Abstract: When a home electric appliance detects and identifies an article to be handled by the home electric appliance, the home electric appliance executes handling of the article in conformity with a control program corresponding to the specified article. When the control program corresponding to the specified article is not present, the home electric appliance downloads the corresponding control program from a program distribution means through a network, and further sends information on the article to home electric appliances having possibility to operate the article. Upon reception of information from the home electric appliance, the home electric appliances download a control program corresponding to the article from the program distribution means through the network if the control program corresponding to the article is not present.

Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.

Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.

Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.

Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.

Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.

Abstract: In transmitting image data from multiple cameras to an image processing section to produce a synthesized image from respective camera images, the amount of data transmitted through a transmission path can be cut down without sacrificing the quality of the synthesized image. In accordance with a correspondence between the synthesized and camera images as described on a mapping table, a resolution specifier specifies resolutions, which should be necessary for image synthesis, for respective areas of each camera image. A compressor, provided for each of the cameras, compresses the associated camera image data according to the resolutions specified. In this manner, the image data, which has been compressed in accordance with the correspondence between the synthesized and camera images, is transmitted through the transmission path.

Abstract: Parking assistance apparatus that displays on a screen an image shot by image picking-up apparatus mounted on a vehicle. The parking assistance apparatus superimposes a guide line that is parallel to the line tangent to the predicted outer locus of the vehicle assumed when the vehicle is backed with the wheel at the maximum steering angle. This allows the driver to drive the vehicle so that the guide line will not overlap the image of another vehicle thus allowing parking that avoids any contact.

Abstract: In a driving operation assisting technique, the burden on a user is reduced. The user is allowed to specify, on an image representing the surrounding conditions around a vehicle, the end position of the vehicle at the end of a predetermined driving operation by using, for example, a pointer. A driving operation assisting system obtains the start position of the driving operation based on a prescribed movement pattern representing the movement of the vehicle in the driving operation, and superimposes the end position on the display image.

Abstract: The system includes sensing means 120 for detecting a state of a space; a robot 102 for executing a handling job for an article; an article identifying part 32 for identifying, when an article is handled by a movable body, the article in response to a detection result obtained by the sensing means 120; and an article handling subject identifying part 33 for identifying an article handling subject that handles the article. When the movable body that handles the article is the robot 102, the article handling subject identifying part 33 identifies a subject having issued a job instruction to the robot 102 as the article handling subject.

Abstract: A driving aiding system includes a displaying section arranged at a position that can be looked at from a driver's seat of a vehicle, an image picking-up section for picking up an image of a rear portion of the vehicle containing at least a part of a hitch that is provided to the rear portion of the vehicle, and an image processing section for causing the displaying section to display a synthesized image that is obtained by image-processing an image picked up by the image picking-up section. A hitch image of own vehicle in addition to an image of a trailed vehicle and an image of a destination coupler are displayed on a screen of the displaying section. As a result, the relative positional relationship between the hitch and the destination coupler can be checked on the screen and thus the hitch coupling operation can be facilitated.

Abstract: A driving support system for enabling a driver to appropriately confirm environmental conditions of a moving body is provided. A plurality of imaging means for taking an image of the rear of the moving body is installed on the moving body. The plurality of imaging means have an area (OL) where their imaging areas overlap with each other, and the overlap area (OL) includes an area in the vicinity of a vanishing point (VP). Detection means obtains a stereo parallax (VD) between one imaging means and another imaging means in the overlap area (OL), and obtains a distance to an object based on the stereo parallax (VD).

Abstract: On a basis of information obtained by reading information for specifying articles carried by a user from identification tags attached to the articles by means of a sensor, a list of the articles carried by the user at the time point is formed. The list is stored every time the list is formed, and the event that the user has lost the article and the lost article are specified on the basis of two or more lists. Upon specifying the lost article, the user is notified of information concerning the lost article.

Abstract: To monitor both the surrounding of a vehicle and a place distant therefrom, there is mounted on the vehicle a twin-camera (23) composed of cameras (23L, 23R) forming a pair. To properly set the postures of the cameras (23L, 23R), their tilts, pans and twists around the optical axes are adjusted using, as indexes, the lengths of the portions, as captured by the cameras (23L, 23R), of the vehicle center line (BCL), the lengths of the portions, as captured by the cameras (23L, 23R), of the vehicle rear-end line (BEL), and the areas of the blind zones (S) in the capturing directions.

Abstract: In an image processor for synthesizing images that have been taken by multiple cameras mounted on a vehicle, even if any movable part of the vehicle has changed its state, the synthesized image will have no unnatural part. A pixel synthesizer receives the images that have been captured by the cameras included in an imaging section and generates the synthesized image by reference to a mapping table. Receiving a signal indicative of the state of a movable part such as the door or hood of the vehicle, a display mode changer disables at least one of the cameras that is taking an image to be affected by any change in the state of the movable part. For that purpose, the changer rewrites mapping data stored on the mapping table and thereby eliminates the image in question from the synthesized image.

Abstract: A tag communication section (12) receives tag information transmitted from an information tag (11) attached to a person (P) to be detected. An attribute lookup section (15) looks up an attribute storage section (16) using ID included in the tag information to obtain attribute information such as the height of the person (P). A target detection section (14) specifies the position, posture and the like of the person (P) in an image obtained from an imaging section (13) using the attribute information.

Abstract: In correspondence with each face of a rectangular parallelepiped obtained when the inside of the rectangular parallelepiped is shot, a monitor screen is split into a plurality of sub-screen areas. An image shot by a vehicle-mounted camera is processed and the processed image is split correspondingly to the sub-screen areas. Each split image is displayed in the corresponding sub-screen areas. This allows intuitive understanding of the direction of an image displayed in a sub-screen thereby providing the driver with an image free from a sense of incongruity.

Abstract: The image processor of the present invention generates a more natural synthesized image from camera images taken with a plurality of cameras capturing the surroundings of a vehicle. A parameter storage section stores a plurality of image synthesis parameter groups representing the correspondence between the camera images and the synthesized image and having different spatial or temporal resolution relations. A parameter selection section selects the image synthesis parameter group according to the output of a vehicle motion detection section for detecting the motion of the vehicle such as the driving speed and direction. An image synthesis section generates the synthesized image from the camera images according to the selected image synthesis parameter group.

Abstract: In a driving aiding system for displaying a picked-up image of a rear-view camera equipped onto a rear portion of a vehicle on a screen of a displaying means arranged at a position which can be viewed from a driver's seat when the vehicle is to be backed, a locus estimated line 10 of a hitch which is equipped onto a rear portion of the vehicle is superposed on the picked-up image of the rear-view camera to display when a predetermined instruction input is received.

Abstract: The image processor of the present invention generates a more natural synthesized image from camera images taken with a plurality of cameras capturing the surroundings of a vehicle. A parameter storage section stores a plurality of image synthesis parameter groups representing the correspondence between the camera images and the synthesized image and having different spatial or temporal resolution relations. A parameter selection section selects the image synthesis parameter group according to the output of a vehicle motion detection section for detecting the motion of the vehicle such as the driving speed and direction. An image synthesis section generates the synthesized image from the camera images according to the selected image synthesis parameter group.