Process for representing vehicle surroundings information of a motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9802540-B2
Application number	US-201514722759-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2015
Priority date	Jun 12, 2014
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for representing vehicle surroundings information of a motor vehicle, wherein the process comprises the following steps:
recording a front surrounding environment of a vehicle by at least two cameras provided on a vehicle front end of the motor vehicle; detecting objects within the recorded front surrounding environment; if at least one object is detected within the front surrounding environment, determining a field of view of a driver of the motor vehicle and making a comparison to determine whether the object detrimentally affects the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle; if the field of view of the driver is detrimentally affected by the detected object, acquiring information from the recorded front surrounding environment that is not within the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle; and providing a perspective representation of the acquired information in the determined field of view of the driver.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for representing vehicle surroundings information of a motor vehicle, wherein the process comprises the following steps:
recording a front surrounding environment of a vehicle by at least two cameras provided on a vehicle front end of the motor vehicle;
detecting objects within the recorded front surrounding environment, including comparing the recorded front surrounding environment with digital map material for determining possible driving routes and detecting objects only within the possible driving routes;
if at least one object is detected within the front surrounding environment, determining a field of view of a driver of the motor vehicle and making a comparison to determine whether the object detrimentally affects the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle;
if the field of view of the driver is detrimentally affected by the detected object, acquiring information from the recorded front surrounding environment that is not within the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle; and
providing a perspective representation of the acquired information in the determined field of view of the driver.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the acquired information concerns other motor vehicles and/or pedestrians and/or bicyclists and/or traffic signs that are present in the recorded front surrounding environment but not located within the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the step of providing the perspective representation of the acquired information in the determined field of view of the driver includes a projection of the acquired information on a windshield of the motor vehicle or a representation of the acquired information on a monitor integrated in the windshield.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the step of providing the perspective representation of the acquired information in the determined field of view of the driver includes the following steps:
subdividing the acquired information into a group of acquired information of high relevance and a group of acquired information of low relevance; and
representing only the acquired information of the group of acquired information of high relevance in the field of view of the driver.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises the following steps:
determining additional information pertaining to the acquired information; and
representing the additional information together with the acquired information in the field of view of the driver.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein determining a field of view of the driver further comprises the following steps:
acquisition of a face orientation of the driver of the motor vehicle; and
calculating the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle from the acquired face orientation.

7. The process according to claim 1 further comprising using a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium which, when it is executed on a computing unit of a motor vehicle, instructs the computing unit to carry out the process.

8. A device for representing vehicle surroundings information of a motor vehicle, which comprises at least two cameras arranged on a vehicle front end of the motor vehicle, for recording a front surrounding environment of the vehicle, wherein the device further comprises a first means for detecting objects within the recorded front surrounding environment including comparing the recorded front surrounding environment with digital map material for determining possible driving routes and detecting objects only within the possible driving routes, a second means for determining a field of view of a driver, a third means for making a comparison to determine whether a detected object detrimentally affects the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle, an evaluation unit for acquiring information on the recorded front surrounding environment that is not within the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle, if the field of view of the driver is detrimentally affected by the detected object, and representation means for providing a perspective representation of the acquired information in the determined field of view of the driver.

9. The device according to claim 8 , further comprising a fourth means for acquiring additional information pertaining to the acquired information, wherein the representation means is designed to represent the additional information together with the acquired information in the field of view of the driver.

10. The device according to claim 8 , wherein the second means comprises an acquisition unit for acquiring a face orientation of the driver of the motor vehicle and a computing unit for calculating the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle from the acquired face orientation.

11. A motor vehicle including a device comprising at least two cameras arranged on a vehicle front end of the motor vehicle for recording a front surrounding environment of the vehicle, a first means for detecting objects within the recorded front surrounding environment including comparing the recorded front surrounding environment with digital map material for determining possible driving routes and detecting objects only within the possible driving routes, a second means for determining a field of view of a driver, a third means for making a comparison to determine whether a detected object detrimentally affects the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle, an evaluation unit for acquiring information on the recorded front surrounding environment that is not within the field of view of the driver of the motor vehicle, if the field of view of the driver is detrimentally affected by the detected object, and representation means for providing a perspective representation of the acquired information in the determined field of view of the driver.

12. The motor vehicle according to claim 11 , wherein one of the at least two cameras is arranged on at least one of two outer mirrors of the motor vehicle.

13. The motor vehicle according to claim 11 , wherein a windshield of the motor vehicle comprises an image display system, which is formed by a plurality of organic light emitting diodes, on which the acquired information is represented and/or the representation means comprises a device for projecting the acquired information on the windshield of the motor vehicle.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Frommann Markus
• Mazur Oleg

Classifications

• B60K35/28

  characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver · CPC title

• B60K35/40

  Instruments specially adapted for improving the visibility thereof to the user, e.g. fogging prevention or anti-reflection arrangements · CPC title

• B60K35/29

  Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions · CPC title

• B60K35/223

  Flexible displays · CPC title

• B60K35/654

  the user being the driver · CPC title