Patents by Inventor Kensaku NATSUME

Kensaku NATSUME has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11749002
    Abstract: A lane line recognition apparatus includes an imaging device, a lane-line-search-region setting section, a light-streak-search-region setting section, a light-streak determination section, a light-streak-reaching determination section, and a mask processing section. The imaging device is to be mounted on a vehicle and captures an image of a traveling environment in front of the vehicle. The lane-line-search-region setting section sets a lane-line search region on the image. The light-streak-search-region setting section sets a light-streak search region adjacently to the lane-line search region. The light-streak determination section determines whether a light streak that crosses, in a vertical direction of the image, the light-streak search region is found. The light-streak-reaching determination section determines, if the light streak is found, whether the light streak reaches the lane-line search region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kensaku Natsume
  • Publication number: 20220108553
    Abstract: A lane line recognition apparatus includes an imaging device, a lane-line-search-region setting section, a light-streak-search-region setting section, a light-streak determination section, a light-streak-reaching determination section, and a mask processing section. The imaging device is to be mounted on a vehicle and captures an image of a traveling environment in front of the vehicle. The lane-line-search-region setting section sets a lane-line search region on the image. The light-streak-search-region setting section sets a light-streak search region adjacently to the lane-line search region. The light-streak determination section determines whether a light streak that crosses, in a vertical direction of the image, the light-streak search region is found. The light-streak-reaching determination section determines, if the light streak is found, whether the light streak reaches the lane-line search region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Publication date: April 7, 2022
    Applicant: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kensaku NATSUME
  • Patent number: 9690995
    Abstract: For a lane line search range set in a captured image obtained through imaging of the travel direction of a vehicle, a first lane line detection process detects a lane line based on a luminance image for more than half of rows within the search range, and detects a lane line based on a color difference image for the other rows, while a second lane line detection process detects a lane line based on the color difference image for a greater number of rows than in the first process. Then, a mode switchover control process performs mode switchover determination between the first and second modes based on the number of rows where a lane line of a predefined width or wider has been detected, from among the rows where a lane line has been detected, and performs mode switchover control based on the determination result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuichiroh Tamura, Kensaku Natsume
  • Patent number: 9378553
    Abstract: In the lane line detection performed by a left-right similar object detection module, changes in brightness in the road width direction in a image plane are evaluated, a point group serving as a lane line candidate is extracted, and a lane line model is generated by calculating the parallax of left and right lane line candidate points and transforming the result into real space coordinates. A camera displacement diagnosis module determines a camera displacement by calculating a diagnostic value based on a difference between the parallaxes of the left and right lane lines in the same horizontal line between reference comparative images captured by a stereo camera unit. Where the camera displacement has occurred, a vehicle control device is instructed to stop the control function or make a transition to failsafe control, and a warning is issued instructing a user to take the vehicle to a maintenance site for inspection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichiroh Tamura, Kensaku Natsume
  • Publication number: 20150371093
    Abstract: For a lane line search range set in a captured image obtained through imaging of the travel direction of a vehicle, a first lane line detection process detects a lane line based on a luminance image for more than half of rows within the search range, and detects a lane line based on a color difference image for the other rows, while a second lane line detection process detects a lane line based on the color difference image for a greater number of rows than in the first process. Then, a mode switchover control process performs mode switchover determination between the first and second modes based on the number of rows where a lane line of a predefined width or wider has been detected, from among the rows where a lane line has been detected, and performs mode switchover control based on the determination result.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2015
    Publication date: December 24, 2015
    Inventors: Yuichiroh TAMURA, Kensaku NATSUME
  • Publication number: 20150279017
    Abstract: In the lane line detection performed by a left-right similar object detection module, changes in brightness in the road width direction in a image plane are evaluated, a point group serving as a lane line candidate is extracted, and a lane line model is generated by calculating the parallax of left and right lane line candidate points and transforming the result into real space coordinates. A camera displacement diagnosis module determines a camera displacement by calculating a diagnostic value based on a difference between the parallaxes of the left and right lane lines in the same horizontal line between reference comparative images captured by a stereo camera unit. Where the camera displacement has occurred, a vehicle control device is instructed to stop the control function or make a transition to failsafe control, and a warning is issued instructing a user to take the vehicle to a maintenance site for inspection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2015
    Publication date: October 1, 2015
    Inventors: Yuichiroh TAMURA, Kensaku NATSUME