Animal type determination device

1. An animal type determination device comprising:

a camera configured to be mounted in a vehicle and to capture an image of a periphery of the vehicle; and

a controller configured to:

perform pattern recognition with respect to the image captured by the camera using a plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns and determine a type of an animal in the image;

recognize a type of a caution target animal indicated by an animal warning sign in the image captured by the camera; and

raise a determination priority of an animal image pattern corresponding to the type of the caution target animal in response to the type of the caution target animal being recognized,

wherein the controller is further configured to perform the pattern recognition using the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns in the order of the determination priority, and to determine the type of the animal in the image.

2. An animal type determination device comprising:

a camera configured to be mounted in a vehicle and to capture an image of a periphery of the vehicle; and

a controller configured to:

perform pattern recognition with respect to the image captured by the camera using a plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns and determine a type of an animal in the image;

acquire position information of the vehicle;

retrieve regional animal information corresponding to the position information of the vehicle from a memory, in which a caution target animal is associated with each of a plurality of predetermined regions;

determine whether or not the caution target animal is set for a region where the vehicle is positioned based on the position information of the vehicle and the regional animal information; and

raise a determination priority of an animal image pattern corresponding to a type of the caution target animal in response to determining that the caution target animal is set for the region where the vehicle is located,

wherein the controller is further configured to perform the pattern recognition using the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns in the order of the determination priority, and to determine the type of the animal in the image.

3. A method of performing vehicle assistance control, comprising:

capturing an image of a periphery of a vehicle;

performing pattern recognition with respect to the image of the periphery of the vehicle using a plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns to determine a type of an animal in the image, wherein the performing the pattern recognition comprises:

acquiring information about a caution target animal;

raising a determination priority of an animal image pattern of the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns corresponding to the caution target animal; and

performing the pattern recognition using the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns in order of the determination priority;

determining the type of the animal in the image based on one or more of the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns; and

performing vehicle assistance control based on the determined type of the animal in the image.

4. The method of performing vehicle assistance control of claim 3 , wherein the capturing the image of the periphery of the vehicle comprises capturing the image using at least one of a monocular camera and a stereo camera.

5. The method of performing vehicle assistance control according to claim 4 , wherein the capturing the image of the periphery of the vehicle further comprises detecting an object in the image of the periphery of the vehicle using at least one of a radio wave sensor and a LIDAR sensor.

6. The method of performing vehicle assistance control of claim 3 , wherein the acquiring the information about the caution target animal comprises:

determining that an animal warning sign is present in the image of the periphery of the vehicle; and

performing pattern recognition with respect to the animal warning sign using the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns to determine the caution target animal.

7. The method of performing vehicle assistance control according to claim 6 , wherein the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns comprises a plurality of images corresponding to each animal image pattern.

8. The method of performing vehicle assistance control according to claim 7 , wherein the plurality of images corresponding to each animal image pattern comprises an outline image.

9. The method of performing vehicle assistance control of claim 3 , wherein the raising the determination priority of the animal image pattern of the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns corresponding to the caution target animal comprises raising the determination priority of the animal image pattern of the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns corresponding to the caution target animal to the highest determination priority.

10. The method of performing vehicle assistance control of claim 3 , wherein the acquiring information about the caution target animal comprises:

acquiring position information of the vehicle; and

retrieving regional animal information corresponding to the position information of the vehicle, the regional animal information comprising the caution target animal.

11. The method of performing vehicle assistance control of claim 10 , wherein the capturing the image of the periphery of the vehicle comprises capturing the image using at least one of a monocular camera and a stereo camera.

12. The method of performing vehicle assistance control according to claim 11 , wherein the capturing the image of the periphery of the vehicle further comprises detecting an object in the image of the periphery of the vehicle using at least one of a radio wave sensor and a LIDAR sensor.

13. The method of performing vehicle assistance control of claim 10 , wherein the acquiring position information of the vehicle comprises acquiring position information of the vehicle using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver.

14. The method of performing vehicle assistance control according to claim 10 , wherein the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns comprises a plurality of images corresponding to each animal image pattern.

15. The method of performing vehicle assistance control according to claim 14 , wherein the plurality of images corresponding to each animal image pattern comprises an outline image.

16. The method of performing vehicle assistance control of claim 10 , wherein the raising the determination priority of the animal image pattern of the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns corresponding to the caution target animal comprises raising the determination priority of the animal image pattern of the plurality of pre-stored animal image patterns corresponding to the caution target animal to the highest determination priority.