Vehicle imaging system and method for a parking solution

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020282909-A1
Application number	US-201916295911-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 7, 2019
Priority date	Mar 7, 2019
Publication date	Sep 10, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle imaging system and method for providing a user with an easy to use vehicle parking solution that displays an integrated and intuitive backup camera view, such as a first-person composite camera view. The first-person composite camera view may include composite image data from a plurality of cameras mounted around the vehicle that has been joined or stitched together, as well as augmented graphics with computer-generated simulations of parts of the vehicle that provide the user with intuitive information concerning the point-of-view being displayed. The point-of-view of the first-person composite camera view is that of an observer located within the vehicle, and is designed to emulate the point-of-view of a driver. It is also possible to provide a direction indicator that allows the user to engage a touch screen display and manually change the direction of the first-person composite camera view so that the user can intuitively explore the vehicle surroundings.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle imaging method for use with a vehicle imaging system, the vehicle imaging method comprising the steps of:
obtaining image data from a plurality of vehicle cameras; generating a first-person composite camera view based on the image data from the plurality of vehicle cameras, the first-person composite camera view is formed by combining the image data from the plurality of vehicle cameras and presenting the combined image data from a point-of-view of an observer located within the vehicle; and displaying the first-person composite camera view on a vehicle display.

2 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 1 , wherein the generating step further comprises generating the first-person composite camera view that includes augmented graphics combined with composite image data.

3 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 2 , wherein the augmented graphics include computer-generated representations of portions of the vehicle that would normally be seen by the observer located within the vehicle if the observer was looking out of the vehicle in a particular direction, the composite image data includes the combined image data from the plurality of vehicle cameras, and the augmented graphics are superimposed on the composite image data.

4 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 3 , wherein the computer-generated representations of portions of the vehicle are electronically associated with a particular object or location within the first-person composite camera view so that, when the particular direction of the perspective of the observer is changed, the augmented graphics change as well so that they appear to naturally move along with the changing composite image data.

5 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 3 , wherein when the first-person composite camera view is a rearward facing view, the augmented graphics include computer-generated representations of a portion of a vehicle trunk lid, of a portion of a vehicle rear window frame, or both.

6 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 1 , wherein the generating step further comprises presenting the combined image data from a substantially stationary point-of-view of the observer located within the vehicle, the substantially stationary point-of-view is still located within the vehicle even when a direction of the first-person camera view is changed.

7 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 1 , wherein the generating step further comprises generating the first-person composite camera view so that a user has a 360° view around the vehicle.

8 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 1 , wherein the generating step further comprises generating the first-person composite camera view in response to a camera view control input.

9 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 1 , wherein the generating step further comprises building a projection manifold on which the first-person composite camera view can be displayed, and the projection manifold is a virtual object that is at least partially defined by a camera plane, a camera ellipse, and a point-of-view of the observer located within the vehicle.

10 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 9 , wherein the camera plane is a virtual plane corresponding to the locations of the plurality of vehicle cameras, and for each of the plurality of vehicle cameras, the camera plane either passes through an actual location of the vehicle camera or an effective location of the vehicle camera.

11 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 9 , wherein the camera ellipse is a virtual ellipse corresponding to the locations of the plurality of vehicle cameras and being coplanar with the camera plane, and for each of the plurality of vehicle cameras, the camera ellipse either passes through an actual location of the vehicle camera or an effective location of the vehicle camera.

12 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 9 , wherein the location of the point-of-view of the observer is on the camera plane and is within the camera ellipse.

13 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 12 , wherein the location of the point-of-view of the observer corresponds to an intersection of a plurality of projecting lines, and each of the plurality of projecting lines is perpendicular to a line tangent to a perimeter of the camera ellipse at the actual location of the vehicle camera or the effective location of the vehicle camera.

14 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 9 , wherein the location of the point-of-view of the observer is above or below the camera plane, is within the camera ellipse, and corresponds to an apex of a pseudo-conical surface that includes the camera ellipse along a flat base.

15 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 9 , wherein the generating step further comprises transforming the image data from the plurality of vehicle cameras to a corresponding frame-of-reference of the projection manifold.

16 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 15 , wherein the generating step further comprises rectifying the transformed image data along a local tangent of the camera ellipse.

17 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 16 , wherein the generating step further comprises stitching together the transformed-rectified image data to form the composite camera view.

18 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying step further comprises displaying the first-person composite camera view on a first portion of the vehicle display and a direction indicator on a second portion of the vehicle display, the direction indicator enables a user to manually engage or control certain aspects of the first-person composite camera view.

19 . The vehicle imaging method of claim 18 , wherein the direction indicator is superimposed on a virtual vehicle and is displayed a touch-screen that is part of the second portion of the vehicle display, the direction indicator is electronically linked to the first-person composite camera view such that when the user manually engages the direction indicator via the touch screen, a direction of the first-person composite camera view changes accordingly.

20 . A vehicle imaging system, comprising:
a plurality of vehicle cameras that provide image data; a vehicle video processing module coupled to the plurality of vehicle cameras, wherein the vehicle video processing module is configured to generate a first-person composite camera view based on the image data from the plurality of vehicle cameras, the first-person composite camera view is formed by combining the image data from the plurality of vehicle cameras and presenting the combined image data from a point-of-view of an observer located within the vehicle; and a vehicle display coupled to the vehicle video processing module for displaying the first-person composite camera view.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Zimmerman Nicky
• Shmueli Friedland Yael
• Slutsky Michael

Classifications

• H04N7/181 Primary

  for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources · CPC title

• G08G1/143

  inside the vehicles · CPC title

• B60R2300/305

  merging camera image with lines or icons · CPC title

• B60R2300/806

  for aiding parking · CPC title

• B60R2300/105

  using multiple cameras · CPC title