DAYTIME PEDESTRIAN DETECTION ON FULL-WINDSCREEN HEAD-UP DISPLAY

• US 20100253492A1
• Filed: 09/21/2009
• Published: 10/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: CUI, DEHUA, SZCZERBA, JOSEPH F., SEDER, THOMAS A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,924,146 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/723 by using numerical data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/87 Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9316 combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9318 Controlling the steering
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93185 Controlling the brakes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9319 Controlling the accelerator
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9321 Velocity regulation, e.g. cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9322 using additional data, e.g. driver condition, road state or weather data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9325 for inter-vehicle distance regulation, e.g. navigating in platoons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93271 in the front of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/01 Head-up displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A substantially transparent windscreen head up display includes a display having one of light emitting particles or microstructures over a predefined region of the windscreen permitting luminescent display while permitting vision through the windscreen. A method to represent graphical images upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display of a vehicle alerting to pedestrian traffic includes monitoring informational inputs detecting a location of a pedestrian, monitoring data related to a location of the eyes of an occupant of the vehicle, determining a graphical image to register the location of the pedestrian upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display based upon the informational inputs and the data related to the location of the eyes of an occupant, and displaying the graphical image upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display.

Claims

1. Method to represent graphical images upon a substantially transparent windscreen head up display of a vehicle alerting to pedestrian traffic, the method comprising:

monitoring informational inputs detecting a location of a pedestrian;

monitoring data related to a location of the eyes of an occupant of the vehicle;

determining a graphical image to register the location of the pedestrian upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display based upon the informational inputs and the data related to the location of the eyes of an occupant; and

displaying the graphical image upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display; and

wherein the substantially transparent windscreen head up display comprises a display comprising one of light emitting particles or microstructures over a predefined region of the windscreen permitting luminescent display while permitting vision through the windscreen.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring informational inputs comprises monitoring a camera system

3. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring informational inputs comprises monitoring a radar system.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the informational inputs to indicate the location of the pedestrian to be critical information;

and

wherein displaying the graphical image upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display comprises selectively displaying the graphical image upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display based upon the location of the pedestrian being indicated as critical information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein analyzing the informational inputs to indicate the location of the pedestrian to be critical information comprises determining the pedestrian to be upon a roadway with the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein analyzing the informational inputs to indicate the location of the pedestrian to be critical information comprises determining the pedestrian to be in a lane of travel with the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein analyzing the informational inputs to indicate the location of the pedestrian to be critical information comprises determining the pedestrian to be moving toward a lane of travel of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein analyzing the informational inputs to indicate the location of the pedestrian to be critical information comprises determining the pedestrian to within a critical distance of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

monitoring data from a global positioning device; and

determining the vehicle to be in a special zone based upon the data from the global positioning device; and

wherein analyzing the informational inputs to indicate the location of the pedestrian to be critical information comprises indicating the location of the pedestrian to be critical information based upon the vehicle being in the special zone.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the vehicle to be in the special zone based upon the data from the global positioning device comprises determining the vehicle to be in a school zone.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the vehicle to be in the special zone based upon the data from the global positioning device comprises determining the vehicle to be in a parking lot.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein monitoring data related to the location of the eyes of the occupant comprises monitoring data related to an operator gaze location;

and

wherein analyzing the informational inputs to indicate the location of the pedestrian to be critical information comprises;

comparing a location of the graphical image determined to register the location of the pedestrian to the operator gaze location; and

indicating the location of the pedestrian to be critical information based upon the location of the graphical image and the operator gaze location differing by more than a threshold distance.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the graphical image to register the location of the pedestrian upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display comprises:

determining the location of the pedestrian to be outside of a viewing area of the substantially transparent windscreen head up display; and

determining a graphical image registered to a periphery of the substantially transparent windscreen head up display to prompt to the location of the pedestrian.

14. Method to represent graphical images upon a transparent head up display of a vehicle alerting to pedestrian traffic, the method comprising:

monitoring informational inputs detecting a location of a pedestrian;

monitoring data related to a location of the eyes of an occupant;

when the location of the pedestrian is within a threshold distance of the vehicle, determining a graphical image to register the location of the pedestrian upon the transparent head up display based upon the informational inputs and the data related to the location of the eyes of the occupant; and

displaying the graphical image upon the transparent head up display; and

wherein the substantially transparent head up display comprises a display comprising one of light emitting particles or microstructures over a predefined region of an overall surface permitting luminescent display while permitting vision through the windscreen.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein monitoring informational inputs detecting a location of a pedestrian comprises:

monitoring data from a camera system; and

estimating the location of the pedestrian by analyzing the data.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the transparent head up display is a rear window of the vehicle.

17. System to represent graphical images upon a substantially transparent windscreen head up display of a vehicle alerting to pedestrian traffic, the system comprising:

a sensor describing an operational environment of the vehicle;

a sensor describing a location of the eyes of an occupant of the vehicle;

the substantially transparent windscreen head up display comprising one of light emitting particles or microstructures over a predefined region of the windscreen permitting luminescent display while permitting vision through the windscreen;

an enhanced vision system system manager

monitoring data from the sensor describing the operational environment of the vehicle,

determining a location of a pedestrian with respect to the vehicle,

monitoring data from the sensor describing the location of the eyes of the occupant, and

generating display requirements registered to the substantially transparent windscreen head up display describing the location of the pedestrian based upon the location of the pedestrian and the data from the sensor describing the location of the eyes of the occupant; and

a graphics system generating the graphical images to be displayed based upon the display requirements; and

a graphics projection system communicating with the graphics system and displaying the graphical images upon the substantially transparent windscreen head up display.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

the enhanced vision system system manager

analyzing the location of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle, and

determining the location of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle to be critical information; and

wherein generating display requirements is further based upon the location of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle being critical information.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

the enhanced vision system system manager

analyzing the location of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle to determine a track of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle, and

determining the track of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle to be critical information; and

wherein generating display requirements is further based upon the track of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle being critical information.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

the enhanced vision system system manager

determining an operator gaze location based upon the data from the sensor describing the location of the eyes of the occupant,

analyzing the location of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle as compared to the operator gaze location, and

determine the location of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle to be critical information based upon a difference between the location of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle and the operator gaze location; and

wherein generating display requirements is further based upon the location of the pedestrian with respect to the vehicle being critical information.