Patent ID: 7298247

Claim:
A vehicle periphery monitoring system comprising: an obstacle detecting unit for detecting the presence of an obstacle, wherein the detecting unit includes means for measuring a distance from the vehicle to the obstacle; an indicating unit for indicating the presence of the obstacle; a control unit for controlling said indicating unit to indicate the presence of the obstacle when the presence of the obstacle is detected by said obstacle detecting unit; and an imaging unit for capturing an image of a periphery of the vehicle; wherein if the detected distance from the vehicle to the obstacle detected in said obstacle detecting unit is equal to or greater than a preset distance, said control unit is configured to generate a first viewpoint-changed image by changing a first viewpoint of a first image that is captured by said imaging unit at a moment just after said image unit captured said obstacle, and to generate a second viewpoint-changed image by changing second viewpoint of a second image that is captured by said imaging unit at a predetermined time after said image unit has captured said obstacle, said control unit is configured to perform an image processing process only on a part of said second viewpoint-changed image when a second feature point of said obstacle contained in said second viewpoint-changed image that corresponds to a first feature point in said first viewpoint-changed image is searched, thereby acquiring the height of the detected obstacle, said control unit is configured to control said indicating unit to either indicate the detected obstacle as a safe obstacle or inhibit the detected obstacle from being indicated if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is less than a preset height, and said control unit is configured to control said indicating unit to indicate the detected obstacle as a dangerous obstacle if the acquired height of the detected obstacle is equal to or greater than said preset height.