IMAGE PRESENTATION FOR REAR VIEW MIRROR SYSTEMS WITH CAMERAS

Abstract

The invention relates to a rear view mirror system (1) for motor vehicles (10) comprising a rear view mirror device (2) with a rear view mirror base (21) to be attached to a vehicle (10) and a rear view mirror head (22) attached to the rear view mirror base (21) comprising a mirror element (23) arranged in the rear view mirror head (22) and being transparent or transluminant from inside of the rear view mirror head (22), wherein an actuator (3) enables to adjust an orientation of the mirror element (23) by rotating and/or tilting the mirror element (23) and/or the rear view mirror head (22), wherein a camera (4) is arranged inside the rear view mirror head (22) behind the mirror element (23) for recording a camera view (CV) with a first viewing angle of the surroundings of the vehicle (10) at least through the mirror element (23), wherein a control unit (5) processes the camera view (CV) received from the camera (4) to provide a monitor view (MV) with a second viewing angle being smaller than the first viewing angle being displayed on a monitor (6) to provide the monitor view (MV) to a driver (20) of the vehicle (10), and wherein the control unit (5) is adapted to extract the monitor view (MV) from the camera view (CV) as part of the camera view (CV), with the monitor view (MV) being kept constant regardless on the camera orientation, and/or the control unit (5) is adapted to re-calibrate the camera (4) with respect to the orientation of the mirror element (23) relative to the camera (4) in case of the rear view mirror device (2) enables movements of the mirror element (23) relative to the camera (4), or the control unit (5) is adapted to re-calibrate the camera (4) with respect to the orientation of the mirror element (23) relative to the rear view mirror base (21) in case the rear view mirror device (2) enables movement of the mirror element (23) and the camera (4) together with the rear view mirror head (22). It also relates to a motor vehicle with such a rear view system as well as a method operating such a rear view mirror system.

Claims

1-21. canceled

22. A rear view mirror system for motor vehicles comprising: a rear view mirror device, comprising, a rear view mirror base configured to be attached to a vehicle, a rear view mirror head attached to the rear view mirror base, and a mirror element arranged in the rear view mirror head and being transparent or transluminant from inside of the rear view mirror head, wherein an actuator enables an orientation of the mirror element to be adjusted by rotating and/or tilting one or more of the mirror element and the rear view mirror head, wherein a camera is arranged inside the rear view mirror head behind the mirror element for recording a camera view (CV) with a first viewing angle of the surroundings of the vehicle at least through the mirror element, wherein a control unit processes the camera view (CV) received from the camera to provide a monitor view (MV) with a second viewing angle being smaller than the first viewing angle being displayed on a monitor to provide the monitor view (MV) to a driver of the vehicle, wherein the control unit is adapted to extract the monitor view (MV) from the camera view (CV) as part of the camera view (CV), with the monitor view (MV) being kept constant regardless on the camera orientation, and wherein the control unit is adapted to re-calibrate the camera with respect to the orientation of the mirror element relative to either (1) the camera in case the rear view mirror device enables movements of the mirror element relative to the camera, or (2) the rear view mirror base in case the rear view mirror device enables movement of the mirror element and the camera together with the rear view mirror head.

23. The rear view mirror system according to claim 22, wherein the camera is adapted to provide a camera view (CV) covering the monitor view (MV) direction for all possible orientations of the rear view mirror head or the mirror element.

24. The rear view mirror system according to claim 22, wherein the control unit provides the monitor view (MV) by cutting the monitor view (MV) out of the camera view (CV), with the position of the monitor view (MV) in the camera view (CV) being a function of the orientation of one or more of the rear view mirror head and the mirror element relative to the orientation of the camera.

25. The rear view mirror system according to claim 22, wherein the control unit performs an initial calibration for the camera in a predetermined reference orientation (P1) of the camera.

26. The rear view mirror system according to claim 22, wherein the monitor view (MV) corresponds to a viewing area being centralized within the camera view (CM).

27. The rear view mirror system according to claim 25, wherein the camera is mounted in the rear view mirror head in a fixed position relative to the mirror element and a shift of the monitor view (MV) within the camera view (CV) is derived by the control unit from a current orientation (P2) of the camera relative to the predetermined reference orientation (P1).

28. The rear view mirror system according to claim 27, wherein the current orientation (P2) is determined by a sensor monitoring the position of the mirror element.

29. The rear view mirror system according to claim 27, wherein the camera view (CM) comprises at least a part of the vehicle being recognized by the control unit at a certain position within the camera view (CV) and the current orientation (P2) is derived from a shift of the vehicle position in the camera view (CV) relative to its previous position.

30. The rear view mirror system according to claim 22, wherein the camera has a fixed position relative to the vehicle and does not move together with the mirror element and the orientation of the mirror element relative to the camera is derived by the control unit from rotation or tilting data received from a sensor monitoring the position of the mirror element.

31. The rear view mirror system according to claim 30, wherein the control unit uses calibration data internally stored for all possible orientations of the mirror element relative to the camera to dynamically adapt the calibration for each orientation of the mirror element.

32. The rear view mirror system according to claim 28, wherein the sensor monitors the actuator rotating or tilting the mirror element or the rear view mirror head to determine the orientation of the mirror element based on an actuator position.

33. The rear view mirror system according to claim 22, wherein a processing algorithm is installed in the control unit to execute camera calibration and extraction of the monitor view (MV) from the camera view (CV).

34. The rear view mirror system according to claim 22, wherein the camera view (CV) and the monitor view (MV) are images or video streams from the surrounding of the vehicle displayed on the monitor.

35. The rear view mirror system according to claim 22 claims, wherein the orientation of one or more of the mirror element and the predetermined reference orientation (P1) of the camera is adapted to be changed by the driver into a driver orientation for field of view adjustment, and the driver orientation can be stored in a memory unit connected with or comprised by the control unit, with the memory unit being adapted to store a plurality of driver orientations for a plurality of drivers.

36. The rear view mirror system according to claim 35, wherein the control unit is adapted to control the actuator to bring the camera and/or the mirror element into any one of the plurality of driver orientations.

37. A motor vehicle comprising at least one rear view mirror system according to claim 1.

38. The vehicle according to claim 37, comprising: a first rear view mirror system at the driver side of the vehicle and a second rear view mirror system at the passenger side, wherein the monitor view (MV) can be selected from the monitor view of the first and/or second rear view mirror system.

39. The vehicle according to claim 37, wherein the monitorbis arranged within the vehicle cabin, with the monitor comprising one or more of, a first monitor being associated with the first rear view mirror system, a second monitor being associated with the first rear view mirror system, and a third monitor being associated with the first and second rear view systems.

40. A method for operating to operate a rear view mirror system for a motor vehicle, the rear view mirror system comprising a rear view mirror device comprising a rear view mirror base configured to be attached to a vehicle, a rear view mirror head attached to the rear view mirror base, and a mirror element arranged in the rear view mirror head and being transparent or transluminant from inside of the rear view mirror head, wherein an actuator enables an orientation of the mirror element to be adjusted by rotating and/or tilting at least one of the mirror element and the rear view mirror head, and wherein a camera is arranged inside the rear view mirror head behind the mirror element for recording a camera view (CV) with a first viewing angle of the surroundings of the vehicle at least through the mirror element, the method comprising steps of: receiving the camera view (CV) from the camera and processing the camera view (CV) by a control unit; providing a monitor view (MV) by the control unit with a second viewing angle being smaller than the first viewing angle to a monitor; displaying the monitor view (MV) on the monitor to provide the monitor view (MV) to a driver of the vehicle; and in response to rotating and/or tilting of the mirror element, extracting, by the control unit, the monitor view (MV) from the camera view (CV) as part of the camera view (CV), where the monitor view (MV) is kept constant regardless on a camera orientation, and recalibrating, by the control unit, the camera with respect to the orientation of the mirror element relative to either (1) the camera in case the rear view mirror device enables movements of the mirror element relative to the camera, or (2) the rear view mirror base in case the rear view mirror device enables movement of the mirror element and the camera together with the rear view mirror head.

41. The method of claim 40, comprising the further step of: adapting the field of view by changing the predetermined reference orientation (P1) of the camera and/or the orientation of the mirror element into a driver orientation, and storing the driver orientation.

42. The method of claim 41, comprising the further step of bringing the camera and/or the mirror element into a selected driver orientation.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047] These and other aspects of the invention are shown in detail in the illustrations as follows.

[0048] FIG. 1: a schematic view of an embodiment of the rear view mirror system according to the present invention;

[0049] FIG. 2: shows a schematic view of camera view and monitor view of a camera fixed with respect to the vehicle in case of (a) right hand rotated mirror head or mirror element, and (b) left hand rotated mirror head or mirror element;

[0050] FIG. 3: shows a schematic view of camera view and monitor view of a camera rotating together with the mirror element in case of (a) right hand rotated mirror head or mirror element, and (b) left hand rotated mirror head or mirror element;

[0051] FIG. 4: shows the movement of the monitor view within the camera view in case of a camera rotating together with the mirror element;

[0052] FIG. 5: shows schematically how the second position of the camera view will be determined;

[0053] FIG. 6: shows an embodiment of the motor vehicle according to the present invention; and

[0054] FIG. 7: shows an embodiment of the method according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0055] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of the rear view mirror system 1 according to the present invention comprising a rear view mirror device 2 with a rear view mirror base 21 being attached to a vehicle 10 (indicated by a solid line) and a rear view mirror head 22 attached to the rear view mirror base 21 comprising a mirror element 23 arranged in the rear view mirror head 22. The mirror element 23 is either transparent or transluminant so that a camera 4 arranged in the inside of the rear view mirror head 22 is able to record the surrounding of the vehicle, here through the mirror element 23. Furthermore, an actuator 3 is arranged in the mirror head of mirror base to adjust an orientation of the mirror element 23 by rotating and/or tilting the mirror element 23 separately from the mirror head 22 or via rotating and/or tilting the rear view mirror head 22 with the mirror element 23 being rigidly mounted to the rear view mirror head, a so-called head mover. In both cases the camera 4 is arranged inside the rear view mirror head 22 behind the mirror element 23 for recording a camera view CV with a wide first viewing angle of the surroundings of the vehicle 10 through the mirror element 23, where the camera 4 is adapted to provide a camera view CV covering the monitor view MV direction for all possible orientations of the rear view mirror head 22 or the mirror element 23. The possible orientations of the rear view mirror head 22 are commonly limited to orientations usable to provide a direct view of the driver 20 to the rear traffic via the reflective mirror element 23. Therefore, the rear view mirror head 22 or the mirror element 23 can be rotated about a few degrees around a middle position denoted as P1. The same holds for tilting the rear view mirror head 22 or the mirror element 23. The monitor view MV corresponds to a viewing area being centralized within the camera view CM in the predetermined reference orientation P1, in this case the middle position of the rear view mirror head 22 or the mirror element 23. The control unit 5 processes the camera view CV received from the camera 4 to provide a monitor view MV with a second viewing angle being smaller than the first viewing angle being displayed on a monitor 6 to provide the monitor view MV to a driver 20 of the vehicle 10, where the control unit 5 is adapted to extract the monitor view MV from the camera view CV as part of the camera view CV, where the monitor view MV is kept constant regardless on a camera orientation, and/or the control unit 5 is adapted to re-calibrate the camera 4 with respect to the orientation of the mirror element 23 relative to the camera 4 in case of the rear view mirror device 2 enables movements of the mirror element 23 relative to the camera 4. Keeping the monitor view MV constant means that the monitor view MV shows the same viewing direction even when the camera 4 is rotated or tilted. In order to do so the control unit 5 provides the monitor view MV by cutting out the monitor view MV out of the camera view CV, where the position of the monitor view MV in the camera view CV is a function of the orientation of the rear view mirror head 22 or the mirror element 23 relative to the orientation of the camera 4. In order to provide a good viewing quality, the control unit 5 performs an initial calibration for the camera 4 in a predetermined reference orientation P1 (here: middle position of the rear view mirror head 22 or mirror element 23) of the camera 4. To show the rear traffic to the driver 20 the camera view CV and the monitor view MV can be images, preferably video streams from the surrounding of the vehicle 10 to be displayed on the monitor 6.

[0056] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of camera view CV and monitor view MV of a camera 4 with fixed orientation with respect to the vehicle 10 (non-rotating and non-tilting camera 4) in case of (a) right hand rotated mirror head 22 (left part of FIG. 2) or mirror element 23 (right part of FIG. 2), and (b) left hand rotated mirror head 22 (left part of FIG. 2) or mirror element 23 (right part of FIG. 2). The orientation of the mirror element 23 relative to the camera 4 is derived by the control unit 4 from rotation or tilting data received from a sensor 7 monitoring the position of the mirror element 23. After having rotated and/or tilted the mirror element 23 relative to the camera 4, the initial calibration no longer applies to the current situation with changed orientation. Therefore, the control unit 5 uses calibration data internally stored for all possible orientations of the mirror element 23 relative to the camera 4 to dynamically adapt the calibration for each orientation of the mirror element 23. The used calibration data may be stored in a look-up table together with the corresponding rotation and tilting data. For the determined or derived rotation and/or tilting the control unit 5 simply applies the corresponding calibration data of the look-up table in order to perform a re-calibration of the camera 4 and the camera view CV. Regardless of the orientation of the rear view mirror head 22 or the mirror element 23 the monitor view MV corresponds to a viewing area being centralized within the camera view CM in the predetermined reference orientation P1. Such re-calibration might not be applied for embodiments, where the camera 4 rotates or tilts simultaneously with the mirror element 23 keeping the relative orientation between camera 4 and mirror element 23 constant. In such cases the initial calibration also applies for any later rotated or tilted orientation of the rear view mirror head 22 or mirror element 23.

[0057] Adapting the field of view by changing the predetermined reference orientation P1 of the camera 4 and/or the orientation of the mirror element 23 into a driver orientation, enables storing different driver orientations. Thus, bringing the camera 4 and/or the mirror element 23 into a selected driver orientation, preferably upon recognizing the driver and/or receiving a driver input, is possible.

[0058] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of camera view CV and monitor view MV of a camera 4 rotating together with the mirror element 23 in case of (a) right hand rotated mirror head 22 (left part of FIG. 3) or mirror element 23 (right part of FIG. 3), and (b) left hand rotated mirror head 22 (left part of FIG. 3) or mirror element 23 (right part of FIG. 3). In contrast to FIG. 2 here the orientation of the camera 4 relative to the mirror element 23 does not change. Therefore, a re-calibration of the camera 4 can be performed but is not as important as it is for the mounting shown in FIG. 2. However, when the camera 4 is mounted in the rear view mirror head 22 in a fixed position relative to the mirror element 23, the camera view CV moves simultaneously with the rotating and/or tilting mirror element from an initial position P1 to a later position P2, while the monitor view MV shall be displayed with a constant orientation according to the predetermined reference orientation P1 of the camera 4 regardless of any rotation or tilting of the mirror element 23. Therefore, the shift of the monitor view MV within the camera view CV is derived by the control unit 4 from a current orientation P2 of camera relative to the predetermined reference orientation P1. Regardless of the orientation of the rear view mirror head 22 or the mirror element 23 the monitor view MV corresponds to a viewing area being centralized within the camera view CM in the predetermined reference orientation P1.

[0059] FIG. 4 shows the relative movement of the monitor view MV within the camera view CV in case of a camera 4 rotating together with the mirror element. In principal, the camera view CV moves from an initial position or orientation P1 (not shown here) to a current position or orientation P2a corresponding to the positions shown in FIG. 3(a). From this position P2a the mirror element might be rotated to another current position or orientation P2b corresponding to the position shown in FIG. 3(b), while the monitor view MV stays in a constant direction P1. The control unit 5 provides the monitor view MV by cutting out the monitor view MV out of the camera view CV, where the position of the monitor view MV in the camera view CV is a function of the orientation of the rear view mirror head 22 or the mirror element 23 relative to the orientation of the camera 4. How the cut-out is performed in the correct area of the camera view CV is shown in the next figure.

[0060] FIG. 5 shows schematically how the second position P2 of the camera view CV and the corresponding position of the cut-out of the monitor view MV out of the camera view CV is determined. In one embodiment the current orientation P2 might be determined by a sensor 7 directly monitoring the position of the mirror element 23. In another embodiment the camera view CM may comprise at least a part of the vehicle 10 being recognized by the control unit 4 at a certain position within the camera view CV and the current orientation P2 is derived from a shift of this vehicle position in the camera view CV relative to its previous position. In another embodiment the sensor 7 may monitor the actuator 3 rotating or tilting the mirror element 23 or the rear view mirror head 22 to determine the orientation of the mirror element 23 based on an actuator position. In order to obtain the monitor view MV at the right position P1 from the camera view CV a processing algorithm is installed in the control unit 5 to execute camera calibration and extraction of the monitor view MV from the camera view CV.

[0061] FIG. 6 schematically shows an embodiment of the motor vehicle 10 according to the present invention comprising a rear view mirror system 1 according to the present invention, where the monitor 6 may display the surrounding of the vehicle 10 on the driver side or on both sides. In an embodiment (not shown here) the system may enable the driver 20 or any other passenger within the vehicle 10 to select which part (right side, left side, full area) of the surroundings shall be displayed on the monitor 6. The term “motor vehicle” denotes to any vehicle, which is motor driven. The motor vehicle 10 might by a car, a truck, a train, a boat or an airplane or any other motor vehicle. The monitor 6 might be arranged on the dashboard or on the side of the door or window of the vehicle 10.

[0062] FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the method 100 according to the present invention to operate a rear view mirror system 1 according to the present invention for motor vehicles 10 comprising a rear view mirror device 2 with a rear view mirror base 21 to be attached to a vehicle 10 and a rear view mirror head 22 attached to the rear view mirror base 21 comprising a mirror element 23 arranged in the rear view mirror head 22 being transparent or transluminant from inside of the rear view mirror head 22, where an actuator 3 enables to adjust an orientation of the mirror element 23 by rotating and/or tilting the mirror element 23 or the rear view mirror head 22, and where a camera 4 is arranged inside the rear view mirror head 22 behind the mirror element 23 for recording a camera view CV with a wide first viewing angle of the surroundings of the vehicle 10 through the mirror element 23, comprising steps of receiving 110 the camera view CV from the camera 4 and processing the camera view CV by a control unit 5; providing 120 a monitor view MV by the control unit 4 with a second viewing angle being smaller than the first viewing angle to a monitor 6; displaying 130 the monitor view MV on the monitor 6 to provide the monitor view MV to a driver 20 of the vehicle 10; where in case of rotating and/or tilting the mirror element 23 the control unit 5 extracts 140 the monitor view MV from the camera view CV as part of the camera view CV, where the monitor view MV is kept constant regardless on a camera orientation, and/or the control unit 5 re-calibrates 150 the camera 4 with respect to the orientation of the mirror element 23 relative to the camera 4 in case of the rear view mirror device 2 enables movements of the mirror element 23 relative to the camera 4. The camera view might be received from the control unit 5 as a video stream in form of a digital signal and applies suitable video processing to the digital video stream data. The video processing might also be used for correction with respect to distortion, aspheric corrections, object detection, hazard detection, initiation warnings based on the video processing and object classification. The resultant processed video stream is displayed on the monitor 6 as monitor view MV, which may comprise overlays indicating traffic situations, lane markers, distant lines, warning signals or symbols etc.

[0063] The embodiments shown here are only examples of the present invention and must therefore not be understood as restrictive. Alternative embodiments considered by the skilled person are equally covered by the scope of protection of the present invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0064] 1 rear view mirror system according to the present invention

[0065] 2 rear view mirror device

[0066] 21 rear view mirror base

[0067] 22 rear view mirror head

[0068] 23 mirror element

[0069] 3 actuator

[0070] 4 camera

[0071] 5 control unit

[0072] 6 monitor

[0073] 7 position sensor

[0074] 10 vehicle

[0075] 20 driver

[0076] 100 method to operate the rear view mirror system according to the present invention

[0077] 110 receiving and processing the camera view from the camera

[0078] 120 providing a monitor view by the control unit

[0079] 130 displayed the monitor view on the monitor

[0080] 140 extracting the monitor view from the camera view as part of the camera view

[0081] 150 re-calibrating the camera with respect to the orientation of the mirror element relative to the camera

[0082] CV camera view

[0083] MV monitor view

[0084] P1 predetermined reference orientation of the camera

[0085] P2 current orientation of the camera

[0086] P2a current orientation of the camera in position (a) according FIG. 3

[0087] P2b current orientation of the camera in position (b) according FIG. 3