1. An object identifying apparatus comprising:
an image capturing unit that is mounted on a vehicle for acquiring an original image by capturing the original image while the vehicle is traveling;
a data generator for successively integrating pixel values of integration object images representing feature quantities at respective pixels that make up the original image, from a starting point at either one of angular positions of the integration object images, thereby generating integral images, each including an image area having a size in common with the original image and the integration object images;
a data acquirer for acquiring compressed data by extracting at least every other pixel along at least one direction from a plurality of pixels that make up the integral images generated by the data generator;
an identification object region determiner for determining an identification object region from within an original image area represented by the original image; and
an object identifier for calculating a total of the pixel values of the integration object images within the identification object region that was determined by the identification object region determiner, as an image feature quantity using the compressed data acquired by the data acquirer, and on the basis of the image feature quantity, identifying whether or not an object exists within the identification object region in the original image,
wherein the image feature quantity is represented by a histogram.
2. The object identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification object region determiner determines the identification object region, which includes at least four pixels at vertices thereof, selected respectively from pixel groups extracted as the compressed data.
3. The object identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data acquirer acquires the compressed data by reducing the amount of data of each of the pixels of the integral images by at least one bit.
4. The object identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein if the identification object region determiner determines the identification object region, and the object identifier identifies the object (66) while a position of the identification object region is changed sequentially along a scanning direction at a scanning interval, thereby identifying whether or not the object (66) exists within the original image, the identification object region determiner determines the identification object region at a different scanning interval depending on a position in the original image area.
5. The object identifying apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:
an image capturing unit mounted on a vehicle for acquiring an image in a vicinity of the vehicle by capturing the image while the vehicle is traveling,
wherein the scanning interval in a lower position in the original image area, which is represented by the captured image acquired as the original image by the image capturing unit, is greater than the scanning interval in an upper position in the original image area.
6. The object identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the integration object images are represented by binary voting data, which-indicate whether each pixel of the original image belongs to any one of ranges of the histogram.
7. An object identifying apparatus comprising:
an image capturing unit that is mounted on a vehicle for acquiring an original image by capturing the original image while the vehicle is traveling;
a data generator for successively integrating pixel values of integration object images representing feature quantities at respective pixels that make up the original image, from a starting point at either one of angular positions of the integration object images, thereby generating integral images, each including an image area having a size in common with the original image and the integration object images;
a data acquirer for acquiring compressed data by extracting at least every other pixel along at least one direction from a plurality of pixels that make up the integral images generated by the data generator;
an identification object region determiner for determining an identification object region from within an original image area represented by the original image; and
an object identifier for calculating a total of the pixel values of the integration object images within the identification object region that was determined by the identification object region determiner, as an image feature quantity using the compressed data acquired by the data acquirer, and on the basis of the image feature quantity, identifying whether or not an object exists within the identification object region in the original image,
wherein the integration object images are represented by binary voting data.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for current measurement through a conductor at a potential which is at a higher value than zero potential, comprising:
measuring the voltage drop across a shunt resistance to determine the current value in the form of an analog signal, the shunt resistance being formed by a section of the conductor in which the electrical resistance is increased locally by reducing the cross-section of the conductor;
converting the analog signal to a digital signal using an analogdigital converter;
supplying a reference voltage to the analogdigital converter to compensate for a temperature dependence of the shunt resistance, a temperature course of the reference voltage at least approximately corresponding to a temperature course of the shunt resistance; and
transmitting the digital signal to an evaluation unit which is at ground potential;
wherein the analog signal is subjected to compression based on a non-linear characteristic of the analogdigital converter, and the digital signal is subjected to expansion after transmission at ground potential.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein compression and expansion are effected logarithmically.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein compression and expansion are effected on the basis of the stipulation of root functions.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, in which, in order to evaluate a measurement signal which, at a higher potential than zero potential, is in the form of an analog value in a measuring device that requires a supply current, having the following measures:
the compressed information content of the measurement signal is transmitted, after AD conversion, in the form of a digital signal to the evaluation unit, which is at ground potential, and
after AD conversion of the measurement signal, the digital signal produced provides the clock for modulating the supply current, with the result that the modulated supply current for the measuring device likewise performs the function of the carrier for the information content of the measurement signal.
5. A circuit arrangement for carrying out the method as claimed in claim 1 for use when measuring the current at a shunt, in which the voltage drop is evaluated as a measure of the current after amplification, said circuit arrangement comprising a shunt, an amplifier for the voltage signal that is tapped off at the shunt, an analogdigital converter, an evaluation unit, means for supplying the measuring components with current, and further means for signal compression and signal expansion.
6. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 5, further comprising means for temperature compensation.
7. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 6, wherein the means for temperature compensation includes a temperature-dependent reference voltage source.
8. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 5, wherein a unit for signal compression is connected upstream of the AD converter.
9. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 5, wherein the means for signal expansion are integrated in the evaluation unit.
10. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 5, further comprising means for at least one of short-circuit disconnection and overload disconnection.
11. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a first comparator, which compares the instantaneous value of the current with a first threshold value and produces a signal for short-circuit disconnection when said first threshold value is exceeded.
12. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a second comparator, which compares the instantaneous temperature of the load with a second threshold value and outputs a signal for overload disconnection when said second threshold value is exceeded.
13. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a thermal model of the load, said model being used to ascertain the instantaneous temperature of the load from the current measured.
14. The circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 5, wherein the means for signal expansion are integrated in the evaluation unit in the existing microcontroller, in the form of software.