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:
Aug. 23, 2011
Filed:
Jun. 06, 2007
Masakazu Saka, Wako, JP;
Hiroyuki Koike, Wako, JP;
Fuminori Taniguchi, Wako, JP;
Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus capable of recognizing the type of object existing around a vehicle with accuracy. The vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus includes a process unit, which extracts a first image portion HPlikely to be the head of an object and sets a reference mask area MASK_C including HP, a left-hand mask area MASK_L near the left side of the reference mask area MASK_C, and a right-hand mask area MASK_R near the right side of the reference mask area MASK_C, and a process unit which searches for a second image portion presumed to be a leg image within a lower search area AREAwhen a difference between an average luminance AVE_C of the reference mask area MASK_C and an average luminance AVE_L of the left-hand mask area MASK_L or a difference between the average luminance AVE_C and an average luminance AVE_R of the right-hand mask area MASK_R is equal to or greater than a predetermined level and which recognizes that the object type is 'pedestrian' in the case where a plurality of second image portions are detected.