Patent ID: 8134480

Claim:
An image processing system, comprising: a front monitoring device that obtains an image of a view ahead of a vehicle; a vehicle position detecting device that detects a position and an orientation of the vehicle; a map database that stores a road map; a traffic indicator position estimating portion that estimates a position of a traffic indicator based on a shape of an intersection ahead of the vehicle that has been extracted from the map database, according to the position of the vehicle that has been detected by the vehicle position detecting device; an image processing region setting portion that sets, within the image obtained by the front monitoring device, an image processing region over which a predetermined image processing is performed, based on the position of the traffic indicator that has been estimated by the traffic indicator position estimating portion; and a traffic indicator detecting portion that detects the traffic indicator from the image processing region through the predetermined image processing; wherein the traffic indicator position estimating portion calculates the position of the traffic indicator based on a curvature of a road before the intersection ahead of the vehicle that has been extracted from the map database, according to the position of the vehicle that has been detected by the vehicle position detecting device, or based on an inclination of the road before the intersection.