Mirror replacement system for a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10315571-B2
Application number	US-201715621113-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2017
Priority date	Jun 20, 2016
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

A mirror replacement system for a vehicle. At least one image capturing unit adapted to be mounted around the exterior of the vehicle and capture images of at a field of view, an image display unit adapted to be visibly mounted for a driver, at least one driver sensor adapted for detecting information input from the driver, an operation controller adapted for controlling reformatting parameters based on driver parameters received from the at least one driver sensor, and an image capturing unit controller adapted for reformatting video data received from the at least one image capturing unit according to the reformatting parameters and for forwarding the reformatted video data to the at least one image display unit for displaying.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A Mirror replacement system for a vehicle, comprising at least one image capturing unit adapted to be mounted around the exterior of the vehicle and adapted to capture images of at least one field of view around the vehicle, at least one image display unit adapted to be visibly mounted for a driver, at least one driver sensor adapted for detecting information input from the driver, an operation controller adapted for controlling reformatting parameters based on driver parameters received from the at least one driver sensor, and an image capturing unit controller adapted for reformatting video data received from the at least one image capturing unit according to the reformatting parameters and for forwarding the reformatted video data to the at least one image display unit for displaying, wherein the operation controller is adapted for using the driver parameters to calculate in real time if the mirror replacement system is within a predetermined operating range when the video data is reformatted using the reformatting parameters and for controlling the reformatting parameters to maintain an operation of the system within the operating range.

2. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the system is adapted to set a reformatting range of the reformatting parameters to maintain an operation of the system within the operating range.

3. The mirror replacement system according to claim 2 , wherein the image capturing unit controller and/or the operation controller is/are further adapted to define the reformatting range of the reformatting parameters.

4. The mirror replacement system according to claim 2 , wherein the reformatting range is defined based on one or more of user inputs, preferably zoom, resolution and/or contrast settings and/or additional graphical inputs and/or overlays inputs.

5. The mirror replacement system according to claim 2 , wherein the operation controller and/or the image capturing unit controller is adapted for defining the reformatting range for the reformatting parameters based on safety information.

6. The mirror replacement system according to claim 2 , wherein the reformatting range of the reformatting parameters set by the operation controller and/or the image capturing unit controller includes ensuring a minimum feature resolution for the displayed image.

7. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the field of view corresponds to the field of view of a main exterior mirror and/or the field of view of a wide-angle exterior mirror.

8. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the operating range is defined based on one or more of legal requirements for display of fields of view and vehicle dimensions.

9. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one vehicle sensor adapted for detecting vehicle parameter information from the vehicle, the operation controller being adapted for controlling the reformatting parameters based on vehicle parameters received from the at least one vehicle sensor.

10. The mirror replacement system according to claim 8 , wherein the vehicle parameters include one or more of a vehicle driving direction, a vehicle speed, a vehicle location, trailer presence or absence and/or driver controls.

11. The mirror replacement system according to claim 9 , wherein the operation controller and/or the image capturing unit controller is/are adapted to define the operating range based on a driving situation and/or weather conditions.

12. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , further comprising an image analyzing unit adapted for analyzing one or more images received from the at least one image capturing unit based on information input from the driver and/or on vehicle parameter information.

13. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the operation controller and/or the image capturing unit controller is adapted to receive traffic data from outside servers and/or the operation controller and/or the image capturing unit controller ( 6 ) is/are adapted for using the traffic data for generating display information.

14. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the operation controller and/or the image capturing unit controller is adapted to receive additional sensor data from one or more distance sensor units and the operation controller and/or the image capturing unit controller is/are adapted for using the additional sensor data for generating display information. preferably collision predicting information comprising information about obstacles, and the image capturing unit controller and/or the operation controller is/are adapted for using the safety information for generating display information.

15. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the operation controller and image capturing unit controller are implemented in the same hardware.

16. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the driver sensor comprises one or more of at least one touch pad, eye tracking device, voice controller, lever, joystick and button.

17. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the image capturing unit controller and/or the image capturing unit controller is/are adapted for generating additional information on the monitor, preferably graphical overlays.

18. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the reformatting parameters include one or more of the following: aspect ratio, zoom, position of viewing window of extracted pictures, resolution, contrast, warping/de-warping and communication protocol, physical communication media and/or the creation of additional graphical overlays.

19. The mirror replacement system according to claim 1 , wherein the image capturing unit is directly connected to operation controller.

Assignees

• Moulton Frederick
• Lang Werner
• Mekra Lang Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Moulton Frederick
• Lang Werner

Classifications

• G08G1/096775

  where the origin of the information is a central station · CPC title

• B60R2300/303

  using joined images, e.g. multiple camera images · CPC title

• H04N7/18

  Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast · CPC title

• B60R2300/802

  for monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior blind spot views · CPC title

• G08G1/096716

  where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control · CPC title