Method for representing objects surrounding a vehicle on the display of a display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9760782-B2
Application number	US-201113287675-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2011
Priority date	May 7, 2009
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A method represents objects of varying visibility surrounding a vehicle for a driver on a display device. The surroundings are automatically recognized by object recognition devices. For recognized objects, it is determined whether the respective object is a first object classified to be visible, or a second object classified to be invisible to the occupant. For a number of recognized objects including at least one first object and second object, respective positions of the objects are determined for the display, in the case of which the geometrical relationships between the number of objects correspond essentially to the real geometrical relationships.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for representing objects of varying visibility surrounding a vehicle for a user on a display of a display device from a perspective of an occupant, the surroundings of the vehicle being at least partially automatically recognizable by one or more object recognition devices installed in the vehicle, the method comprising the acts of:
determining, based on one or more criteria, whether objects recognized by the one or more object recognition devices is a first object classified to be visible to the occupant or a second object classified to be invisible to the occupant;
determining respective positions for a number of recognized objects, the number of recognized objects comprising at least one first object and at least one second object, wherein the respective positions of the number of objects for the display have geometrical relationships between the number of objects corresponding substantially to real geometrical relationships from the perspective of the occupant by virtue of being shifted from a perspective of the one or more object recognition devices to the perspective of the occupant; and
displaying, on the display of the display device, the number of recognized objects in corresponding respective positions on the display.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, if with respect to an object, a first threshold of a visibility proportion is exceeded for the occupant of the vehicle, then the object is classified as a first object; and
wherein, if with respect to the object, the visibility proportion falls below a second threshold for the occupant of the vehicle, then the object is classified as a second object, the second threshold corresponding to or being lower than the first threshold.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein differentiation between the first and the second objects takes place using two types of sensors and/or object recognition devices.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user is the occupant of the vehicle, the method further comprising the acts of:
detecting a viewing direction of the occupant of the vehicle; and
defining second objects based on the one or more criteria as those objects which, based on the detected viewing direction and/or saccadic eye movements, have a high probability of being overlooked by the occupant of the vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the viewing direction comprises a history of detected viewing directions.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a position of the display of the display device perceptible to the user of the vehicle is arranged outside an interior of the vehicle.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of representing the number of objects occurs by displaying the first and second objects at least partially as symbols on the display.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of road boundaries and road markings recognized by the one or more object recognition devices up to a predefined distance from the vehicle are classified as first objects.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the classification of the number of objects as first or second objects occurs as a function of at least one of light and visibility relationships detected by at least one detection device.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the at least one of the light and visibility relationships comprise a history of the at least one of the light and visibility relationships, and
further wherein the detecting of the at least one of the light and visibility relationships factors into account psycho-visual properties of a human vision system.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein differentiation between the first and the second objects takes place by way of a simulation of a visual system of the occupant of the vehicle.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of representing the number of objects on the display further comprises the act of representing only the first visible objects that surround the second objects represented on the display at least on two or three spatial sides.

13. The method according to claim 2 , wherein portions of first objects representable in a determined position on the display are at least one of not represented and suppressed in the representation on the display when a visibility proportion of said object falls below the second threshold.

14. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the act of generating on the display a virtual road level comprising at least one of road boundaries and road markings recognized by at least one of the one or more object recognition devices.

15. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the act of selecting the first and the second objects for display on the display as a function of at least one of odometric data of the vehicle and an automatically analyzed traffic situation.

16. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the act of determining the respective positions of the first and the second objects for the display using depth information about the real position of the first and the second objects relative to the vehicle, said depth information being determined by at least one of the one or more object recognition devices.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the display for generating a depth effect has several display levels with different positions perceivable by the user with respect to a predefined viewing direction of the user.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein portions of the representation of different objects are represented on the several display levels.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the several display levels are perceived to be situated at at least one of different distances from the user and as being sloped.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein selecting of displayed first and/or second objects occurs based on criteria by which objects having an increased collision risk with the vehicle are preferred as objects to be displayed.

21. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in addition to the representation of the number of objects, an enlarged representation of a same object is displayed on the display, said enlarged representation differing from the representation on the display.

22. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the enlarged representation differs from the representation on the display as a result of at least one of a perspective of the object and image parameters used for the object.

23. The method according to claim 21 , wherein additional graphic elements are displayed, the additional graphic elements indicating a relationship of the enlarged representation to a position of the object on the representation.

24. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the surroundings of the vehicle to be represented on the display depends upon a presence of at least one second object that is traffic-relevant.

25. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the represented number of objects on the display are connected using additional graphic elements.

26. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the display device is part of an external device outside the vehicle, and further wherein information is transmitted from the vehicle wirelessly to the external device.

27. The method according to claim 26 , wherein a position of an occupant from whose per

Assignees

• Augst Alexander
• Bayerische Motoren Werke Ag

Inventors

• Augst Alexander

Classifications

• G06K9/00798

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/00805 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G1/166

  for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes · CPC title

• G08G1/165 Primary

  for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees · CPC title

• G01S13/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title