KR20180067046A - Image view system and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an image system comprises: a plurality of cameras having the same view angle and resolution; a control unit for communicating with the camera, and controlling an operation of the camera; and a display unit electrically connected to the control unit, and playing an image received from the control unit.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a video system and an operating method thereof,

Embodiments relate to an imaging system including a camera and a method of operation thereof.

The contents described in this section merely provide background information on the embodiment and do not constitute the prior art.

The vehicle may be equipped with a camera for various purposes. For example, a camera capable of ensuring lateral and forward vision of a necessary vehicle during driving of the vehicle can be mounted on the front and side portions of the vehicle. Further, when the vehicle is parked, a camera module capable of securing a rear view can be mounted on the rear portion of the vehicle.

The images reproduced from all of these cameras may be combined to implement an around view image.

In addition, a camera module can be used in the case of a black box for a vehicle, which is very useful in tracing an accident or the cause of an accident in the event of a traffic accident in recent years. In addition, there is an increasing tendency that a camera is used as a recognition device for clearly and easily grasping a situation of a blind spot which is difficult for the driver or a passenger of the vehicle to visually recognize.

In recent years, there has been proposed a so-called smart car, that is, a collision warning system that detects the possibility of collision between the front and rear sides of the vehicle in advance and compares the possibility of collision, and a control system mounted on the vehicle. A collision avoidance system capable of avoiding direct collision is increasingly being manufactured, and the development of related technology is increasing.

As the use of cameras is increasing as a means of recognizing the external situation of such a smart car, production and technology development of a car camera are increasing.

Embodiments relate to an imaging system including a camera and a method of operation thereof.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

One embodiment of the imaging system includes a plurality of cameras having the same view angle and resolution; A controller for communicating with the camera and controlling an operation of the camera; And a display unit electrically connected to the control unit and reproducing the image transmitted from the control unit.

Wherein each of the plurality of cameras comprises: an image sensor in which an external image is imaged; An image signal processor electrically connected to the image sensor and processing an image received from the image sensor; A communication unit electrically connected to the image signal processor and communicating with the control unit; And a memory, electrically connected to the image signal processor, for providing the image signal processor with information about image processing.

Wherein each of the plurality of cameras is mounted on a vehicle and photographs an object located at a front, a side, and a rear of the vehicle, respectively, and the image signal processor mounted on each of the cameras is configured to detect a pixel number and an image distortion ) May be provided.

The image signal processor may adjust the number of pixels of an image formed on the image sensor.

The image signal processor may be receiving a portion of an around view image of the vehicle from the image sensor.

The memory may store at least one of a photographing direction, a gain, a brightness, and a contrast of the camera, the number of pixels and the image distortion degree of the camera.

The control unit may include a main processor, and the main processor may select or combine each image transmitted from the image signal processor of each of the plurality of cameras, and transmit the selected or combined image to the display unit.

The main processor may be configured to transmit a combined image having the same resolution as the lowest resolution image among the respective images to the display unit when combining the respective images transmitted from the image signal processor.

The image signal processor may transmit an image of a ratio corresponding to the display unit to the control unit.

Another embodiment of the imaging system includes a plurality of cameras having the same angle of view and resolution; A controller for communicating with the camera and controlling an operation of the camera; And a display unit electrically connected to the control unit and reproducing an image transmitted from the control unit, wherein each of the plurality of cameras comprises: an image sensor in which an external image is formed; An image signal processor electrically connected to the image sensor and processing an image received from the image sensor; A communication unit electrically connected to the image signal processor and communicating with the control unit; And a memory, electrically connected to the image signal processor, for providing information about image processing to the image signal processor, the image signal processor comprising: means for adjusting the number of pixels of the image imaged on the image sensor .

An embodiment of the image system operating method includes: an image imaging step in which an image is imaged on an image sensor provided in each of a plurality of cameras having the same angle of view and resolution; An image processing step of processing an image by adjusting the number of pixels of an image received from the image sensor by the image signal processor; An image processing step in which the control unit receives the processed image and selects or combines the processed image; And a display step in which a selected or combined image is reproduced on a display unit, and the image processing step may be performed by receiving information on a set number of pixels from a memory electrically connected to the image signal processor.

In the embodiment, by using the same type of camera for the front, side, and rear cameras with the same angle of view and the same resolution, it is possible to use the same application in each camera, thereby simplifying the role of the control unit, suppressing the occurrence of overload in the control unit, .

In the embodiment, by pre-processing the image reproduced in the display unit in the image signal processor, the role and configuration of the control unit including the main processor can be simplified, and the occurrence of overload in the control unit can be suppressed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an imaging system of one embodiment.
2 is a view showing the configuration of a camera of one embodiment.
3 is a view for explaining a method of adjusting the number of pixels of an image formed on an image sensor in an image system of an embodiment.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an image system according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are to be considered in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not limited thereto. It is to be understood, however, that the embodiments are not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but are to include all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the embodiments.

The terms " first ", " second ", and the like can be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. In addition, terms specifically defined in consideration of the constitution and operation of the embodiment are only intended to illustrate the embodiments and do not limit the scope of the embodiments.

In the description of the embodiments, when it is described as being formed on the "upper" or "on or under" of each element, the upper or lower (on or under Quot; includes both that the two elements are in direct contact with each other or that one or more other elements are indirectly formed between the two elements. Also, when expressed as "on" or "on or under", it may include not only an upward direction but also a downward direction with respect to one element.

It is also to be understood that the terms "top / top / top" and "bottom / bottom / bottom", as used below, do not necessarily imply nor imply any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements, And may be used to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an imaging system of one embodiment. The imaging system of the embodiment can be used, for example, in a vehicle, and can include a camera 100, a control unit 200, and a display unit 300. [

A plurality of cameras 100 may be provided, and each of the plurality of cameras 100 may be mounted on a vehicle and may be provided with an object positioned in a front view, a side view, and a rear view of the vehicle, You can shoot.

In FIG. 1, for example, a total of four cameras 100 are shown by combining two cameras 100 mounted on the front and rear sides of the vehicle and two cameras 100 mounted on both sides of the vehicle, However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the number of the cameras 100 may be five or more.

The plurality of cameras 100 may be provided as a camera 100 of the same type. That is, the plurality of cameras 100 may be equipped with the same type of camera 100 having the same view angle and resolution.

Conventionally, the front, side, and rear cameras mounted on the vehicle are each composed of cameras having different angle of view. For example, the front camera and the rear camera have an angle of view of about 130 ° to 140 °, and the side camera has an angle of view of about 70 °.

Further, when an around view camera is installed separately in the vehicle, the peripheral camera has a view angle of about 180 degrees or more.

Therefore, the peripheral cameras installed separately from the front, side, and rear cameras mounted on the conventional vehicle use different types of cameras having different angle of view, and the resolutions of the respective cameras are different because they are different types of cameras.

In addition, since the camera is a heterogeneous camera, applications that are software for controlling the operation of the camera are also used.

As a result, when a plurality of different cameras are installed and different cameras are controlled using different applications, the control unit 200 for controlling the cameras as a whole is complicated, and an ECU (electronic control unit) 200), there is a problem that an overload occurs in the ECU.

Therefore, in the embodiment, by using the same type of camera 100 having the same angle of view and resolution as the front, side, and rear cameras 100, it is possible to use the same application for each camera 100, The control unit 200 can suppress the occurrence of an overload, and the price competitiveness can be enhanced.

The controller 200 can communicate with the camera 100 and control the operation of the camera 100. [ At this time, the control unit 200 and the camera 100 communicate with each other in a wired or wireless manner, and the control unit 200 transmits a control signal for operation to the camera 100, Can be received.

The control unit 200 may be, for example, an ECU mounted in a vehicle. Accordingly, the control unit 200 can control various systems required for driving the vehicle, and can further process images received from the camera 100. [

The control unit 200 may include a main processor 210 and may communicate with an image signal processor 120 (see FIG. 2).

The main processor 210 may select or combine the respective images transmitted from the image signal processor 120 of each of the plurality of cameras 100 and transmit the selected or combined image to the display unit 300 have.

For example, when the driver of the vehicle wants to view an image of any one of the front, side, and rear external environments of the vehicle on the display unit 300, the main processor 210 selects one of the images To the display unit (300).

When the driver of the vehicle wishes to view an image of the combination of two or more of the front, side, and rear external environments of the vehicle on the display unit 300, the main processor 210 determines whether the images desired by the driver are combined It is possible to transmit one image to the display unit 300.

The main processor 210 includes a plurality of cameras 100 mounted on the front side, the lateral side, and the rear side of the vehicle, when the driver of the vehicle wants to view an image of an environment around the vehicle, To the display unit 300. The display unit 300 may be a display unit that displays a plurality of images.

When combining the respective images transmitted from the image signal processor 120, the main processor 210 transmits a combined image having the same resolution as the lowest resolution image among the respective images to the display unit 300 Lt; / RTI >

As will be described later, the number of pixels of at least some of the images transmitted from the image signal processor 120 may be different from each other, and the resolution of the image may vary depending on the number of pixels.

Accordingly, the main processor 210 transmits the combined image having the same resolution as the lowest resolution image among the images having the different resolution transmitted from the image signal processor 120 to the display unit 300 so that the driver can obtain a uniformly uniform resolution So that the user can view the combined image.

The display unit 300 is electrically connected to the controller 200 and can reproduce images transmitted from the controller 200. [ The display unit 300 may include a built-in system, a head-up display, or the like in the interior of the vehicle so that a driver of the vehicle can easily view an image reproduced on the display unit 300. [ .

2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a camera 100 according to an embodiment. The camera 100 may include an image sensor 110, an image signal processor 120, a communication unit 130, and a main processor 210, as shown in FIG. At this time, the image sensor 110, the image signal processor 120, the communication unit 130, and the main processor 210 may be provided in each of the plurality of cameras 100.

The image sensor 110 may receive the light passing through the lens to form an external image. The image imaged on the image sensor 110 may be transmitted to the image processor for processing.

The image signal processor 120 is electrically connected to the image sensor 110 and may process an image received from the image sensor 110.

The communication unit 130 is electrically connected to the image signal processor 120 and can communicate with the controller 200 by wire or wirelessly. The image signal processor 120 and the control unit 200 can transmit and receive mutual information through the communication unit 130. [

The memory 140 is electrically connected to the image signal processor 120 and may provide the image signal processor 120 with information about image processing.

The memory 140 stores the set number of pixels and the image distortion of the camera 100 and stores the image data of the camera 100 in a shooting direction, a gain, a brightness and a contrast At least one can be stored.

The memory 140 may also store information about auto exposure of the camera 100, an auto white balance (AWB), a high dynamic range (HDR), and the like, and the information may be stored in a look- table in the form of a table.

The image signal processor 120 can receive the information stored in the memory 140 and use it for image processing, if necessary.

In an embodiment, the image signal processor 120 may be provided with information regarding the number of pixels and distortion of image set from the memory 140. At this time, since the image signal processor 120 and the memory 140 are provided in each of the plurality of cameras 100, the set number of pixels and the degree of image distortions to be provided by the respective image signal processors 120 may be different from each other.

Each of the plurality of cameras 100 serves as a front, side, and rear camera 100 of the vehicle. Therefore, since the mounting positions of the respective cameras 100 in the vehicle are different, May be different from each other.

Accordingly, each of the image signal processors 120 receives information on the degree of image distortion set differently according to each camera 100 from each memory 140, corrects the distortion of the image, To the control unit 200.

The image signal processor 120 may receive a portion of an around view image of the vehicle from the image sensor 110.

That is, the front side, side, and rear side images of the vehicle are respectively received from the plurality of cameras 100, and the received images are combined in the main processor 210 to be transmitted to the front direction of the vehicle, And may be converted to a peripheral image integrated into one with respect to the rear side object and displayed on the display unit 300.

3 is a view for explaining a method of adjusting the number of pixels of an image formed on the image sensor 110 in the image system of one embodiment.

The image signal processor 120 may adjust the number of pixels of an image formed on the image sensor 110.

3, A × B and C × D represent the number of pixels of an image formed on the image sensor 110. That is, A × B has A pixels horizontally and B pixels vertically, and C × D has C pixels horizontally and D pixels vertically.

A × B represents the maximum value of the number of pixels of each camera 100, that is, the maximum number of pixels. Since the A value and the B value are the same for each camera 100, the maximum number of cameras 100 is the same. Therefore, each camera 100 of the embodiment has the same angle of view and resolution.

The C x D value may vary depending on each camera 100. The image signal processor 120 receives the C × D values set differently for the respective cameras 100 from the memory 140 and transmits the images corresponding to the set C × D values to the main processor 210. At this time, the C x D value can be selected based on the center of the image formed on the image sensor 110, for example.

At this time, when displaying a wide-angle image, for example, an around-view image, some or all of the images photographed by the plurality of cameras 100 may be displayed in the main processor 210, respectively.

Conversely, when displaying a narrow-angle image, for example, an image photographed by a specific camera 100 among a plurality of cameras 100, the number of introductory images of the image photographed by the specific camera 100 in the image signal processor 120 A ≤ B " state and can be transmitted to the main processor 210. [

The main processor 210 receives the processed images from the image signal processor 120 and selects or combines the images and transmits them to the display unit 300. The display unit 300 includes a main processor 210 To reproduce the received image.

In the embodiment, the image reproduced from the display unit 300 can be processed in the image signal processor 120 in advance, thereby simplifying the role and configuration of the control unit 200 including the main processor 210, It is possible to suppress the occurrence of an overload.

Meanwhile, the image signal processor 120 may transmit an image of a ratio corresponding to the display unit 300 to the controller 200. That is, the image signal processor 120 can reduce the role of the control unit 200 by enlarging and transmitting the image size at a ratio corresponding to the screen size of the display unit 300, It is possible to suppress the occurrence of overload.

If the vehicle is parked or if it is traveling at low speeds due to a large number of obstacles around it, the imaging system needs to implement and reproduce the wide angle image to eliminate dead zones around the vehicle as much as possible.

On the other hand, when the vehicle is traveling at a high speed, it is necessary to implement and reproduce the narrow-angle image so that the driver can easily recognize the situation of a specific area on the front side of the vehicle, and if necessary, -up) function to assist the vehicle driver in driving the vehicle.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an image system according to an embodiment. The method of operating the imaging system of the embodiment may include image forming step S110, image processing step S120, image processing step S130 and display step S140.

In the image forming step S110, an image may be imaged on an image sensor 110 provided in each of a plurality of cameras 100 having the same angle of view and resolution.

In the image processing step S120, the image signal processor 120 may process an image by adjusting the number of pixels of the image received from the image sensor 110. [

In this case, as described above, the image signal processor 120 receives the number of pixels and the image distortion degree set for each camera 100 provided from the memory 140 electrically connected thereto, and adjusts the number of pixels of the image , And image distortion can be corrected.

In the image processing step S130, the control unit 200 receives the processed image from the image signal processor 120 and selects or combines the processed image. The main processor 210 included in the control unit 200 may select or combine these images.

At this time, when a specific area of the external objects of the vehicle is reproduced on the display unit 300, some of the processed images are selected. For example, when an around view image is reproduced, .

In the display step S140, an image selected or combined in the main processor 210 may be reproduced on the display unit 300. [

While only a few have been described above with respect to the embodiments, various other forms of implementation are possible. The technical contents of the embodiments described above may be combined in various forms other than the mutually incompatible technologies, and may be implemented in a new embodiment through the same.

100: camera
110: Image sensor
120: Image signal processor
130:
140: Memory
200:
210: main processor
300:

Claims (11)

A plurality of cameras having the same view angle and resolution;
A controller for communicating with the camera and controlling an operation of the camera; And
A display unit electrically connected to the control unit and reproducing an image transmitted from the control unit,
. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein each of the plurality of cameras comprises:
An image sensor in which an external image is formed;
An image signal processor electrically connected to the image sensor and processing an image received from the image sensor;
A communication unit electrically connected to the image signal processor and communicating with the control unit; And
A memory, electrically connected to the image signal processor, for providing information about image processing to the image signal processor,
. 3. The method of claim 2,
Each of the plurality of cameras is mounted on a vehicle and photographs an object positioned in front, side, and rear of the vehicle,
Wherein the image signal processor mounted on each of the cameras is provided with information on the number of pixels and image distortion respectively set from the memory. The method of claim 3,
The image signal processor comprising:
Wherein the number of pixels of an image formed on the image sensor is adjusted. The method of claim 3,
The image signal processor comprising:
And receives a portion of an around view image of the vehicle from the image sensor. 3. The method of claim 2,
The memory comprising:
Storing a set number of pixels and an image distortion degree of the camera,
Wherein at least one of a photographing direction, a gain, a brightness, and a contrast of the camera is stored. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the control unit includes a main processor,
Wherein the main processor selects or combines each image transmitted from the image signal processor of each of the plurality of cameras and transmits the selected or combined image to the display unit. 8. The method of claim 7,
The main processor,
And when the respective images transmitted from the image signal processor are combined, a combined image having the same resolution as the lowest resolution image among the respective images is transmitted to the display unit. 3. The method of claim 2,
The image signal processor comprising:
And transmits an image of a ratio corresponding to the display unit to the control unit. A plurality of cameras having the same angle of view and resolution;
A controller for communicating with the camera and controlling an operation of the camera; And
A display unit electrically connected to the control unit and reproducing an image transmitted from the control unit,
Lt; / RTI >
Wherein each of the plurality of cameras comprises:
An image sensor in which an external image is formed;
An image signal processor electrically connected to the image sensor and processing an image received from the image sensor;
A communication unit electrically connected to the image signal processor and communicating with the control unit; And
A memory, electrically connected to the image signal processor, for providing information about image processing to the image signal processor,
/ RTI >
The image signal processor comprising:
Wherein the number of pixels of the image formed on the image sensor is adjusted. An image forming step of forming an image on an image sensor provided in each of a plurality of cameras having the same angle of view and resolution;
An image processing step of processing an image by adjusting the number of pixels of an image received from the image sensor by the image signal processor;
An image processing step in which the control unit receives the processed image and selects or combines the processed image; And
A display step in which the selected or combined image is reproduced on the display unit
Lt; / RTI >
The image processing step includes:
Wherein the information about the set number of pixels is provided from a memory electrically connected to the image signal processor.

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