Image combination/conversion apparatus

• US 7,538,798 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2003
• Issued: 05/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Mizusawa, Kazufumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho; Tuan V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vieaux; Gary C
• Application Number:
  US10/484,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20040201587A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,282 Days
• Field of Search: 348/218.1, 348/222.1, 348/95, 348/159, 348/394.1, 348/148, 348/94, 348/116, 345/536, 345/427, 382/201, 382/238, 382/276, 382/104
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/20 Perspective computation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/205 Image-based rendering

Abstract

A subject of the present invention is to form simply a mapping table, which transforms a picked-up image of a real camera into an image viewed from a virtual viewpoint, by a small amount of computation.

An image transforming system of the present invention has an imaging means (10) for picking up a real image, a coordinate recording means (32) for recording a three-dimensional position on a projection model corresponding to a previously-computed pixel position of a virtual camera, a means for computing a positional relationship between the virtual camera and the imaging means (10), means (20)(30) for forming and recording a mapping table, which transforms the real image into an image viewed from the virtual camera, based on information of the positional relationship and information of the three-dimensional position recorded in the coordinate recording means (32), and a means (40) for mapping the real image by using the mapping table. The means for computing the positional relationship predicts the positional relationship from the installation position, and inputs it into the means (20) for forming the mapping table as a camera parameter when an installation position of the imaging means (10) is decided previously.

Claims

1. An image transforming system for transforming an image input from an imaging unit, which picks up a real image, into a virtual image viewed from a predetermined virtual viewpoint to output, comprising:

a first storing unit which stores in a data table correspondences between pixels on the virtual image and points on a projection model, and a second storing unit which stores in another data table correspondences between the pixels on the virtual image and pixels on the real image, wherein the pixels on the real image and the pixels on the virtual image are mutually correlated via a point on the projection model; and

a computing unit which calculates a pixel position of the real image corresponding to a three dimensional position on the projection model stored in the first storing unit, by using an input camera parameter, to obtain different correspondences between the pixels on the virtual image and the pixels on the real image, and rewrites contents recorded in the second storing unit based on the obtained different correspondences.

2. The image transforming system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a predicting unit which predicts the camera parameter based on an installation position of the imaging unit, when the installation position of the imaging unit is previously decided.

3. The image transforming system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an obtaining unit which obtains a relative position of the imaging unit with respect to the point on the projection model as calibration data and predicts the camera parameter based on the calibration data.

4. The image transforming system according to claim 1, wherein the camera parameter is obtained by using calibration data acquired by an external calibrating unit.

5. The image transforming system according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the first storing unit includes:

a recording unit which records aggregation data of points on the projection model in a compressed format by a predictive coding; and

a decompressing unit which decompresses the aggregation data compressed and recorded by the recording unit to restore the aggregation data to an original format.

6. The image transforming system according to claim 1, wherein the first storing unit includes:

a recording unit which records aggregation data of points on the projection model in a compressed format by a predictive coding; and

a decompressing unit which decompresses the aggregation data compressed and recorded by the recording unit to restore the aggregation data to an original format.