Method for displaying extended images, associated system, computer program and vehicle

Abstract

Method for displaying extended images, associated system, computer program and vehicle The present invention relates to a method for displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle (2) having a front hood (6), each extended image (10) comprising a visible area (12) by a user (4) of the vehicle (2) and a masked area (14) by the front hood of the vehicle, said vehicle (2) being equipped with at least one external camera (8) having a field of vision oriented towards the lower front of said vehicle, comprising steps of: -estimating a position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle, -processing images captured by said at least one external camera to obtain extended images of the lower front of the vehicle, implementing a superposition, on each captured image, of a representation of an outline (16) of the front hood (6) of the vehicle, said representation being carried out as a function of said position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle,and displaying said extended images on an on-board display device. Figure for abstract: Figure 1,

Description

Title of the invention: Method for displaying extended images, associated system, computer program and vehicle

[0001] The present invention relates to a method of displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle having a front hood, each extended image comprising an area visible to a user of the vehicle and an area masked by the front hood of the vehicle.

[0002] The invention also relates to a system for displaying extended images of a lower front of an associated vehicle, an associated computer program and an associated vehicle.

[0003] The invention lies in the field of vehicles, in particular motor vehicles, equipped with improved functionalities, in particular to increase safety and user satisfaction.

[0004] More and more motor vehicles are equipped with exterior cameras, which make it possible to provide driving assistance, in particular to view hidden areas or blind spots, thus making it possible to avoid collisions or to avoid damaging the motor vehicle during a maneuver.

[0005] In particular, in a known manner, motor vehicles are equipped with a front hood, which is therefore located at the lower front of the vehicle and which blocks the visibility of an area located at the lower front of the vehicle, which is thus masked. Such a masked area prevents a user of the vehicle, for example the driver, from seeing low obstacles, whether fixed objects or moving obstacles, for example small animals. Depending on the situation, this lack of visibility can lead to collisions or accidents.

[0006] There is therefore a need to improve the visibility of the areas located at the lower front of the motor vehicle, in particular the areas masked by the presence of the front hood.

[0007] A solution to this problem is known, consisting of displaying images captured by an external camera placed outside the vehicle, the field of vision of which captures the lower front of the vehicle. However, the parallel display of the actual image of the lower front of the vehicle, comprising the area visible to the user only, and images captured by an external camera requires an effort from the user to reconcile the two views, and is therefore not always satisfactory in terms of comfort and reduction of cognitive load.

[0008] Complex image processing solutions are also known, implementing storage of images captured by several external cameras to calculate images of the masked areas. Such solutions require adding hardware components, including computing processors and memories, and are therefore expensive.

[0009] The aim of the invention is then to propose a method and a system for displaying extended images allowing the user to view an area masked by the front hood of the vehicle, which consumes less hardware resources while providing comfort and an improved user experience for the user.

[0010] For this purpose, the subject of the invention is a method for displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle having a front hood, each extended image comprising an area visible to a user of the vehicle and an area masked by the front hood of the vehicle, said vehicle being equipped with at least one external camera having a field of vision oriented towards the lower front of said vehicle, and including said visible area and masked area, the method being implemented by a calculation processor of an on-board programmable electronic device connected to said at least one external camera. This method comprises steps of: - estimation of the position of the vehicle user's eyes, - processing of images captured by said at least one external camera for obtaining extended images of the lower front of the vehicle, implementing a superposition, on each image captured by said at least one external camera, of a representation of an outline of the front hood of the vehicle, said representation being produced as a function of said position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle, and - displaying said extended images on an on-board display device.

[0011] Advantageously, the proposed method requires only one or more external cameras located at the lower front of the vehicle and a conventional calculation processor, which does not require the addition of expensive hardware resources. In addition, advantageously, the superposition of a representation of an outline of the front hood of the vehicle as a function of the position of the user's eyes helps the user to visualize the delimitation between the area masked by the hood and the visible area, therefore to locate themselves spatially and understand the environment without any particular cognitive effort. Thus, the comfort and experience of the user are improved.

[0012] According to other advantageous aspects of the invention, the method for displaying extended images of a low front of a vehicle comprises one or more of the following features, taken individually or in all technically possible combinations.

[0013] The processing implements a calculation of said representation of the outline of the front hood of the vehicle, further using information, previously recorded, relating to the model of the vehicle.

[0014] The position of the user's eyes is predetermined and previously recorded.

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

[0020]

[0021] The method is implemented in a vehicle further comprising an interior camera facing the interior of the vehicle, the estimation of a position of the user's eyes comprising a determination of the position of the user's eyes using images captured by said interior camera. The method further comprises a step of correcting said extended images to obtain corrected extended images before the display step, the correction step being configured to transform said field of vision of said at least one camera into a user field of vision according to said position of the user's eyes. The invention also relates to a system for displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle having a front hood, each extended image comprising an area visible to a user of the vehicle and an area masked by the front hood of the vehicle, said vehicle being equipped with at least one exterior camera having a field of vision oriented towards the lower front of said vehicle, and including said visible area and masked area, the display system comprising said at least one exterior camera, an on-board programmable electronic device connected to said at least one exterior camera, the on-board programmable electronic device comprising a calculation processor and an on-board display device. This system is tek that the calculation processor is configured to implement: - a module for estimating a position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle, - a module for processing images captured by said at least one camera to obtain extended images of the lower front of the vehicle, implementing a superposition, on each image captured by said at least one camera, of a representation of an outline of the front hood of the vehicle, said representation being produced as a function of said position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle, - a display module on an on-board display device for displaying said extended images. According to one feature, the processing module implements a calculation of said representation of the outline of the front hood of the vehicle further using previously recorded information relating to the model of the vehicle. According to one feature, the system further comprises an interior camera oriented towards an interior of the vehicle, the module for estimating a position of the user's eyes implementing a determination of the position of the user's eyes using images captured by said interior camera. According to one feature, the on-board display device is a display screen arranged on a dashboard of said vehicle. The invention also relates to a computer program comprising ins Software instructions which, when executed by a computer, implement a method of displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle as defined above.

[0022] The invention also relates to a vehicle comprising a system for displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle as defined above.

[0023] The invention will appear more clearly on reading the description which follows, given solely by way of non-limiting example, and made with reference to the drawings in which:

[0024] [Fig-1] [Fig.l] is a schematic illustration of a motor vehicle equipped of an extended image display system;

[0025] [Fig.2] [Fig.2] a schematic representation of an image display system extended according to an embodiment;

[0026] [Fig.3] [Fig.3] is a synopsis of the main stages of a display process of extended images according to one embodiment.

[0027] A motor vehicle 2 and a user 4 of the motor vehicle, for example the driver of the motor vehicle, are shown schematically in [Fig.l].

[0028] In the remainder of the description, reference will be made to vehicle 2.

[0029] A reference frame R which is a three-dimensional reference frame, formed of three axes (X, Y, Z) perpendicular two by two is associated with the vehicle 2. The eyes of the user 4 are located at a height hi in the reference frame R, the height hi being considered as being the position of the eyes of the user 4, making it possible to define a direction D delimiting a spatial zone Pi visible by the user at the lower front of the vehicle. Indeed, the visible zone Pi is delimited by the front hood 6 of the vehicle 2. In other words, the direction D delimits the visibility angle of the user. The direction D is for example represented by a vector in the three-dimensional reference frame R.

[0030] Another spatial zone P2, also located at the lower front of the vehicle 2, is an area masked by the front hood 6 of the vehicle 2.

[0031] The vehicle 2 is further equipped with an exterior camera 8, or several exterior cameras not shown in the figures, having a field of vision oriented towards the lower front of the vehicle. The exterior camera 8 is adapted to capture images including an area visible 12 by the user 4 (corresponding to the spatial area PI in the captured image) and an area masked 14 by the front hood 6 (corresponding to the spatial area P2 in the captured image).

[0032] Furthermore, advantageously, the invention proposes the display of extended images 10, formed from the images captured by the external camera 8 and further comprising, superimposed, a representation of an outline 16 of the front hood 6 of the vehicle 2. This representation is a function of the position of the user's eyes, and consequently of the direction D. In other words, the outline 16 of the hood represented in overlay on each extended image 10 is a representation of the contour of the front hood 6 as seen by the user 4 of the vehicle 2. For example, the contour 16 is represented by a smooth curve with a color, preferably with a green color, and the width of the smooth curve is predefined or modifiable by the user.

[0033] [Fig.2] schematically illustrates a system 20 for displaying extended images of a low front of a vehicle 2.

[0034] The system 20 is installed in a vehicle, for example a motor vehicle.

[0035] The system 20 comprises a first camera 8, which is an external camera, having a field of vision oriented towards the low front of the vehicle 2.

[0036] According to variants, several exterior cameras 8 are positioned at the lower front of the vehicle 2, so as to make it possible to capture a wider field of vision by combining the fields of vision of each exterior camera.

[0037] The external camera 8 is connected to an on-board programmable electronic device 22 forming part of the system 20.

[0038] The programmable electronic device 22 comprises or is connected to an on-board display device 24.

[0039] For example, the display device 24 is a display screen arranged on a dashboard (not shown) of the vehicle 2.

[0040] Optionally, the vehicle 2 also comprises an interior camera 26, positioned inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle and oriented towards the interior of the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

[0041] The interior camera 26 is associated with or comprises a unit for determining the position of the eyes of a user 4 of the vehicle 2. Thus, the position of the eyes of the user can be determined in real time and this information of the position of the eyes is used to dynamically determine the position of the contour of the vehicle.

[0042] For example, the interior camera 26 is part of a DMS (for “Driver Monitoring Systems” in English) device, connected to the on-board programmable electronic device 22.

[0043] The on-board programmable electronic device 22 is for example an on-board electronic calculation unit ECU, and comprises at least one calculation processor 28 and an electronic memory unit 30.

[0044] The on-board programmable electronic device 22 comprises: - a module 32 for estimating the position of the vehicle user's eyes, - a module 34 for processing images captured by the external camera 8 to obtain extended images of the lower front of the vehicle, implementing a superposition, on each image captured by said camera, of a representation of an outline of the front hood of the vehicle, the representation being produced according to the position of the eyes of the vehicle user, - a module 36 for displaying extended images on the on-board display device 24.

[0045] For example, the position of the driver's eyes is expressed by a height in the spatial reference frame R associated with the vehicle.

[0046] In the case where an interior camera 26 is present, the module 32 is configured to estimate a position of the user's eyes from images provided by the interior camera 26.

[0047] Preferably, the electronic memory unit 30 is configured to store information 38 relating to the model of the vehicle 2, this information 38 including in particular information relating to the shape of the vehicle 2, this information being in particular usable for generating the outline of the front hood of the vehicle which is represented in the extended images.

[0048] Preferably, the display of the extended images is carried out substantially in real time following the capture of the images by the external camera 8, advantageously allowing the user 4 to view in real time the extended images of the lower front of the vehicle, including the masked area.

[0049] The calculation processor 28 is configured to implement the modules 32, 34, 36 when the programmable electronic device 22 is powered up.

[0050] In one embodiment, the modules 32, 34, 36 are produced in the form of software instructions forming a computer program, which, when executed by a computer, implements a method for displaying extended images according to the invention.

[0051] The computer program comprising software instructions is further capable of being recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium is, for example, a medium capable of storing the electronic instructions and of being coupled to a bus of a computer system. For example, the readable medium is an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM memory, a RAM memory, any type of non-volatile memory (for example EPROM, EEPROM, FLASH, NVRAM), a magnetic card or an optical card.

[0052] In a variant not shown, the modules 32, 34, 36 are each produced in the form of programmable logic components, such as FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), microprocessors, GPGPU components (General-purpose processing on graphics processing), or even dedicated integrated circuits, such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits).

[0053] [Fig. 3] is a block diagram of the main steps of an embodiment of the method for displaying extended images of the lower front of a vehicle implemented by the extended image display system 20.

[0054] The method comprises a step 40 of estimating a position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle.

[0055] The position of the vehicle's eyes is preferably expressed in a three-dimensional reference frame associated with the vehicle, for example the R reference frame.

[0056] According to a first variant, the position of the eyes is a fixed position, previously recorded. For example, the fixed position is an average position estimated for all users, making a fixed angle between the projection direction D and the ground, the fixed angle being a predefined value between 20° and 45° depending on the vehicle model.

[0057] In other words, the estimated eye position is fixed in this embodiment for a given vehicle model, and it is read from a memory in step 40.

[0058] According to a second variant, when the vehicle is equipped with an interior camera, the estimated position of the eyes is calculated from images captured by the interior camera.

[0059] The estimated eye position then makes it possible to calculate the projection, the direction D delimiting the portion of the lower front of the vehicle visible to the user, the direction D being a function of the position of the user's eyes, as is clearly shown in the representation of [Fig.l].

[0060] The method then comprises a step 42 of processing the images captured by the external camera.

[0061] The processing comprises, for each image captured by the external camera, the superposition of an outline of the front hood of the vehicle. The representation of the outline is a function of the position of the driver's eyes, and more particularly as a function of the direction D delimiting the portion of the lower front of the vehicle visible to the user. Indeed, the representation of the outline is positioned according to the projection in the direction D in the image captured by the external camera.

[0062] Preferably, the shape of the contour of the hood is calculated based on information relating to the model of the vehicle, so as to realistically represent a silhouette of the vehicle 2.

[0063] For example, hood contour shapes are pre-calculated and recorded, based on vehicle model and user eye positions.

[0064] Advantageously, step 42 is fast and consumes few computing resources.

[0065] For example, the representation of the contour is drawn, for example in the form of a colored line, on the image captured by the external camera. Preferably, the colored line is a smooth curve with a green color or with several colors, and the width of the smooth curve is predefined according to the vehicle model or modifiable by the user.

[0066] Advantageously, the contour thus represented allows the user to determine easily and without cognitive effort which part of the extended image comprises the zone hidden by the vehicle's hood, realistically.

[0067] According to an optional variant, the processing 42 further comprises a recalibration, making it possible to obtain, from first images obtained by the external camera, second images recentered relative to the position of the user's eyes. The extended images are then obtained by representing the outline of the front hood of the vehicle on the second recentered images. Advantageously, the extended images thus obtained correspond to the position of the user's eyes.

[0068] The method then comprises a step 44 of displaying the extended image thus obtained on a chosen on-board display device.

[0069] Optionally, the method comprises a step 43 of correcting the extended images to obtain corrected extended images before the display step 44, the correction step 43 being configured to transform said field of vision of said at least one camera into a user field of vision according to said position of the user's eyes.

[0070] Advantageously, the proposed extended image display method consumes few computing resources but nevertheless makes it possible to obtain a realistic and informative representation for the user of the vehicle. Safety and driving comfort are then improved.

Claims

Claims

1. A method for displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle (2) having a front hood (6), each extended image (10) comprising a visible area (12) by a user (4) of the vehicle (2) and a masked area (14) by the front hood of the vehicle, said vehicle (2) being equipped with at least one external camera (8) having a field of vision oriented towards the lower front of said vehicle, and including said visible area (12) and masked area (14), the method being implemented by a calculation processor (28) of an on-board programmable electronic device (22) connected to said at least one external camera (8), and characterized in that it comprises steps of: - estimating (40) a position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle, - processing (42) images captured by said at least one external camera to obtain extended images of the lower front of the vehicle, implementing a superposition,on each image captured by said at least one external camera, of a representation of an outline (16) of the front hood (6) of the vehicle, said representation being produced as a function of said position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle, - display (44) on an on-board display device (24) of said extended images.,

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said processing (42) implements a calculation of said representation of the contour (16) of the front hood of the vehicle further using previously recorded information (38) relating to the model of the vehicle.

3. Method according to one of claims 1 or 2, in which the position of the user's eyes is predetermined and previously recorded.

4. Method according to one of claims 1 or 2, implemented in a vehicle (2) further comprising an interior camera (26) oriented towards an interior of the vehicle (2), the estimation (40) of a position of the eyes of the user comprising a determination of the position of the eyes of the user using images captured by said interior camera.

5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, comprising a step of correcting (43) said extended images to obtain corrected extended images before the displaying step (44), the correcting step (43) being configured to transform said field of vision of said at least one camera into a user field of vision according to said position of the user's eyes.

6. A computer program comprising software instructions which, when executed by a programmable electronic device, implement a method of displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle according to claims 1 to 4.

7. System (20) for displaying extended images of a lower front of a vehicle (2) having a front hood (6), each extended image (10) comprising a visible area (12) by a user of the vehicle and a masked area (14) by the front hood of the vehicle, said vehicle (2) being equipped with at least one external camera (8) having a field of vision oriented towards the lower front of said vehicle, and including said visible area (12) and masked area (14), the display system (20) comprising said at least one external camera (8), an on-board programmable electronic device (22) connected to said at least one external camera (8), the on-board programmable electronic device (22) comprising a calculation processor (28) and an on-board display device (24), the system being characterized in that the calculation processor is configured to implement: - a module (32) for estimating a position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle,- a module (34) for processing images captured by said at least one camera to obtain extended images of the lower front of the vehicle, implementing a superposition, on each image captured by said at least one camera, of a representation of an outline (16) of the front hood of the vehicle, said representation being produced as a function of said position of the eyes of the user of the vehicle, - a module (36) for displaying said extended images on an on-board display device.,

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said processing module (34) implements a calculation of said representation of the contour (16) of the front hood of the vehicle further using information (38) previously recorded relating to the vehicle model

9. System according to one of claims 7 or 8, further comprising an interior camera (26) oriented towards an interior of the vehicle, the module (32) for estimating a position of the user's eyes implementing a determination of the position of the user's eyes using images captured by said interior camera (26).

10. System according to one of claims 7 to 9, wherein said on-board display device (24) is a display screen arranged on a dashboard of said vehicle.

11. Vehicle (2) comprising a system for displaying extended images of the lower front of said vehicle according to one of claims 7 to 10.

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