IMAGE-BASED VEHICLE SAFETY WARNING SYSTEM

• US 20100090863A1
• Filed: 03/05/2009
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Taiwan University (Government of The Republic of China)
• Original Assignee: National Taiwan University (Government of The Republic of China)
• Inventors: Chu, Hao-Wei, Chen, Homer H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,184,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/901
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• 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

Abstract

An image-based vehicle safety warning system is disclosed, which uses an image retrieval module for receiving an image signal and camera parameters related to the source of the image signal into a space definition module, which defines an image space and warning areas of different levels in the image space. Then, an object identification module identifies parts of a possible vehicle in the image according to the image signal and variations thereof. A warning indication module then obtains an interrelation by locating the position of the vehicle within the image space and comparing the vehicle position with the warning areas, thereby providing alarms in different levels based on the interrelation.

Claims

1. An image-based vehicle safety warning system, comprising:

an image retrieval module for receiving an image signal from a source and allowing camera parameters of the source of the image signal to be input;

a space definition module for defining an image space based on the camera parameters of the source of the image signal and for defining warning areas in the image space individually with a specific warning level;

an object identification module for identifying an appearance of a vehicle in the image space based on the image signal and variations of the image signal; and

a warning indication module for determining an identified location of the vehicle in the image space, determining an interrelation between the identified location of the vehicle and at least one of the warning areas individually with the specific warning level in the image space, and providing a specific level of alarm corresponding to the interrelation.

2. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 1, wherein the source of the image signal comprises a camera connected with the image retrieval module for taking and transmitting the image signal to the image retrieval module.

3. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 2, further comprising a mobile information storage module for storing the image signal taken by the camera.

4. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 2, wherein the source of the image signal further comprises an infrared image module for enabling the camera to retrieve infrared visual information.

5. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile information storage module for storing information related to at least one of speed, direction, and acceleration of a vehicle equipped with the image-based vehicle safety warning system.

6. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 2, wherein the camera parameters of the source of the image signal include at least one of a focal length, coordinate transformation parameters, and pixel aspect ratio of the camera, an actual distance between the camera and a road surface, a distance between the camera and a vehicle equipped with the image-based vehicle safety warning system, and the angle of the camera.

7. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 2, wherein the camera further comprises a parameter adjusting unit for automatically determining and adjusting the camera parameters and inputting the camera parameters to the image retrieval module.

8. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 7, wherein the warning areas individually with the specific warning level are defined in the image space by forming projections on a two-dimensional space based on a corresponding relationship between the image space and the camera parameters.

9. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 1, wherein the object identification module is further for determining road surface information in the image signal and identifying the vehicle in the image space.

10. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 9, wherein the object identification module determines the road surface information by recording and analyzing at least one of texture, color and image variation modes of the road surface right behind the vehicle.

11. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 10, wherein the object identification module determines an image zone other than the road surface and then identifies the vehicle based on at least one of texture, size, color and image variation modes of the image zone.

12. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 1, wherein the warning indication module further comprises a warning parameter storage unit for storing and transmitting warning definition parameters to the space definition module, such that the space definition module defines the warning areas based on the warning definition parameters.

13. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 1, wherein the warning indication module further comprises a warning parameter adjusting interface for adjusting and transmitting warning definition parameters to the space definition module, such that the space definition module defines the warning areas based on the warning definition parameters.

14. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 1, further comprising a driving parameter module for providing driving parameters related to a vehicle equipped with the image-based vehicle safety warning system, such that the warning indication module adjusts the specific level of alarm according to the driving parameters.

15. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 14, wherein the driving parameters include at least one of speed, direction and acceleration information about the vehicle equipped with the image-based vehicle safety warning system.

16. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 1, further comprising a radar sensing module for assisting in determining relative positions of the vehicle equipped with the image-based vehicle safety warning system and the vehicle in the image space.

17. An image-based vehicle safety warning system, comprising:

an image retrieval module for receiving an image signal from a source and allowing camera parameters of the source of the image signal to be input;

a planar defining module for defining an image space based on the camera parameters of the source of the image signal and defining warning areas in the image space individually with a specific warning level;

an object identification module for identifying the appearance of another vehicle based on the image signal and the variations thereof; and

a warning indication module for determining an identified location of a vehicle in the image space, determining an interrelation between the identified location of the vehicle and at least one of the warning areas individually with the specific warning level in the image space, and providing a specific level of alarm corresponding to on the interrelation.

18. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 17, wherein the source of the image signal comprises a video camera including a parameter adjusting unit for automatically determining and adjusting the camera parameters and inputting the camera parameters to the image retrieval module.

19. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 17, wherein the object identification module determines road surface information by recording and analyzing at least one of texture, color and image variation modes of the road surface right behind the vehicle in the image space.

20. The image-based vehicle safety warning system of claim 17, wherein the warning indication module further comprises a warning parameter storage unit for storing and transmitting warning definition parameters to the space definition module, such that the space definition module defines the warning areas based on the warning definition parameters.