Vehicle Surround-View Image Fusion for Tall-Object Distortion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automotive visual surveillance systems, such as bird's eye view systems, distort tall objects due to the assumption of a flat 3D environment, leading to inaccurate distance perception and uncomfortable image representation for drivers.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilizes panoramic vision cameras and measurement sensors like sonar, lidar, or 2D/3D radar to capture and correct image distortions, transforming perspectives based on precomputed distances and updating matrices with real-time distance data to create a more accurate 3D representation of the vehicle's environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a flat reference surface is used for perspective transformation, then the processing is simple and fast, but tall objects are distorted and stretched
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the flat reference surface with a curved reference surface that adapts to the actual 3D environment. This curvature compensation technique corrects the distortion of tall objects by modeling their true spatial positions rather than projecting them onto a flat plane, thereby resolving the contradiction between processing simplicity and image accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts the reference surface parameters based on detected object heights and positions. By changing the geometric parameters of the reference surface from flat to curved and adapting it to environmental conditions, the system maintains both processing efficiency and high image accuracy for tall objects.
2Measurement precision
If measurement sensors are integrated to update distance data, then the 3D environment modeling is more accurate, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines panoramic vision cameras with measurement sensors (such as sonar, lidar, or radar) into an integrated perception system. This merging allows the system to simultaneously capture visual information and distance data, improving 3D environment modeling accuracy while sharing processing resources across sensor types.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a multi-functional perception system where the same processing architecture handles data from multiple sensor types. The system can operate with different sensor combinations depending on availability, making the system universally applicable while maintaining high measurement precision through sensor fusion.
Data Source
AI summary
A method computes a final image of an area surrounding a vehicle, from at least one image captured in a first angular portion of the area surrounding the vehicle by a camera and a distance between the vehicle and a point in the surrounding area, which distance is determined, in a second angular portion located in one of the first angular portions, by at least one measurement sensor. The method includes capturing an image and, for each captured image, correcting a distortion in the captured image to generate a corrected image; for each corrected image, transforming the perspective of the corrected image using a matrix storing a pre-calculated distance between the camera and a point in the corresponding surrounding area; and adding the transformed images to obtain the final image. The perspective transforming includes adjusting the pre-calculated distance to the distance determined by the measurement sensor.