Vehicle image processing apparatus and vehicle image processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9475430-B2
Application number	US-90731410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2010
Priority date	May 29, 2008
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A vehicle image processing apparatus includes: a group of cameras; a drawing unit that converts a captured image into an image viewed along a line of sight running from a predetermined position in a predetermined direction; a viewing-line-of-sight changing unit that detects whether a first line of sight is switched to a second line of sight; and a viewing-line-of-sight generation/updating unit that acquires parameters concerning the first and second lines of sight after detecting the switching and generates a parameter which is gradually changed from the parameter of the first line of sight to the parameter of the second line of sight. Moreover, the drawing unit generates, on the basis of the gradually changed parameter, an image which is gradually changed from an image viewed along the first line of sight to an image viewed along the second line of sight.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle image processing apparatus comprising:
a distortion correction unit that acquires a captured image which is an image that has captured an area around a vehicle with use of at least one camera;
a drawing unit that uses at least one predetermined projection shape to convert the captured image into an image viewed along a virtual line of sight that is a line of sight running from a predetermined position in a predetermined direction;
a viewing-line-of-sight changing unit that detects whether a virtual line of sight is switched from a position of a first virtual line of sight to a position of a second virtual line of sight which is a different virtual line of sight, the position of the first virtual line of sight associated with a parameter value of at least one selected from a predetermined position and a direction of the virtual line of sight and the position of the second virtual line of sight being associated with a parameter value different from the parameter value associated with the position of the first virtual line of sight;
a viewing-line-of-sight generation/updating unit that acquires at least one type of parameter value associated with a virtual line of sight for each position of the first and second virtual lines of sight, respectively, after detecting that the virtual line of sight is switched from the position of the first virtual line of sight to the position of the second virtual line of sight, and generates a parameter value of a position of a virtual line of sight that is gradually changed along a predetermined path connecting the position of the first virtual line of sight and the position of the second virtual line of sight, wherein the predetermined path is a curved path which is derived from a first reference point showing a predetermined position based on the vehicle and a second reference point showing a predetermined position on a segment connecting the position of the first virtual line of sight and the position of the second virtual line of sight; and
a projection image conversion unit that converts the captured image to an image viewed along the first virtual line of sight using a projection map which includes a relationship between a position of a pixel of the captured image and a position of a pixel of an image viewed along the first virtual line of sight, and generates the converted image to be viewed from the second virtual line of sight using a predetermined projection shape including display of a movement path of the predetermined projection shape from the first virtual line of sight to the second virtual line of sight, wherein
the drawing unit illustrates the movement path of the predetermined projection shape in the converted image based on the generated parameter value so that the converted image is gradually changed from a first image viewed along the position of the first virtual line of sight to a second image viewed along the position of the second virtual line of sight,
the viewing-line-of-sight changing unit detects that the position of the first virtual line of sight is switched to the position of the second virtual line of sight when a switching occurs of a pre-registered virtual line of sight or when a difference between unchanged and changed virtual lines of sight is greater than or equal to a specified value,
the vehicle image processing apparatus further includes a related object determination unit that determines a related object to be displayed along with at least the first image, second image or changed image from among one or more related objects containing, as data, an image or shape, or both the image and shape,
the related object determination unit selects a type of data, image or shape, used for the drawing of the related object determined by the related object determination unit,
the drawing unit disposes an image of the related object at least on the first image, second image or changed image based on the type of data selected by the related object determination unit, and
the drawing unit disposes a shape of the related object inside a model space of the predetermined projection shape based on the type of data selected by the related object determination unit.

2. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one type of parameter value acquired includes a visual point position, viewing direction, angle of field and focal distance for the first and second virtual lines of sight, as the parameter values, and
wherein the viewing-line-of-sight generation/updating unit uses a predetermined interpolation method to generate the generated parameter value.

3. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the predetermined interpolation method is a linear interpolation of the parameter values.

4. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the predetermined interpolation method uses a B-spline function.

5. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the related object determination unit prioritizes and selects an image as the type of data when at least the first image, second image or changed image is an image converted by the drawing unit.

6. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the related object determination unit prioritizes and selects shape as the type of data when at least the first image, second image or changed image is an image converted by the drawing unit.

7. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the related object is an object representing the vehicle, the camera, a blind-spot area of the camera, an obstacle around the vehicle, a position and direction of a destination of the vehicle, a traffic light around the vehicle, a sign and traffic sign, an attention area around the vehicle, feature and map information, or a travelling direction of the vehicle.

8. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a driving information acquisition unit and a road information acquisition unit that acquires vehicle information which is information about the vehicle,
wherein the related object determination unit determines the related object based on the vehicle information, and
wherein the drawing unit disposes the related object based on the vehicle information.

9. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the vehicle information contains at least information about driving of the vehicle.

10. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the vehicle information contains at least information about a road around the vehicle.

11. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the vehicle information contains at least information about an obstacle on a road around the vehicle.

12. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein either the position of the first or second virtual line of sight respectively is a virtual line of sight associated with the predetermined position being a position of a visual point of a driver who drives the vehicle.

13. The vehicle image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a line of sight that is close to a line of sight of a driver, corresponds with one of the position of the first line of sight and the position of the second line of sight including an associated parameter or for the generated parameter value.

Assignees

• Kitaura Asako
• Shimizu Seiya
• Yamada Hiroshi
• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Kitaura Asako
• Shimizu Seiya
• Yamada Hiroshi

Classifications

• G06T2207/30252

  Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle · CPC title

• H04N7/18

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

• G06T3/4038

  Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images · CPC title

• B60R2300/602

  with an adjustable viewpoint · CPC title

• B60R1/00 Primary

  Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles · CPC title