Patent ID: 8174578

Claim:
A vehicle periphery monitoring device configured to monitor the periphery of a vehicle, comprising: an imaging device mounted in the vehicle configured to acquire a captured image; and an image processing unit comprising electronic circuits configured to: extract a first object region from the captured image; extract a plurality of second object regions below the first object region; measure a lateral-to-vertical aspect ratio of a lateral dimension of the first object region with respect to a vertical dimension of the first object; and determine that the first object region and the second object region correspond to a designated quadruped animal based on: the lateral-to-vertical aspect ratio being equal to or greater than 1, and a vertical-to-vertical aspect ratio of a vertical dimension of each of the second object regions with respect to the vertical dimension of the first object region corresponding to a known ratio of a vertical dimension of a leg of the designated quadruped animal with respect to a vertical dimension of a torso of the designated quadruped animal.