Surrounding Image Generation with Overlapping Area Metering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surrounding image generating systems for vehicles face issues with luminance differences between images from multiple cameras, causing discomfort and poor visibility due to brightness variations from different shooting areas, especially under varying sunlight, weather, and environmental conditions.
Innovation Solution
A surrounding image generating apparatus that determines overlapping areas between camera shooting regions to set focus and metering areas, calculates appropriate exposures for each camera, and generates a surrounding image with similar luminance values, eliminating luminance breaks and reducing computational complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If multiple cameras are mounted at different positions to capture surrounding images, then the coverage area increases, but luminance differences cause visible breaks and discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by determining specific focus/metering areas within each camera's shooting region and adjusting exposure settings locally for these areas. The exposure calculating unit calculates appropriate exposure values based on luminance information from focus/metering areas, allowing different exposure adjustments for different regions while maintaining overall luminance uniformity in the composite surrounding image.
2Manufacturing precision
If pixel-by-pixel color calculation is performed to combine images, then image combination accuracy improves, but computational time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential luminance information from focus/metering areas to determine exposure settings, rather than performing complex pixel-by-pixel color calculations. The exposure calculating unit uses luminance data from specific areas to calculate exposure values, which are then applied to generate the surrounding image, significantly reducing computational complexity while maintaining image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary exposure calculation based on focus/metering areas before generating the final surrounding image. The exposure calculating unit pre-calculates appropriate exposure values using luminance information from key areas, and these pre-calculated exposure settings are then applied during image generation, avoiding the need for time-consuming post-processing pixel-by-pixel calculations.
3Manufacturing precision
If exposure is adjusted for each camera independently, then image quality in each shooting area improves, but luminance breaks appear at boundaries between different shooting areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by using luminance information from focus/metering areas to calculate and adjust exposure settings. The exposure calculating unit receives luminance data from the focus/metering area determining unit and adjusts exposure values accordingly, creating a feedback loop that ensures luminance consistency across different shooting areas while maintaining image quality.
Data Source
AI summary
A surrounding image generating apparatus changes a viewpoint of images around a vehicle, taken by multiple image pickup devices mounted at different positions along the vehicle, to generate a surrounding image of the areas around the vehicle viewed from a virtual viewpoint located above the vehicle. The surrounding image generating apparatus includes a metering area determining unit determining at least one overlapping area in which the shooting areas of the image pickup devices are overlapped with each other to be a metering area for at least part of the image pickup devices; an exposure calculating unit focusing metering on the metering area for the at least part of the image pickup devices to calculate an appropriate exposure of each of the image pickup devices; and a surrounding image generating unit generating the surrounding image by using image signals generated in accordance with the calculated exposures.