KR101939095B1 - A camera system for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

There is disclosed a vehicle camera system for capturing a forward or backward image of a vehicle using a camera and acquiring a plurality of pieces of information from the captured image, the vehicle camera system comprising: A processing device for dividing the image of each group and obtaining a plurality of different information from the image of each group processed; And an additional device for outputting the different information or controlling the vehicle according to the different information.

Description

[0001] A CAMERA SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE [0002]

One embodiment of the present invention relates to a camera system of a vehicle, and more particularly to a camera system of a vehicle for acquiring a plurality of pieces of information from an image obtained through a single camera.

In recent years, devices for consumer convenience as well as consumer satisfaction for power performance of automobiles have become popular. As an example of this, the spread of the front and rear cameras for parking assistance and the integrated display device capable of grasping the condition of the car at a glance is becoming popular. The driver can view a person (e.g., a pedestrian, etc.) or an object (hereinafter referred to as "obstacle ") around the vehicle through the front and rear cameras and the distance measuring sensor of the vehicle and the display device at the time of front or rear parking , The distance to the obstacle can be known.

In addition, a lane departure prevention apparatus or a front collision avoidance apparatus, which can prevent an accident that may occur during the running of a vehicle, in addition to the convenience for the parking assist, has become popular.

Conventionally, in order to implement such different convenience devices, a plurality of cameras must be provided in each vehicle for each convenience device, and accordingly, a separate image processing device has to be provided. However, the provision of the camera and the image processing device for each convenience device increases the production cost, and is not preferable due to the space problem and the complexity of the wiring in the vehicle.

Therefore, there is a need for a camera system for a vehicle that is simple and convenient compared to the prior art, and can improve user satisfaction.

To solve this problem, an embodiment of the present invention proposes a camera system capable of simultaneously implementing various convenient functions of an image obtained through a single camera.

A camera system for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention is a camera system for a vehicle. The camera system comprises: a camera unit including a distance measuring sensor and photographing the front or rear of the vehicle to obtain information necessary for driving the vehicle; The method includes dividing or allocating frames of an image photographed by the one camera unit, collecting the divided or allocated frames to generate N group images, applying different image processing algorithms to the generated N group images, A processing device for generating a plurality of different pieces of information; And an additional device for performing control of the vehicle using a plurality of different information generated by the processing device,
The processing device recognizes another vehicle located in front of the vehicle in the first group of images and generates information on the distance between the other vehicle and the vehicle using the distance information acquired through the distance measuring sensor , The processing apparatus generates information for recognizing the lane in the video of the second group,
The additional device controls the braking device of the vehicle using the first information on the distance to the other vehicle generated through the first group image and controls the braking device of the first group image based on the first And the steering device of the vehicle is controlled using the information.
Preferably, the processing unit selects frames of the image photographed by the one camera unit in a temporally alternating manner, and assigns the selected frames to each group.
Preferably, the processing unit divides the photographed image into N groups by frame, and the n-th group image consists of N * k- (Nn) th frames, where k is an integer of 1 or more, N is an integer equal to or greater than 2, n is an integer between 1 and N, and N is a common divisor of frames per second of the photographed image.
Preferably, the processing apparatus generates third information different from the first information and the second information in the image of the Nth group.
Preferably, the processing apparatus is composed of a plurality of processing apparatuses, and image processing algorithms applied to the plurality of processing apparatuses are configured differently, and the number of groups divided by the processing apparatus can be varied.
Preferably, the additional device displays the first information on the front vehicle recognition or the second information on the lane recognition generated by the processing device on the display unit and provides the information to the driver.
Preferably, the additional apparatus provides the driver with first information on the front vehicle recognition or second information on the lane recognition generated by the processing apparatus through the speaker in the vehicle.
Preferably, the additional device provides the driver with the first information on the front vehicle recognition or the second information on the lane recognition generated by the processing device through the in-vehicle aroma injector, using the incense.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, by implementing a camera system for a vehicle that can acquire information for a plurality of driver's convenience through one camera and a corresponding processing device, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost, There is an advantage to be able to do.

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a vehicle camera system according to the prior art.
2 shows a block diagram of a vehicle camera system according to an embodiment of the invention.
3 shows a block diagram of a vehicle camera system according to an embodiment of the invention.
4 shows the operation of a vehicle camera system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as limited to ordinary or dictionary terms and should be construed in a sense and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the technical ideas of the present invention are included. Therefore, It is to be understood that equivalents and modifications are possible.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 shows a block diagram of a vehicle camera system 100 according to the prior art.

The conventional vehicle camera system includes N cameras 10-1 to 10-N for capturing a peripheral image of a vehicle, N processing devices 20-1 to 20- N), and N additional units 30-1 to 30-N for outputting the processed result from the N processing units.

The system 100 of FIG. 1 may be provided with a total of N sets of cameras 10-1, 20-1, and 30-1 to obtain N pieces of information . Needless to say, N sets of cameras, processing devices, and additional devices are not necessarily required to acquire N pieces of information, but they have been described for simplicity of explanation.

The N cameras 10-1 to 10-N are cameras provided for acquiring N pieces of information, respectively, and can photograph the images of the surroundings of the vehicle, for example, front or rear, discontinuously or continuously.

The N processing devices 20-1 to 20-N can process the images obtained from the N cameras to extract necessary information. Each image obtained from the N cameras can be image-processed to extract information necessary for running or running of the vehicle.

The N additional devices 30-1 to 30-N can output information extracted from the N processing devices. The outputting of the extracted information means outputting the extracted information to the driver through visual or auditory means.

2 shows a block diagram of a vehicle camera system 200 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

The vehicle camera system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a camera 11 for capturing an image of the surroundings of a vehicle, an image obtained from the camera into a plurality of (N) groups, N processing units 21-1 to 21-N for processing the image of each group and N additional units 31-1 to 31-N for outputting the information obtained from the processed images of the groups .

The camera section 11 includes a camera provided to acquire information necessary for driving or running the vehicle, and can photograph the images of the surroundings of the vehicle, for example, front or rear, discontinuously or continuously. In addition, the camera unit 11 may include a distance measuring sensor (not shown).

The N processing units 21-1 to 21-N can process the image obtained from one camera unit 11 to extract necessary information. Each image obtained from one camera unit 11 can be image-processed to extract information necessary for driving or running of the vehicle.

For example, the N processing units 21-1 to 21-N can receive images from one camera unit 11. [ This image can be either a still image or a moving image. The N processing units 21-1 to 21-N may divide the image into N groups by frame. The division of the images into N groups by frame means that the frames are selected in the order of time (or temporally) for each group among the frames of the image, and the image is divided into N groups.

In other words, the N processing units 21-1 to 21-N receive the frames of the image in chronological order, and can allocate the frames to N groups one by one in the input order. If each group is assigned one frame at a time, you can assign the frames to each group again in the same manner. As described above, images can be assigned to each group through an alternate method.

For example, when the image is 60 frames per second and there are 60 frames per second in dividing the image into two groups, odd-numbered frames (hereinafter referred to as "odd frames" (Hereinafter referred to as "even-numbered frames") may be divided into a second group. Accordingly, the first frame may be allocated to the first group, the second frame may be allocated to the second group, the third frame may be allocated to the first group, and the fourth frame may be allocated to the second group again.

Accordingly, when dividing the image into N groups, the image of the nth group is a set of N * k- (N-n) th frames, where k is an integer of 1 or more and n is an integer between 1 and N.

On the other hand, if the image is a frames per second (where a is an integer of 1 or more), the number of groups that can be divided will be one of the common divisors of a. For example, when a = 60, N = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30,

The N processing units 21-1 to 21-N divide or allocate the frames of the image into respective groups and then collect, combine, or combine divided or allocated frames to generate N groups of images have.

In this manner, the N processing units 21-1 to 21-N divide the image into N groups for each frame, and can perform a processing operation on the images of the respective groups. The processing operation may be performed by an image processing algorithm and may recognize a specific object in the image to generate or acquire new information. Here, different image processing algorithms may be applied to the images of the respective groups.

For example, the processing apparatuses 21-1 to 21-N can recognize another vehicle positioned in front of the vehicle in the first group of images of the front images of the vehicle photographed by the camera unit 11. [ In addition, distance information with respect to the other vehicle can be obtained through a distance measuring sensor provided in the camera unit 11. [ In this way, it is possible to acquire information about the distance between the preceding vehicle and another vehicle. Further, the processing apparatuses 21-1 to 21-N can recognize the lane in the image of the second group among the forward images of the vehicle photographed by the camera section 11. [ The two examples described above are shown in Fig.

In the example of FIG. 4, the image photographed by the camera unit 11 is composed of 60 frames per second and is divided into two groups of images. In FIG. 4, the system # 1 acquires a first group image (for example, a set of 1, 3, 5, ..., 2k-1) frames of 30 frames per second and recognizes another vehicle located in front of the vehicle , And the system # 2 acquires a second group of images (for example, a set of 2, 4, 6, ..., 2k-th frames) of 30 frames per second and recognizes the lane.

On the other hand, since the images photographed by one camera unit 11 are divided into a plurality of groups, it is necessary to obtain necessary information from the images of each group. This means that the number of frames of the image of the divided group should be more than a certain level, which means that the number of groups that can be divided into the maximum is again limited. Thus, the number N of divided groups of images can be varied according to the implementation environment and user settings.

The N additional devices 31-1 to 31-N can output the information extracted from the N processing devices. 4, the N additional devices 31-1 to 31-N may display the front vehicle recognition information or the lane recognition information obtained by processing the image on the display unit (not shown) in the vehicle . Further, it is possible to inform the front vehicle identification information or the lane identification information by voice through the speaker in the vehicle. In addition, if the vehicle has a perfume (or perfume) injector, it may be able to inform the front vehicle identification information or the lane identification information using fragrance (or olfactory information).

Further, the N additional devices 31-1 to 31-N can control the vehicle using information obtained from the N processing devices. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when it is determined that the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle traveling ahead is approaching within a certain range, the additional devices 31-1 to 31-N control the braking device of the vehicle, . Alternatively, in such a case, the gear transmission of the vehicle may be controlled to assist the deceleration of the vehicle so that the engine gear operates.

In addition, as shown in Fig. 4, when the vehicle is not traveling at the center of both lanes, and the vehicle approaches the lane, etc., the vehicle steering apparatus is controlled so that the vehicle can be driven to the center of both lanes.

In the case described above, the additional devices 31-1 to 31-N may be devices for controlling either the braking device, the steering device, or the gear-shifting device.

Figure 3 shows a block diagram 300 of a vehicle camera system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Unlike the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the embodiment of FIG. 3 has the processing unit 21 and the additional unit 31 as one unit. The operations and functions of the processing device 21 and the additional device 31 of Fig. 3 are the same as those of the processing devices 21-1 to 21-N and the adding devices 31-1 to 31-N shown in Fig. 2 , And a description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in Fig. 3, if the processing device 21 and the additional device 31 are formed as one unit, the wiring in the vehicle becomes simpler, and it is possible to avoid the necessity of providing multiple units, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Having described the embodiments of the present invention above, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that these embodiments are illustrative rather than limiting, and that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention Variations, and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

11: camera 21: processing device
31: Additional device

Claims (8)

A camera system for a vehicle,
A camera unit including a distance measuring sensor and photographing the front of the vehicle to acquire information necessary for driving the vehicle;
The method includes dividing or allocating frames of an image photographed by the one camera unit, collecting the divided or allocated frames to generate N group images, applying different image processing algorithms to the generated N group images, A processing device for generating a plurality of different pieces of information; And
And an additional device for performing control of the vehicle by using a plurality of different pieces of information generated by the processing device,
The processing apparatus recognizes another vehicle located in front of the vehicle in the first group of images and uses the distance information obtained through the distance measuring sensor to calculate first information on the distance between the other vehicle and the vehicle Generate,
The processing apparatus generates second information for recognizing a lane in a second group of images,
The additional device controls the braking device of the vehicle using the first information on the distance to the other vehicle generated through the first group image and controls the braking device of the second A vehicle camera system for controlling a steering device of a vehicle using information.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the processing unit selects frames of the image photographed by the one camera unit in a temporally alternating manner and allocates the frames to each group.
The method of claim 2,
Wherein the processing unit divides the photographed image into N groups by frame, the n-th group of images comprises N * k- (Nn) th frames,
Here, k is an integer of 1 or more, N is an integer of 2 or more, n is an integer between 1 and N, and N is a common divisor of frames per second of the photographed image.
The method of claim 3,
Wherein the processing device generates third information different from the first information and the second information in the image of the Nth group.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the image processing algorithm applied to the plurality of processing apparatuses is configured differently,
Wherein the number of groups divided by the processing apparatus can be varied.
The method according to claim 1,
The additional device displays first information on the front vehicle recognition or second information on the lane recognition generated by the processing device on the display unit and provides the information to the driver.
The method according to claim 1,
And the additional device provides the driver with the first information on the front vehicle recognition or the second information on the lane recognition generated by the processing device through the speaker in the vehicle.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the additional device provides the driver with the first information on the front vehicle recognition or the second information on the lane recognition generated by the processing device by using the incense sprayer in the vehicle.

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