Abstract An image following apparatus for a vehicle capable of following a moving object such as a preceding vehicle with high reliability without being influenced by external disturbances. An image of the preceding vehicle(8)is successively sensed by a video camera(1)at predetermined intervals and stored in a first and a second memory (3, 4). A mirror image signal, which is symmetric to a basic image signal of the vehicle (8) for which a window is set, is stored in a mirror-image memory(5). A CPU(6A) makes a comparison between the basic image signal and a new image signal in a new window and updates the window at a location in which the image signal in the window has the best match with the basic image signal. A new image signal in the updated window is compared with a mirror image signal in the mirror-image memory so that the position of the updated window is adjusted to a location in which the new image signal is the most symmetric to the mirror image signal.
Inventors
👤 Horoko c/o Mitsubishi Denki K.K. Maekawa
Bibliographic Details
Application Number—
JurisdictionEP
Data Sourcegoogle_patents
Last Synchronized2026-11-08 12:11
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T7/00; G06T7/20
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 1
Claim 1
Independent Claim
178 words
An image following apparatus comprising: an image sensor for sensing an object and generating a corresponding image signal; memory means for storing image signals successively generated by said image sensor at predetermined intervals; window updating means for making a comparison between the successive image signals in said memory means and forming and updating a window on a display screen; mirror-image memory means for storing a mirror-image signal which is symmetrical to an image signal in the updated window formed by said window updating means with respect to a vertical axis of symmetry; and window adjusting means for making a comparison between a new image signal corresponding to the updated window and a mirror-image signal stored in said mirror-image memory while successively shifting these image signals relative to each other by at least one bit at a time, said adjusting means being operable to adjust the position of the updated window to a location in which the image signal in the updated window is the most symmetrical to the mirror-image signal with respect to the vertical axis of symmetry.
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