Stereoscopic vision system

Claim 2

A stereoscopic vision apparatus for recognizing a scene which includes a three-dimensional body (14) on the basis of the two-dimensional image processing, characterized in that said apparatus comprises: image input means (10, 12) for simultaneously photographing said three-dimensional body (14) from mutually different points of view and.for producing electrical image signals representing a plurality of two-dimensional body images for the same body; first operating means (26) for receiving predetermined object distance data and for calculating the parallaxes for the predetermined object distances of said plurality of body images to produce parallax value data; parallax compensating circuit means (32), connected to said image input means (10, 12) and said first operating means (26), for effecting a geometric transformation of said image signals in accordance with said parallax value data, in a manner as to parallactically compensate said plurality of body images; second operating means (34), connected to said parallax compensating circuit means (32), for calculating a degree of correlation among the mutually corresponding image portions of said plurality of body images parallactically compensated; and third operating means (46), connected to said second operating means (34), for extracting the information of said three-dimensional body (14) with respect to said predetermined object distance (d 0 ) in accordance with said correlation degree calculated, thereby obtaining the distance images of said three-dimensional body (14).

Claim 3

The apparatus as recited in claim 1, characterized in that distance detecting means (22), is provided in parallel with said image input means (10, 12), for detecting the schematic distance (d 0 ) between said apparatus and said three-dimensional body (14) and for outputting object distance data, and in that distance setting means (24), is connected between said distance detecting means (22) and said first operating means (26), for producing said predetermined object distance data on the basis of said object distance data.

Claim 4

The apparatus as recited in claim 2, characterized in that said image input means includes: a pair of electric camera units (10, 12) which are fixed so as to keep substantially the mutually same height from a surface on which said apparatus is placed and to keep a predetermined distance therebetween, and which photograph said three-dimensional body (14) to produce analog image signals; and signal converter means (16, 18), connected to said electric camera units (10, 12) for converting said analog image signals into the digital image signals.

Claim 5

The apparatus as recited in claim 3, characterized in that said first operating means (26) specifies the number of pixels of said digital images responsive to said parallax values calculated; and said parallax compensating circuit (32) electrically shifts at least one body image among said plurality of body images in dependence upon said number of pixels.

Claim 6

An image processing apparatus for extracting distance images necessary to recognize a scene containing a stereo body (14), characterized in that said apparatus comprises a pair of image pickup devices (10, 12) which are disposed away from each other so as to photograph one body (14) from mutually different points of view and produce two electrical image signals respectively representing two two-dimensional images for one body, distance measuring means (22) which is fixed so as to locate between said image pickup devices (10, 12) and measures an object distance (d 0 ) to an arbitrary point on the surface of said one body (14), and computer means (20) connected to said image pickup devices (10, 12) and said distance measuring means (22), for processing said two-dimensional image signals and extracting said distance images; and in that said computer means comprises first circuit means (24) connected to said distance measuring means (22), for producing an object distance string (d i ) including said object distance (d 0 ) as the center and a plurality of object distances adjacent to said distance (d ) at appropriate intervals, image memory means (28) having memory planes which correspond to said object distance string (d i ) second circuit means (26) connected to said first circuit means (24), for calculating the parallax' between said pair of image pickup devices (10, 12) with respect to at least one object distance among said distance string (d.), third circuit means (32) connected to said second circuit means (26), for electrically performing the parallax compensation between the output images from said image pickup devices (10, 12) in accordance with the parallax calculation result by said second circuit means (26), and fourth circuit means (34, 38, 46, 48), connected to said third circuit means (32), for obtaining the correlation values in each image area of both of said parallax-compensated images and for detecting the corresponding point between both of said images using these correlation values, said data of said corresponding point thus detected being stored in the corresponding memory plane in said image memory means (28).

Claim 7

An image processing apparatus for extracting distance images necessary to recognize a scene containing a stereo body (14), characterized in that said apparatus comprises a pair of image pickup devices (10, 12) which are disposed away from each other so as to photograph one body (14) from mutually different points of view and produce two electrical image signals respectively representing two two-dimensional images for one body, distance measuring means (22) which is fixed so as to locate between said image pickup devices (10, 12) and measures an object distance (d 0 ) to an arbitrary point on the surface of said one body (14), and computer means (20) connected to said image pickup devices (10, 12) and said distance measuring means (22), for processing said two-dimensional image signals and extracting said distance images; and in that said computer means comprises first circuit means (24) connected to said distance measuring means (22), for producing an object distance string (d i ) including said object distance (d 0 ) as the center and a plurality of object distances adjacent to said distance (d ) at appropriate intervals, image memory means (28) having memory planes which correspond to said object distance string (d i ) second circuit means (26) connected to said first circuit means (24), for calculating the parallax' between said pair of image pickup devices (10, 12) with respect to at least one object distance among said distance string (d.), third circuit means (32) connected to said second circuit means (26), for electrically performing the parallax compensation between the output images from said image pickup devices (10, 12) in accordance with the parallax calculation result by said second circuit means (26), and fourth circuit means (34, 38, 46, 48), connected to said third circuit means (32), for obtaining the correlation values in each image area of both of said parallax-compensated images and for detecting the corresponding point between both of said images using these correlation values, said data of said corresponding point thus detected being stored in the corresponding memory plane in said image memory means (28).

Claim 8

The apparatus as recited in claim 5, characterized in that said fourth circuit means includes: difference-calculation circuit means (34) for calculating the differences in data among the pixels which are included in the output images from said pair of image pickup devices (10, 12); and adder circuit means (38) for receiving the difference data of said difference-calculation circuit means (34) and for calculating the sum total of said pixel difference data included in the image portion areas which are formed using each pixel of each of said output images as the center.

Claim 9

The apparatus as recited in claim 6, characterized in that said sum total serves as the correlation value data between both of said images at the corresponding pixel location.

Claim 10

The apparatus as recited in claim 7, characterized in that said fourth circuit means further includes comparator means (46), connected to said adder circuit means (38) and said image memory means (28), for receiving threshold value data and comparing the correlation value data between both of said images with this threshold value data, thereby searching said corresponding point.