APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING A BLIND SPOT

• US 20130300872A1
• Filed: 12/29/2011
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wise Automotive Corporation
• Original Assignee: Wise Automotive Corporation
• Inventors: Park, Jae-Hong
• Granted Patent: US 9,418,556 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/00 Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/23 with a predetermined field of view
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/70 characterised by an event-triggered choice to display a specific image among a selection of captured images
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/802 for monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior blind spot views
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

The aim of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for displaying a blind spot, which involve displaying at least one image of the surroundings of a vehicle, said image being provided by an imaging unit including a camera, a GPS navigation system, and/or a street-view receiver, so as to provide a driver with information on the blind spots of a front portion, a rear portion, and a side portion of a vehicle that are hidden by said vehicle and thus not easily seen within the field of view of the drive during the travel of the vehicle.

Claims

1. An apparatus for displaying a blind spot, comprising:

an imaging unit or detecting surrounding images of a vehicle;

a control unit for outputting at least one image captured by the imaging unit at a specific point of time or before the specific point of time as an image for display and displaying a vehicle icon indicative of a current position of the vehicle on the outputted image for display in a contour form or semi-transparently so that a blind spot covered by a vehicle body of the vehicle is displayed; and

a screen display unit for displaying the image for display and the vehicle icon outputted from the control unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the outputted image for display is any one of an original image of the captured image and an image obtained by converting a point of time of the original image.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the outputted image for display is any one of an original image of the captured image, an image obtained by composing several images whose points of time have been converted, and a combination of some of several images.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blind spot covered by the vehicle body comprises a lower part of the vehicle.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the imaging unit is any one of a camera installed in the vehicle and configured to capture the surrounding images of the vehicle and provide the captured images, a GPS navigation system configured to detect information on a position of the vehicle and provide a surrounding image corresponding to the detected information, and an external information reception unit configured to receive the surrounding images of the vehicle from cameras installed in surrounding roads or buildings of the vehicle and provide the received surrounding images.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the control unit calculates displacement information on a movement of the vehicle from a specific position using information on a position movement of the vehicle supplied outside the vehicle or driving control information detected from the vehicle and detects information on the current position of the vehicle based on the calculated displacement information

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the control unit displays a position of the vehicle icon displayed on the image for display by incorporating information on a real-time position according to a movement of the vehicle into the position of the vehicle icon.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the change of the position of the vehicle icon displayed on the image for display comprises changing only the position of the vehicle icon in a state in which the image for display is fixed, moving only the image for display in a state in which the position of the vehicle icon is fixed, or changing both the image for display and the position of the vehicle icon

9. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the generated image for display is obtained by merging image areas moved by a predetermined number of unit pixels using information on a position of the vehicle supplied from the vehicle or driving control information detected from the vehicle.

10. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the generated image for display is obtained by comparing only images with each other and merging an image area including pixels having similarity and an image area having low similarity near the image area including pixels as a result of the comparison.

11. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein information on the generated image is obtained by extracting a reduced image search area according to information on a speed and steering angle of the vehicle based on information on a driving of the vehicle comprising the speed and movement direction of the vehicle supplied from the vehicle and merging an image area including pixels having similarity and an image area having low similarity near the image area including pixels using the extracted reduced image search area.

12. A method for displaying a blind spot, comprising the steps of:

a control unit outputting at least one image, captured by an imaging unit at a specific point of time or prior to the specific point of time, as an image for display;

the control unit calculating information on a displacement of a vehicle moved from a specific position based on information on a movement of a position of the vehicle supplied outside the vehicle or driving control information supplied from the vehicle and detecting a current position of the vehicle based on the calculated information on the movement displacement; and

the control unit displaying the image for display and a vehicle icon indicative of the current position of the vehicle by displaying the vehicle icon based on the current position and the displacement information, detected at the step b), on the image for display outputted at the step a) in a contour form or semi-transparently so that a blind spot near the vehicle and a blind spot covered by a vehicle body are displayed.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the image for display at the step a) is any one of an original image of the captured image and an image obtained by converting a point of time of the original image.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the image for display at the step a) is any one of an original image of the captured image, an image obtained by composing several images whose points of time have been converted, and a combination of some of several images.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the image for display at the step a) is an image captured by any one of a camera installed in the vehicle and configured to capture the surrounding images of the vehicle and provide the captured images, a GPS navigation system configured to detect information on a position of the vehicle and provide a surrounding image corresponding to the detected information, and an external information reception unit configured to receive the surrounding images of the vehicle from cameras installed in surrounding roads or buildings of the vehicle and provide the received surrounding images.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the vehicle icon is displayed so that a position of the vehicle icon displayed on the image for display is changed by incorporating information on a real-time position according to a movement of the vehicle into the position of the vehicle icon.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the change of the position of the vehicle icon displayed on the image for display comprises changing only the position of the vehicle icon in a state in which the image for display is fixed, moving only the image for display in a state in which the position of the vehicle icon is fixed, or changing both the image for display and the position of the vehicle icon.