Patent ID: 7106365
Filing Date: 2006-09-12
Classification: B60R,G03B,G06K,H04N

Abstract:
1. A stereo camera apparatus comprising: a main camera for taking a photograph of an object; and a sub-camera for taking a photograph of said object from a point of view different from a point of view of said main camera, said main camera and said sub-camera being disposed with respect to each other by a predetermined spacing, a shooting direction of said stereo camera is substantially perpendicular to said predetermined spacing in a baseline between the main camera and the sub-camera, image processing means for calculating a three-dimensional distance distribution of said object based on a positional difference between a region in a reference image photographed by said main camera and a corresponding area in a comparative image photographed by said sub-camera to an image signal of said region, wherein said corresponding area is searched in a striplike search area having a predetermined length which extends from a position substantially corresponding to said region, said positional difference is obtained from an area which is capable of setting said search area inside of said comparative image, wherein optical axes of said main camera and said sub-camera are inclined toward the main camera side with a predetermined angle with respect to the shooting direction defined by each of the optical axes and the shooting direction, wherein angles of inclination of said main camera and said sub-camera are set to be such angles that said three-dimensional distance distribution is substantially left-right symmetric with respect to the shooting directions wherein angles of inclination of said main camera and said sub-camera are set to be angles such that said three-dimensional distance distribution is substantially left-right symmetric with respect to a central axis of a vehicle parallel to a forward direction of the vehicle, and the shooting direction being parallel to the central axis.