Disparity value deriving device, movable apparatus, robot, disparity value producing method, and computer program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10104359-B2
Application number	US-201415100895-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2014
Priority date	Dec 12, 2013
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

A disparity value deriving device includes a calculator configured to calculate costs of candidates for a corresponding region in a comparison image that corresponds to a reference region in a reference image, based on luminance values of the regions. The device also includes a changer configured to change a cost exceeding a threshold to a value higher than the threshold; a synthesizer configured to synthesize a cost of a candidate for a corresponding region for one reference region after the change and a cost of a candidate for a corresponding region for another reference region after the change; and a deriving unit configured to derive a disparity value based on a position of the one reference region and a position of the corresponding region in the comparison image for which the cost after the synthesis is smallest.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A disparity value deriving device comprising:
circuitry configured to
obtain a matching degree of a reference region in a reference image captured at a first imaging position with one of regions in a comparison image captured at a second imaging position, the regions in the comparison image being within a certain range and including a region corresponding to the reference region;
change the matching degree to one of a first value and a second value based on whether the obtained matching degree exceeds a threshold;
synthesize a changed matching degree having the first value or the second value for one reference region in the reference image and a changed matching degree having the first value or the second value for another reference region near the one reference region in the reference image; and
derive, based on the synthesized matching degree, a disparity value for an object whose image is captured in the one reference region.

2. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 , wherein
in changing the matching degree, the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree exceeding the threshold to the first value, which is higher than the threshold, and
the circuitry derives the disparity value based on a minimum matching degree of the synthesized matching degree.

3. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 2 , wherein
the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree equal to or smaller than the threshold to the second value, which is lower than the threshold.

4. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 3 , wherein the second value is zero.

5. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree falling below the threshold to the second value, which is lower than the threshold, and
the circuitry derives the disparity value based on a maximum matching degree of the synthesized matching degree.

6. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 5 , wherein
the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree equal to or greater than the threshold to the first value, which is higher than the threshold.

7. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree exceeding the threshold to the second value, which is equal to or smaller than the threshold, and
the circuitry derives the disparity value based on a minimum matching degree of the synthesized matching degree.

8. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree falling below the threshold to the first value, which is equal to or greater than the threshold, and
the circuitry derives the disparity value based on a maximum matching degree of the synthesized matching degree.

9. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree exceeding the threshold to the first value, and changes an obtained matching degree falling below the threshold to zero.

10. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree exceeding the threshold to one of the first value and the second value,
the circuitry derives the disparity value based on a minimum matching degree of the synthesized matching degree, and outputs the disparity value to an object recognition device for recognizing the object in the reference image, and
the size of an object recognition result recognized by the object recognition device is based on the threshold.

11. The disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry changes an obtained matching degree falling below the threshold to one of the first value and the second value,
the circuitry derives the disparity value based on a maximum matching degree of the synthesized matching degree, and outputs the disparity value to an object recognition device for recognizing the object in the reference image, and
the size of an object recognition result recognized by the object recognition device is based on the threshold.

12. A movable apparatus comprising the disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 .

13. The movable apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the movable apparatus is a vehicle or a robot.

14. A robot comprising the disparity value deriving device according to claim 1 .

15. The robot according to claim 14 , wherein the robot is an industrial robot fixedly installed.

16. A disparity value producing method comprising:
obtaining a matching degree of a reference region in a reference image captured at a first imaging position with one of regions in a comparison image captured at a second imaging position, the regions in the comparison image being within a certain range and including a region corresponding to the reference region;
changing the matching degree to one of a first value and a second value based on whether the obtained matching degree exceeds a threshold;
synthesizing a changed matching degree having the first value or the second value for one reference region in the reference image and a changed matching degree having the first value or the second value for another reference region near the one reference region in the reference image; and
deriving, based on the synthesized matching degree, a disparity value for an object whose image is captured in the one reference region.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon and executed by a computer, wherein the program instructs the computer to perform:
obtaining a matching degree of a reference region in a reference image captured at a first imaging position with one of regions in a comparison image captured at a second imaging position, the regions in the comparison image being within a certain range and including a region corresponding to the reference region;
changing the matching degree to one of a first value and a second value based on whether the obtained matching degree exceeds a threshold;
synthesizing a changed matching degree having the first value or the second value for one reference region in the reference image and a changed matching degree having the first value or the second value for another reference region near the one reference region in the reference image; and
deriving, based on the synthesized matching degree, a disparity value for an object whose image is captured in the one reference region.

Assignees

• Saitoh Kiichiroh
• Watanabe Yoshikazu
• Yokota Soichiro
• Tamura Ryohsuke
• Zhong Wei
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Saitoh Kiichiroh
• Watanabe Yoshikazu
• Yokota Soichiro
• Tamura Ryohsuke
• Zhong Wei

Classifications

• G06K2009/4666

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/00805

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T2207/30261

  Obstacle · CPC title

• G06T7/74

  involving reference images or patches · CPC title

• H04N13/128 Primary

  Adjusting depth or disparity · CPC title