External depiction of photographs of a vehicle in interior in VR goggles

Abstract

At least one image of an interior of a vehicle is captured by at least one camera present in the vehicle. Image data of the at least one image that are denoted in reference to the vehicle are transmitted to an external server. A user is authorized by the external server to access the image data denoted in reference to the vehicle, for display to the user via VR goggles. An object detected by numerical methods is highlighted in color in the image depicted in the VR goggles.

Claims

1. A method for presenting at least one image of an interior of a vehicle to a user authorized to view, comprising: recording at least one image of the interior of the vehicle by at least one camera present in the vehicle; identifying image data of the at least one image depicting non-human objects in the interior of the vehicle as vehicle-related; transmitting the image data, after the identifying, to an external server; applying numerical methods for recognizing at least one object to the image data, by the external server; granting access by the user authorized with respect to the external server to the image data; and displaying the at least one object, recognized by the external server, to the user by VR goggles, using the image data.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one image of the interior of the vehicle is recorded by the at least one camera installed in a location in the vehicle not visible to the user.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least one of the at least one camera has a fisheye lens.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said recording includes at least two images recorded by respective cameras, among the at least one camera, at least at two positions inside the vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises generating a merged image of the interior of the vehicle from the at least two images.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the merged image is created by a computing unit present in the vehicle.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising compressing the image data obtained from the interior of the vehicle prior to transmission to the external server in compressed form.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the at least one object to be recognized is selected from the list consisting of: a wallet, keyring, smart device, sunglasses, handbag, and gloves.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising highlighting a recognized object in color in an image presented by the VR goggles.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one camera has a fisheye lens.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said recording includes at least two images recorded by respective cameras, among the at least one camera, at least at two positions inside the vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises generating a merged image of the interior of the vehicle from the at least two images.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the merged image is created by a computing unit present in the vehicle.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising compressing the image data obtained from the interior of the vehicle prior to transmission to the external server in compressed form.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one object to be recognized is selected from the list consisting of: a wallet, keyring, smart device, sunglasses, handbag, and gloves.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising highlighting a recognized object in color in an image presented by the VR goggles.

15. A system for presenting at least one image of an interior of a vehicle to a user authorized to view, comprising: at least one camera, installed in the interior of the vehicle, configured to record at least one image of the interior of the vehicle; a communication device in the vehicle configured to identify image data of the at least one image depicting non-human objects in the interior of the vehicle as vehicle-related and then transmit the image data; an external server, connected to the communication device of the vehicle, configured to receive the image data, apply numerical methods for recognizing at least one object in image data, and grant access by the user authorized with respect to the external server to the image data; and VR goggles, connected to the external server, configured to display to the user at least one object, recognized by the external server in the image data.

16. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least one camera is not visible to the user.

17. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein at least one of the at least one camera has a fisheye lens.

18. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least one camera includes at least two cameras recording at least two images, and wherein the system further comprises a computing unit in the vehicle configured to generate a merged image of the interior of the vehicle by merging the at least two images.

19. The system as claimed in claim 15, further comprising a computing unit configured to compress the image data obtained from the interior of the vehicle prior to transmission to the external server in compressed form.

20. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the VR goggles are configured to highlight a recognized object in color in an image displayed to the user.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) These and other aspects and advantages will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which is a schematic illustration of the concept of one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(2) The drawing is a schematic illustration of the concept of one embodiment of the method in which a camera 12 which is possibly installed in an invisible manner is present in the vehicle interior of a vehicle 11, which camera creates, for example, an image 13 of a front, central dashboard region of the vehicle 11 and transmits the image 13 or the associated image data to a computing unit 14. If the one camera 12 is movable or if a plurality of cameras with different viewing angles are installed in the vehicle 11, images can be created until the vehicle interior has been captured completely. A merged image can be compiled from these images by the computing unit 14. These associated image data can be compressed by numerical methods, for example likewise carried out on the computing unit 14. The data, identified as vehicle-related, are also transmitted by a communication device 15 of the vehicle 11 to an external server 16 which acts as the backend and has a mass memory. In this case, the transmission is effected, for example, via a wireless network. If not previously carried out in the vehicle, the image data 18 can also be merged on the external server 16 to form a complete interior view of the vehicle 11 if sufficient images or image views are available for this purpose. Furthermore, the image data 18 can be processed on the external server 16 by numerical methods from the field of so-called image processing. So-called object recognition—the detection of objects in images—can also be used for this purpose, as a result of which objects, for example sunglasses, can be searched for in the system and can be used for a highlighted representation 19 in the image data 18. Finally, a user 10 can view the image data 18 by VR goggles 17, wherein the VR goggles 17 receive the image data 18 from the external server 16. For this purpose, the user 10 need not be in the vicinity of the vehicle 11, that is to say can check whether he has forgotten a possibly missed object, for example his sunglasses, in the vehicle 11, for example from home. This is possibly facilitated by the highlighted representation 19.

(3) A description has been provided with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof and examples, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the claims which may include the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” as an alternative expression that means one or more of A, B and C may be used, contrary to the holding in Superguide v. DIRECTV, 358 F3d 870, 69 USPQ2d 1865 (Fed. Cir. 2004).