IP Library Granted Patent US 12688709
Granted Patent B2
US 12688709 · App. 18/566,154 · Granted Jul 21, 2026

Recognition device, recognition method, and recognition program

Inventors: Kohei Mori (Tokyo, JP); Kazuaki Obana (Tokyo, JP); Takahiro Hata (Tokyo, JP); Yuki Yokohata (Tokyo, JP); Aki Hayashi (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: NTT, Inc.
G06V20/588G06T7/001G06V10/764G06T2207/30256
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12688709
App. No.
18/566,154
Granted
Jul 21, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A recognition device that detects a boundary of a roadway by use of time-series images captured by a camera mounted on a vehicle, the recognition device including: an acquisition unit that acquires the time-series images; and a detection unit that classifies areas in the acquired time-series images into a roadway, which is an area having a small change amount, and a portion other than the roadway, which is an area having a large change amount, according to magnitude of the change amounts, and detects a boundary between the area having the small change amount and the area having the large change amount as a boundary of the roadway.

Claims (26)

1 . A recognition device that detects a boundary of a roadway by use of time-series images captured by a camera mounted on a vehicle, the recognition device comprising:

a memory, and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to:

acquire the time-series images;

generate a plurality of images in which changes between the time-series images are emphasized by using the acquired time-series images;

calculate a difference image by superimposing the plurality of images in which the changes are emphasized;

calculate change amounts of areas based on changes in pixels of the difference image; and

clarify areas in the acquired time-series images into a roadway, which is an area having a small change amount, and a portion other than the roadway, which is an area having a large change amount, according to magnitude of the change amounts, and detect a boundary between the area having the small change amount and the area having the large change amount as a boundary of the roadway.

2 . The recognition device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to further perform correction to remove an area in which the vehicle itself is captured is not detected from the time-series images.

3 . The recognition device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to

acquire a speed of the vehicle, and

use only an image captured when the speed has a value equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value.

4 . The recognition device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to correct one of binarized areas to another of the binarized areas in a case where a width of one of binarized areas of the difference image is narrower than a predetermined length.

5 . The recognition device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to acquire road information corresponding to the number of lanes of the roadway on which the vehicle is traveling, and specify a traveling lane of the vehicle and a peripheral traveling lane as the area having the small change amount on a basis of the road information and a division line extracted in the time-series images.

6 . A recognition method for causing a computer that detects a boundary of a roadway by use of time-series images captured by a camera mounted on a vehicle to execute processing comprising:

acquiring the time-series images;

generating a plurality of images in which changes between the time-series images are emphasized by using the acquired time-series images;

calculating a difference image by superimposing the plurality of images in which the changes are emphasized;

calculating change amounts of areas based on changes in pixels of the difference image; and

classifying areas in the acquired time-series images into a roadway, which is an area having a small change amount, and a portion other than the roadway, which is an area having a large change amount, according to magnitude of the change amounts, and detecting a boundary between the area having the small change amount and the area having the large change amount as a boundary of the roadway.

7 . A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing a recognition program for causing a computer that detects a boundary of a roadway by use of time-series images captured by a camera mounted on a vehicle to execute processing comprising:

acquiring the time-series images;

generating a plurality of images in which changes between the time-series images are emphasized by using the acquired time-series images;

calculating a difference image by superimposing the plurality of images in which the changes are emphasized;

calculating change amounts of areas based on changes in pixels of the difference image; and

classifying areas in the acquired time-series images into a roadway, which is an area having a small change amount, and a portion other than the roadway, which is an area having a large change amount, according to magnitude of the change amounts, and detecting a boundary between the area having the small change amount and the area having the large change amount as a boundary of the roadway.