TWI709805B - Camera device and auto focuing system and method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a camera device and auto focusing system and method using the same. The camera device includes a lens module, a driving structure, and a converting module. The lens module is positioned on a vehicle. The converting module is configured for connecting to a computer and for receiving a control signal sent by the computer. The driving structure drives the lens module to auto focus according to the control signal. The driving structure includes at least one shape memory alloy line. The control signal drives the lens module to move by controlling the shape memory alloy wire to be energized or de-energized, thereby performing autofocus.

Description

Camera device and corresponding automatic focusing system and method

The invention relates to a camera device and a corresponding auto-focusing system and method, in particular to a vehicle-use camera device and a corresponding auto-focusing system and method.

Conventional camera devices for vehicles are mostly fixed focus (FF). However, a fixed focus camera device generally can only capture images within a fixed range, for example, within 1 meter. Therefore, it cannot meet user needs.

In view of this, it is necessary to provide a camera device capable of auto-focusing to obtain a clear image and a corresponding auto-focusing system and method.

A camera device, the camera device comprising a lens module, a driving mechanism and a conversion module, the lens module is arranged on a vehicle, the conversion module is used to connect to an on-board computer, and receive the on-board computer sent A control signal, the driving mechanism drives the lens module to perform automatic focusing according to the control signal, the driving mechanism includes at least one shape memory alloy wire, and the control signal controls the shape memory alloy wire to be powered on or off Electricity drives the lens module to move, so as to perform automatic focusing.

An automatic focusing system includes an on-board computer and the above-mentioned camera device. The on-board computer controls the camera device to obtain an image at a preset position and judges whether the obtained image is clear. When the on-board computer judges that the obtained image is not clear At this time, the driving mechanism is controlled to drive the lens module to perform automatic focusing.

An auto-focusing method applied to the above-mentioned auto-focusing system, the method includes: (A) obtaining an image at a preset position; (B) judging whether the obtained image is clear; and (C) when judging that the obtained image is not clear At this time, the driving mechanism is controlled to drive the lens module to perform automatic focusing.

The above-mentioned camera device and the corresponding auto-focusing system and method use the shape memory alloy (SMA) characteristics of the drive mechanism to realize the auto-focusing of the lens module, so that the camera device can obtain clear images in the car to meet the needs of users .

1: camera device

11: lens module

13: Drive mechanism

15: Conversion module

151: protection unit

153: Connector

155: conversion unit

17: Light compensation module

2: On-board computer

3: Autofocus system

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a camera device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention applied to an auto focus control system.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of an auto-focus control method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a functional block diagram of the camera device 1 applied to the auto focus control system 3 in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The imaging device 1 is installed in a vehicle. The auto focus control system 3 also includes an onboard computer 2. The camera device 1 can perform automatic focusing under the control of the on-board computer 2.

The camera device 1 includes a lens module 11, a driving mechanism 13 and a conversion module 15.

The lens module 11 is installed on a vehicle, and the conversion module 15 is used to connect to the on-board computer 2 and receive the control signal sent by the on-board computer 2. The drive mechanism 13 drives the vehicle according to the control signal. The lens module 11 performs auto-focusing, the driving mechanism 13 includes at least one shape memory alloy wire, and the control signal drives the lens module 11 to move by controlling the shape memory alloy wire to be powered on or off. auto focus.

In this preferred embodiment, the lens module 11 is arranged at a preset position in the vehicle, and the lens module 11 acquires images in the vehicle through its built-in image sensor. In this preferred embodiment, The image includes a face image, for example, a face image of a driver or a passenger. It can be understood that the lens module 11 can also be arranged at the rear of the vehicle to provide images when the vehicle is reversing.

When the shape memory alloy wire in the driving mechanism 13 is energized, it heats up and shrinks, when it is powered off, it cools and returns to its original length. Therefore, the control signal is controlled by controlling the shape memory alloy wire to be energized or powered off. The lens module 11 is driven to move for automatic focusing. It can be understood that the driving mechanism 13 may also be other existing driving mechanisms as long as it can drive the lens module 11 to move.

The conversion module 15 includes a protection unit 151, a connector 153 and a conversion unit 155 electrically connected in sequence.

The protection unit 151 is connected to a power supply, the power supply provides a first voltage to the protection unit 151, and the protection unit converts the first voltage (for example, 5V) into a second voltage (for example, 3.3V) and outputs it To the conversion unit 155. The protection unit 151 can prevent the conversion unit 155 from being damaged by excessive voltage. The connector 153 is connected to the onboard computer 2. The connector 153 is used to receive the control signal sent by the on-board computer 2 and send the control signal to the conversion unit 155. The conversion unit 155 is used to convert the format of the control signal. In this preferred embodiment, the control signal output by the vehicle computer 2 is a USB signal, and the connector 153 is a USB connector. The conversion unit 155 converts the USB signal into an I2C signal, and sends the converted signal to the lens module 11. In addition, the conversion unit 155 also provides a working voltage to the lens module 11.

It can be understood that the camera device 1 further includes a light compensation module 17, and when the lens module 11 is activated, the lens module 11 is optically compensated by controlling the light compensation module 17. In this preferred embodiment, the light compensation module 17 is an LED.

Please also refer to FIG. 2, which is a flowchart of an auto-focusing method in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The method includes the following steps:

In step 301, the image sensor in the lens module 11 is activated, and the lens module 11 obtains an image at a predetermined position through the image sensor. Specifically, the on-board computer 2 sends the control signal to the conversion module 15 through the connector 153, and the control signal is formatted and then output to the lens module 11 to control the image sensor. The detector starts and acquires an image of the preset position.

It can be understood that when the image sensor is activated, the lens module 11 is optically compensated by controlling the optical compensation module 17.

In step 302, the on-board computer 2 determines whether the acquired image is clear, if it is determined that the image is clear, then it proceeds to step 302, if it is determined that the image is not clear, then it proceeds to step 304. In this preferred embodiment, the on-board computer 2 judges whether the acquired image is clear based on the brightness value of the picture. Specifically, the on-board computer 2 stores a preset range, if the acquired image brightness value is not If it is within a preset range, it is determined that the image is not clear, and if the acquired image brightness value is within the preset range, it is determined that the image is clear.

In step 303, the on-board computer 2 performs face recognition on the acquired image. If the face information is recognized, the process proceeds to step 305, and if the face information is not recognized, the process proceeds to step 306. In this preferred embodiment, the on-board computer 2 determines whether facial information is recognized based on the existing face recognition technology, for example, whether the acquired image contains facial feature information.

In step 304, the on-board computer 2 controls the driving mechanism 13 to drive the lens module 11 to focus. In this preferred embodiment, the on-board computer 2 drives the lens module 11 to perform automatic focusing according to the formula AF=(a*(X^b))+c, where AF represents the lens module 11 Focus distance (also That is, the distance between the subject and the lens module), X represents the moving position of the lens module 11, X^b represents the b power of X, and a, b, and c are the positions of the lens module 11 Product parameters. When autofocusing, the on-board computer first sets a moving position X. At this time, the a, b, and c are constants. For example, when X=0.7, a=0.00372, b=-1.031, c =-0.00583, the corresponding focusing distance AF=-0.00046 can be calculated according to the formula AF=(a*(X^b))+c, and then the lens module 11 can be driven to focus according to the estimated focusing distance AF. After the focusing is completed, step 301 and step 302 can be repeated until a clear image is obtained, and then step 303 is entered.

In step 305, the on-board computer 2 identifies the recognized face image, for example, frame selects the recognized face image.

In step 306, the on-board computer 2 prompts that no facial image is recognized.

Step 307: The onboard computer 2 detects and displays the distance between the recognized face and the lens module. The distance between the recognized face and the lens module is the focusing distance of the lens module 11. Therefore, in this preferred embodiment, the on-board computer 2 is based on the formula AF=( a*(X^b))+c calculates the distance between the recognized face and the lens module.

The camera device 1 and the corresponding auto-focusing system 3 and method of the present invention utilize the characteristics of the driving mechanism SAM to realize the auto-focusing of the lens module 11, so that the camera device 1 can obtain clear images in the vehicle to meet the needs of users.

In summary, this creation meets the requirements of an invention patent, and Yan filed a patent application in accordance with the law. However, the above-mentioned are only the preferred embodiments of this creation, and the scope of this creation is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. For those who are familiar with the technique of this case, equivalent modifications or changes made by the spirit of this creation are all Should be covered in the scope of the following patent applications.

1: camera device

11: lens module

13: Drive mechanism

15: Conversion module

151: protection unit

153: Connector

155: conversion unit

17: Light compensation module

2: On-board computer

3: Autofocus system

Claims (6)

An auto-focusing system includes a vehicle-mounted computer and a camera device. The camera device includes a lens module, a drive mechanism, and a conversion module. The lens module is installed on a vehicle. The conversion module is used to connect to the vehicle-mounted computer. Receiving the control signal sent by the on-board computer, the driving mechanism drives the lens module to perform automatic focusing according to the control signal, and the on-board computer controls the camera device to obtain images at a preset position, and judges the acquired When the on-board computer determines that the acquired image is not clear, it controls the driving mechanism to drive the lens module to perform autofocus, and the on-board computer uses the formula AF=(a*(X^b ))+c to drive the lens module to perform autofocus, where AF represents the focusing distance of the lens module, X represents the moving position of the lens module, X^b represents X to the b power, a , B and c are the product parameters of the lens module. When performing autofocus, the on-board computer first sets a moving position X, and calculates the corresponding position according to the formula AF=(a*(X^b))+c Focus distance AF, and then drive the lens module to focus according to the estimated focus distance AF. The auto-focusing system according to claim 1, wherein when the on-board computer determines that the captured image is clear, face recognition is performed on the captured image, and when the on-board computer recognizes the facial information, it identifies the The recognized face image. The auto-focusing system according to claim 2, wherein the on-board computer detects and displays the distance between the recognized face and the lens module. An auto-focusing method is applied to an auto-focusing system. The auto-focusing system includes a vehicle-mounted computer and a camera device. The camera device includes a lens module, a driving mechanism, and a conversion module. The lens module is arranged on a vehicle. The conversion module is used to connect to a vehicle-mounted computer and receive a control signal sent by the vehicle-mounted computer, and the driving mechanism drives the lens module to perform autofocus according to the control signal. The improvement is that the method includes: Step (A) acquire an image at a preset position; step (B) determine whether the acquired image is clear; and step (C) when it is determined that the acquired image is not clear, control the driving mechanism to drive the lens module For auto-focusing, the on-board computer drives the lens module for auto-focusing according to the formula AF=(a*(X^b))+c, where AF represents the focusing distance of the lens module, and X represents all The moving position of the lens module, X^b represents the b power of X, a, b, c are the For the product parameters of the lens module, when performing autofocus, the on-board computer first sets a moving position X, and calculates the corresponding focus distance AF according to the formula AF=(a*(X^b))+c, and then according to the Calculating the focus distance AF drives the lens module to focus. The auto-focus method according to claim 4, wherein after the step (C), the method further includes: (D) when it is determined that the acquired image is clear, performing face recognition on the acquired image; And (E) when the face information is recognized, the recognized face image is identified. The auto-focusing method according to claim 5, wherein after step (E), the method further includes: (F) detecting and displaying the distance between the recognized face and the lens module.

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