Patents by Inventor Takuma Nakamori

Takuma Nakamori 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: 8433100
    Abstract: The lane mark recognition device is equipped with a lane mark detecting unit which executes a lane mark detection process in each predetermined control cycle, and adds a detection presence/absence data to a ring buffer, a detection presence/absence data addition inhibiting unit which inhibits addition of the detection presence/absence data to the ring buffer when the vehicle is traveling in the intersection, and a lane mark position recognizing unit which recognizes a relative position of the vehicle and the lane mark, when the lane mark is detected in the situation where a lane mark detection rate calculated from the data of the ring buffer is higher than a reliability threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuma Nakamori, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Jun Tanaka, Sachio Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 8306269
    Abstract: The lane mark recognition device is equipped with a lane mark detecting unit which executes a lane mark detection process in each predetermined control cycle, and adds a detection presence/absence data to a ring buffer, a detection presence/absence data addition inhibiting unit which inhibits addition of the detection presence/absence data to the ring buffer when the vehicle is traveling in the intersection, and a lane mark position recognizing unit which recognizes a relative position of the vehicle and the lane mark, when the lane mark is detected in the situation where a lane mark detection rate calculated from the data of the ring buffer is higher than a reliability threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuma Nakamori, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Jun Tanaka, Sachio Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 8170285
    Abstract: An image processing system and the like capable of recognizing a lane mark in a road image with high accuracy are provided even if a light illumination state on a road surface is partially different. According to the image processing system (100) mounted on a vehicle (10), a color component (Rij, Gij, Bij) of the first pixel (Pij) included in an area (Aij) set in the road image is corrected with reference to a color component (Rik, Gik, Bik) of a second pixel (Pik) in view of a fact that it is highly probable that the color component of the second pixel included in the area along with the first pixel is affected by a shadow or light on the road surface. This reduces the effect of the shadow or light on the road surface and the actual color of a road surface portion corresponding to the first pixel can be sufficiently reflected in the color components (Rij, Gij, Bij) of the first pixel (Pij) and consequently in a feature value (Qij).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuma Nakamori, Sachio Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Naoki Mori
  • Patent number: 8144926
    Abstract: There is provided an image acquisition means (2) for acquiring a color image of a road via an imaging means (9) mounted on a vehicle (8), a lane mark detection means (3, 4) for performing processing of detecting lane marks of a plurality of predetermined colors different from each other on the road based on color information of the color image, and outputting a result of the processing as lane mark candidate data, and a selection means (6) for selecting lane mark candidate data corresponding to a lane mark defining an actual lane on which the vehicle (8) is traveling from among at least the lane mark candidate data for the respective predetermined colors output from the lane mark detection means (3, 4), and determining and outputting lane data indicating information of the actual lane based on the selected lane mark candidate data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Naoki Mori, Sachio Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Takuma Nakamori
  • Patent number: 8135175
    Abstract: An image processing system and the like capable of accurately recognizing lane edges defined by dotted lane marks are provided. According to an image processing system (100) of the present invention, a first processing unit (110) searches a road surface image captured by a vehicle-mounted camera for a “small area,” which is composed of high- or low-luminance pixels and satisfies “eligibility conditions” on the “size,” “shape,” and “arrangement” in the road surface image. Additionally, a second processing unit (120) recognizes “lane edges” of the lane along which the vehicle travels on the basis of the “small area.” Furthermore, a third processing unit (130) sets a “search range” of the small area searched by the first processing unit (110) on the basis of a result of the foregoing recognition of the lane edges by the second processing unit (120).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi Aoki, Sachio Kobayashi, Naoki Mori, Takuma Nakamori
  • Patent number: 8107683
    Abstract: An image processing system and the like capable of improving recognition accuracy of a lane mark are provided. According to the image processing system of the present invention, a first processing unit (110) recognizes a lane mark candidate on the basis of the luminance of each pixel in a road image. Moreover, there are evaluated a first index which represents continuity of an edge of the lane mark candidate, a second index which represents conformance between the width of the lane mark candidate and a lane mark standard width, and a third index which represents uniformity of the luminance of pixels contained in the lane mark candidate. According to the first, second, and third indices, a second processing unit (120) recognizes a lane mark candidate most likely to be a true lane mark as a lane mark.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi Aoki, Sachio Kobayashi, Naoki Mori, Takuma Nakamori
  • Patent number: 8050456
    Abstract: A vehicle and road sign recognition device each includes: image capturing means (2) which captures a color image of a road via imaging means (6); feature value calculation means (4) which calculates a feature value of each pixel corresponding to the color of a road sign on the road from the color components of each pixel in the color image so as to reduce the effect of brightness on the color components; and road sign detection means (5) which detects the road sign on the road from the feature image in which the feature value of each pixel in the color image is arranged so as to match with the position of each pixel in the color image. Thus, it is possible to accurately detect a road sign such as a lane mark from the color image of the road captured via the imaging means such as a camera even if the road illumination state is partially different.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuma Nakamori, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Sachio Kobayashi, Naoki Mori
  • Patent number: 8036427
    Abstract: The present invention includes: image capturing means (2) which captures a color image of a road via imaging means (7); area extraction means (3) which extracts areas having a similar color feature value from the captured color image of the road; white balance processing means (5) which performs, for each of the extracted areas, a white balance process of correcting each pixel data in the extracted area so as to reduce the degree of divergence in the level between color components according to a level balance between the color components of the pixel data in the extracted area; and road sign detection means (6) which detects a road sign on the road from the color image subjected to the white balance process. Thus, even if the road illumination state is partially different, it is possible to accurately detect a road sign such as a lane mark from the captured color image of the road via the imaging means such as a camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuma Nakamori, Sachio Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Naoki Mori
  • Patent number: 7965870
    Abstract: A lane mark recognition apparatus includes an image capturing means (30) which captures a color image (IM—0) of a road via a color video camera (10), a specific-color-extracted image generating means (31) which generates a luminance-extracted image (IM—1) obtained by extracting white-color data from the color image (IM—0) and a yellow-color-extracted image (IM—2) obtained by extracting yellow-color data from the color image (IM—0), and a lane mark detection means (50a) which detects a white line and a yellow line from a composite image (IM_C) formed from the luminance-extracted image (IM—1) and the yellow-color-extracted image (IM—2) and outputs position data (Pd1) of the white line and position data (Pd2) of the yellow line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sachio Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Takuma Nakamori, Naoki Mori
  • Patent number: 7933434
    Abstract: A vehicle capable of preventing detection of stud-type lane marks from being impossible and a vehicle having a lane mark recognizer are provided. The vehicle includes installation interval recognizing means (21) which recognizes an interval (L) between Botts Dots, vehicle speed recognizing means (22) which recognizes a traveling speed (v) of the vehicle, image synthesizing means (13) which generates synthesized image data (M3) by combining image data (M1) stored in an image memory (11) through an image input circuit (10) and image data (M2) stored in an image memory (12) through the same, imaging timing determining means (20) which determines the timing of imaging by a camera (2) on the basis of the interval (L) and the traveling speed (v) when acquiring the image data (M1, M2) in such a way that the positions of the Botts Dots in the image data (M1, M2) are different therebetween, and Botts Dots detecting means (14) which detects the Botts Dots from the synthesized image data (M3).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi Aoki, Sachio Kobayashi, Naoki Mori, Takuma Nakamori
  • Publication number: 20100231718
    Abstract: The lane mark recognition device is equipped with a lane mark detecting unit which executes a lane mark detection process in each predetermined control cycle, and adds a detection presence/absence data to a ring buffer, a detection presence/absence data addition inhibiting unit which inhibits addition of the detection presence/absence data to the ring buffer when the vehicle is traveling in the intersection, and a lane mark position recognizing unit which recognizes a relative position of the vehicle and the lane mark, when the lane mark is detected in the situation where a lane mark detection rate calculated from the data of the ring buffer is higher than a reliability threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2010
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takuma NAKAMORI, Tomoyoshi AOKI, Jun TANAKA, Sachio KOBAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20100074469
    Abstract: The present invention includes: image capturing means (2) which captures a color image of a road via imaging means (7); area extraction means (6) which extracts areas having a similar color feature value from the captured color image of the road; white balance processing means (5) which performs, for each of the extracted areas, a white balance process of correcting each pixel data in the extracted area so as to reduce the degree of divergence in the level between color components according to a level balance between the color components of the pixel data in the extracted area; and road sign detection means (6) which detects a road sign on the road from the color image subjected to the white balance process. Thus, even if the road illumination state is partially different, it is possible to accurately detect a road sign such as a lane mark from the captured color image of the road via the imaging means such as a camera.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2006
    Publication date: March 25, 2010
    Inventors: Takuma Nakamori, Sachio Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Naoki Mori
  • Publication number: 20100014707
    Abstract: A vehicle and road sign recognition device each includes: image capturing means (2) which captures a color image of a road via imaging means (6); feature value calculation means (4) which calculates a feature value of each pixel corresponding to the color of a road sign on the road from the color components of each pixel in the color image so as to reduce the effect of brightness on the color components; and road sign detection means (5) which detects the road sign on the road from the feature image in which the feature value of each pixel in the color image is arranged so as to match with the position of each pixel in the color image. Thus, it is possible to accurately detect a road sign such as a lane mark from the color image of the road captured via the imaging means such as a camera even if the road illumination state is partially different.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2006
    Publication date: January 21, 2010
    Inventors: Takuma Nakamori, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Sachio Kobayashi, Naoki Mori
  • Publication number: 20090284597
    Abstract: An image processing system and the like capable of recognizing a lane mark in a road image with high accuracy are provided even if a light illumination state on a road surface is partially different. According to the image processing system (100) mounted on a vehicle (10), a color component (Rij, Gij, Bij) of the first pixel (Pij) included in an area (Aij) set in the road image is corrected with reference to a color component (Rik, Gik, Bik) of a second pixel (Pik) in view of a fact that it is highly probable that the color component of the second pixel included in the area along with the first pixel is affected by a shadow or light on the road surface. This reduces the effect of the shadow or light on the road surface and the actual color of a road surface portion corresponding to the first pixel can be sufficiently reflected in the color components (Rij, Gij, Bij) of the first pixel (Pij) and consequently in a feature value (Qij).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2006
    Publication date: November 19, 2009
    Inventors: Takuma Nakamori, Sachio Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Naoki Mori
  • Publication number: 20090123065
    Abstract: A lane mark recognition apparatus includes an image capturing means (30) which captures a color image (IM—0) of a road via a color video camera (10), a specific-color-extracted image generating means (31) which generates a luminance-extracted image (IM—1) obtained by extracting white-color data from the color image (IM—0) and a yellow-color-extracted image (IM—2) obtained by extracting yellow-color data from the color image (IM—0), and a lane mark detection means (50a) which detects a white line and a yellow line from a composite image (IM_C) formed from the luminance-extracted image (IM—1) and the yellow-color-extracted image (IM—2) and outputs position data (Pd1) of the white line and position data (Pd2) of the yellow line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2006
    Publication date: May 14, 2009
    Inventors: Sachio Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Takuma Nakamori, Naoki Mori
  • Publication number: 20090080704
    Abstract: There is provided an image acquisition means (2) for acquiring a color image of a road via an imaging means (9) mounted on a vehicle (8), a lane mark detection means (3, 4) for performing processing of detecting lane marks of a plurality of predetermined colors different from each other on the road based on color information of the color image, and outputting a result of the processing as lane mark candidate data, and a selection means (6) for selecting lane mark candidate data corresponding to a lane mark defining an actual lane on which the vehicle (8) is traveling from among at least the lane mark candidate data for the respective predetermined colors output from the lane mark detection means (3, 4), and determining and outputting lane data indicating information of the actual lane based on the selected lane mark candidate data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2006
    Publication date: March 26, 2009
    Inventors: Naoki Mori, Sachio Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi Aoki, Takuma Nakamori
  • Publication number: 20090041303
    Abstract: An image processing system and the like capable of accurately recognizing lane edges defined by dotted lane marks are provided. According to an image processing system (100) of the present invention, a first processing unit (110) searches a road surface image captured by a vehicle-mounted camera for a “small area,” which is composed of high- or low-luminance pixels and satisfies “eligibility conditions” on the “size,” “shape,” and “arrangement” in the road surface image. Additionally, a second processing unit (120) recognizes “lane edges” of the lane along which the vehicle travels on the basis of the “small area.” Furthermore, a third processing unit (130) sets a “search range” of the small area searched by the first processing unit (110) on the basis of a result of the foregoing recognition of the lane edges by the second processing unit (120).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2006
    Publication date: February 12, 2009
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi Aoki, Sachio Kobayashi, Naoki Mori, Takuma Nakamori
  • Publication number: 20080317288
    Abstract: An image processing system and the like capable of improving recognition accuracy of a lane mark are provided. According to the image processing system of the present invention, a first processing unit (110) recognizes a lane mark candidate on the basis of the luminance of each pixel in a road image. Moreover, there are evaluated a first index which represents continuity of an edge of the lane mark candidate, a second index which represents conformance between the width of the lane mark candidate and a lane mark standard width, and a third index which represents uniformity of the luminance of pixels contained in the lane mark candidate. According to the first, second, and third indices, a second processing unit (120) recognizes a lane mark candidate most likely to be a true lane mark as a lane mark.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2006
    Publication date: December 25, 2008
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi Aoki, Sachio Kobayashi, Naoki Mori, Takuma Nakamori
  • Publication number: 20080310679
    Abstract: A vehicle capable of preventing detection of stud-type lane marks from being impossible and a vehicle having a lane mark recognizer are provided. The vehicle includes installation interval recognizing means (21) which recognizes an interval (L) between Botts Dots, vehicle speed recognizing means (22) which recognizes a traveling speed (v) of the vehicle, image synthesizing means (13) which generates synthesized image data (M3) by combining image data (M1) stored in an image memory (11) through an image input circuit (10) and image data (M2) stored in an image memory (12) through the same, imaging timing determining means (20) which determines the timing of imaging by a camera (2) on the basis of the interval (L) and the traveling speed (v) when acquiring the image data (M1, M2) in such a way that the positions of the Botts Dots in the image data (M1, M2) are different therebetween, and Botts Dots detecting means (14) which detects the Botts Dots from the synthesized image data (M3).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2006
    Publication date: December 18, 2008
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi Aoki, Sachio Kobayashi, Naoki Mori, Takuma Nakamori