Information displaying apparatus and method thereof

• US 9,651,394 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2010
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Seungwook, Jeon, Byeongmoon, Kim, Dongseok
• Primary Examiner(s): MUSTAFA, IMRAN K
• Application Number:
  US12/903,015
• Publication Number:
  US 20110106428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,408 Days
• Field of Search: 701201, 701208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3623 using a camera or code reader, e.g. for optical or magnetic codes
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams

Abstract

An information displaying apparatus and method thereof capable of accurately displaying event information on a captured actual image are provided. The information displaying apparatus may include a controller configured to detect a location of a specific point within an image captured by a capture unit and to match event information corresponding to an event generated location on map data to the captured image based on the location of the specific point and a current location; and a display unit configured to display the matched result.

Claims

1. An information displaying apparatus in a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

a first camera and a second camera horizontally arranged to respectively capture a first image and a second image;

a display unit; and

a controller configured to;

detect a turn information generated location on map data based on a current location of the vehicle, the map data stored in a memory of the information displaying apparatus,

generate a depth map by comparing a portion of the first image captured by the first camera to a portion of the second image captured by the second image and estimating a variation between the portion of the first image and the portion of the second image,

generate an interactive viewpoint image by combining the first image and the second image,

detect a location of a specific point within the interactive viewpoint image based on the depth map and the current location,

detect the distance and direction to a target image corresponding to the specific point,

match road guide information corresponding to the detected turn information generated location to the interactive viewpoint image based on the current location and the location of the specific point,

display, on the display unit, the road guide information on a road within the interactive viewpoint image,

detect a current speed of the vehicle,

display, on the display unit, a road map without the interactive viewpoint image and including the current location of the vehicle based on the current speed of the vehicle being greater than a predetermined reference speed,

display, on the display unit, the road guide information and the interactive viewpoint image including event information based on the current speed of the vehicle being less than the predetermined reference speed, the predetermined reference speed being a speed corresponding to when the event information is unable to be real-time displayed,

match the current location to the road map within the map data when a reception intensity of the road guide information received via a communication network is less than a predetermined reference value, and

display, on the display unit, the road guide information and the interactive viewpoint image when the reception intensity of the road guide information is above the predetermined reference value.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to match point of interest information on the map data to the interactive viewpoint image and display, on the display unit, the point of interest information and the interactive viewpoint image.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first image is a left view image and the second image is a right view image.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a third camera configured to capture a third image, the third camera being located between the first camera and the second camera,

wherein the controller is further configured to match the road guide information corresponding to the detected turn information generated location to the third image based on the current location and the location of a specific point within the third image.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the event information includes point of interest information.