Camera system having different shutter modes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11146719-B2
Application number	US-201716612477-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2017
Priority date	Jun 21, 2017
Publication date	Oct 12, 2021
Grant date	Oct 12, 2021

Abstract

A stereo camera system for a driver assistance system includes a first camera having a first aperture angle and a second camera having a second aperture angle, wherein the first camera produces a wide-angle camera image, the second camera produces a telephoto camera image, and the two camera images have an area of overlap. The first camera is a rolling shutter camera and the second camera is a global shutter camera. The two cameras' shutters are synchronized with one another in particular manners.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A stereo camera system, for a driver assistance system,
comprising a first camera having a first aperture angle and a second camera having a second aperture angle, the first camera producing a wide-angle camera image and the second camera producing a telephoto camera image, the two camera images having an area of overlap,
wherein the first camera is a rolling shutter camera and the second camera is a global shutter camera, and wherein the stereo camera system is configured so that the first and second cameras are synchronized with one another.

2. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , the rolling shutter camera being configured to trigger the synchronization.

3. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , configured so that a global shutter of the global shutter camera is synchronized to a center of the area of overlap.

4. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , configured to synchronize a global shutter of the global shutter camera to be triggered when an object, which is relevant to a driving situation and has been recognized in the area of overlap, is exposed in the wide-angle camera image produced by the rolling shutter camera.

5. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the first aperture angle of the rolling shutter camera is between 100° and 140°.

6. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the second aperture angle of the global shutter camera is between 15° and 35°.

7. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the global shutter camera has a resolution in pixel/° which is 2 n times higher than a resolution of the rolling shutter camera.

8. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , configured to output a trigger signal to an illumination source, which can be operated in a pulsed manner, to operate the illumination source synchronously with the global shutter camera.

9. The stereo camera system according to claim 8 , further comprising the illumination source which is configured to produce illumination in an invisible wavelength range.

10. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , configured to upscale, by interpolation, a resolution of the wide-angle camera image in the area of overlap.

11. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the first aperture angle of the rolling shutter camera is between 110° and 130°.

12. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the first aperture angle of the rolling shutter camera is 120°.

13. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the second aperture angle of the global shutter camera is between 20° and 30°.

14. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , wherein the second aperture angle of the global shutter camera is 25°.

15. The stereo camera system according to claim 1 , configured so that the producing of the telephoto camera image by the global shutter camera is synchronized with an exposing of a selected portion of the area of overlap of the wide-angle camera image being produced by the rolling shutter camera.

16. The stereo camera system according to claim 15 , wherein the selected portion comprises a specific pixel of the wide-angle camera image.

17. A method of synchronizing a stereo camera system, for a driver assistance system, wherein the stereo camera system includes a first camera having a first aperture angle and a second camera having a second aperture angle, wherein the first camera is a rolling shutter camera and the second camera is a global shutter camera, and wherein the method comprises:
with the first camera producing a wide-angle camera image, and with the second camera producing a telephoto camera image, wherein the two camera images have an area of overlap, and
synchronizing the global shutter camera to a time at which a specific pixel of the rolling shutter camera is exposed in the area of overlap during the producing of the wide-angle camera image.

Assignees

• Conti Temic Microelectronic Gmbh

Inventors

• Kroekel Dieter
• Hegemann Stefan
• Heinrich Stefan
• Hachfeld Simon
• Lasaruk Aless
• Mueller Reik

Classifications

• H04N23/73

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title

• H04N25/531

  by controlling rolling shutters in CMOS SSIS · CPC title

• H04N23/45 Primary

  for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images · CPC title

• H04N23/61

  based on recognised objects · CPC title

• H04N23/74

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title