Patent ID: 8160301

Claim:
A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus that monitors a condition outside a vehicle by calculating distance data on pixel blocks each including a plurality of pixels, on the basis of a pair of images of an object outside the vehicle, the apparatus comprising: parallax calculation means for calculating parallaxes of target pixel blocks in one of the images by specifying correlated pixel blocks in the other image, the correlated pixel blocks having correlation with brightness characteristics of the target pixel blocks; distance-data calculation pixel-block extracting means for extracting distance-data calculation pixel blocks whose distance data is to be calculated, from the target pixel blocks whose parallaxes are calculated, and for calculating, as distance data in the extracted distance-data calculation pixel blocks, parallaxes of the distance-data calculation pixel blocks; and sensitivity control means for controlling an extraction sensitivity with which the distance-data calculation pixel-block extracting means extracts the distance-data calculation pixel-blocks, on the basis of a distance distribution of the calculated distance data of the distance-data calculation pixel blocks, wherein the distance-data calculation pixel-block extracting means extracts the distance-data calculation pixel blocks by subjecting the target pixel blocks whose parallaxes are calculated, to filtering based on a determination threshold value, and wherein the sensitivity control means controls the extraction sensitivity by variably setting the determination threshold value on the basis of the distance distribution of the calculated distance data of the distance-data calculation pixel blocks.