Machine Display System With On-Board Camera Compression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current display systems for machines, such as hydraulic excavators, require expensive electronic control units with high processing power and memory to combine and compress image data from multiple cameras, leading to reduced image quality due to limited data link capacity, which affects safety and operability.
Innovation Solution
A display system with multiple imaging devices that store and compress image data in an uncompressed form, transmitting signals based on operating parameters to a display screen, allowing for efficient image display and reducing the need for costly ECU upgrades by utilizing on-board compression and selective data transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If image data is compressed to communicate volumes of image data from multiple cameras to the ECU, then data transmission is enabled within limited data link capacity, but overall image quality is reduced affecting tracking of people and objects around the machine
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the compression function into segments: each imaging device performs local compression of its own image data before transmission. This segmentation allows multiple cameras to operate independently with their own compression algorithms, enabling full utilization of data link capacity without compromising the quality of individual image streams that need to be tracked
Solution Approach 2:
Image compression is performed preliminarily at each imaging device before data transmission occurs. By pre-compressing images at the source, the system prepares data in an optimized format for transmission over the limited-capacity data link, ensuring that only essential visual information is transmitted while maintaining sufficient quality for safety-critical tracking functions
2Adaptability or versatility
If an expensive ECU with abundance of processing power and memory is used to combine images from multiple cameras, then a complete view of the environment is provided, but the overall cost of the machine increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the image processing and combination function from the central ECU and relocates it to the individual imaging devices. Each camera unit independently processes and compresses its own images, eliminating the need for an expensive high-performance ECU to perform these computationally intensive tasks centrally, thereby reducing overall system cost while maintaining complete environmental monitoring capability
Solution Approach 2:
Each imaging device serves itself by performing local image compression and preparation without requiring centralized processing resources. This self-service approach distributes computational load across multiple independent units, eliminating the need for expensive central processing power and memory in the ECU while still providing comprehensive environmental views through coordinated transmission from all imaging devices
Data Source
AI summary
A display system for displaying image data of an environment of a machine includes a display screen and a plurality of imaging devices communicably coupled to the display screen. Each of the plurality of imaging devices generates image data of the environment of the machine and has an associated operating parameter. The plurality of imaging devices stores the image data in an uncompressed form. The plurality of imaging devices compresses the image data and generates signals indicative of the compressed image data. The plurality of imaging devices receives the operating parameter associated with at least one another imaging device. The plurality of imaging devices transmits the compressed image data to the display screen based on the associated operating parameter and the received parameter of the at least one another imaging device. The plurality of imaging devices displays an image on the display screen based on the transmitted image data.