Method and apparatus for monitoring region around vehicle

A method of monitoring a taiget object around a vehicle based on at least a pair of a base image and a reference image synchronously captured at respective different positions of the vehicle, each of the base and reference images being comprised of a plurality of pixel regions, the method comprising:

• obtaining, for each point of the taiget object, a pair of matched pixel regions in the respective base image and reference image corresponding to the point of the target object;
• calculating a disparity of each of the matched pixel regions of the base image relative to the corresponding matched pixel region of the reference image;
• correcting the calculated disparity of each of the matched pixel regions of the base image in accordance with a predetermined tolerable disparity range for the disparity to thereby increase the calculated disparity of the corresponding one of the matched pixel regions of the base image, the predetermined tolerable disparity range corresponding to a predetermined distance tolerable range for a depth distance of the target object relative to the vehicle;
• and
• calculating the depth distance of each point of the target object relative to the vehicle as a function of the corrected disparity of the corresponding one of the matched pixel regions

An apparatus for monitoring a target object around a vehicle based on at least a pair of a base image and a reference image sy nchronously captured at respective different positions of the vehicle, each of the base and reference images being comprised of a plurality of pixel regions, the apparatus comprising;

• a processor;
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
• and
• a set of computer-executable instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium that cause the processor to implement;
• obtaining, for each point of the target object, a pair of matched pixel regions in the respective base image and reference image corresponding to the point of the target object;
• calculating a disparity of each of the matched pixel regions of the base image relative to the corresponding matched pixel region of the reference image;
• correcting the calculated disparity of each of the matched pixel regions of the base image in accordance with a predetermined tolerable disparity range for the disparity to thereby increase the calculated disparity of the corresponding one of the matched pixel regions of the base image, the predetermined tolerable disparity range corresponding to a predetermined distance tolerable range for a depth distance of the target object relative to the vehicle;
• and
• calculating the depth distance of each point of the target object relative to the vehicle as a function of the corrected disparity of the corresponding one of the matched pixel regions.