Moving body system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10171796-B2
Application number	US-201514983881-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Jan 9, 2015
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

A moving body system includes an imaging device attachable to a moving body, a visual line direction changing mechanism configured to change a visual line direction of the imaging device and a control unit configured to change the visual line direction of the imaging device in accordance with changing of a movement direction of the moving body.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A moving body system comprising:
an imaging device attachable to a moving body including at least one wheel and a steering device which is attached to the moving body and is operated to control a movement direction of the moving body in accordance with steering operation of the steering device;
a visual line direction changing mechanism configured to change a visual line direction of the imaging device; and
a control unit configured to determine at least one steering operation information selected from a group consisting of a steering operation angle of the steering device attached to the moving body, a steering operation speed of the steering device attached to the moving body, and an angle of inclination of the wheel of the moving body, and detect, based on said at least one steering operation information determined by the control unit, changing of the movement direction of the moving body, and change the visual line direction of the imaging device in accordance with the changing of the movement direction of the moving body, detected based on said at least one steering operation information.

2. The moving body system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the visual line direction of the imaging device such that an angle made by the visual line direction of the imaging device and the movement direction of the moving body is changed in accordance with a changing amount of the movement direction of the moving body.

3. The moving body system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the visual line direction of the imaging device such that the larger a changing amount of the movement direction of the moving body becomes, the larger an angle made by the visual line direction of the imaging device and the movement direction of the moving body becomes.

4. The moving body system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the moving body is a vehicle.

5. The moving body system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the visual line direction of the imaging device such that the visual line direction of the imaging device is angled with respect to the movement direction of the vehicle inside of a turning direction of the vehicle.

6. The moving body system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the control unit is configured to detect a changing amount of the movement direction of the moving body based on at least one of a steering operation angle of the vehicle, an angle of inclination of a wheel of the vehicle, and a changing of images captured by the imaging device.

7. The moving body system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to change at least one of a frame rate of the imaging device and a recognition process rate of the imaging device in accordance with the changing of the movement direction of the moving body.

8. The moving body system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the control unit is configured to make at least one of the frame rate of the imaging device and the recognition process rate of the imaging device higher in accordance with the changing of the movement direction of the moving body.

9. The moving body system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the control unit is configured to return the at least one of the frame rate of the imaging device and the recognition process rate of the imaging device which is changed to its original rate in accordance with an event in which the movement direction of the moving body returns to a straight direction after the visual line direction of the imaging device has been changed.

10. The moving body system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the control unit is configured to make the frame rate of the imaging device higher in a case in which an object exists in a predetermined distance from the moving body than the frame rate of the imaging device in a case in which the object does not exist in the predetermined distance from the moving body.

11. The moving body system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is a stereo camera.

12. A moving body system comprising:
an imaging device attachable to a moving body including at least one wheel and a steering device which is attached to the moving body and is operated to control a movement direction of the moving body in accordance with steering operation of the steering device, the imaging device having been configured to capture a predetermined area with respect to, and external to, the moving body;
a predetermined area changing mechanism configured to move the imaging device with respect to the moving body in order to change the predetermined area with respect to the moving body in a state in which the imaging device is attached to the moving body; and
a control unit configured to determine at least one steering operation information selected from a group consisting of a steering operation angle of the steering device attached to the moving body, a steering operation speed of the steering device attached to the moving body, and an angle of inclination of the wheel of the moving body, and detect, based on said at least one steering operation information determined by the control unit, changing of the movement direction of the moving body, and control the predetermined area changing mechanism in order to change the predetermined area with respect to the moving body in accordance with the changing of the movement direction of the moving body, detected based on said at least one steering operation information.

13. The moving body system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the predetermined area changing mechanism in order to change the predetermined area with respect to the moving body in accordance with an operation of a movement direction changing mechanism which is configured to change the movement direction of the moving body.

14. The moving body system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein in accordance with changing of the movement direction of the moving body by a first angle to one side, the control unit is configured to control the predetermined area changing mechanism in order to change the predetermined area with respect to the moving body by a second angle to the one side, the second angle being larger than the first angle.

15. The moving body system as claimed in claim 14 , wherein in a case in which a changing angle of the movement direction of the moving body is less than the first angle, the control unit is configured to control the predetermined area changing mechanism in order not to change the predetermined area with respect to the moving body.

16. The moving body system as claimed in claim 14 , wherein when the control unit determines the distance between the moving body and the object in the changed predetermined area to be less than a predetermined distance, the control unit performs at least one of: (i) outputs warning information; and (ii) automatically brings the moving body to a stop.

17. A moving body system comprising:
an imaging device attachable to a moving body including at least one wheel and a steering device which is attached to the moving body and is operated to control a movement direction of the moving body in accordance with steering operation of the steering device, the imaging device having been configured to capture a predetermined area with respect to, and external to, the moving body and determine a distance between the moving body and an object in the predetermined area;
a predetermined area changing mechanism configured to move the imaging device with respect to the moving body in order to change

Assignees

• Sekiguchi Hiroyoshi
• Watanabe Eita
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sekiguchi Hiroyoshi
• Watanabe Eita

Classifications

• H04N23/69

  Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming · CPC title

• H04N23/62

  Control of parameters via user interfaces · CPC title

• H04N13/282

  for generating image signals corresponding to three or more geometrical viewpoints, e.g. multi-view systems · CPC title

• H04N13/239

  using two two-dimensional [2D] image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance (H04N13/243 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N13/225

  using parallax barriers · CPC title