Patent Document ID: 8175331
Application ID: 11653163
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus which detects objects existing around a vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors comprising a pair of image sensors mounted on left and right sides of the vehicle, said vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus comprising: an object extraction process unit which extracts the objects from a predetermined standard image of the images obtained by the plurality of the image sensors; a driving environment detection process unit which detects a driving environment of the vehicle; and a standard image selection process unit which newly selects a standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit out of the images obtained by the plurality of the image sensors according to the driving environment detected by the driving environment detection process unit; wherein said standard selection process unit newly selects an image obtained by one of the image sensors as the standard image when the following conditions are satisfied: 
 X 0: X 1= Z 0: Z 1; and 
 X 0− B:X 1− B=Z 0: Z 2, where, X 0 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a detection object and the other of the image sensors; X 1 is a distance in an X-axis direction between a first background object and the other of the image sensors; Z 0 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the detection object and the other of the image sensors; Z 1 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between the first background object and the other of image sensors; Z 2 is a distance in a Z-axis direction between a second background object and the other of the image sensors; and B is a distance in an X-axis direction between the pair of image sensors; wherein said X-axis direction and said Z-axis direction are arranged according to Cartesian coordinate system, where Z-axis is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and X-axis is parallel to a width-wise axis of the vehicle; wherein the detection object is extracted from the standard image obtained by said one of the image sensors; wherein said first and second background objects exist on a nearest roadside of a traveling lane of the vehicle, wherein said nearest roadside excludes an oncoming traffic lane; and wherein said standard image selection process unit is operable to select one of the pair of image sensors having a smaller angle between a straight line connecting the detection object and the image sensor and the Z-axis direction, as a standard image sensor, when said conditions X 0 :X 1 =Z 0 :Z 1 ; and X 0 −B:X 1 −B=Z 0 :Z 2 are satisfied.