The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 10, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 19, 1995
Zhongxue Gan, Storrs, CT (US);
Wei-Ping Wang, Storrs, CT (US);
Oing Tang, Wethersfield, CT (US);
Ruiming Zhang, Storrs, CT (US);
John Moh, Freshmeadows, NY (US);
VI & T Group, Inc., Freshmeadows, NY (US);
Abstract
In an apparatus and method for automatic vehicle following, a pair of video cameras are mounted on the front portion of a following vehicle, and each camera generates image data indicative of a respective image of a distinctive mark located on a rearward portion of a lead vehicle. An image processor generates two one-dimensional image-intensity distributions for each mark image based on the image data, and in turn generates a respective edge-intensity distribution based on each image-intensity distribution. The edge-intensity distributions are each generated by taking the first derivative of the respective image-intensity distribution. The image processor in turn generates a respective feature vector based on each edge-intensity distribution, wherein the vector components of each feature vector define select characteristics of the respective mark image. The center points of the two corresponding mark images are determined based on the feature vectors, and a signal processor generates signals indicative of the following distance and the heading angle of the lead vehicle based on the image center points. A window enclosing each mark image is moved upon generating a new mark image to the approximate center point of the preceding image, to substantially follow image movements from one camera image frame to the next, and thereby suppress noise and enhance the image-processing speed of the apparatus.