# US 10,501,059 B2 · Stereo camera device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,501,059 B2 - Document ID: US10501059B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/765,853 - Filed: 2016-11-07 - Published: 2018-10-04 - Granted: 2019-12-10 - Earliest claimed: 2015-11-25 - Assignees: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. - Applicants: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. - Inventors: Shigeru Matsuo; Tadaaki Kitamura; Shinichi Nonaka; Takeshi Nagasaki - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10501059B2 ## CPC - B60T 7/12: for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger {(limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00)} - G08G 1/0112: {from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]} - B60Q 9/008: {for anti-collision purposes} - B60T 7/22: initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle {, or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle} - G01C 3/06: Use of electric means to obtain final indication - G01C 3/14: with binocular observation at a single point, e.g. stereoscopic type (G01C3/20 takes precedence) - G01S 17/08: for measuring distance only (indirect measurement G01S17/46; active triangulation systems G01S17/48) - G01S 17/931: of land vehicles - G06T 1/00: General purpose image data processing - G06V 20/58: Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads - G06V 40/103: {Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition} - G08G 1/0133: {for classifying traffic situation} - G08G 1/04: using optical or ultrasonic detectors - G08G 1/16: Anti-collision systems (road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08) - G08G 1/166: {for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes} - H04N 13/204: using stereoscopic image cameras (stereoscopic photography G03B35/00) - B60T 2201/022: Collision avoidance systems - B60T 2210/32: Vehicle surroundings - G01C 3/085: {with electronic parallax measurement} - H04N 2013/0081: {Depth or disparity estimation from stereoscopic image signals} - B60T: VEHICLE BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF; BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF, IN GENERAL (electrodynamic brake systems for vehicle, in general B60L; brakes per se, i.e. devices where braking effect occurs, including ultimate brake actuators, F16D); ARRANGEMENT OF BRAKING ELEMENTS ON VEHICLES IN GENERAL; PORTABLE DEVICES FOR PREVENTING UNWANTED MOVEMENT OF VEHICLES; VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE COOLING OF BRAKES - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) - B60Q: ARRANGEMENT OF SIGNALLING OR LIGHTING DEVICES, THE MOUNTING OR SUPPORTING THEREOF OR CIRCUITS THEREFOR, FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL - G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract The purpose of the present invention is to enable precise calculation of the distance to a moving object that is detected in a monocular area even in the case where the road height varies between an overlapping area and the monocular area. According to the present invention, provided are a parallax-information obtaining unit that obtains parallax information about an overlapping area of a plurality of images captured by a plurality of cameras installed in a vehicle; and an object-distance calculating unit that calculates the distance between an object detected in a non-overlapping area and the vehicle, the non-overlapping area being an area other than the overlapping area in the images, on the basis of parallax information obtained from the overlapping area in the past. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A stereo camera device, comprising: a plurality of cameras installed in a vehicle, wherein the stereo camera device obtains disparity information of an overlapping area of a plurality of images captured by the plurality of cameras installed in the vehicle, and calculates a distance between the vehicle and an object detected in a non-overlapping area other than the overlapping area in each of the plurality of images on a basis of the disparity information obtained from the overlapping area in the past. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The stereo camera device according to claim 1, wherein the stereo camera device calculates a road surface height on the basis of the disparity information, wherein: the object is detected on a road surface in the non-overlapping area with a height different from a height of the road surface in the overlapping area; and the stereo camera device calculates a distance to the object detected in the non-overlapping area. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The stereo camera device according to claim 2, wherein the stereo camera device stores road surface height information of a sidewalk, wherein when an image area where a road surface height of the sidewalk is measured has moved to the non-overlapping area according to a movement of the vehicle, the stereo camera device calculates the distance between the object and the vehicle by correcting a position of the object in an image height direction using the road surface height information of the sidewalk stored in the stereo camera device. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The stereo camera device according to claim 1, wherein: the object detected in the non-overlapping area is a pedestrian who is moving and detected by an optical flow; and the pedestrian detected by the optical flow is traced by a pattern matching method in and after a next frame. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The stereo camera device according to claim 1, wherein the disparity information is stored for each of areas obtained by dividing the overlapping area at particular intervals in a vertical direction. ### Claim 6 A travel control device, wherein the travel control device detects a distance to a moving object using an overlapping area of a plurality of images, and controls warning or braking of an own vehicle on a basis of the detected distance, wherein a timing of operating a brake of the own vehicle or a timing of warning is the same when the moving object runs out from a predetermined horizontal position in a non-overlapping area in an image and when the moving object runs out from a predetermined vertical position located at a horizontal distance from the own vehicle that is equal to a horizontal distance of the predetermined horizontal position from the own vehicle, wherein a height of the predetermined vertical position is vertically higher than a height of the predetermined horizontal position. ### Claim 7 A front monitoring system comprising: a laser radar; and a monocular camera for monitoring an area in front of a vehicle, wherein the front monitoring system obtains distance information from the laser radar to a measurement object, and calculates a distance between the vehicle and an object detected in a non-overlapping area out of a range where the laser radar can measure in an image from the monocular camera, on a basis of the distance information obtained by the laser radar in the past.