Vehicle Image Acquiring Apparatus with Selective Distance Luminance Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image acquiring apparatuses for vehicles face challenges in achieving accurate object recognition while maintaining fine distance resolution, as shorter light emission and imaging times result in lower luminance and increased power consumption, and finer distance resolution prolongs the time required to exhaustively acquire images of desired ranges.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus includes a light emitting unit and an image acquisition unit that control light emission and imaging timings to prioritize higher luminance for specific distance ranges necessary for object recognition, enhancing contrast and accuracy without increasing power consumption or frame rate, and can intensively image target road environments or areas with detected objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the light emission time and imaging time are shortened to increase distance detection accuracy, then distance resolution becomes finer, but the luminance of acquired images decreases and object recognition becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging range is divided into multiple distance ranges, with at least one specific distance range assigned higher luminance than others. This segmentation allows the system to maintain fine distance resolution across all ranges while concentrating luminance resources on specific ranges where objects are most likely to be detected, thereby resolving the contradiction between distance detection accuracy and image luminance.
2Illumination intensity
If the light emission intensity is increased to improve image luminance, then object recognition becomes easier, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly increasing light emission intensity across all distance ranges, the system applies higher luminance only to specific distance ranges that are critical for object recognition. This local quality approach ensures that power consumption is increased only where necessary, maintaining energy efficiency while improving object recognition in critical zones.
3Measurement precision
If the number of times of light emission and exposure are increased to improve object recognition, then frame rate becomes high, but the time required to exhaustively acquire images of all imaging ranges increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the imaging process by assigning different numbers of light emission and exposure operations to different distance ranges. Specific distance ranges critical for object recognition are imaged multiple times to improve recognition accuracy, while other ranges are imaged fewer times, thereby reducing the total time required to exhaustively acquire all images.
4Measurement precision
If finer distance resolution is implemented to improve detection accuracy, then distance detection precision increases, but the time required to exhaustively acquire images of desired imaging range increases and apparatus cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies finer distance resolution selectively to specific distance ranges that are critical for object recognition, rather than uniformly across all ranges. This local quality approach maintains high detection precision where needed while reducing the overall time and cost requirements by using coarser resolution in less critical ranges.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach improves object recognition accuracy while maintaining fine distance resolution, reduces the time to acquire images, and lowers costs by focusing higher luminance and intensity on critical areas, enhancing safety and efficiency in various weather conditions and environments.
Implementation Method 1
emits pulse light forward from a vehicle having the distance image data generating apparatus in a predetermined cycle and images the reflected light from target distances
Data Source
AI summary
An image acquiring apparatus for a vehicle includes a light emitting unit configured to emit pulse light to a predetermined direction, an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of different images of target distance ranges by imaging reflected light returning from the target distance ranges at imaging timings set according to the target distance ranges, and a timing controller configured to control a light emission cycle of the pulse light and the imaging timings. The timing controller is configured to control at least one of the light emission cycle and the imaging timing such that among different target distance ranges, a range of a specific distance necessary for object recognition is imaged with luminance higher than that for ranges other than the range of the specific distance.