Patent ID: 8670612

Claim:
An environment recognition device comprising: a data retaining unit that retains association between a predetermined number of color identifiers and a luminance range, retains association between the color identifiers and each specific object, and retains association between a combination of one or more color identifiers selected from the plurality of color identifiers and each detection result, as to whether a detection area is in an environment where light is diffused; a luminance obtaining unit that obtains a luminance of a target portion in the detection area of a luminance image; a color identifier assigning unit that assigns a color identifier to the target portion according to the luminance of the target portion based on the association between the color identifier and the luminance range retained in the data retaining unit; a grouping unit that groups target portions, which are assigned one of color identifiers corresponding to a same specific object, and of which positions differences in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction are within a predetermined range, into a target object, based on the association between a specific object and a color identifier retained in the data retaining unit; an environment determining unit that determines whether or not the detection area is in an environment where light is diffused; and an outer edge determining unit that selects a combination according to whether the detection area is in the environment where light is diffused and determines that an outer edge specified by a target portion assigned one of the selected color-identifier combination is an outer edge of the target object.