IMAGE ACQUISITION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTANCE DETERMINATION USING AN IMAGE RECORDING SYSTEM

• US 20090322872A1
• Filed: 04/10/2007
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Muehlmann, Karsten, Wuerz-Wessel, Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 8,896,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/142
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/12 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/579 from motion
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/584 of vehicle lights or traffic lights
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene

Abstract

A vehicle-based image acquisition system having an image sensor that has a characteristic curve assembled from linear segments. The system includes an arrangement for determining the distance of luminous objects imaged by the image sensor.

Claims

1-17. -17. (canceled)

8. A vehicle-based image acquisition system, comprising:

an image sensor having a characteristic curve assembled from linear segments; and

a device adapted to determine a distance of luminous objects imaged by the image sensor.

9. The image acquisition system as recited in claim 8, wherein the image sensor is a CMOS camera using monoscopic technology.

10. A method for determining the distance between an image acquisition system encompassing an image sensor and a luminous object moving relative to the image acquisition system, the method comprising:

generating, using the image sensor, an image of surroundings of the image sensor encompassing a luminous object;

selecting a luminous object of interest from the image generated by the image sensor;

for the selected object, sensing a tailing of the image of the luminous object, which tailing occurs as a consequence of control properties of the image sensor and a relative velocity between the image sensor and the luminous object; and

associating a magnitude of the tailing with a distance value.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the extent of the tailing is sensed by way of a window enclosing the image of the luminous object.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein a greatest tailing is associated with a shortest distance value.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein a risk assessment is carried out as a function of the tailing.

14. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein from an acquisition time interval of the images of the sensor, and from a change in a relative size of the object in the image, a time to adjacency is determined according to the following equation:

tta=Δ

t/(sc−

1.0),

where

tta=time to adjacency;

Δ

t=acquisition time interval of the images;

sc=scale change (change in relative size of the object in the image).