Moving object detection method and apparatus

A moving object detection apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of distance sensors arranged to face a single direction for periodically scanning a plurality of positions on a predetermined line in said single direction, each sensor producing an output signal thereby;
• means for binarizing said output signals according to an order of arrangement of said sensors to produce 0/1 data bits indicative of existence of said moving object at each sensor position;
• means for linking said 0/1 data bits at each sensor position to produce a bit string representative of existence and position of said moving object along said predetermined line;
• and
• filtering means for filtering the bit string obtained from the sensor in a certain period with filtering characteristics determined according to an essential profile of the moving object and/or the bit string obtained from the sensor in a previous period.

A moving object detection apparatus comprising:

• a sensor for periodically detecting existence of the moving object at a plurality of positions on a predetermined line by scanning said predetermined line;
• filtering means for filtering the moving object existence information obtained from the sensor in a certain period with filtering characteristics determined according to at least one of an essential profile of the moving object and the moving object existence information obtained from the sensor in a previous period;
• and
• wherein said filtering characteristics include a width maintaining characteristic for correcting, when a plurality of mutually adjacent third positions for which moving object existence information has been obtained indicating moving object exists in a previous period and a plurality of mutually adjacent first positions for which moving object existence information has been obtained indicating moving object exists in a recent period at least partially overlap, the contents of moving object existence information at positions included in third positions and not included in the first positions to indicate moving object exists.

A moving object detection method comprising the steps of:

• (a) searching a number of locations along a predetermined line;
• (b) generating an image signal for each location indicative of presence of a moving object along the line;
• (c) compensating the image signal;
• (d) linking image signals compensated in step (c) from each location to determine the presence of the moving object;
• (e) filtering the signals linked in step (d) with characteristics determined according to an essential profile of the moving object;
• (f) comparing the signals filtered in step (e) with filtered signals from previous searches to produce an output;
• (g) storing information derived from the output;
• and
• (h) periodically executing steps (a) through (g).

A moving object detection apparatus comprising:

• sensors for (i) searching a number of locations along a predetermined line and (ii) generating an image signal for each location indicative of presence of a moving object along the line;
• a compensating device for compensating the image signal and producing a compensated signal thereby;
• a generator for linking the compensated image signals from each location and at producing linked signals thereby;
• filters for filtering the linked signals with characteristics determined according to an essential profile of the moving object and producing filtered signals thereby;
• a comparing device for comparing the filtered signals with filtered signals from previous searches to produce an output;
• and
• a memory for storing information derived from the output.