Patent ID: 8050458

Claim:
A frontal view imaging and control device installed on a movable object, comprising: an image input unit receiving an image taken by an imaging device that captures a region of a road surface in a predetermined direction; a projection transformation unit linking each pixel of the image onto a virtual two-dimensional plane of a road surface through coordinate transformation in accordance with an optical model of the imaging device so as to form a virtual projection image on the two-dimensional plane; a projection likelihood calculation unit dividing the virtual projection image into a distant view section and a close view section along a longitudinal axis extending in a straight forward direction, projecting the distant view section and the close view section onto a lateral axis, and calculating similarity defined between a projection of the distant view section and a projection of the close view section; and an attitude angle calculation unit determining an angle of depression and a panning angle that maximize the similarity between the projection of the distant view section and the projection of the close view section as a measured attitude angle that indicates an image capturing direction of the imaging device.