KR102381861B1 - Camera module, apparatus and method for driving information of a car including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

An embodiment includes an image acquisition unit disposed in a vehicle to acquire an image of a surrounding subject; a correction unit configured to set a portion of an image of a subject adjacent to the vehicle as a region of interest to correct the image of the region of interest; and a control unit that processes the corrected image of the region of interest to be displayed together with the image captured by the image acquisition unit.

Description

Camera module, device and method for displaying driving information of a vehicle including the same

The embodiment relates to a camera module, and to an apparatus and method for displaying driving information of a vehicle including the same.

In a high-speed vehicle, it is very important to form a driving space so that the driver can accurately look forward, left, right, and rear, and to monitor a very close position when parked or stopped.

That is, it is necessary to be able to look at the far rear of the vehicle when driving at high speed, and to be able to observe a position close to the vehicle when stopping the vehicle at a fixed position during low-speed driving, such as when parking or stopping.

To this end, the vehicle has a rearview mirror installed inside the vehicle to look immediately afterward, and an exterior mirror installed on the left and right from the outside of the vehicle to view the left and right sides of the vehicle so that the side and rear of the vehicle can be seen while driving. When the vehicle is parked and stopped, the invisible proximity position is detected by a rear detection sensor (proximity sensor, ultrasonic sensor, etc.) installed on the rear bumper of the vehicle or a rear camera.

That is, the above-mentioned outside mirror is used to look at the rear of the vehicle at a long distance or to check the rear seat passengers in the vehicle while driving, and the detection sensor or rear camera installed in the rear bumper is the rear of the vehicle that is not visible as the rearview mirror and the outside mirror. It can alert the driver by detecting foreign objects such as children and obstacles in the lower part.

In addition, the vehicle rear camera operates when the vehicle's gear is in reverse mode, can receive power from the vehicle's battery or tail light, and is connected to the navigation system by wire to provide an image of the rear of the vehicle when the vehicle is reversing. is displayed in the navigation.

However, the conventional vehicle rear camera and the like have the following problems.

First, when an image captured by the vehicle's rear camera is displayed on the navigation display device or an alarm sounds when an adjacent subject is detected, the driver can directly check the subject with the naked eye and drive in consideration of the distance to the subject.

Second, when driving a vehicle at night or in a dark environment, it may be difficult to visually identify an image captured by a rear camera, etc., even if it is displayed on the display device of the navigation system.

Third, even if another vehicle approaches from the rear or side of the vehicle while the vehicle is driving, it is difficult to confirm this in the navigation system.

The embodiment is intended to prevent accidents and increase driver convenience by enabling a driver to easily recognize an approaching subject while driving a vehicle.

An embodiment includes an image acquisition unit disposed in a vehicle to acquire an image of a surrounding subject; a correction unit configured to set a portion of an image of a subject adjacent to the vehicle as a region of interest to correct the image of the region of interest; and a control unit that processes the corrected image of the region of interest to be displayed together with the image captured by the image acquisition unit.

The ROI may be set based on a distance from the vehicle to the subject.

The region of interest may include a portion of an image of a subject having the closest distance from the vehicle to the subject among the images captured by the image acquisition unit.

The control unit may process the image of the region of interest to be displayed on any one of a plurality of partial regions of a predetermined display screen.

The plurality of partial regions may include four regions.

The plurality of regions may be set to be arranged side by side in the horizontal direction.

The control unit may process the image of the ROI to be displayed on at least two or more of a plurality of partial regions of a predetermined display screen.

The compensator may process the image of the ROI as pixels of the original image, or enlarge or reduce pixels of the original image.

The control unit may process so that the size of the subject of the image of the ROI is displayed on the display in the same way even when the distance between the vehicle and the subject is closer than a preset distance.

When the luminance of the image of the ROI is less than or equal to a predetermined level, the compensator may process the luminance of the image of the ROI to be higher than the predetermined level.

The compensator may receive the distance sensor information of the vehicle to set and correct the image of the ROI.

The distance sensor information of the vehicle may include location information where the distance sensor is installed.

The control unit may process the image of the region of interest to be displayed by matching the position of the subject according to the distance sensor position information to a display.

Another embodiment is the above-described camera module; and a display unit configured to display the corrected image together with the driving information of the vehicle.

Another embodiment includes: at least two image acquisition units disposed in a vehicle to acquire images of subjects in different directions; a distance measuring unit for measuring a distance of each subject from the vehicle; a control unit that determines the closest subject from the measured distance; a correction unit for correcting the image quality and/or brightness of the image of the closest subject; and a display unit for displaying the corrected image together with the driving information of the vehicle.

The display unit may display the driving information of the vehicle on a main screen and display the corrected image in a PIP method.

The display unit may display the driving map of the vehicle as the driving information of the vehicle.

The control unit transmits a distance between the subject and the vehicle in the image displayed in the PIP manner corresponding to the image displayed in the PIP manner, and the display unit is configured to be adjacent to the image displayed in the PIP manner, and the subject and the vehicle distance can be displayed.

The display unit may display the images in the plurality of directions in a PIP method.

The control unit corresponds to each of the images in the plurality of directions and transmits the distances from the respective images, and the display unit displays the distances from the respective images adjacent to each of the images in the plurality of directions. can

The plurality of image acquisition units may be respectively disposed at the rear and sides of the vehicle.

The distance measuring unit may transmit a signal to the subject and receive a signal reflected from the subject.

The apparatus for displaying driving information of a vehicle may further include a voice information output unit configured to output a direction and/or a distance of a subject in the nearest image to the vehicle as voice information.

The display unit may be a navigation device provided in the vehicle or a smart device provided outside the vehicle to receive a signal from the control unit in a wireless communication method.

Another embodiment includes the steps of acquiring an image of a plurality of directions outside the vehicle; recognizing a subject closest to the vehicle among subjects in the plurality of images; correcting the image quality and/or brightness of an image of a subject closest to the vehicle; and displaying the driving information of the vehicle and the corrected image on the display unit of the vehicle.

Driving information of the vehicle may be displayed on the main screen, and the corrected image may be displayed in a picture in picture (PIP) manner.

The driving information of the vehicle may indicate a driving map of the vehicle.

Adjacent to the image displayed in the PIP method, a distance from the image displayed in the PIP method may be displayed.

Images in a plurality of directions may be displayed in a PIP method.

A distance from each of the images may be displayed adjacent to each of the images in a plurality of directions.

The images in the plurality of directions may include an image of the rear of the vehicle and an image of a side of the vehicle.

The step of recognizing the adjacent images may include transmitting a signal corresponding to the plurality of images and determining a distance of each image from a signal that is reflected and received.

The method of displaying driving information of a vehicle may further include outputting a direction of the closest image to the vehicle as voice information.

Another embodiment provides a program stored in a recording medium implementing the above-described method.

The vehicle driving information display apparatus and method according to the embodiment identify the subject closest to the periphery of the vehicle, improve the brightness and image quality of the image of the closest subject, and display it in the PIP method and voice, such as in a navigation system inside the vehicle, The driver can safely drive the vehicle without colliding with the subject by identifying the subject approaching the vehicle through the PIP-type video and voice displayed on the navigation system.

And, when the corrected image and voice of the subject are provided through wireless communication to a smart device provided outside the vehicle, the driving state of the vehicle can be grasped from the smart device outside the vehicle, for example, the vehicle In the case of a commercial vehicle, the management can check whether the driver complies with safety driving rules, etc. from time to time through a smart device.

1 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of a method for displaying driving information of a vehicle;
2 is a view showing a vehicle equipped with a vehicle driving information display device;
3 is a view showing a process of measuring the distance between the vehicle and the subject in FIG. 2;
4 is a view showing a first embodiment of a device for displaying driving information of a vehicle;
5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating exemplary embodiments in which driving information and image information displayed on a vehicle display device are displayed;
6 is a flowchart of a second embodiment of a method for displaying driving information of a vehicle;
7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating exemplary embodiments in which driving information and image information displayed on a display device of a vehicle are displayed.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings to help the understanding of the present invention by giving examples and to explain the present invention in detail. However, embodiments according to the present invention may be modified in various other forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described below. The embodiments of the present invention are provided in order to more completely explain the present invention to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Also, as used hereinafter, relational terms such as "first" and "second," "upper" and "lower", etc., shall not necessarily require or imply any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. In this case, it may be used only to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element.

1 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of a method for displaying driving information of a vehicle, FIG. 2 is a view showing a vehicle equipped with a vehicle driving information display device, and FIG. 3 is a method for measuring the distance between the vehicle and the subject in FIG. It is a view showing a process, and Fig. 4 is a view showing a first embodiment of a device for displaying driving information of a vehicle, and Figs. 5A and 5B are exemplary embodiments in which driving information and image information displayed on a display device of a vehicle are displayed. the drawing shown.

Hereinafter, a first embodiment of an apparatus and method for displaying driving information for a vehicle will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5B .

As shown in FIG. 4 , an apparatus for displaying driving information of a vehicle according to an embodiment includes an image acquisition unit 210 , a distance measurement unit 220 , a control unit 300 , and a display unit 400 . In addition, the image acquisition unit 210 , the distance measurement unit 220 , and the control unit 300 may be referred to as a 'camera module', and the display unit 400 such as navigation and the camera module are used together to display vehicle driving information. can be called

The image acquisition unit 210 may include at least two image acquisition units 211 to 216 that are disposed in a vehicle to acquire images of surrounding subjects, and the image acquisition units 211 to 216 may be image sensors. there is. Here, subjects around the vehicle may be arranged in different directions with respect to the vehicle.

The distance measuring unit 220 may include distance measuring units 221 to 226 that measure the distance from the vehicle of each subject in the image.

The control unit 300 includes an operation unit 310 , a correction unit 320 , and a communication unit 330 . The calculating unit 310 determines the closest subject to the vehicle among the subjects in the above-described image from the distances measured by the distance measuring units 221 to 226, and the correcting unit 320 determines the image quality and / Alternatively, the brightness may be corrected, for example, the image of the region of interest may be corrected, and the communication unit 330 receives the above-described data from the image acquisition unit 210 and the distance measurement unit 220 and the display unit 400 . can transmit the corrected image.

A method of displaying driving information of a vehicle according to the present embodiment will be described in detail as follows.

First, an image of the outside of the vehicle is acquired ( S100 ). For example, it may be an image in a plurality of directions.

In the image acquisition unit, as shown in FIG. 2 , a plurality of image acquisition units 211 to 216 may be disposed at the rear, rear, and sides of the vehicle 100 . The vehicle 100 may be an electric vehicle, a bus, or other two-wheeled vehicle in addition to the illustrated passenger car.

The image acquisition units 211 to 216 may be a camera that is provided on the outside of the vehicle to capture an image of the surroundings, or may capture a still image or a moving image.

In this embodiment, two image acquisition units 211 and 212 are provided at the rear of the vehicle, two image acquisition units 212 and 214 are provided at the rear of the vehicle, and two image acquisition units ( 215 and 216) are provided, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and an image acquisition unit may be disposed in front of the vehicle.

The above-described image acquisition units 211 to 216 may operate while the vehicle is driving or in a state in which the engine is turned on, and each of the image acquisition units 211 to 216 may be provided to be rotatable.

Then, among the subjects in the plurality of images, the subject closest to the vehicle is identified (S110).

The distance measuring unit 220 includes a plurality of distance measuring units 221 to 226, and in this embodiment, each of the image acquiring units 211 to 216 corresponds to one distance measuring unit 221 to 226. can be placed.

In FIG. 3 , one distance measuring unit 221 is disposed on one image acquiring unit 211 , but the distance measuring unit 221 corresponds to the image acquiring unit 211 and a subject photographed by the image acquiring unit 211 . If the distance to the can be measured, it may be placed in another location.

In FIG. 3 , the pedestrian is being photographed by the image acquisition unit 211 , and the distance measurement unit 221 transmits a signal in the direction of the subject, the pedestrian, and receives the reflected signal from the pedestrian to measure the distance between the pedestrian and the vehicle can do. In this case, the above-described signal may be an ultrasonic wave or the like.

The distance measurement of FIG. 3 may be performed by each of the distance measuring units 221 to 226 provided in the six image acquisition units 211 to 216 shown in FIG. 2 , and the distance measuring unit 221 to 221 in the calculating unit 310 226), it is possible to determine the subject disposed closest to the vehicle by comparing the distances measured with each other.

In addition, before the image acquisition units 211 to 216 take an image of the subject, the distance measuring unit measures the distances of the adjacent subjects, and then identifies the closest subject and acquires only the image of the closest subject.

In addition, by setting a part of the image of the subject adjacent to the vehicle as the 'region of interest', the image of the region of interest may be corrected. In this case, the ROI is set from the distance of the subject from the vehicle, and the closest periphery of the subject may be the ROI.

Then, the image quality and/or brightness of the image of the subject closest to the vehicle is corrected ( S120 ). In this case, only the subject portion may be enlarged together with image correction, and the same applies to embodiments to be described later.

In a dark environment, especially at night, the image captured by the image acquisition device may be dark or of poor quality. It is possible to improve the image quality and brightness of the detected image.

Improvement of image quality and brightness may be performed by a known method, but is not limited thereto. Also, the corrector 320 may enlarge or reduce the image of the ROI.

The compensator 320 or the control unit 300 may transmit a signal to the display unit 400 to display the same size of the subject in the image of the region of interest even when the distance between the vehicle and the subject is closer than a certain distance. . In this case, the corrector 320 may receive distance information of the subject from the distance measuring unit and correct the size of the subject by reflecting the measured distance information.

Also, when the luminance of the image of the ROI is less than or equal to a predetermined level, the corrector 320 or the control unit 300 may perform a correction by processing the luminance of the image of the ROI to be higher than a predetermined level.

Then, the driving information of the vehicle and the corrected image may be displayed on the display unit of the vehicle ( S130 ).

In the communication unit 330, after improving the image quality and brightness of the image determined to be disposed closest to the vehicle, it is transmitted to the display unit 400, and the display unit 400 displays the received corrected image. can

In this case, the communication unit 330 in the control unit 300 may transmit the distance to the subject and the approach direction of the subject in correspondence with the image of the subject to be displayed in the PIP method. For example, the PIP may divide and display the screen of the display unit 400 into four regions, and the four regions may be arranged side by side in a horizontal direction or in a vertical direction.

The display unit 400 may be a navigation displayed inside the vehicle, and may display a corrected image transmitted along with driving information of the vehicle, such as a driving map, as shown in FIG. 5A , for example, the vehicle. It is possible to display the driving information of the vehicle as the main screen and display the received corrected image in a picture-in-picture (PIP) method. In this case, the above-described PIP-type image may be displayed by enlarging the image of the received subject, thereby facilitating the driver's recognition. In addition, the control unit 300 may transmit a signal so that the above-described image of the ROI may be displayed as one of the PIPs of the display unit 400 . In addition, a plurality of regions of interest may be set, and an image of the region of interest may be displayed on the plurality of regions of the display unit 400 in a PIP method.

In addition, the corrected image of the subject may be displayed together with the image of the above-described region of interest, wherein the image of the region of interest may be an image including a portion of the image of the subject adjacent to the vehicle.

Here, the 'driving map' may be a map indicating a map around the vehicle and/or a route to a destination as shown in FIG. 5A or the like.

In FIG. 5A , the driving map is displayed on the main screen, but the corrected image of the subject closest to the vehicle is displayed in the PIP method, so that the driver can check the image of the subject closest to the vehicle with improved brightness and image quality.

In addition, the control unit may determine the location information of the vehicle, and display the moving state of the vehicle on the driving map according to the location information.

5B is the same as FIG. 5A except that the distance from the vehicle of the above-described subject is displayed adjacent to the corrected image of the subject, thereby further providing the driver's convenience.

That is, only the PIP image is displayed in FIG. 5A , and distance information 1m between the subject and the vehicle in the image displayed under the PIP image is displayed in FIG. 5B .

In addition, information on a subject closest to the vehicle may be outputted by voice through a display unit of the vehicle ( S140 ), but this step may be omitted according to an exemplary embodiment.

The audio output of the subject information may be transmitted to the inside of the vehicle through a speaker 410 disposed in the display unit 400 , such as, for example, 'approaching an object to the right rear 1 meter of the vehicle'. In this case, the driver may grasp the approach direction and distance of the subject without looking at a display device such as a navigation system.

In the above-described embodiments, if the closest subject is identified in the vicinity of the vehicle, the brightness and image quality of the image of the closest subject are improved, and the PIP method and voice are displayed in the navigation system inside the vehicle, the driver displays the PIP displayed on the navigation It is possible to safely drive the vehicle without colliding with the subject by identifying the subject approaching the vehicle through the video and audio system.

In addition, the corrected image and voice of the subject transmitted from the communication unit 320 in the control unit 300 to a display unit such as a navigation device provided in the vehicle are transmitted to a smart device provided outside the vehicle in a wireless communication method. can be transmitted.

At this time, when the corrected image and voice of the subject are provided through wireless communication to a smart device provided outside the vehicle, the driving state of the vehicle can be determined from the smart device outside the vehicle, and for example, the vehicle In the case of a commercial vehicle, the management can check whether the driver complies with safety driving rules, etc. from time to time through a smart device.

6 is a flowchart of a method for displaying driving information of a vehicle according to a second exemplary embodiment, and FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating exemplary embodiments in which driving information and image information displayed on a vehicle display device are displayed.

Hereinafter, a second embodiment of an apparatus and method for displaying driving information for a vehicle will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 7B , but configurations overlapping with the above-described embodiments may be omitted.

The apparatus for displaying driving information of a vehicle according to the present embodiment may include an image acquisition unit 210 , a distance measurement unit 220 , a control unit 300 , and a display unit 400 as shown in FIG. 4 . there is.

A method of displaying driving information of a vehicle according to the present embodiment will be described in detail as follows.

First, images of a plurality of directions outside the vehicle are acquired ( S200 ).

The image acquisition unit may be a plurality of image acquisition units 211 to 216 at the rear, rear, and side of the vehicle 100 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 .

Then, among the subjects in the plurality of images, the subject closest to the vehicle is identified ( S210 ).

The distance measuring unit 220 may include a plurality of distance measuring units 221 to 226 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 .

Then, the image quality and/or brightness of the image of the subject closest to the vehicle is corrected ( S220 ).

As described in the above embodiment, the image quality and brightness of the image determined to be disposed closest to the vehicle in the image quality improving unit 321 and the brightness improving unit 322 in the correcting unit 320 can be improved, and in this embodiment In an example, the above-described image quality and brightness may be improved or corrected for images of other subjects.

In addition, the driving information of the vehicle and the corrected image may be displayed on the display unit of the vehicle (S230). In this case, unlike the above-described embodiment, all image acquisition units 211 to 216 other than the image of the subject closest to the vehicle. You can display the image acquired in the PIP method.

The communication unit 330 may transmit the images of the subject acquired by the respective image acquisition units 211 to 216 to a display unit 400 , and the display unit 400 may display the received images. In this case, the above-described images may be images with improved brightness and image quality.

In this case, the communication unit 330 in the control unit 300 may transmit the distance to the respective subjects and the approach direction of the subjects in correspondence with the images of the subject to be displayed in the PIP method.

The display unit 400 may be a navigation displayed inside the vehicle, and may display the corrected image transmitted along with the driving information of the vehicle, such as a driving map, as shown in FIG. 7A , for example, the vehicle. It is possible to display the driving information of the vehicle as the main screen and display the received images in a picture-in-picture (PIP) method.

7B is the same as FIG. 7A except that distances of the subjects from the vehicle are displayed adjacent to the images of each subject, thereby further providing the driver's convenience. That is, in FIG. 7A , only the PIP format images PIP1 to PIP6 are displayed, and in FIG. 7B distance information 1 to 6 distance information between the subject and the vehicle in the image displayed below the PIP format images are displayed.

In addition, information about a subject closest to the vehicle may be outputted by voice through a display unit of the vehicle ( S240 ), but this step may be omitted according to an exemplary embodiment.

The audio output of the subject information may be transmitted to the inside of the vehicle through a speaker 410 disposed in the display unit 400 , such as, for example, 'approaching an object to the right rear 1 meter of the vehicle'. In this case, the driver may grasp the approach direction and distance of the subject without looking at a display device such as a navigation system. Also, when images of a plurality of subjects are displayed in the PIP method, only information of the closest subjects may be output by voice to help the driver in recognition.

In the above-described embodiments, when the closest subject is identified in the vicinity of the vehicle and the images of the subjects are displayed in the PIP method and voice, such as in the navigation inside the vehicle, the image of the nearest subject is displayed with improved image quality and brightness, etc. can drive the vehicle safely without colliding with the subject by identifying subjects approaching the vehicle through the PIP video and audio displayed on the navigation system.

In addition, the corrected image and voice of the subject transmitted from the communication unit 320 in the control unit 300 to a display unit such as a navigation device provided in the vehicle are transmitted to a smart device provided outside the vehicle in a wireless communication method. can be transmitted.

The method of displaying driving information of a vehicle according to the above-described embodiments, that is, the method illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 6 may be stored as a program in a recording medium.

In the above, the embodiment has been mainly described, but this is only an example and does not limit the present invention, and those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains are not exemplified above in a range that does not depart from the essential characteristics of the present embodiment. It can be seen that various modifications and applications are possible. For example, each component specifically shown in the embodiment may be implemented by modification. And differences related to such modifications and applications should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention defined in the appended claims.

100: vehicle 210: image acquisition unit
211 to 216: image acquisition unit 220: distance measurement unit
221 to 216: distance measuring unit 300: control unit
310: calculation unit 320: correction unit
321: image quality improving unit 322: brightness improving unit
330: communication unit 400: display unit
410: speaker

Claims (20)

an image acquisition unit disposed in the vehicle to acquire an image of a surrounding subject;
a correction unit configured to set a portion of an image of a subject adjacent to the vehicle as a region of interest to correct the image of the region of interest; and
and a control unit that processes to display the corrected image of the region of interest together with the image captured by the image acquisition unit,
The control unit is a camera module that processes the image of the ROI to be displayed on at least two or more of a plurality of partial regions of a predetermined display screen. According to claim 1, wherein the region of interest,
A camera module set based on the distance from the vehicle to the subject. According to claim 2, wherein the region of interest,
A camera module including a portion of an image of a subject having the closest distance from the vehicle to the subject among the images captured by the image acquisition unit. delete 4. The method of claim 3,
The plurality of partial areas is a camera module including four areas. According to claim 1,
The plurality of regions are set to be arranged side by side in the horizontal direction. delete According to claim 1,
The correction unit, the camera module for processing the image of the ROI as pixels of the original image, or by enlarging or reducing the pixels of the original image. an image acquisition unit disposed in the vehicle to acquire an image of a surrounding subject;
a correction unit configured to set a portion of an image of a subject adjacent to the vehicle as a region of interest to correct the image of the region of interest; and
and a control unit that processes to display the corrected image of the region of interest together with the image captured by the image acquisition unit,
The control unit is configured to process so that the size of the subject of the image of the region of interest is displayed on the display in the same way even when the distance between the vehicle and the subject is closer than a preset distance. According to claim 1,
The compensator, when the luminance of the image of the region of interest is below a predetermined level, the camera module for processing the luminance of the image of the region of interest to be higher than the predetermined level. an image acquisition unit disposed in the vehicle to acquire an image of a surrounding subject;
a correction unit configured to set a portion of an image of a subject adjacent to the vehicle as a region of interest to correct the image of the region of interest; and
and a control unit that processes to display the corrected image of the region of interest together with the image captured by the image acquisition unit,
The control unit processes so that the image of the region of interest is displayed by matching the position of the subject according to the distance sensor position information to a display,
The compensator may receive the distance sensor information of the vehicle, and set and correct the image of the region of interest. 12. The method of claim 11,
The distance sensor information of the vehicle is a camera module including location information where the distance sensor is installed. delete The camera module of any one of claims 1 to 3, 5 to 6, and 8 to 12; and
and a display unit configured to display the corrected image together with the driving information of the vehicle. delete delete delete delete delete delete

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