EP0986036A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Method of updating reference background image, method of detecting entering objects and system for detecting entering objects using the methods
Assignee: Kokusai Denki Electric Inc
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Filing: 1999-09-08
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2019-09-08
Abstract
Abstract A method of updating a reference background image used for detecting objects entering an image pickup view field based on the binary image generated from the difference between an input image and the reference background image of the input image. The image pickup view field is divided into a plurality of view field areas (201), and a reference background image corresponding to each of the fixed divided view field areas is updated (204). An entering object detection apparatus using this method has an input image processing unit including an image memory (603) storing an input image from an image input unit, a program memory (606) storing the program for activating the entering object detecting unit, a work memory (604) and a central processing unit (605) activating the entering object detecting unit in accordance with the program. The processing unit has an entering object detecting unit (104) determining intensity difference for each pixel between the input image and the reference background image not including an entering object to be detected and detecting an area with the difference larger than a predetermined threshold as an entering object, a dividing unit (201) dividing the image pickup view field of the image input unit into a plurality of view field areas, an image change detecting unit (202) detecting the change of the image in each of the divided view field areas, and a reference background image updating unit (204) updating each portion of the reference background image corresponding to each of the divided view field areas associated with the portion of the input image free of the image change, wherein the entering object detecting unit detects entering objects based on the updated reference background image.
Inventors
- 👤 Wataru Ito
- 👤 Hiromasa Yamada
- 👤 Hirotada Ueda
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 11:47
CPC Classifications
G; G08; G08B; G08B13/00; G08B13/18; G08B13/189; G08B13/194; G08B13/196; G08B13/19602; G08B13/19604; G08B13/19678; G08B13/19691
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 39
Claim 1
Independent Claim
105 words
A method of updating a reference background
image for use in detecting one or more objects entering
an image pickup view field based on a difference between
an input image and the reference background image of said
input image, comprising the steps of: dividing said view field into a plurality of
view field areas (201); and detecting a change in a video signal of each
part of said input image corresponding to each of said
divided view field areas independently (202); and updating a part of said reference background
image corresponding to that part of said input image
which has no image signal change (204).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said
change includes a movement of an entering object.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
54 words
A method according to claim 1, further
comprising the step of determining whether an entering
object exists or not independently for each of said
divided view field areas (302), wherein the steps of detecting and updating are
applied to each of those divided view field areas that
are determined to have no entering object.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said
dividing step includes the step of dividing said image
pickup view field by one or more boundary lines generally
parallel to the direction of movement of said entering
objects.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said
dividing step includes the step of dividing said image
pickup view field within the average movement range of
said entering object during each predetermined unit time.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
56 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said
dividing step includes the step of dividing said view
field by one or more boundary lines generally parallel to
the direction of movement of said entering object and
further subdividing said divided view field in an average
movement range of said entering object during each
predetermined unit time.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said
input image includes a lane, and said dividing step
includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by one or more said lane boundaries.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method according to claim 1, further
comprising the step of displaying the boundaries of said
divided view field areas on a display screen.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method according to claim 1, further
comprising the step of displaying said divided view field
areas on a display screen in different colors.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said
input image includes at least a lane and said dividing
step includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by an average movement range of vehicles during
each predetermined unit time.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
59 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said
input image includes at least a lane and said dividing
step includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by one or more lane boundaries and the step of
subdividing said divided image pickup view field by an
average movement range of the vehicle during each
predetermined unit time.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
48 words
A method according to claim 1, further
comprising the step (104) of determining whether an
entering object exists in said image pickup view field or
not, said dividing step (201) and said step (204) of
updating the reference background image portion being
executed after executing said determination step.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
51 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein said
dividing step divides said image pickup view field into a
plurality of view field areas based on at least one of
the average direction of movement of said entering object
and the distance coverage of said entering object during
a predetermined unit time.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
92 words
A system for updating the reference background
image for use in the detection of objects entering the
image pickup view field based on the difference between
an input image and the reference background image of said
input image, comprising: a dividing unit (201) for dividing said image
pickup view field into a plurality of view field areas;
and an updating unit (204) for updating the part of
the reference background image corresponding to each of
said plurality of the divided view field areas
independently for each of said divided view field areas.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
52 words
A method according to claim 14, wherein said
dividing unit (201) divides said image pickup view field
into a plurality of view field areas based on at least
one of the average direction of movement of said entering
objects and the distance covered by said entering objects
for each predetermined unit time.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
79 words
A method according to claim 14, wherein said
updating unit includes: an image change detection unit (202) for
detecting the change of the image signal of said input
image corresponding to each of said divided view field
areas independently for each of said divided view field
areas; and a background image updating unit (204) for
updating the part of said reference background image
corresponding to each of said divided view field areas
where the image signal has not changed.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
94 words
A computer readable medium having computer
readable program code means embodied therein for
detecting one or more entering objects in the image
pickup view field based on the difference between an
input image and a reference background image of said
input image, comprising: code means (201) for dividing said image pickup
view field into a plurality of view field areas; and code means (204) for updating the part of said
reference background image corresponding to each of said
plurality of the divided view field areas independently
for each of said divided view field areas.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
87 words
A method according to claim 17, wherein said
updating code means (204) includes: code means (202) for detecting the change of
said input image within each of said plurality of the
divided view field areas independently for each of said
divided view field areas; and code means (204) for updating the part of said
reference background image corresponding to each of said
divided view field areas independently for each of said
divided view field areas in which the change of said
input image signal is not detected.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
90 words
A method of detecting entering objects,
comprising the steps of: detecting one or more objects entering an image
pickup view field based on the difference between an
input image and a reference background image of said
input image (104); dividing said image pickup view field into a
plurality of view field areas (201); and updating the part of said reference background
image corresponding to each of said plurality of the
divided view field areas independently for each of said
divided view field areas for detecting the next entering
object (204).
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
97 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
step of updating said reference background image includes
the steps of: dividing said image pickup view field into a
plurality of view field areas (201); detecting the change of the image signal of the
input image portion corresponding to each of said divided
view field areas (202) independently for each of said
divided view field areas; and updating the portion of said reference
background image corresponding to each of said divided
view field areas corresponding to said input image
portion in which the image signal has not changed (204).
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
change of said image signal is the movement of an
entering object.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
dividing step includes the step of dividing said image
pickup view field by one or more boundary lines generally
parallel to the direction of movement of said entering
object.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
dividing step includes the step of dividing said image
pickup view field by an average movement range of said
entering object during a predetermined unit time.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
55 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
dividing step includes the step of dividing said view
field by one or more boundary lines generally parallel to
the direction of movement of said entering object and
subdividing said divided view field by an average
movement range of said entering object during each
predetermined unit time.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
input image includes at least a lane and said dividing
step includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by one or more lane boundaries.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
40 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
input image includes a lane, and said dividing step
includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by an average movement range of a vehicle during a
predetermined unit time.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
54 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
input image includes a lane and said dividing step
includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by one or more lane boundaries and subdividing said
divided image pickup view field by an average movement
range of the vehicle during a predetermined unit time.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
51 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein said
dividing step divides said image pickup view field into a
plurality of view field areas based on at least one of
the average direction of movement of said entering object
and the distance covered by said entering object during a
predetermined unit time.
Claim 29
Independent Claim
67 words
A method of detecting entering objects,
comprising the steps of: dividing said image pickup view field into a
plurality of view field areas (201); and detecting one or more objects entering an image
pickup view field based on the difference between an
input image and the reference background image of said
input image (104) and updating said reference background
image for detecting the next entering object (204).
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
64 words
A method according to claim 29, wherein said
step of updating said reference background image includes
the steps of: detecting the change of the image signal of the
input signal corresponding to each of said divided view
field areas (202); and updating said reference background image
corresponding to said divided view field area in the
absence of the change of the image signal (204).
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method according to claim 29, wherein said
dividing step includes the step of dividing said image
pickup view field by the average movement range of said
entering object during each predetermined unit time.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
56 words
A method according to claim 29, wherein said
dividing step includes the steps of dividing said view
field by one or more boundary lines generally parallel to
the direction of movement of said entering object and
subdividing said divided view field areas by the average
movement range of said entering object during each
predetermined unit time.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method according to claim 29, wherein said
input image includes at least a lane and said dividing
step includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by one or more lane boundaries.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
42 words
A method according to claim 29, wherein said
input image includes at least a lane, and said dividing
step includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by the average movement range of a vehicle during a
predetermined unit time.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
56 words
A method according to claim 29, wherein said
input image includes at least a lane, and said dividing
step includes the step of dividing said image pickup view
field by one or more lane boundaries and subdividing said
divided image pickup view fields by the average movement
range of a vehicle during each predetermined unit time.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
232 words
A system for detecting entering objects,
comprising: an image input unit (601, 602); and a processing unit including an image memory
(603) for storing the input image from said image input
unit, a program memory (606) for storing the program for
operation of said entering object detecting unit, and a
central processing unit (605) for activating said
entering object detecting unit in accordance with said
program for processing said input image; said processing unit including: an entering object detecting unit (102 to 104;
102, 103, 301) for determining the difference for each
pixel between said input image from said image input unit
and the reference background image not including an
entering object to be detected and detecting an area with
said difference larger than a predetermined threshold
value as an entering object; a dividing unit (201) for dividing the image
pickup view field of said image input unit into a
plurality of view field areas; an image change detecting unit (202) for
detecting the change of the image in each of said divided
view field areas; and a reference background image updating unit
(204) for updating each portion of said reference
background image corresponding to that divided view field
area corresponding to the portion of said input image of
which the image has not changed; wherein said entering object detecting unit
detects an entering object based on said updated
reference background image.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
203 words
A computer readable medium having computer
readable program code means embodied therein for
detecting entering objects in an image pickup view field,
comprising: code means (102 to 103) for detecting the
intensity difference for each pixel between an input
image and the present reference background image of said
input image; code means (104) for detecting one or more
entering objects in the image pickup view field based on
said intensity difference; and code means (204) for updating said present
reference background image for detecting the intensity
difference for each pixel between a newly input image and
said reference background image; wherein said code means for updating said
reference background image includes: code means (201) for dividing said image pickup
view field into a plurality of view field areas; code means (202) for detecting the change of
the image signal of the input image portion corresponding
to each of said plurality of said divided view field
areas independently for each of said divided view field
areas; and code means (204) for updating the portion of
said reference background image corresponding to each of
said divided view field areas corresponding to the
portion of said input image of which said image signal
has not changed.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
132 words
A computer readable medium having computer
readable program code means embodied therein for
detecting entering objects in an image pickup view field,
comprising: code means (201) for dividing the image pickup
view field of an image pickup device into a plurality of
view field areas; code means (301) for detecting one or more
objects entering said divided view field areas based on
the intensity difference for each pixel between the image
input from said image pickup device and the reference
background image independently for each of said divided
view fields; and code means (204) for updating said reference
background image corresponding to each of said divided
view fields for detecting the intensity difference
between a newly input image and said reference background
image independently for each of said divided view field
areas.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
71 words
A method according to claim 38, wherein said
code means for updating said partial reference background
image includes: code means (202) for detecting the change of
the image signal of the input image corresponding to each
of said divided view field areas; and code means (204) for updating said reference
background image corresponding to each of said divided
view field areas in the absence of the change of said
image signal.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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