Object detection system for vehicle

An imaging system for a vehicle comprising:

• an imaging array sensor comprising a plurality of photo-sensing pixels, said imaging array sensor being positioned at the vehicle and having a field of view exteriorly of the vehicle, said imaging array sensor being operable to capture an image of a scene occuring exteriorly of the vehicle;
• and
• a control for processing said captured image, said captured image comprising an image data set representative of the exterior scene, said control including a microprocessor comprising an edge detection algorithm, said control applying said edge detection algorithm to a reduced image data set of said image data set, said reduced image data set being representative of a target zone of said captured image, said control being operable to process said reduced image data set more than other image data, which are representative of areas of said captured image outside of said target zone, to detect edges of objects present exteriorly of the vehicle and within said target zone, wherein said control is operable to process horizontal detected edges and substantially limit processing of vertical detected edges and reduce the amount of data to be processed downstream.

An imaging system for a vehicle comprising:

• an imaging array sensor comprising a plurality of photo-sensing pixels, said imaging array sensor being positioned at the vehicle and having a field of view exteriorly of the vehicle, said imaging array sensor being operable to capture an image of a scene occurring exteriorly of the vehicle;
• and
• a control for processing said captured image, said captured image comprising an image data set representative of the exterior scene, said control including a microprocessor comprising an edge detection algorithm, said control applying said edge detection algorithm to a reduced image data set of said image data set, said reduced image data set being representative of a target zone of said captured image, said control being operable to process said reduced image data set more than other image data, which are representative of areas of said captured image outside of said target zone, to detect edges of objects present exteriorly of the vehicle and within said target zone, wherein said control is operable to process detected edges which have a concentration of edges in a second reduced image data set which is representative of a particular reduced area or zone of said target zone of said captured image.

An imaging system for a vehicle comprising:

• an imaging array sensor comprising a plurality of photo-sensing pixels, said imaging array sensor being positioned at the vehicle and having a field of view exteriorly or the vehicle, said imaging array sensor being operable to capture an image of a scene occurring exteriorly of the vehicle;
• and
• a control for processing said captured image, said captured image comprising an image data set representative of the exterior scene, said control including a microprocessor comprising an edge detection algorithm, said control applying said edge detection algorithm to a reduced image data set of said image data set, said reduced image data set being representative of a target zone of said captured image, said control being operable to process said reduced image data set more than other image data, which are representative of areas of said captured image outside of said target zone, to detect edges of objects present exteriorly of the vehicle and within said target zone, wherein said control is operable to adjust said reduced image data set and said target zone in response to a distance to a detected edge.

An imaging system for a vehicle comprising:

• an imaging array sensor comprising a plurality of photo-sensing pixels, said imaging array sensor being positioned at the vehicle and having a field of view exteriorly of the vehicle, said imaging array sensor being operable to capture an image of a scene occurring exteriorly of the vehicle;
• and
• a control for processing said captured image, said captured image comprising an image data set representative of the exterior scene, said control including a microprocessor comprising an edge detection algorithm, said control applying said edge detection algorithm to a reduced image data set of said image data set, said reduced image data set being representative of a target zone of said captured image, said control being operable to process said reduced image data set more than other image data, which are representative of areas of said captured image outside of said target zone, to detect edges of objects present exteriorly of the vehicle and within said target zone, wherein said control is operable to approximate a distance to a portion of some of said detected edges in response to a pixel location of the portion in said captured image.

A lane change assist system for a vehicle comprising:

• an imaging sensor positioned at the vehicle and having a field of view directed generally sidewardly from the vehicle, said imaging sensor being operable to capture an image of a scene occuring toward the side of the vehicle;
• and
• a control operable to process said image captured by said imaging array sensor to detect objects present sidewardly of the vehicle, said captured image comprising an image data set representative of the exterior scenes, said control being operable to process a reduced image data set of said image data set more than other image data of said image data set, said reduced image data set being representative of a target zone of said captured image, wherein said control is operable to adjust said reduced image data set and said target zone in response to a distance to a detected object.

A lane change assist system for a vehicle comprising:

• an imaging sensor positioned at the vehicle and having a field of view directed generally sidewardly from the vehicle, said imaging sensor being operable to capture an image of a scene occuring toward the side of the vehicle;
• and
• a control operable to process said image captured by said imaging array sensor to detect objects present sidewardly of the vehicle, said captured image comprising an image data set representative of the exterior scenes, said control being operable to process a reduced image data set of said image data set more than other image data of said image data set, said reduced image data set being representative of a target zone of said captured image, wherein said control is operable to primarily process image data or substantially limit processing of image data in response to at least one of a size, location, intensity and distance of detected objects of said image data relative to the vehicle.

A lane change assist system for a vehicle comprising:

• an imaging sensor positioned at the vehicle and having a field of view directed generally sidewardly from the vehicle, said imaging sensor being operable to capture an image of a scene occuring toward the side of the vehicle;
• and
• a control operable to process said image captured by said imaging array sensor to detect objects present sidewardly of the vehicle, said captured image comprising an image data set representative of the exterior scenes, said control being operable to process a reduced image data set of said image data set more than other image data of said image data set, said reduced image data set being representative of a target zone of said captured image, wherein said control is operable to approximate a distance to a detected object in response to a location of a pixel capturing a portion of the detected object in said captured image.