IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,664,685
Granted Patent B2
US 12,664,685 · App. 18/459,705 · Granted Jun 23, 2026

Method, apparatus, and computer program product for calibration of camera to vehicle alignment

Inventor: Jani Kappi (Tampere, FI)
Assignee: HERE GLOBAL B.V
G06T7/80B60W60/00G06T7/70B60W2420/403G06T2207/30252
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,664,685
App. No.
18/459,705
Filed
Sep 1, 2023
Granted
Jun 23, 2026
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2665
USPC
382/100
Abstract

A method is provided calibration of alignment between a vehicle and a camera of the vehicle. Methods may include: receiving location information associated with a vehicle; receive measurement data from an inertial measurement unit associated with the vehicle; calculating, from the measurement data and the location information, a position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the vehicle; receiving a first image and a second image from a camera associated with the vehicle; calculating a position of the camera based, at least in part, on the first image and the second image; calculating, from the measurement data and the position of the camera, a position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera; and determining alignment of the camera with the vehicle based on the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the vehicle and the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera.

Claims (46)

1 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

receive location information associated with a vehicle;

receive measurement data from an inertial measurement unit associated with the vehicle;

calculate, from the measurement data and the location information, a position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the vehicle;

receive a first image and a second image from a camera associated with the vehicle;

calculate a position of the camera based, at least in part, on the first image and the second image;

calculate, from the measurement data and the position of the camera, a position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera via at least one reprojection error calculation; and

determine alignment of the camera with the vehicle based on the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the vehicle and the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera, wherein the determined alignment is based at least in part on a nonlinear cost function.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

provide at least partial autonomous control of the vehicle based, at least in part, on the alignment of the camera with the vehicle.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first image is captured at a first location, wherein the second image is captured at a second location, and wherein the vehicle has moved from the first location to the second location.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first image has a first field-of-view, wherein the second image has a second field-of-view, and wherein the first field-of-view at least partially overlaps with the second field-of-view.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein causing the apparatus to calculate the position of the camera based, at least in part, on the first image and the second image comprises causing the apparatus to employ stereoscopic localization to calculate the position.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the location information associated with the vehicle comprises location information obtained from a global navigation satellite system.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein causing the apparatus to calculate, from the measurement data and the position of the camera, the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera comprises causing the apparatus to:

perform reprojection error calculation to obtain the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera.

8 . A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions to:

receive location information associated with a vehicle;

receive measurement data from an inertial measurement unit associated with the vehicle;

calculate, from the measurement data and the location information, a position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the vehicle;

receive a first image and a second image from a camera associated with the vehicle;

calculate a position of the camera based, at least in part, on the first image and the second image;

calculate, from the measurement data and the position of the camera, a position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera via at least one reprojection error calculation; and

determine alignment of the camera with the vehicle based on the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the vehicle and the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera, wherein the determined alignment is based at least in part on a nonlinear cost function.

9 . The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising program code instructions to:

provide at least partial autonomous control of the vehicle based, at least in part, on the alignment of the camera with the vehicle.

10 . The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the first image is captured at a first location, wherein the second image is captured at a second location, and wherein the vehicle has moved from the first location to the second location.

11 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the first image has a first field-of-view, wherein the second image has a second field-of-view, and wherein the first field-of-view at least partially overlaps with the second field-of-view.

12 . The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the program code instructions to calculate the position of the camera based, at least in part, on the first image and the second image comprise program code instructions to employ stereoscopic localization to calculate the position.

13 . The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the location information associated with the vehicle comprises location information obtained from a global navigation satellite system.

14 . The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the program code instructions to calculate, from the measurement data and the position of the camera, the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera comprise program code instructions to:

perform reprojection error calculation to obtain the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera.

15 . A method comprising:

receiving location information associated with a vehicle;

receiving measurement data from an inertial measurement unit associated with the vehicle;

calculating, from the measurement data and the location information, a position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the vehicle;

receiving a first image and a second image from a camera associated with the vehicle;

calculating a position of the camera based, at least in part, on the first image and the second image;

calculating, from the measurement data and the position of the camera, a position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera via at least one reprojection error calculation; and

determining alignment of the camera with the vehicle based on the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the vehicle and the position of the inertial measurement unit relative to the camera, wherein the determined alignment is based at least in part on a nonlinear cost function.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

providing at least partial autonomous control of the vehicle based, at least in part, on the alignment of the camera with the vehicle.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first image is captured at a first location, wherein the second image is captured at a second location, and wherein the vehicle has moved from the first location to the second location.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the first image has a first field-of-view, wherein the second image has a second field-of-view, and wherein the first field-of-view at least partially overlaps with the second field-of-view.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein calculating the position of the camera based, at least in part, on the first image and the second image comprises employing stereoscopic localization to calculate the position.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the determined alignment is also based at least in part on a spline fitting algorithm.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 1, 2023
From: KAPPI, JANI
To: HERE GLOBAL B.V.
Reel/Frame 064773/0564 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20250078318A1 · Mar 6, 2025
References Cited (18)
US 9491450B2 · Kussel · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 10997737B2 · Geva et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 20140184799A1 · Kussel · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140267690A1 · Morin · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20180188032A1 · Ramanandan · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20200271755A1 · Wodrich · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200275033A1 · Petniunas · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200349723A1 · Geva · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200353878A1 · Briggs · 2020 [cited by examiner]
CN 114049402B · 2024 [cited by examiner]
EP 3815045A1 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
EP 2972482B1 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
WO WO2020006378A1 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
WO WO2023186428A1 · 2023 [cited by examiner]
M. Fleps, E. Mair, O. Ruepp, M. Suppa and D. Burschka, “Optimization based IMU camera calibration,” 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2011, pp. 3297-3304, … [cited by examiner]
Andert, Franz, and Luis Mejias. “Improving monocular SLAM with altimeter hints for fixed-wing aircraft navigation and emergency landing.” In 2015 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), pp. 1008-1… [cited by examiner]
Liu, Zhenbo, Naser El-Sheimy, Chunyang Yu, and Yongyuan Qin. “Motion constraints and vanishing point aided land vehicle navigation.” micromachines 9, No. 5 (2018): 249. (Year: 2018). [cited by examiner]
Andert et al., “Improving monocular slam with altimeter hints for fixed-wing aircraft navigation and emergency landing”, Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS, Institute of… [cited by applicant]