WO2008138670A1

WO2008138670A1 - Method for displaying video images and video system

Info

Publication number: WO2008138670A1
Application number: PCT/EP2008/053471
Authority: WO
Inventors: Reinhard Meschenmoser; Dirk Luedtke
Original assignee: Robert Bosch Gmbh
Priority date: 2007-05-14
Filing date: 2008-03-25
Publication date: 2008-11-20
Also published as: EP2145157A1; DE102007022588A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for displaying video image in a means of transport, comprising the following: capturing image data by a video camera (2) disposed in the means of transportation, determining current position data of the means of transportation, determining object data from a database and linking the captured image data, the determined object data, and the determined object data such that display data are generated in which additional information from the database is added to the video image display. The invention further relates to a video system (1) for performing the method.

Description

description

title

Method for displaying video images and video system

The present invention relates to a method for displaying video images in a means of transport and to a video system for carrying out the method.

The visualization of geographical and / or topographical information on suitable display devices or monitors in means of transport, for example in motor vehicles, on boats and / or in aircraft, is becoming an increasingly important application. Thus, in navigation systems for motor vehicles, in addition to the illustration of a road network, the current position, the calculated route and / or the destination are also displayed on a display.

In known systems, the display has become more and more accurate and realistic in recent years, which has been made possible by the increasing performance of the microprocessors used in the systems for the graphics calculations. Thus, navigation systems for motor vehicles are already known, which offer three-dimensional or perspective representations of inner cities. For example, this already allows a virtual departure of a calculated route during the trip preparation, in order to prevent possible confusion of the driver in difficult driving situations. To ensure reliable recognition of the real local conditions, the graphic representation for the virtual departure must convey a realistic impression.

As a further application, it is known on the screens of the multimedia system of a commercial aircraft during the flight, the current aircraft position and other information about the flight, such as the altitude, the speed of the flight. speed, temperature and / or past or future time of flight. The aircraft position is visualized not only by an indication of location coordinates, but often by arranging an aircraft symbol on a map of the flight area shown below.

When visualizing in the multimedia systems of the aircraft, the passengers expect map presentations whose elements can be recognized easily and quickly when looking out the window. Thus, more accurate and realistic views of map representations are required.

However, the pursuit of increasingly realistic map displays is reaching its limits. On the one hand, the data collection required for this purpose is becoming increasingly cost-intensive, and on the other hand, the resolution of the map display is becoming so high that short-term changes in the real world can no longer be imaged in a timely manner. This applies, for example, to changes in the development of new buildings or changes in the course of rivers and streams. Even seasonal changes in the form of deciduous autumn and / or winter snow must be considered for realistic map displays.

However, with the current collection methods, such data can not be obtained within a reasonable time and cost framework. Also, the relatively large volume of data required to update the navigation database and the need for the relatively short-term or frequently-repeated update results in significant problems and technical difficulties.

For the guidance and control of a means of transport, it has been known for some time to provide the controlling person, in addition to his personal visual perception, with data from corresponding sensors distributed on the means of transport, for example radar or distance radar. In recent years, more and more systems have been developed in which the ability of the vehicle to perceive and interpret its environment has been achieved through the use of video cameras. In motor vehicles, there are video cameras, for example, take the function of rear-view mirrors to provide a clear view of the behind-the-vehicle environment when reversing or a parking maneuver. Furthermore, it is known to use video cameras in the direction of travel, for example, to improve night vision or lane departure warning systems. In commercial aircraft video cameras are often provided, which are directed to the underlying plane under the landscape. The images of these video cameras can then be shown and played back on the monitors of the multimedia system in the airliner.

Against this background, it is the object of the present invention to specify an improved method for visualizing geographical and / or topographical information in means of transport.

This object is achieved by a method having the features according to claim 1 and by a video system having the features according to claim 10.

In the method according to the invention for displaying video images in a means of transport, the following method steps are provided: acquisition of image data by a video camera arranged in the means of transport, determination of current position data of the means of transport, determination of object data from a database and linking of the acquired image data, the determined one Position data and the determined object data such that display data is generated in which additional information is inserted from the database in the video display.

This makes it possible to offer geographic and / or topographic data from a database with additional information, such as the name of an object, the address of a building or the name of a mountain, the viewer of the video image. Based on the current position and the knowledge of the arrangement and orientation of the video camera, the object data of the data - A -

tenbank are determined to objects that are shown in the corresponding video image. A suitable combination of the object data then enables the generation of the display data.

The essence of the invention is not to improve the graphical representation of a virtual image with respect to the resolution and realistic view and to insert additional information in the virtual image as before, but to integrate the additional, graphically generated information into a real video image. According to the invention, the displayed video image is thus a combination of real images with graphic image components.

Preferably, the method is performed in real time. This allows the viewer on the video display to receive additional information about the objects he currently sees out of the means of transport.

In order to make it possible to limit the data to be processed from the relatively large data volume of the database, it is provided according to the invention that, depending on the specific position data, the object data are determined for objects which are located in a detection space of the video camera, i. in the room in front of the video camera, which is observable by this. The detection space can also be called "View Frustum".

Advantageously, a graphical analysis of the image data is performed to recognize imaged objects. Through graphical analysis techniques, such as edge analysis, objects present in the video image can be identified.

Preferably, the detected objects and the detected objects are compared with each other and depending on the comparison result, the detected objects and the detected objects are assigned to each other. Since in each case a plurality of objects can come into question for an assignment, it is preferably provided that the comparison is carried out on the basis of position data of the determined and the detected objects.

In order to further improve the unambiguous assignment, it is advantageously provided that the shape, size and / or color of the determined and recognized objects are taken into account in the comparison. As a further clue, the possible occlusion by other objects can additionally be taken into account.

Advantageously, it is provided that due to the assignment of the determined and the detected objects, the current specific position data of the means of transport are corrected, since a higher accuracy can be achieved by comparing the geographical data from the database with the position data of the sensors. This makes it possible to recalculate the position data, in particular if these were originally determined by a satellite-based location system, for example GPS and / or Galileo, which usually has a certain degree of inaccuracy.

Advantageously, therefore, additional information streets, waters, localities, buildings and / or "point-of-interests" are labeled with the appropriate name or name in the video display.

The invention will be explained in more detail by way of example with reference to the detailed description of an embodiment with reference to the attached drawing, which shows a simplified sketch of the video system according to the invention.

The video system 1 according to the invention has at least one video camera 2, which is arranged in a means of transport (not shown) and detects an image outside the means of transport. The camera 2 is either permanently installed, ie immovably installed, so that the area covered by the camera or the view frustum is immutable with respect to the traffic orientation. Alternatively, additional sensors (not shown) may be provided on the video camera 2, which detect the viewing direction of the video camera 2 with respect to the orientation of the means of transport.

The current position data with information about the location and the orientation of the means of transport are determined by means of position determination sensors 3. These may be sensors for a satellite-based location system, for example GPS (Global Positioning System) and / or the European Galileo system. Furthermore, speed sensors, route sensors and / or curve sensors can be provided with which the current geographical position and the orientation of the means of transport are determined.

Furthermore, the video system 1 according to the invention has a memory 4, in which a database with object data is stored, which have geographical and totografic as well as any further suitable information. The image data acquired with the video camera 2, the position data determined by the position sensors 3 and the object data retrievable from the memory 4 are made available to a data processing unit 5, for example a suitable microprocessor. The data transmission from the video camera 2, the position sensors 3 and the memory 4 to the data processing unit 5 is indicated in the figure by corresponding arrows.

The actual data processing is carried out within the data processing unit 5 by a plurality of modules. Thus, the current position and orientation of the means of transport is first calculated on the basis of the position data received by the position sensors 3 in the module 6.

In the module 7, the video image of the video camera 2 is evaluated. This can be done by graphical analysis methods, such as edge analysis, and objects present in the video image are identified. With the aid of the previously calculated mode of transport and information as well as knowledge of the orientation and

Arrangement of the video camera 2, a position of the identified objects is determined. However, as video images lack the depth information, the positional only be carried out with a certain accuracy. However, the direction indication of a recognized object to the means of transport can be determined with sufficient accuracy. In this first step of the image analysis, however, initially only a rough approximation to the object position is required.

Subsequently, in the module 8, the objects detected in the video image are compared with objects to which the corresponding object data are stored in the database. The first starting point for the comparison to be carried out is the object position determined in module 7 or the indication in which direction the object is to the means of transport. In the database, the objects are searched for and determined, which are in the vicinity of the specific position data, and thus come as candidates for an assignment in question.

Often there will be several objects that can be used to match the detected and detected objects. In such cases, the color, shape and / or size of the objects, as well as possible obstruction by other objects may be taken into account as additional clues.

If objects from the video image can not be assigned, they will be discarded. Objects that exist in the geographic database and that would have appeared in the video image but could not be identified may be added and integrated.

On the basis of the comparison of the objects recognized in the video image and the determined objects from the database, a correction of the position determination calculated by means of the sensor data can furthermore be carried out. From the analysis of the image data in the module 7, the direction in which detected objects are located in front of the means of transport can be determined. It is possible to deduce the current position of the means of transport from the indication of the direction and the exact position of the objects which can be read out of the memory 4 of the database stored there. In the next step, which takes place in the module 9, the display data is calculated, ie the additional information from the database is inserted into the video image provided by the video camera 2. In this case, the assignment of objects in the video image to objects in the database that took place in the previous step in the module 8 plays a decisive role. These objects, such as roads, waters, localities, buildings, and / or point-of-interests, may be labeled with their names or designations. It is also possible to display additional information.

Also, objects not recognized in the video image can be labeled because their relative position to identified objects results from the geographic database. This can be useful, for example, in the case of partial obscuration of the objects by clouds and / or fog. Furthermore, direction indicators can be entered in the video image on assigned roads. Finally, it is also possible to trace unrecognized or recognizable edges of objects.

The thus prepared display data are now output and displayed on a screen or monitor 10. In a commercial aircraft, the multimedia system generally includes a plurality of such monitors 10. For example, in applications with only one monitor 10, this may be a TFT screen. If

Input devices are present, for example, a touch screen, an interactive output is possible. The user can thus retrieve additional information by selecting a displayed object and display on the monitor.

By in the figure to suggest the data streams between the individual components of the video system 1 and the individual modules 6 to 9 arrows is clearly seen that the modules 6 to 9 are not only used once and strictly one after the other. Rather, there is an interactivity between them, in particular between the module 7 and the module 8, since newly gained knowledge of objects in one module again helps in the respective other module that after a multiple and iterative run through the modules the assignment can be improved quantitatively and qualitatively.

Claims

claims

A method of displaying video images in a vehicle with:

Acquisition of image data by a video camera (2) arranged in the means of transport, - determination of current position data of the means of transport,

Determining object data from a database, and linking the captured image data, the determined position data and the determined object data such that display data is generated in which additional information is inserted from the database in the video image display.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method is carried out in real time.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the object data are determined to objects that are located in a detection space of the video camera depending on the particular position data.

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a graphic analysis of the image data is performed in order to recognize imaged objects.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the determined objects and the detected objects are compared with one another and, depending on the result, the determined objects and the detected objects are assigned to one another.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the comparison is carried out on the basis of position data of the detected and the detected objects.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that in the comparison, the shape, size and / or color of the detected and the detected objects are taken into account.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that due to the assignment of the determined and the detected objects, the current specific position data of the means of transport are corrected.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that as additional information roads, waters, towns, buildings and / or point of interests are labeled with the corresponding name or name.

10. Video system for a means of transport comprising: at least one video camera (2) for acquiring image data, - at least one position sensor (3) for determining current

Position data of the means of transport, a memory (4) in which a database of object data is stored, a data processing unit (5) arranged to combine the acquired image data, the current position data and the detected object data to generate display data in which in a video image display additional information from the database is inserted, and at least one monitor (10) for outputting the display data.