CN-115265495-B - Motor vehicle system with motion detection capability

Abstract

The present invention relates to motor vehicle systems having motion detection capabilities. An automobile may be equipped with a camera for detecting movement of an object in the vicinity of the automobile. The camera may be used to capture a series of images. Several target sample points may be defined in each image. The location of the target sample point may correspond to a blind spot or other region(s) of interest for the driver. The camera may also include separate filters for generating long-term and short-term pixel intensity outputs at each of the target sample points. These long-term and short-term average outputs may be compared to determine if a large change in intensity has occurred over a short period of time. The order of target activation may then be used to determine the direction of vehicle movement while filtering out noise or other road markings.

Inventors

• A. Titley

Assignees

• 阿尔特拉公司
• 英特尔公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260421

Application Date

20171205

Priority Date

20171205

Claims (20)

1. 1. A motor vehicle system operable on a first lane, comprising: a camera operable to capture video frames of an object external to the automotive system, and A circuit for: Detecting the presence of a vehicle in a second lane adjacent to the first lane based on a video frame from the camera; determining a predicted movement of the vehicle based on video frames from the camera, and An alert is issued in response to the predicted movement of the vehicle, Wherein the circuit is configured to determine a predicted movement of the vehicle by applying a long average filter and a short average filter to an array of points in each video frame, and by comparing a baseline measurement from the long average filter with a short-term measurement from the short average filter, wherein the long average filter outputs a luminance level that is averaged over a first duration, and wherein the short average filter outputs a luminance level that is averaged over a second duration that is shorter than the first duration, Wherein the camera is configured to capture a frame having a plurality of target points, wherein the plurality of target points are arranged in an array of rows and columns of target points, and wherein the camera analyzes a sequence in the array in which the target points are activated to determine if other vehicles are approaching the motor vehicle system.
2. 2. The motor vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is detected behind the motor vehicle system in the second lane and the predicted movement of the vehicle includes movement of the vehicle proximate the motor vehicle system.
3. 3. The motor vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is detected in front of the motor vehicle system and the predicted movement of the vehicle includes movement of the vehicle toward the first lane.
4. 4. The automotive system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further to: Detecting the presence of a second vehicle in the first lane based on a video frame from the camera; determining a second predicted movement of the second vehicle based on video frames from the camera, and An alert is issued in response to a second predicted movement of the second vehicle.
5. 5. The vehicle system of claim 4, wherein the second vehicle is detected behind the vehicle system and the second predicted movement of the second vehicle comprises movement of the second vehicle toward the vehicle system.
6. 6. The automotive system according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the camera is mounted to at least one of a door, a trunk, a hood, an instrument panel, a front or rear bumper, a door handle, and a housing of the automotive system.
7. 7. The automotive system of any of claims 1-5, wherein the circuitry is further to cause the automotive system to take a preventive action in response to the predicted movement of the vehicle.
8. 8. The automotive system of claim 7, wherein the preventative action comprises applying a brake.
9. 9. An apparatus mounted on a motor vehicle system having a camera and operable in a first lane, the apparatus comprising: A circuit for: Detecting the presence of a vehicle in a second lane adjacent to the first lane based on a video frame from the camera; determining a predicted movement of the vehicle based on video frames from the camera, and An alert is issued in response to the predicted movement of the vehicle, Wherein the circuit is configured to determine a predicted movement of the vehicle by applying a long average filter and a short average filter to an array of points in each video frame, and by comparing a baseline measurement from the long average filter with a short-term measurement from the short average filter, wherein the long average filter outputs a luminance level that is averaged over a first duration, and wherein the short average filter outputs a luminance level that is averaged over a second duration that is shorter than the first duration, Wherein the camera is configured to capture a frame having a plurality of target points, wherein the plurality of target points are arranged in an array of rows and columns of target points, and wherein the camera analyzes a sequence in the array in which the target points are activated to determine if other vehicles are approaching the motor vehicle system.
10. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the vehicle is detected behind the vehicle system in the second lane and the predicted movement of the vehicle comprises movement of the vehicle proximate the vehicle system.
11. 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the vehicle is detected in front of the motor vehicle system and the predicted movement of the vehicle includes movement of the vehicle toward the first lane.
12. 12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the circuitry is further to: Detecting the presence of a second vehicle in the first lane based on a video frame from the camera; determining a second predicted movement of the second vehicle based on video frames from the camera, and An alert is issued in response to a second predicted movement of the second vehicle.
13. 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the second vehicle is detected behind the vehicle system and the second predicted movement of the second vehicle comprises movement of the second vehicle toward the vehicle system.
14. 14. The apparatus of any of claims 9-13, wherein the circuitry is further to cause the motor vehicle system to take a preventive action in response to the predicted movement of the vehicle.
15. 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the preventative action comprises applying a brake.
16. 16. A method for a motor vehicle system, comprising: Detecting, by a circuit and based on video frames from a camera on the motor vehicle system, the presence of a vehicle in a second lane adjacent to a first lane in which the motor vehicle system is operating; Determining, by the circuit and based on video frames from the camera, a predicted movement of the vehicle, and An alert is issued by the circuit in response to the predicted movement of the vehicle, Wherein determining the predicted movement of the vehicle comprises: Applying long and short average filters to an array of points in each video frame, and Comparing the baseline measurement from the long average filter with a short-term measurement from the short average filter, wherein the long average filter outputs a brightness level that is averaged over a first duration, and wherein the short average filter outputs a brightness level that is averaged over a second duration, the second duration being shorter than the first duration, Wherein the camera is configured to capture a frame having a plurality of target points, wherein the plurality of target points are arranged in an array of rows and columns of target points, and wherein the camera analyzes a sequence in the array in which the target points are activated to determine if other vehicles are approaching the motor vehicle system.
17. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the vehicle is detected behind the motor vehicle system in the second lane, and the predicted movement of the vehicle includes movement of the vehicle proximate the motor vehicle system.
18. 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the vehicle is detected in front of the motor vehicle system and the predicted movement of the vehicle includes movement of the vehicle toward the first lane.
19. 19. The method of claim 16, further comprising: detecting, by the circuit and based on a video frame from the camera, a presence of a second vehicle in the first lane; Determining, by the circuit and based on video frames from the camera, a second predicted movement of the second vehicle, and An alert is issued by the circuit in response to a second predicted movement of the second vehicle.
20. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second vehicle is detected behind the motor vehicle system, and the second predicted movement of the second vehicle comprises movement of the second vehicle toward the motor vehicle system.

Description

Motor vehicle system with motion detection capability The application relates to a divisional application, the name of the main application is a motor vehicle system with motion detection capability, the application date is 2017, 12, 5 and 201711266837.0. Background Automobiles typically include standard optical rearview mirrors attached near the hinges of the driver and passenger doors. These conventional rear view mirrors protrude from the vehicle body and are prone to collisions, especially at critical points. Conventional rearview mirrors also have blind spots where the driver cannot see the upcoming vehicle due to the limited field of view of the rearview mirror. The embodiments described herein are created within this context. Disclosure of Invention This relates generally to automotive systems and more particularly to automobiles equipped with cameras for sensing motion in the vicinity thereof. According to an embodiment, an automobile may be provided with a camera capturing video frames. The camera may be a rear-view camera, a front-view camera or a side-view camera. An array of target sampling points may be selected in each of the video frames. The camera may measure the brightness level and/or color at each of the target sampling points in the array. The camera may also include a long average filter circuit and a short average filter circuit. The long average filter circuit may filter the measured luminance level over a first number of frames to produce a long-term average value, and the short average filter circuit may filter the measured luminance level over a second number of frames to produce a short-term average value, the second number of frames being at most one tenth or one hundredth of the first number of frames. The long-term average is used as a baseline measurement to detect noise and road/weather conditions, and the short-term average is compared to the baseline measurement to determine if an external object is indeed approaching an automobile. The camera may also be configured to analyze a sequence of arrays of target sampling points with which to activate. For example, the camera may determine the order in which rows in the target point array are being activated/triggered. Depending on what sequence is being triggered, the camera may help detect the presence of another vehicle in an adjacent lane, immediately behind the car, and may also sense the direction of another vehicle in front of the car. In response to determining that another vehicle is moving toward the camera in a potentially dangerous manner, the camera may send an alert to the driver or may direct the vehicle to take other appropriate preventative action to prevent a collision. Further features of the invention, its nature, and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description. Drawings FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative motor vehicle system with a motion sensor according to an embodiment. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an automobile with an illustrative rear-view camera according to an embodiment. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing how a rear-view camera may include multiple target points for detecting an upcoming automobile in an adjacent lane, according to an embodiment. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing how a rear-view camera may include multiple target points for rear impact detection, according to an embodiment. Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating how a forward-looking camera may include multiple target points for cross-traffic alerting, according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for operating a motion sensor on a vehicle, according to an embodiment. Detailed Description Embodiments of the present invention relate to motion sensing, and more particularly to detecting motion in the vicinity of a motor vehicle system. In particular, the car may be provided with a camera comprising a long average filter and a short average filter for filtering the luminance measurement at the selected target sampling point. The long average filter is used to output the long-term pixel intensity at the target point, while the short average filter is used to output the short-term pixel intensity at the target point. By comparing the short-term pixel intensity to the long-term pixel intensity, the camera will be able to filter out background noise and detect the direction of the upcoming vehicle. It will be recognized by one skilled in the art that the present exemplary embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well-known operations have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the present embodiments. FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative motor vehicle system, such as system 100. The automotive system 100 may be an automobile, a motor vehicle, an electric vehicle (motorcar), a steamboat, a motor vehicle (engine), or other transportation vehicle powered by an engine. As shown in fi