Patent ID: 8284383

Claim:
An object recognition apparatus for detecting external objects and estimating respective values of width of said objects, the apparatus comprising scan beam transmitting means configured for performing a sweep of a scanned region by transmitting scan wave beams as respective fixed-duration pulses at respective successively shifted scan angles, received-wave detection means configured to receive reflected waves resulting from said scan wave beams, and for deriving received-wave signal strength values respectively corresponding to said scan beams during said sweep, position detection means configured for detecting reflection locations respectively corresponding to said received-wave signal strength values, and respective range values of said reflection locations, and segmentation means configured for detecting a specific plurality of said reflection locations as constituting a segment, and for calculating a range value of said segment, said specific plurality of reflection locations being disposed respectively adjacent to within a predetermined degree of closeness; wherein said object recognition apparatus comprises: signal strength distribution detection means configured to detect a distribution of received-wave signal strength within said segment, and region extraction means configured for determining a region extraction threshold value based on said range value of said segment; extracting a region of said segment wherein said received-wave signal strength exceeds said region extraction threshold value; and specifying a width of said extracted region as being a width of a detected object corresponding to said segment.