Camera unit with driving corridor display functionality for a vehicle, method for displaying anticipated trajectory of a vehicle, and system for generating driving corridor markers

• US 8,063,752 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Oleg, Konevsky
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US12/335,256
• Publication Number:
  US 20100085170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• Field of Search: 340/425.5, 340/426, 340/426.31, 340/435, 340/436, 340/438, 340/439, 701/200, 701/205
• US Class Current: 340/425.5
• 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 1/26 to the rear of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/305 merging camera image with lines or icons
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/402 Image calibration
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/8086 for vehicle path indication
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0275 by overlaying a vehicle path based on present steering angle over an image without processing that image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00

Abstract

A method and apparatus for driving corridor markers display are disclosed in the invention. The steering angle is obtained and the parameters of driving corridor image are selected correspondingly from the non-volatile memory. The parameters are used to calculate the locus of the nodes, using the equation of quadratic or cubic Bezier curves. The nodes are connected with the segments, thus forming the driving corridor image. The driving corridor image is superimposed on the image acquired from the sensor, and the resulting image is displayed.

Claims

1. A camera unit with driving corridor display functionality for a vehicle, comprising:

an image sensor configured to obtain an image outside the vehicle;

an interface controller configured to generate a plurality of nodes of a driving corridor markers for a required steering angle, the plurality of nodes being calculated from a set of control points of Bezier curve for the required steering angle and the set of control points being stored in a non-volatile memory in a form of look-up table; and

an image processing device configured to generate the driving corridor markers and to superimpose the driving corridor markers on the image transmitted from the image sensor, the driving corridor markers being calculated on the basis of coordinates of the nodes transmitted from the interface controller and being generated by connecting the nodes adjacent to each other with line segments.

2. The camera unit for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the image sensor, the interface controller and the image processing device are all embedded in one camera unit.

3. The camera unit for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes is calculated by the following quadratic Bezier curve equation:

X(t)=X₀(1−

t)²+X₁2t(1−

t)+X₂t²

Y(t)=Y₀(1−

t)²+Y₁2t(1−

t)+Y₂t²

where X₀, Y₀, X₁, Y₁, X₂, and Y₂ are the coordinates of control points, and t is a parameter, changing in the range of [0, 1].

4. The camera unit for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes is calculated by the following cubic Bezier curve equation:

X(t)=X₀(1−

t)³+X₁3t(1−

t)²+X₂3t²(1−

t)+X₃t³

Y(t)=Y₀(1−

t)³+Y₁3t(1−

t)²+Y₂3t²(1−

t)+Y₃t³

where X₀, Y₀, X₁, Y₁, X₂, Y₂, X₃, and Y₃ are the coordinates of control points, and t is a parameter, changing in the range of [0, 1].

5. The camera unit for a vehicle according to claim 1,

wherein the control points of Bezier curve for the required steering angle are calculated using linear interpolation between the values loaded from the look-up table.

6. The camera unit for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the line segments connecting the nodes adjacent to each other of the set of nodes calculated and transmitted from the interface controller are calculated using the Bresenham'"'"'s line algorithm.

7. The camera unit for a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising an interface transceiver configured to receive and transmit a signal corresponding to a varying steering angle, the interface transceiver being outside the interface controller separately or being a part of the interface controller.

8. The camera unit for a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising an analog signal encoder configured to transmit the obtained image with driving corridor markers superimposed on it to an external display device, the analog signal encoder being outside the image processing device separately or being a part of the image processing device.

9. A method for displaying anticipated trajectory of a vehicle, comprising the steps:

detecting a variation of steering angle of a vehicle;

loading or calculating a set of control points of Bezier curve being stored in a non-volatile memory in a form of look-up table according to the variation of steering angle, and calculating a plurality of nodes using Bezier curve equation, the plurality of nodes being used for generating a driving corridor markers on the basis of the loaded or calculated set of control points;

calculating line segments and connecting the nodes adjacent to each other with the line segments; and

superimposing an overlay with the line segments on an image obtained by an image sensor and displaying the superimposed image on an external display device.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of nodes is calculated by the following quadratic Bezier curve equation:

X(t)=X₀(1−

t)²+X₁2t(1−

t)+X₂t²

Y(t)=Y₀(1−

t)²+Y₁2t(1−

t)+Y₂t²

where X₀, Y₀, X₁, Y₁, X₂, and Y₂ are the coordinates of control points, and t is a parameter, changing in the range of [0, 1].

11. The method according to claim 9,

wherein the plurality of nodes is calculated by the following cubic Bezier curve equation:

X(t)=X₀(1−

t)³+X₁3t(1−

t)²+X₂3t²(1−

t)+X₃t³

Y(t)=Y₀(1−

t)³+Y₁3t(1−

t)²+Y₂3t²(1−

t)+Y₃t³

where X₀, Y₀, X₁, Y₁, X₂, Y₂, X₃, and Y₃ are the coordinates of control points, and t is a parameter, changing in the range of [0, 1].

12. The method according to claim 9,

wherein in case where the look-up table does not have the data for the required steering angle, the control points of Bezier curve are calculated using linear interpolation between the values stored in the look-up table.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein calculation of the node is performed in an interface controller using Bezier curve equation while calculation of the line segments is performed in an image processing device using the Bresenham'"'"'s line algorithm.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein both calculation of the plurality of nodes and calculation of the line segments are all performed in one camera unit.

15. A system for generating driving corridor markers which are displayed to be superimposed on an image of the vehicle'"'"'s periphery,

wherein the driving corridor markers are dynamically-changed and overlaid to the image obtained by an image sensor in a camera unit according to variation of steering angle and the dynamic change of the markers is generated from calculation of coordinates of a plurality of nodes according to one of the following quadratic and cubic Bezier curve equations and calculation of line segments connecting the plurality of nodes:

X(t)=X₀(1−

t)²+X₁2t(1−

t)+X₂t²

or

Y(t)=Y₀(1−

t)²+Y₁2t(1−

t)+Y₂t²

X(t)=X₀(1−

t)³+X₁3t(1−

t)²++X₂3t²(1−

t)+X₃t³

Y(t)=Y₀(1−

t)³+Y₁3t(1−

t)²++Y₂3t²(1−

t)+Y₃t³

where X₀, Y₀, X₁, Y₁, X₂, Y₂, X₃, and Y₃ are the coordinates of control points, and t is a parameter, changing in the range of [0, 1], and

wherein the plurality of nodes is calculated from a set of control points of Bezier curve according to the variation of steering angle and the set of control points is stored in a non-volatile memory in a form of look-up table.

16. A system for generating driving corridor markers according to claim 15,

wherein the plurality of nodes is calculated by an interface controller outside an image processing device.

17. A system for generating driving corridor markers according to claim 16, wherein connecting the plurality of nodes with the line segments is performed by the image processing device.

18. A system for generating driving corridor markers according to claim 17, wherein the interface controller and the image processing device are all embedded in one camera unit.