SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING AN IMAGE OF A SURROUNDING OF A VEHICLE

• US 20080211643A1
• Filed: 12/04/2007
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Mohr, Ulrich, Stiegler, Andreas, Stephan, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 8,160,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/211 using temporal multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Abstract

A system for processing an image of a surrounding of a vehicle is provided. The system includes an image generator that is configured for generating an image, the image having at least a first and a second portion. The first and second portions of the image differ from each other and the first portion of the image is generated for further processing earlier than the second portion of the image. Additionally, the system includes an image processor for processing the first and second portions of the image, where the image processor is configured for processing the first portion of said image while awaiting for the second portion of the image to become available to the image processor.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing an image of a surrounding of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

an image generator being configured for generating an image, the image having at least a first and a second portion, the first and second portions being different from each other and the first portion of the image being generated for further processing earlier than the second portion of the image; and

an image processor being configured for processing the first and second portions of the image in order to process the image, where the image processor is furthermore configured for processing said first portion of said image while said second portion of said image is not yet available to the image processor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image processor is configured for displaying the first and second portions and where the image processor is further configured for displaying the first portion of the image while the second portion of the image is not yet provided to the image processor by the image generator.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image generator is configured for generating a horizontal slice of the image as the first or second portion of the image.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, where the image generator generates slices of the image as first and second portions of the image, where the first portion of the image represents an area of the image being located in the image above an area represented by the second portion of the image.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, where the first and second portions represent adjacent areas of the image.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, where the first and second portions cover a common area of the image.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, where the first and second portions do not comprise any common area of the image.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, where the first and second portions of the image have a substantially equal size.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image generator is configured for generating n portions of the image being different from each other, n being a natural number and the n portions of the image being generated consecutively after each other and where the image processor is configured for processing the n-th portion of the image after processing the (n−

1)-th portion of the image.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image generator is configured for generating for said image not more than eight portions.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image processor is configured to extract object information from objects comprised in the first or second portion of the image.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, where the image processor is configured for using the extracted object information in order to add further objects to the first or second portions of the image.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, where the image processor is configured for adding circles, triangles or rectangles as further objects around objects detected in the first or second portion of the image.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, where the image processor is configured for adding the further objects in a different color than the objects detected in the first or second portion of the image.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, where the image processor is configured for extracting object information comprised in the first and second portions of the image, where the first and second portions are adjacent portions of the image.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image generator is synchronized to the image processor in such a way that when the first portion of the image is generated by the image generator said first portion is processed by the image processor without delay.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, where the image generator is further synchronized to the image processor in such a way that when the second portion of the image is provided by the image generator said second portion is processed by the image processor without delay.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, where the image processor is configured for processing the first portion of the image such that a processed version of the first portion of the image is provided after a latency time of 20 to 40 ms after the image generator has provided the first portion of the image.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image generator is a CMOS image sensor.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image processor comprising a LCD display for displaying the first and second portion of the image.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image generator is configured for transforming the first and second portion of the image in a digital representation thereof and for transferring the digital representation of the first and second portion of the image to the image processor.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, where the image generator is configured for transferring the digital representation of the first and second portion of the image via an optical serial bus of the vehicle to the image processor.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, where the image generator is a rear view camera for providing a rear view of the vehicle.

24. An image processing system for processing an image of a vehicle surrounding, the image processing system comprising:

an image generating means generating an image, the image having at least a first and a second portion, the first and the second portion being different from each other, the first portion of the image being generated earlier in time than the second portion; and

an image processing means being configured for processing the first and the second portions of the image, where the image processing means is configures in such a way that the processing means process the first portion of the image while the image generating means is still generating the second portion of the image.

25. A method for processing an image of a surrounding of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

generating an image having at least a first and a second portion, the first and second portions being different from each other and the first portion of the image being provided earlier than the second portion of the image; and

processing the first and second portions of the image in order to process the image, where the image processor is furthermore configured for processing said first portion of said image while said second portion of said image is not yet available to the image processor.