Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10591594-B2
Application number	US-201615762309-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2016
Priority date	Sep 30, 2015
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

A road surface region estimating section estimates a road surface region in a first image captured of a predetermined imaging range. A non-polarized region extracting section extracts a non-polarized region from a second image captured of the imaging range. A low-confidence level region estimating section estimates a low-confidence level region for an object with a low first confidence level obtained by a first sensor within a measurement range of the first sensor in the imaging range on the basis of information indicating the road surface region and the non-polarized region. A weight calculating section calculates a weight on the first confidence level on the basis of the first confidence level, a second confidence level of the object obtained by a second sensor in the imaging range, and information indicating the low-confidence level region. A presence likelihood calculating section calculates presence likelihood of the object at different distances within the imaging range on the basis of the first confidence level, the second confidence level, and information indicating the weight. The present technology is applicable to a vehicle-mounted distance estimating apparatus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:
a road surface region estimating section configured to estimate a road surface region in a first image captured of a predetermined imaging range;
a non-polarized region extracting section configured to extract a non-polarized region from a second image captured of the imaging range;
a low-confidence level region estimating section configured to estimate a low-confidence level region for an object with a low first confidence level obtained by a first sensor within a measurement range of the first sensor in the imaging range on the basis of information indicating the road surface region and the non-polarized region;
a weight calculating section configured to calculate a weight on the first confidence level on the basis of the first confidence level, a second confidence level of the object obtained by a second sensor in the imaging range, and information indicating the low-confidence level region; and
a presence likelihood calculating section configured to calculate presence likelihood of the object at different distances within the imaging range on the basis of the first confidence level, the second confidence level, and information indicating the weight.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the weight calculating section calculates the weight by lowering the first confidence level corresponding to the low-confidence level region.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a distance information extracting section configured to extract distance information about regions excluding a region regarded as a road surface with respect to the object obtained by the second sensor; and
a confidence level generating section configured to generate information indicating the second confidence level using the distance information about the regions excluding the region regarded as the road surface.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising:
an obstacle candidate extracting section configured to extract an obstacle candidate from the road surface region on the basis of the information indicating the road surface region;
wherein the distance information extracting section extracts the distance information about the regions excluding the region regarded as the road surface on the basis of distance information about a region constituting the obstacle candidate.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the second image includes polarized images obtained by a polarization camera in at least three directions.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the first image is the same as the second image.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is a millimeter-wave radar and the second sensor is a stereo camera.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the first confidence level includes reflection intensity of the millimeter-wave radar.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the second confidence level includes a stereo matching correlation value of the stereo camera.

10. An information processing method comprising the steps of:
estimating a road surface region in a first image captured of a predetermined imaging range;
extracting a non-polarized region from a second image captured of the imaging range;
estimating a low-confidence level region for an object with a low first confidence level obtained by a first sensor within a measurement range of the first sensor in the imaging range on the basis of information indicating the road surface region and the non-polarized region;
calculating a weight on the first confidence level on the basis of the first confidence level, a second confidence level of the object obtained by a second sensor in the imaging range, and information indicating the low-confidence level region; and
calculating presence likelihood of the object at different distances within the imaging range on the basis of the first confidence level, the second confidence level, and information indicating the weight.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, perform a process comprising the steps of:
estimating a road surface region in a first image captured of a predetermined imaging range;
extracting a non-polarized region from a second image captured of the imaging range;
estimating a low-confidence level region for an object with a low first confidence level obtained by a first sensor within a measurement range of the first sensor in the imaging range on the basis of information indicating the road surface region and the non-polarized region;
calculating a weight on the first confidence level on the basis of the first confidence level, a second confidence level of the object obtained by a second sensor in the imaging range, and information indicating the low-confidence level region; and
calculating presence likelihood of the object at different distances within the imaging range on the basis of the first confidence level, the second confidence level, and information indicating the weight.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Oyaizu Hideki
• Motoyama Takuto
• Sutou Yasuhiro
• Yamazaki Toshio

Classifications

• G01C3/085

  with electronic parallax measurement · CPC title

• G06T7/593

  from stereo images · CPC title

• G06T2207/10012

  Stereo images · CPC title

• G06T2207/30261

  Obstacle · CPC title

• G01S13/867

  Combination of radar systems with cameras · CPC title