Method and device for providing a visualization of a vehicle, and vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12437468-B2
Application number	US-202017754904-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2020
Priority date	Oct 15, 2019
Publication date	Oct 7, 2025
Grant date	Oct 7, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for providing a visualization of a vehicle, the method having the steps: receiving, for each vehicle camera of a plurality of vehicle cameras of the vehicle, current values of camera extrinsic parameters of said vehicle camera; receiving vehicle suspension data relating to a suspension of wheels of the vehicle; and visualizing the vehicle using a predefined model of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is visualized on a ground surface; wherein the ground surface is modelled to contact the wheels of the vehicle, based on the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras and based on the suspension data.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for providing a visualization of a vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving, for each vehicle camera of a plurality of vehicle cameras of the vehicle, current values of camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle camera;
receiving vehicle suspension data relating to a suspension of wheels of the vehicle; and
visualizing the vehicle using a predefined model of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is visualized on a ground surface;
wherein the ground surface is modelled to contact the wheels of the vehicle based on the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras and based on the suspension data; and
computing, for each wheel, a displacement based on the vehicle suspension data, wherein the ground surface is modelled based on the computed displacements of the wheels of the vehicle;
wherein the vehicle suspension data comprises, for each wheel, information regarding a current suspension height; and
wherein, for each wheel, the displacement is computed based on a difference between the current suspension height and a predefined initial suspension height.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
computing, for each vehicle camera, a difference between the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle camera and predefined initial values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle camera; and
computing a current three-dimensional posture of the vehicle based on the computed differences between the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras and the predefined initial values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras;
wherein the ground surface is modelled based on the computed current three-dimensional posture of the vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the three-dimensional posture of the vehicle is computed in homogeneous coordinates, using affine transformations, and wherein the affine transformations comprise rotations related to a rotation of the vehicle and translations related to a translation of the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the three-dimensional posture of the vehicle is computed by applying multivariate interpolations to the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the multivariate interpolations comprise at least one of a bilinear interpolation and a bicubic interpolation.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a position of each wheel of the vehicle is computed based on the three-dimensional posture of the vehicle and/or based on the computed displacement of the wheel of the vehicle.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the ground surface is modelled using a multivariate interpolation using the computed positions of the wheels.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the multivariate interpolations using the computed positions of the wheels comprise at least one of a bilinear interpolation and a bicubic interpolation.

9. A device for providing a visualization of a vehicle, comprising:
an interface receiving, for each vehicle camera of a plurality of vehicle cameras of the vehicle, current values of camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle camera, and receiving vehicle suspension data relating to a suspension of wheels of the vehicle; and
a computation unit comprising a processor circuit configured to compute a visualization of the vehicle using a predefined model of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is visualized on a ground surface;
wherein the computation unit processor circuit is configured to model the ground surface so as to contact the wheels of the vehicle, based on the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras and based on the suspension data,
wherein the computation unit processor circuit is further configured to compute, for each wheel, a displacement based on the vehicle suspension data, wherein the ground surface is modelled based on the computed displacements of the wheels of the vehicle, and
wherein the vehicle suspension data comprises, for each wheel, information regarding a current suspension height, wherein, for each wheel, the displacement is computed based on a difference between the current suspension height and a predefined initial suspension height.

10. The device according to claim 9 , further comprising a display for outputting the computed visualization of the vehicle.

11. A vehicle comprising
a plurality of vehicle cameras; and
a device according to claim 10 .

12. The vehicle according to claim 11 , further comprising at least one sensor configured to
measure the current camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras and the suspension data, and
provide the measured current camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras and the suspension data to the device.

13. The vehicle according to claim 11 , comprising at least four vehicle cameras arranged around the vehicle.

14. The device according to claim 9 , wherein the computation unit processor circuit is further configured to
compute, for each vehicle camera, a difference between the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle camera and predefined initial values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle camera; and
compute a current three-dimensional posture of the vehicle based on the computed differences between the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras and the predefined initial values of the camera extrinsic parameters of the vehicle cameras;
wherein the ground surface is modelled based on the computed current three-dimensional posture of the vehicle, and
wherein the three-dimensional posture of the vehicle is computed by applying multivariate interpolations to the current values of the camera extrinsic parameters.

15. The device according to claim 14 , wherein the multivariate interpolations comprise at least one of a bilinear interpolation and a bicubic interpolation.

Assignees

• Continental Automotive Gmbh
• Continental Autonomous Mobility Germany GmbH

Inventors

• Panakos Andreas
• Meyers Moritz
• Friebe Markus

Classifications

• G06T2207/30252

  Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle · CPC title

• B60W2510/22

  Suspension systems · CPC title

• B60W2420/403

  Image sensing, e.g. optical camera · CPC title

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title

• G06T3/02

  Affine transformations (for image registration G06T3/147; for image mosaicing G06T3/4038) · CPC title