EP-4737249-A2 - VEHICULAR CABIN MONITORING SYSTEM WITH DRIVER MONITORING CAMERA AND NEAR IR LIGHT EMITTER AT INTERIOR REARVIEW MIRROR ASSEMBLY

EP4737249A2EP 4737249 A2EP4737249 A2EP 4737249A2EP-4737249-A2

Abstract

A vehicular cabin monitoring system includes an interior rearview mirror assembly having a driver monitoring megapixel camera and a near infrared light illuminator comprising at least one near infrared light emitter, accommodated by a mirror head. When a near infrared light emitter is electrically operated to emit near infrared light, the head of the driver and at least a front passenger seat region are illuminated with near infrared light. The driver monitoring camera views the head of the driver of the equipped vehicle and views at least the front passenger seat region. At least one first near infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator is pulsed at a first pulse rate, and the driver monitoring megapixel camera captures frames of image data at a frame capture rate that corresponds with the first pulse rate.

Inventors

The designation of the inventor has not yet been filed

Assignees

Magna Mirrors Of America, Inc.
Magna Electronics Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20220511

Claims (15)

A vehicular cabin monitoring system, the vehicular cabin monitoring system comprising: a vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly comprising an interior rearview mirror head adjustably attached at a mounting base, the mounting base configured to mount the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly at an interior portion of an interior cabin of a vehicle equipped with the vehicular cabin monitoring system; wherein the interior rearview mirror head accommodates a mirror reflective element; a driver monitoring megapixel camera accommodated by the interior rearview mirror head; wherein the driver monitoring megapixel camera is operable to capture frames of image data; a near infrared light illuminator accommodated by the interior rearview mirror head; wherein the near infrared light illuminator comprises at least one near infrared light emitter electrically operable to emit near infrared light; wherein the driver monitoring megapixel camera and the near infrared light illuminator move in tandem with the interior rearview mirror head when, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle, the interior rearview mirror head is adjusted by a driver of the equipped vehicle relative to the mounting base to set a rearward view of the mirror reflective element for the driver of the equipped vehicle; wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle and when at least one near infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator is electrically operated to emit near infrared light, at least the head of the driver of the equipped vehicle is illuminated with near infrared light; wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle and when at least one near infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator is electrically operated to emit near infrared light, at least a front passenger seat region within the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle is illuminated with near infrared light; an electronic control unit (ECU) having electronic circuitry and associated software; wherein the electronic circuitry of the electronic control unit (ECU) comprises a processor operable to process image data captured by the driver monitoring megapixel camera; wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle, the driver monitoring megapixel camera views the head of the driver of the equipped vehicle and views at least the front passenger seat region within the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle; wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle, at least one near infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator is pulsed at a first pulse rate; and wherein the driver monitoring megapixel camera captures frames of image data at a frame capture rate that corresponds with the first pulse rate.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of claim 1, wherein, via processing at the electronic control unit (ECU) of image data captured by the driver monitoring megapixel camera and with the vehicular cabin monitoring system operating in an occupant monitoring mode, a front passenger present at the front passenger seat region within the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle is monitored.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of claim 2, wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the equipped vehicle and with the vehicular cabin monitoring system operating in the occupant monitoring mode, at least one near infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator is pulsed at a second pulse rate that is less than the first pulse rate.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of any one of claims 1-3, wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle and via processing at the electronic control unit (ECU) of image data captured by the driver monitoring megapixel camera, position of the driver's face is monitored.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the driver monitoring megapixel camera captures frames of image data at a frame capture rate of 60 frames per second.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit (ECU) is disposed in the equipped vehicle at a location remote from the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of claim 6, wherein the driver monitoring megapixel camera views through a transflective mirror reflector of the mirror reflective element, and wherein the transflective mirror reflector of the mirror reflective element transmits near infrared light incident thereon and reflects visible light incident thereon, and wherein the near infrared light illuminator is accommodated by the interior rearview mirror head behind the mirror reflective element, and wherein the near infrared light illuminator, when electrically operated to emit near infrared light, emits near infrared light that passes through the transflective mirror reflector of the mirror reflective element.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of claim 7, wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle, a first near infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator is accommodated by the interior rearview mirror head at a location that is closer to the head of the driver than where a second infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator is accommodated by the interior rearview mirror head.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of claim 7, wherein the mirror reflective element has near infrared light transmissivity at around 940 nm of at least 50%T.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of claim 9, wherein the driver monitoring megapixel camera comprises an imaging array having at least 2.3 million photosensors.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of any one of claims 6-10, wherein duty cycle of pulsing of at least one infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator relative to the reciprocal of the rate of capture by the driver monitoring megapixel camera of frames of image data (frame time) is at least 8% and is less than 40%.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of any one of claims 6-10, wherein the near infrared light illuminator comprises a plurality of near infrared light emitters, and wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the equipped vehicle, appropriate infrared light emitters of the plurality of near infrared light emitters of the near infrared light illuminator are pulsed for respective frames of image data captured by the driver monitoring megapixel camera.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of any one of claims 6-10, wherein at least one infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator emits near infrared light when an imager of the driver monitoring megapixel camera is photoelectrically converting incoming photons into electrons.
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of any one of claims 6-10, wherein the near infrared light illuminator comprises a plurality of near infrared light emitters, and wherein the plurality of near infrared light emitters of the near infrared light illuminator comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of (i) at least one vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and (ii) at least one near-IR light emitting diode (LED).
The vehicular cabin monitoring system of any one of claims 6-10, wherein, with the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly mounted at the interior portion of the interior cabin of the equipped vehicle and when at least one near infrared light emitter of the near infrared light illuminator is electrically operated to emit near infrared light, at least a second row rear seat region of the equipped vehicle.is illuminated with near infrared light.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the field of interior rearview mirror assemblies for vehicles. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is known to provide a mirror assembly that is adjustably mounted to an interior portion of a vehicle, such as via a double ball pivot or joint mounting configuration where the mirror casing and reflective element are adjusted relative to the interior portion of a vehicle by pivotal movement about the double ball pivot configuration. The mirror casing and reflective element are pivotable about either or both of the ball pivot joints by a user that is adjusting a rearward field of view of the reflective element. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION There is provided a vehicular cabin monitoring system according to claim 1 or any of the dependent claims. An interior rearview mirror assembly has a driver monitoring camera and a near infrared light emitter disposed at the mirror head so as to move in tandem with the mirror head when the mirror head is adjusted relative to an interior portion of the vehicle to adjust the driver's rearward view. The camera views the interior cabin of the vehicle through the mirror reflective element and the near infrared light emitter emits near infrared light through the mirror reflective element to illuminate the driver region and/or passenger region of the interior cabin of the vehicle. The near infrared light emitter comprises at least a first light emitting element and a second light emitting element. The first light emitting element is oriented at the mirror head so that a principal axis of a beam of light emitted by the first light emitting element would be directed toward a driver's region of a left hand drive vehicle if the mirror assembly were installed in the left hand drive vehicle and adjusted to provide the driver of the left hand drive vehicle a rearward view, while the second light emitting element is oriented at the mirror head so that a principal axis of a beam of light emitted by the second light emitting element would be directed toward a driver's region of a right hand drive vehicle if the mirror assembly were installed in the right hand drive vehicle and adjusted to provide the driver of the right hand drive vehicle a rearward view. The control circuitry is operable to enable the first light emitting element or the second light emitting element responsive to indication (such as via a signal from a remote device at the mirror assembly plant or at the vehicle or at the vehicle assembly plant or the like) that the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly is installed or will be installed in a left hand drive vehicle or a right hand drive vehicle. The light emitter is thus software enabled to adapt a common mirror assembly for application to a left hand drive vehicle or to a right hand drive vehicle. Thus, when the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly is installed or will be installed in a left hand drive vehicle, the first near infrared light emitter, when electrically powered to emit light, emits light for a driver monitoring function, and when the vehicular interior rearview mirror assembly is installed or will be installed in a right hand drive vehicle, the second near infrared light emitter, when electrically powered to emit light, emits light for the driver monitoring function. When the respective first or second near infrared light emitter is electrically powered for the driver monitoring function, the other near infrared light emitter is not electrically powered for the driver monitoring function. These and other objects, advantages, purposes and features of the present invention will become apparent upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an interior rearview mirror assembly having a driver monitoring camera and a near infrared light emitter;FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the interior rearview mirror assembly, showing the DMS camera and light emitters behind the reflective element;FIG. 3 is a plan view of a mirror head of the interior rearview mirror assembly;FIG. 4 is a plan view of another mirror head of the interior rearview mirror assembly;FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the interior rearview mirror assembly of FIG. 4;FIG. 6 is a plan view of the portion of the mirror head that accommodates the near infrared light emitters, with the near infrared light emitters comprising narrow beam emitters and wider beam emitters;FIG. 7 is a schematic of the interior cabin of a left hand drive vehicle, showing the narrow beam emitters illuminating the driver's head;FIG. 8 is a schematic of the interior cabin of a right hand drive vehicle, showing the narrow beam emitters not illuminating the driver's head;FIGS. 9 and 10 are plan views of other mirror heads of the interior rearview mirror assembly;FIG. 11 is a plan view of the portion of the mirror head that accommodates the near infrared lig