Vehicular imaging system in an automatic headlamp control system

• US 8,017,898 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2008
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Magna Electronics Incorporated (Magna International Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Magna Electronics Incorporated (Magna International Incorporated)
• Inventors: Phirke, Manoj R., Jeyaraj, Antony V., Higgins-Luthman, Michael J., Lu, Yuesheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Que T
• Assistant Examiner(s): BENNETT, JENNIFER D
• Application Number:
  US12/190,698
• Publication Number:
  US 20090045323A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,126 Days
• Field of Search: 250/208.1, 250/214.1, 250/214.R, 250/206, 250/205, 250/221, 250/574, 250/559.4, 340/937, 340/936, 340/935, 340436-467, 340/468, 340/469, 340471-479, 340/540, 340/435, 359/875, 359/877, 359/843, 359/872, 359/605, 359/855, 359/865, 359/604, 359/601, 359/565, 359/504, 359/570, 359/876, 359/613, 359/229, 359/230, 348/118, 348/148, 348/143, 382/104, 382/106, 382/274
• US Class Current: 250/208.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/085 due to special conditions, e.g. adverse weather, type of road, badly illuminated road signs or potential dangers B60Q1/10, B60Q1/12, B60Q1/1423 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/1423 Automatic dimming circuits, i.e. switching between high beam and low beam due to change of ambient light or light level in road traffic
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/41 preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/42 oncoming vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/24 in front of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/28 with an adjustable field of view
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30256 Lane; Road marking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/80 Analysis of captured images to determine intrinsic or extrinsic camera parameters, i.e. camera calibration
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/584 of vehicle lights or traffic lights
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road

Abstract

A vehicular imaging system includes a forward facing photosensor array and a control responsive to the photosensor array. The control processes an image data set indicative of captured images, and the control processes a reduced image data set of the image data set to determine whether an object of interest is within a target zone of the captured image. The reduced image data set is representative of a portion of the captured images as captured by a particular grouping of the photosensor elements. The control adjusts the reduced image data set so as to be representative of a portion of the captured images as captured by a different particular grouping of the photosensor elements, and adjusts the reduced image data set in response to a determination of a change in a focus of expansion of the captured images.

Claims

1. A vehicular imaging system comprising

a photosensor array comprising a plurality of photosensor elements, said photosensor array having a field of view forward of the vehicle that is generally in line with the vehicle'"'"'s primary direction of forward travel, said photosensor array capturing images of an area encompassed by said forward field of view;

a control responsive to an output of said photosensor array, said control processing an image data set indicative of captured images;

wherein said control processes a reduced image data set of said image data set to determine whether an object of interest is within a target zone of said captured image, said reduced image data set being representative of a portion of said captured images as captured by a particular grouping of said photosensor elements; and

wherein said control adjusts said reduced image data set so as to be representative of a portion of said captured images as captured by a different particular grouping of said photosensor elements, said control adjusting said reduced image data set in response to a determination of a change in a focus of expansion of said captured images;

wherein said focus of expansion comprises at least one photosensor element that initially detects a new light source in said field of view, and wherein said control tracks said new light source as it approaches the subject vehicle to confirm that said new light source is indicative of an object of interest, wherein said control compares a location of said new light source to an expected location of the light source to determine if there is an offset, said control adjusting said reduced data set in response to determination of said offset.

2. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control is operable to adjust a state of a headlamp beam in response to said image processing.

3. The vehicular imaging system of claim 2, wherein said control is operable to detect that at least a portion of said photosensor array is blocked and switch to a low beam mode in response to said detection, and wherein said imaging system at least one of (a) alerts the driver of the subject vehicle of the detected blockage, (b) actuates a wiper of the vehicle to remove the blockage from the forward field of view of said photosensor array and detects that the blockage has been removed and resumes normal functionality of said wiper, and (c) actuates a blower system of the vehicle to remove the blockage from the forward field of view and detects that the blockage has been removed and resumes normal functionality of said blower system.

4. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control is operable to detect that at least a portion of said photosensor array is blocked, and wherein said imaging system at least one of (a) alerts the driver of the subject vehicle of the detected blockage, (b) actuates a wiper of the vehicle to remove the blockage from the forward field of view of said photosensor array and detects that the blockage has been removed and resumes normal functionality of said wiper, and (c) actuates a blower system of the vehicle to remove the blockage from the forward field of view and detects that the blockage has been removed and resumes normal functionality of said blower system.

5. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control is operable to process said reduced image data set more than other image data to detect edges of objects present exteriorly of the vehicle and within said target zone, said other image data being representative of areas of said captured image outside of said target zone.

6. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control determines that said new light source is representative of a light source of a leading or approaching vehicle and the controlled vehicle and approaching vehicle are traveling along a substantially flat and substantially straight road, wherein said controlled vehicle incorporates the vehicular imaging system.

7. The vehicular imaging system of claim 6, wherein said control adjusts said reduced data set in response to a weighted sum calculation of data obtained from the offset determination.

8. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control adjusts said reduced data set in response to a detection of lane markers.

9. The vehicular imaging system of claim 8, wherein said control adjusts said reduced data set in response to a weighted sum calculation of data obtained from the detection of lane markers.

10. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said photosensor array comprises one of an aftermarket imager and a cell phone imager.

11. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control is operable to selectively process said output of said photosensor array as an output from said photosensor array at least two different resolutions.

12. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control is operable to encode signals into the light output of the subject vehicle to allow an imaging system of another vehicle to detect said encoded signal.

13. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control is operable to detect and ameliorate the bad pixels of an imaging system.

14. The vehicular imaging system of claim 1, wherein said control is operable to detect the driving side of the road and wherein said control is operable to adapt at least one of said processing and adjusting responsive to the detected driving side of the road.

15. A vehicular imaging system comprising:

a photosensor array comprising a plurality of photosensor elements, said photosensor array having a field of view forward of the vehicle that is generally in line with the vehicle'"'"'s primary direction of forward travel, said photosensor array capturing images of an area encompassed by said forward field of view;

a control responsive to an output of said photosensor array, said control processing image data indicative of captured images;

wherein said control is operable to selectively process said output of said photosensor array as an output from said photosensor array at least two different resolutions; and

wherein said control computes a distance between said vehicle and a particular object of interest in the forward field of view and selects at least one of the at least two different resolutions based on said distance, said control comparing said object of interest at said selected resolution against an object mask of a predetermined array size and content which is irrespective of said distance.

16. The vehicular imaging system of claim 15, wherein said at least two different resolutions comprise (a) an output of a higher resolution photosensor array, (b) an output of a medium resolution photosensor array, and (c) an output of a lower resolution photosensor array.

17. The vehicular imaging system of claim 15, wherein said control processes said output of said photosensor array at different resolutions in response to one of (a) a location of a detected light source and (b) a distance between the subject vehicle and a detected light source.

18. The vehicular imaging system of claim 15, wherein said control processes a reduced image data set of said image data set to determine whether an object of interest is within a target zone of said captured image, said reduced image data set being representative of a portion of said captured images as captured by a particular grouping of said photosensor elements.

19. The vehicular imaging system of claim 18, wherein said control adjusts said reduced image data set so as to be representative of a portion of said captured images as captured by a different particular grouping of said photosensor elements, said control adjusting said reduced image data set in response to a determination of a change in a focus of expansion of said captured images.