Camera arrangement for measuring distance

• US 10,078,901 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2013
• Issued: 09/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visteon Global Technologies Incorporated (Visteon Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Visteon Global Technologies Incorporated (Visteon Corporation)
• Inventors: Bergisch, Andreas Eppinger, Schliep, Frank, Kirsch, Oliver, Boehm, Hannes Rene
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Carter, Richard
• Application Number:
  US14/370,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20150002664A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,080 Days
• Field of Search: 348142, 348135, 348159, 340435, 340937, 382103, 396106, 463 32, 356 2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/87 Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/894 3D imaging with simultaneous measurement of time-of-flight at a 2D array of receiver pixels, e.g. time-of-flight cameras or flash lidar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4817 relating to scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A camera arrangement includes at least one illuminating device for illuminating a plurality of fields of vision. At least one object to be detected is in each of the fields of vision. The camera arrangement also includes at least one objective lens for focusing a beam path which includes at least one of the plurality of fields of vision or for focusing a plurality of beam paths each including at least one of the plurality of fields of vision. A TOF sensor is also provided. The at least one illuminating device, the at least one objective lens and the TOF sensor are arranged with respect to one another and with respect to the fields of vision and the objects in the latter in such a manner that images of the objects can be imaged on the one TOF sensor at the same time or in temporal succession.

Claims

1. A camera arrangement, comprising:

one illumination device for illuminating a plurality of fields of view, at least one object to be detected respectively lying in each of the fields of view;

a time-of-flight (TOF) sensor; and

a common objective lens arranged between the objects and the TOF sensor, wherein the one illumination device, the common objective lens, and the TOF sensor are arranged with respect to one another, and with respect to the fields of view and the objects lying therein, in such a way that images of the objects can be imaged simultaneously or in chronological succession on the one TOF sensor, and

wherein images of the at least one object respectively lying in each of the plurality of fields of view are imagable separately in different regions on the one TOF sensor, the common objective lens is configured to focus a first beam path of a first field of view on a first region on the one TOF sensor, and the common objective lens is configured to focus a second beam path of a second field of view on a second region on the one TOF sensor which does not overlap the first field of view; and

wherein the illumination device is arranged outside the first or second beam paths between the object and the one TOF sensor, and a control unit is configured to measure a round trip time of the light from the illumination device to the object and, based on the measured round trip time of the light a distance of the object to the camera arrangement;

wherein a head of a driver and/or a head of a passenger, gestures, expressions, eye positions, viewing directions, seat positions, head positions and/or anthropometric features of the driver and/or passenger is or are monitored inside a vehicle; and

wherein the camera arrangement is configured such that background light is at least predominantly suppressed and only light coming from the one illumination device and reflected by the at least one object is detected.

2. A camera arrangement, comprising:

two illumination devices for illuminating a plurality of fields of view, a field of view respectively being illuminable by each illumination device, at least one object to be detected respectively lying in each of the fields of view;

a time-of-flight (TOF) sensor;

a common objective lens arranged between the objects and the one TOF sensor; and

a controllable mirror being arranged between the objects and the common objective lens,

wherein the two illumination devices, the common objective lens, and the one TOF sensor are arranged with respect to one another, and with respect to the fields of view and the objects lying therein, in such a way that images of the objects can be imaged in chronological succession on the one TOF sensor, and

wherein the controllable mirror is controllable in such a way that either a beam path of a first field of view between a first object of the at least one object lying in the first field of view and the one TOF sensor or a beam path of a second field of view between a second object of the at least one object lying in the second field of view and the one TOF sensor can be delivered thereby to the objective lens, the controllable mirror configured to be aimed at a first object of the first field of view at a first time or a second object of the second field of view at a second time, and images of the at least one object respectively lying in each of the plurality of fields of view being imagable in a common region on the one TOF sensor;

wherein when the controllable mirror is aimed at the first field of view, an image in which only the at least one object lying in the first field of view is visible is formed on the one TOF sensor, and when the controllable mirror is aimed at the second field of view, an image in which only the at least one object lying in the second field of view is visible is formed on the one TOF sensor; and

wherein the two illumination devices are arranged outside the beam path of the first field of view and outside the beam path of the second field of view, and a control unit is configured to measure a round trip time of the light from each illumination device to each respective object of the at least one object respectively lying in each of the fields of view and, based on the measured round trip time of the light, a distance of the respective object to the camera arrangement.

3. The camera arrangement as claimed in claim 2, wherein the two illumination devices are coupled to a control device, the two illumination devices being activatable independent of one another at different times by the control device.

4. The camera arrangement as claimed in claim 2, wherein a first illumination device can be activated at a first time when the beam path of the first field of view is imaged on the TOF sensor by the mirror, and a second illumination device can be activated at a second time when the beam path of the second field of view is imaged on the TOF sensor by the mirror.

5. The camera arrangement as claimed in claim 2, wherein the mirror is a digital mirror.