in a change in the number of lines from the first line of the image sensor to the “image capturing start raster position”. In other words, there is a one-to-one relationship between the change in pitch and the change in the number of lines. Therefore, this relationship is stored in the pitch raster converter 8 as shown in FIG. The converter 8 stores the “image capturing start raster position” as the number of lines from the first line of the output of the image sensor. The stored “image capture start raster position” is, for example, when the camera is at the highest position (a-1 in FIG. 2).
Is the “l _max ” line, and when the camera is facing the lowest (a-3 in FIG. 2), the “l _min ” line. The “image capturing start raster position” corresponding to an intermediate vibration of the camera may be an intermediate value between l _max and l _min . The comparator 6 always compares the line number of the image signal sent from the camera 1 with this "image capturing start raster position", and opens the control switch 5 only from the point of coincidence. This "image capture start raster position"
The When l _x, from the first line to l _x truncated as unnecessary image is stored in the image frame memory after l _x line. That is, camera shake is absorbed by the change of l _x, image shaking caused by vehicle vibration, will have been Cancel in the image left in the frame memory.

As the switch 5, an analog switch is used if the image signal from the camera is an analog signal, and a gate circuit is used if the image signal is a digital signal.

The above-described processing can be performed only by discarding the data at the time of transfer from the camera to the frame memory, so that there is no time delay, loss, and the like, and there is no burden on the recognition device and the like.

The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit thereof.

In the above embodiment, the gyro was used as the pitch detector 7 so that the reference was adjusted to the horizontal line. That is, the horizontal line in the frame memory does not always stably vibrate. The present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the “image capturing start raster position” is determined as the pitch detector 7 based on the inclination of the road surface and the vehicle body using the expansion / contraction rate of the suspension, The image is corrected to the road surface direction field of view.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the method of canceling the vertical vibration has been described. However, the present invention is applicable to the case of canceling the horizontal vibration although the vibration amplitude itself is small in a vehicle. In this case, a sensor for detecting the horizontal pitch is required. Then, instead of the “image capture start raster position”, the capture pixel start position in the main scanning direction may be considered.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the image is stored in the frame memory, the image vibration is canceled by controlling the storage start position in the frame memory. However, the present invention can be applied to a case where the image is not interposed. It is. That is,
It is also possible to output the output of the control switch 5 directly to the recognition device.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the setting position of the camera.
Further, the image signal input to the memory for storing the image is
The present invention is not limited to the type of image input means as long as it has a synchronization signal that can specify a specific line or a specific pixel.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the environment recognition apparatus for a mobile vehicle of the present invention, the image shake caused by the vibration of the image input means accompanying the vibration of the vehicle body is caused by the processing start line position (or the processing start line position). (The main scanning direction start position) is changed according to the direction and magnitude of the detected vehicle body vibration, so that the image to be subjected to image processing for environmental recognition is always the vibration canceled. Therefore, the environment recognition becomes accurate and fast.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams for explaining the principle for canceling the fluctuation of the input image in the embodiment of FIG. In the drawing, 1 ... CCD camera, 2 ... Frame memory, 3 ... Recognition device, 4 ... Actuator, 5 ... Raster transfer control switch, 6 ... Comparator, 7 ... Pitch detector, 8
... It is a pitch raster converter.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An environment recognizing device for a mobile vehicle comprising image input means for inputting an image for environmental recognition in a main scanning direction line by line in a raster scan manner, wherein the vibration of the image input means with respect to the outside world is detected. Vibration detection means for detecting the size and direction; image processing means for performing image processing for environmental recognition on an output signal from the image input means; and vibration of the image input means detected by the vibration detection means. Changing means for changing a processing start line position for the image by the image processing means in accordance with a size and a direction, wherein the processing start line position is lowered with respect to upward vibration, and An environment recognition device for a mobile vehicle, which can be raised against vibration. 2. An environment recognizing device for a mobile vehicle, comprising image input means for inputting an image for environment recognition in a main scanning direction line by line in a raster scan system, wherein a vibration of the image input means with respect to the outside world is detected. Vibration detection means for detecting the size and direction; image processing means for performing image processing for environmental recognition on an output signal from the image input means; and vibration of the image input means detected by the vibration detection means. Changing means for changing a main scanning direction start position of processing on the image by the image processing means according to a size and a direction, wherein the main scanning direction start position is vibrated in a direction coinciding with the main scanning direction. An environment recognizing device for a moving vehicle, wherein the device is advanced in response to vibration and delayed in response to vibration in a direction opposite to the main scanning direction.