VEHICULAR IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20150254517A1
• Filed: 10/08/2013
• Published: 09/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Hoshiya, Kazumichi
• Granted Patent: US 9,798,940 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/066 actuating a signalling device B60K28/063 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/141 Control of illumination
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/24 Self-calibration, e.g. compensating for environmental drift or ageing of components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/00 Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/73 by influencing the exposure time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/741 by increasing the dynamic range of the image compared to the dynamic range of the electronic image sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/745 Detection of flicker frequency or suppression of flicker wherein the flicker is caused by illumination, e.g. due to fluorescent tube illumination or pulsed LED illumination
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/75 by influencing optical camera components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/531 by controlling rolling shutters in CMOS SSIS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

There are provided an image capture portion, a luminance acquisition section, a luminance estimation section, and a capture mode setup section. The image capture portion cyclically captures a vehicle compartment. The luminance acquisition section acquires the luminance of a captured image captured by the image capture portion. The luminance estimation section estimates a cyclic change in the luminance of captured images to be captured subsequently. The capture mode setup section settles a capture mode for the image capture portion based on a result of estimating the cyclic change in the luminance of captured images.

Claims

1. A vehicular image processing apparatus comprising:

an image capture portion that cyclically captures a vehicle compartment of a vehicle;

a luminance acquisition section that acquires luminance of a captured image captured by the image capture portion;

a luminance estimation section that performs, based on a chronological change in the luminance, an estimation of a cyclical change in luminance of a captured image that is to be captured subsequently by the image capture portion; and

a capture mode setup section that settles a capture mode of the image capture portion based on a result of the estimation of the cyclical change in luminance of the captured image.

2. The vehicular image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the luminance estimation section performs an estimation of a cycle of changes in the luminance of the captured image, permitting the capture mode to be changed based on the cycle.

3. The vehicular image processing apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the image capture portion captures the vehicle compartment at a predetermined cycle of capture;

and

wherein the capture mode setup section settles the capture cycle so as to suppress variations in the luminance of the captured image that is captured at the predetermined cycle.

4. The vehicular image processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a vehicle speed detection portion that detects a vehicle speed of the vehicle,

wherein, in response to a change that changes the vehicle speed, the luminance estimation section performs an estimation of a cycle of changes in luminance of the captured image at the changed vehicle speed based on an amount of the change in the vehicle speed; and

wherein the capture mode setup section settles a capture mode of the image capture portion based on a result of the estimation performed by the luminance estimation section.

5. The vehicular image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

a capture mode storage portion that stores a vehicle speed of the vehicle to be associated with a capture mode of the image capture portion,

wherein, in response to a change that changes the vehicle speed, in cases that the capture mode storage portion stores the changed vehicle speed, the capture mode setup section settles, as a capture mode, the capture mode with which the changed vehicle speed is associated in the capture mode storage portion, without an estimation in the luminance performed by the luminance estimation section.

6. The vehicular image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the image capture portion captures the vehicle compartment according to a predetermined exposing condition;

and

wherein the capture mode setup section varies the exposing condition based on a result of an estimation performed by the luminance estimation section.

7. The vehicular image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a map information acquisition portion that acquires map information containing a current position where the vehicle is traveling; and

a determination section that determines based on the map information whether or not to cause the capture mode setup section to settle a capture mode of the image capture portion.