Surround camera to generate a parking video signal and a recorder video signal from a single sensor

This application relates to U.S. Ser. No. 13/951,548, filed Jul. 26, 2013, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application relates to co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 13/949,624, filed Jul. 24, 2013, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The present invention relates to cameras used in automobiles generally and, more particularly, to a surround camera to generate a parking signal and a recording signal from a single sensor.

Conventional automobiles using surround cameras are becoming increasingly popular. Such cameras are typically used to facilitate parking by a driver. Some surround cameras are even used for automatic parking by the vehicle. In such systems, the driver is presented with a “bird's eye” view of the vehicle. These cameras typically do not support recording. At the same time, dash cameras that continuously record video in case an accident happens are growing in popularity. Such cameras use a single camera that is mounted on a windshield.

The view that a surround camera presents to a driver for parking assistance and the view that is presented for surround recording are different views. A parking camera needs to point relatively downward. A recording camera needs to point relatively straight. With conventional approaches, customers will need to install two separate sets of cameras, which means higher cost and installation complexity.

It would be desirable to implement a single surround camera that may be used to supply views for both parking and recording.

The present invention concerns an apparatus comprising a sensor and a processor. The sensor may be configured to capture a first video signal having a first field of view. The processor may be configured to generate a second video signal having a second field of view and a third video signal having a third field of view. The second video signal may generate the second field of view to include a first portion of the first video signal. The third video signal may generate the third field of view to include a second portion of the first video signal. The second portion may be processed to remove possible warping present on a bottom portion of the first video signal. The first and second portions may comprise an area less than the first field of view.

The objects, features and advantages of the present invention include providing a camera that may (i) use a single sensor to generate multiple views, (ii) process a signal received by the sensor and/or (iii) be implemented in a surround camera environment.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a context of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of a vehicle implementing an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating various fields of view from a sensor;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating various connections; and

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a two field of view dashboard display.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a block diagram of a system 100 is shown in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 generally comprises a vehicle 102 , and a number of cameras 110 a , 110 b and 110 c . The cameras 110 a - 110 c may be connected within the vehicle 102 through one or more busses. The busses may be implemented as CAT5, CAT6, Universal Serial Bus (USB) or other types of cables and/or connectors. The particular type of cabling used may be varied to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation.

Referring to FIG. 2 , a top view of the system 100 is shown. The vehicle 102 is shown with a number of cameras 110 a , 110 c , 110 d and 110 n . The particular number of cameras 110 a - 110 n implemented may be varied to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation. The vehicle 102 may be described as an automobile. However, the particular type of vehicle may be varied to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation. For example, the vehicle 102 may be a truck, or other type of vehicle operated by a driver.

Referring to FIG. 3 , a diagram illustrating a video feed 150 from one of the cameras 110 a - 110 n is shown. The video feed 150 generally comprises a portion 160 and a portion 170 . The portion 160 may be used for a first view. The portion 170 may be used for a second view. The portion 160 may include a field of view (e.g., a horizontal view) that may be usable for a dash mounted recorder. The view 170 includes a field of view (e.g., a surround view) that may be usable for a surround-type parking implementation. The view 160 and the view 170 may record actions (e.g., other vehicles, people, etc.) around the vehicle 102 . In some embodiments, the view 160 and the view 170 may overlap. In other embodiments, the view 160 and the view 170 may be disjoint.

Referring to FIG. 4 , a diagram of the various connections to the cameras 110 a - 110 n are shown. A circuit 200 may have a number of inputs 180 a - 180 n . The circuit 200 generally comprises a circuit 190 and a circuit 192 . The circuit 190 may be implemented as a counter/connector circuit. The circuit 192 may be implemented as a processing and/or encoding circuit. In one example, the circuit 190 may be implemented on the same integrated circuit as the circuit 192 . In another example, the circuit 190 may be implemented as a separate integrated circuit from the circuit 192 . In another example, the circuit 190 may be hardware and/or firmware implemented as a subset of the circuit 192 . The circuit 190 may present a signal (e.g., SLVS) to the circuit 192 . The signal SLVS may be a video signal. In one example, the signal SLVS may be a selected one of the signals V 1 a /V 1 b -VNa/VNb.

The circuit 200 may be connected to a block (or circuit) 152 and/or a block (or circuit) 154 . The circuit 152 may be implemented as a storage device. For example, the circuit 152 may be implemented as be a SD card, a built-in drive, or other storage medium. The circuit 154 may be a connectivity device, such as a Wi-Fi device, a 3G/4G device, or other device that may be used to transmit the video signal SLVS to/from the processing and/or encoding circuit 192 . The processing and/or encoding circuit 192 may present a signal to the display 150 (for viewing), a signal to the storage device 152 (for storage), or a signal to the connectivity circuit 154 (for connection to external devices, such as the Internet).

The circuits 110 a - 110 n may be implemented as camera modules. The circuit 110 a may be implemented having a sensor 194 a and a processing chip 196 a . The sensor 194 a may include a lens. The cameras 110 b - 110 n may have similar implementations. The circuits 196 a - 196 n may be implemented as serial/deserial (SERDES) circuits. The circuits 196 a - 196 n may be used to transmit the video signals V 1 a /V 1 b -VNa/VNb to the circuit 200 .

The system 100 may provide a design to generate a number of surround camera views as well as a number of horizontal views for recording. Each of the cameras 110 a - 110 n may present a first view (e.g., V 1 a -VNa) for recording, and a second view (e.g., V 1 b -VNb) for viewing. The circuit 192 may be used to process one or more of video signals V 1 a -VNb. The processing may provide de-warping and/or other processing to remove potential distortions found in a wide angle lens-type sensor. The de-warping may be implemented on one of the views (e.g., 170 ) without interrupting the generation of another of the views (e.g., 160 ).

Referring to FIG. 5 , the diagram of a dashboard 300 is shown. The dashboard 300 includes a screen (or display) 310 and a screen (or display) 320 . In one example, the screen 310 and the screen 320 may be implemented as separate views on a single screen. In another example, the screen 310 and the screen 320 may be separate screens.

Each of the cameras 110 a - 110 n may include a wide angle (e.g., 180 degree field of view or more) lens that may include full high definition (HD) (or higher) resolution sensors, pointed slightly downward. For example, a fish eye lens-type sensor may be implemented. The bottom portion of the video feed may be cropped and corrected for geometric distortion in the circuit 192 to generate the view 170 showing the ground near the vehicle 102 . In some embodiments, a central portion of the video feed may be cropped to generate the view 160 . The resolution of each of the views 160 and/or 170 may be increased or decreased, but may be sufficient for presenting a “bird's eye” display. For example, the feeds V 1 a /V 1 b -VNa-VNb may be 1920×600 lines of resolution. The SoC circuit 190 may combine a number of such feeds (e.g., 2, 4, 8, etc.) into a single bird's eye view. Standard resolutions used for recording (e.g., the view 160 ) may include 1920×1080, 1280×720, 640×480, 720×576, 720×480, etc. However, the particular resolution implemented may be varied to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation. For the parking view (e.g., the view 170 ), resolutions such as 640×480 or 800×600 or 1280×720 may be used. The parking view may be based on either the rear camera view, or by stitching together two or more smaller views in the circuit 190 from the various cameras 110 a - 110 n . Each parking view may be relatively small, such as 640×200 or 480×200.

The circuit 200 may generate a full view by processing with a “dewarp” engine. A recorded frame may also be implemented for the various feeds. The recording signals V 1 a -VNa do not normally need to be interrupted for displaying the parking mode signals V 1 b -Vnb. One or more of the recording signals V 1 a -VNa may be used to provide driver assist analytics. For example, a lane departure warning may be implemented.

The circuit 200 may implement a calibration process. For example, the cameras 110 a - 110 n may slightly move during the life of the vehicle 102 . The processor 190 may compensate for such movement. The particular type of compensation implemented may be varied to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.