Method and apparatus for ground detection and removal in vision systems

1. A method of performing vision processing comprising:

stereo imaging a scene about a platform to produce stereo image data;

producing a map of data from the stereo image data, wherein the map is based on an assumed ground plane;

identifying an actual ground plane using the map;

compensating the map for differences between the actual ground plane and the assumed ground plane; and

removing the actual ground plane from the map.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the step of comparing a plurality of templates to the map to identifying a match between the map and at least one template.

3. The method of claim 2 further including the step of adjusting a parameter of the platform in response to a match.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the parameter of a vehicle comprises at least one parameter selected from the group of: an air bag deployment parameter, a seatbelt parameter, a vehicle height parameter, and a vehicle velocity and/or acceleration control parameter.

5. The method of claim 3 further including accessing at least one template from a database comprising a plurality of templates.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the comparing step includes determining a difference between each pixel in the map and each similarly positioned pixel in a template, and determining that a pixel is a match if the difference at each pixel is less than a predefined amount.

7. A computer readable medium storing a vision system program that controls a computer to:

produce a depth map from input imagery;

determine an actual ground plane from said depth map;

correct the depth map based on the actual ground plane;

detect a potential threat in said corrected depth map;

estimate a size of said detected potential threat;

estimate a position of said detected potential threat;

estimate a velocity of said detected potential threat;

perform a trajectory analysis of said detected potential threat using said estimated position and said estimated velocity;

perform a collision prediction based on said trajectory analysis; and

determine if a collision is imminent based on said collision prediction and on said estimated size of said potential threat.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7 that further controls a computer to remove the actual ground from the corrected depth map.

9. A collision avoidance system comprising:

a collision detection system comprising:

a stereo camera pair for producing imagery of a scene;

a stereo image preprocessor for preprocessing said imagery;

a map generator for producing from said preprocessed imagery a map referenced to an assumed ground plane; and

a target processor for determining the actual ground plane from said map and for removing that ground plane from said map.

10. A computer readable medium storing a vision system program that controls a computer to:

produce a depth map from input imagery;

determine an actual ground plane from said depth map; and

removing the actual ground from the depth map.