Vehicle Rearview Image Processing with Driver Gaze Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image display devices for vehicles struggle to clearly convey the positional relationship between the area behind the vehicle and the vehicle itself, making it difficult for drivers to understand their surroundings.
Innovation Solution
An image processing device that obtains images from vehicle-mounted cameras, detects the driver's face position, and clips and processes the images to superimpose a position image indicating the vehicle's position, allowing for a clearer display of the area behind the vehicle on a display device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a full rearview image is displayed without processing, then the complete area behind the vehicle is visible, but the positional relationship between the vehicle and surrounding objects becomes difficult to understand
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the rearview image into multiple regions based on the vehicle's position and the driver's viewpoint. By segmenting the image and selectively displaying only the relevant portions, the system maintains clear positional relationships while optimizing the displayed area. This resolves the contradiction by showing only necessary image regions rather than the complete rearview area.
2Loss of information
If the image is processed to show only relevant areas, then the positional relationship becomes clearer, but the visible range of the area behind the vehicle is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically adjusts the image clipping range and position based on the driver's face position and movement. As the driver moves or changes viewpoint, the system recalculates and updates which portions of the rearview image to display. This dynamic adaptation ensures that the maximum relevant area is always visible while maintaining clear positional relationships, resolving the contradiction between clarity and visible range.
3Ease of operation
If the image clipping range is fixed, then the processing is simple, but the image does not adapt to driver's gaze direction and movement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the driver's face position detection as feedback to continuously adjust the image clipping parameters. The system monitors the driver's movements and gaze direction, then automatically modifies which portions of the rearview image are displayed. This feedback mechanism enables the system to adapt to the driver's viewpoint dynamically while maintaining relatively simple processing based on predefined clipping rules.
Data Source
AI summary
An image processing device includes: an obtainer which obtains, from an imaging device provided in a vehicle so as to be oriented to capture an image of an area behind the vehicle, an image captured by the imaging device; a position detector which detects a face position of a driver; and an image processor which performs image processing to clip, according to the face position detected by the position detector, an image having a range corresponding to the face position, out of a combined image including the image, and superimpose a position image indicating a position in the vehicle, on the image at a position corresponding to the face position, and outputs an image resulting from the image processing.