Vehicle vision system with adjustable computation and data compression

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10452076-B2
Application number	US-201715846260-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2017
Priority date	Jan 4, 2017
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

A vision system for a vehicle includes a camera having a camera processor operable to process image data captured by the camera. A central processor is disposed remote from the camera and is operable to process image data captured by the camera. The camera processor processes compressed image data and uncompressed image data and compares ROC curves for a given frame of image data to determine if the compression of that frame of image data has impact on processing of the image data. Responsive to determination that the compression of the frame has impact, the camera processor processes uncompressed data of that frame for a driver assist function and communicates a signal for the driver assist function. Responsive to determination that compression of the frame does not have impact, the vision system communicates compressed data of that frame for processing by the central processor for the driver assist function.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vision system for a vehicle, said vision system comprising:
a camera configured to be disposed at a vehicle so as to have, when disposed at the vehicle, a field of view exterior of the vehicle, wherein said camera comprises a camera processor operable to process image data captured by said camera;
a central processor of the vehicle that, with said camera disposed at the vehicle, is disposed in the vehicle at a location separate from and remote from said camera and that is operable to process frames of image data captured by said camera;
wherein image data captured by said camera and processed by said camera processor comprises compressed image data and uncompressed image data;
wherein said camera processor processes compressed image data and uncompressed image data and generates respective receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves;
wherein said camera processor compares the ROC curves of the compressed image data and the uncompressed image data for a given frame of captured image data to determine if compression of image data of that frame of captured image data has impact on processing of captured image data, and wherein the impact is determined when a difference between the compared ROC curves of the compressed image data and uncompressed image data for the given frame of image data is greater than a threshold level;
wherein, responsive to determination that compression of image data of the frame of captured image data has impact on the processing of image data, said camera processor processes the uncompressed image data of that frame of image data for a driver assist function and communicates a signal to said central processor for the driver assist function; and
wherein, responsive to determination that compression of image data of the frame of captured image data does not have impact on the processing of image data, said vision system communicates compressed image data of that frame of image data to said central processor for processing by said central processor for the driver assist function.

2. The vision system of claim 1 , wherein said vision system comprises multiple cameras.

3. The vision system of claim 2 , wherein each of said cameras of said multiple cameras comprises a respective camera processor, and wherein each of said camera processors compares ROC curves of the compressed image data and uncompressed image data for a given frame of image data captured by that camera to determine if the compression of image data of that frame of image data has impact on processing of captured image data.

4. The vision system of claim 3 , wherein, responsive to determination that compression of image data of the frame of image data captured by that respective camera does not have impact on processing of captured image data, said vision system communicates compressed image data of that frame of image data captured by that camera of said multiple cameras to said central processor for processing by said central processor for the driver assist function.

5. The vision system of claim 1 , wherein said processors process captured image data via one or more algorithms.

6. The vision system of claim 5 , wherein multiple algorithms are applied to image data captured by said camera by said camera processor and said central processor.

7. The vision system of claim 6 , wherein said vision system comprises dynamic balancing of processing load when applying the algorithms.

8. The vision system of claim 1 , wherein said vision system comprises dynamic balancing of the processing loads of said camera processor and said central processor.

9. The vision system of claim 1 , wherein, responsive to determination that compression of image data of the frame of captured image data has impact on processing of captured image data, said vision system communicates compressed image data of that frame of image data to said central processor for further processing by said central processor for the driver assist function.

10. The vision system of claim 9 , wherein the further processing by said central processor is done after processing of uncompressed image data of that frame of image data by said camera processor.

11. A vision system for a vehicle, said vision system comprising:
a camera configured to be disposed at a vehicle so as to have, when disposed at the vehicle, a field of view exterior of the vehicle, wherein said camera comprises a camera processor operable to process image data captured by said camera;
a central processor of the vehicle that, with said camera disposed at the vehicle, is disposed in the vehicle at a location separate from and remote from said camera and that is operable to process frames of image data captured by said camera;
wherein said vision system comprises dynamic balancing of processing load of said camera processor and said central processor;
wherein each of said camera processor and said central processor processes captured image data via one or more algorithms;
wherein image data captured by said camera and processed by said camera processor comprises compressed image data and uncompressed image data;
wherein said camera processor processes compressed image data and uncompressed image data and generates respective receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves;
wherein said camera processor compares the ROC curves of the compressed image data and the uncompressed image data for a given frame of captured image data to determine if compression of image data of that frame of captured image data has impact on processing of captured image data, and wherein the impact is determined when a difference between the compared ROC curves of the compressed image data and uncompressed image data for the given frame of image data is greater than a threshold level;
wherein, responsive to determination that compression of image data of the frame of captured image data has impact on the processing of image data, said camera processor processes the uncompressed image data of that frame of image data for a driver assist function and communicates a signal to said central processor for the driver assist function; and
wherein, responsive to determination that compression of image data of the frame of captured image data does not have impact on the processing of image data, said vision system communicates compressed image data of that frame of image data to said central processor for processing by said central processor for the driver assist function.

12. The vision system of claim 11 , wherein said vision system comprises multiple cameras.

13. The vision system of claim 12 , wherein each of said cameras of said multiple cameras comprises a respective camera processor, and wherein each of said camera processors compares ROC curves of the compressed image data and uncompressed image data for a given frame of image data captured by that camera to determine if the compression of image data of that frame of image data has impact on processing of captured image data.

14. The vision system of claim 13 , wherein, responsive to determination that compression of image data of the frame of image data captured by that respective camera does not have impact on processing of captured image data, said vision system communicates compressed image data of that frame of image data captured by that camera of said multiple cameras to said central processor for processing by said central processor for the driver assist function.

15. A vision system for a vehicle, said vision system comprising:
a camera configured to be disposed at a vehicle so as to have, when disposed at the vehicle, a field of view exterior of the ve

Assignees

• Magna Electronics Inc

Inventors

• May Benjamin
• Ihlenburg Joern
• Shulkin Boris

Classifications

• G06V20/56 Primary

  exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle · CPC title

• G05D1/0246 Primary

  using a video camera in combination with image processing means · CPC title

• G01S17/86

  Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders · CPC title

• B60W30/00

  Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units · CPC title

• G06V10/993

  Evaluation of the quality of the acquired pattern · CPC title