Estimation of Time to Collision in a Computer Vision System

A computer vision system comprising a vision processor;

• and a memory coupled to the vision processor comprising instructions executable by the vision processor, the vision processor being operable when executing the instructions to:
• capture a two dimensional (2D) image of a scene by a monocular camera;
• determine a three dimensional (3D) position of the monocular camera corresponding to the 2D image;
• determine a 3D position of the detected object based on a 2D position of the detected object in the 2D image and an estimated ground plane corresponding to the 2D image;
• compute a relative 3D position of the camera, a velocity of the relative 3D position, and an acceleration of the relative 3D position based on the 3D position of the camera and the 3D position of the detected object, wherein the relative 3D position of the camera is relative to the 3D position of the detected object;
• and
• compute the TTC of the detected object based on the relative 3D position, the velocity of the relative 3D position, and the acceleration of the relative 3D position.

A method for estimating time to collision (TTC) of a detected object in a computer vision system, the method comprising:

• computing a distance of the detected object from a camera in the computer vision system, wherein the detected object is in a field of view of the camera;
• computing a projected velocity of a relative three dimensional (3D) position of the camera in a direction of the detected object, wherein the relative 3D position of the camera is relative to a 3D position of the detected object;
• computing a projected acceleration of the relative 3D position of the camera in the direction of the detected object;
• and
• computing the TTC based on the distance of the detected object, the projected velocity of the relative 3D position, and the projected acceleration of the relative 3D position.