Object detection system and object detection method

An object detection system comprising:

• a light emitter that emits light;
• an optical sensor that receives reflected light that is the light reflected in a distance-measurable area in a target space;
• a controller that controls the light emitter and the optical sensor;
• and
• a signal processor that processes information represented by an electric signal generated in the optical sensor,
• wherein the controller controls the light emitter and the optical sensor to cause each of range segment signals to be outputted from the optical sensor for a corresponding one of range segments into which the distance-measurable area is segmented, the range segment signal being a signal from a pixel that receives the light among a plurality of pixels included in the optical sensor,
• the signal processor includes:
• a target object information generator that includes a plurality of generators capable of operating in parallel and generates items of target object information indicating features of target objects detected in the range segments by the optical sensor, based on the range segment signals outputted from the optical sensor;
• storage that stores the items of target object information that are generated by the target object information generator and correspond to the range segments;
• and
• an outputter that outputs the items of target object information that correspond to the range segments, and
• the target object information generator compares, for each of the range segments, a past one of the items of target object information stored in the storage with a feature of a current one of the target objects detected by the optical sensor to generate a corresponding one of the items of target object information.