Granted Patent B2

US 12,737,834 · App. 19/119,026 · Granted Sep 15, 2026

Inventor: Huanqing Guo (Tuam, IE)

Assignee: CONNAUGHT ELECTRONICS Ltd.

G06T3/08G06T7/80H04N9/3185H04N9/3194G06T2207/10016G06T2207/30252

Abstract

Claims (87)

1 . A computer-implemented method for displaying image data in a vehicle, the computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a predefined initial projection surface and a predefined final projection surface;

receiving a video stream depicting an environment of the vehicle from a camera system of the vehicle and the video stream is buffered in a buffer storage, wherein the buffer storage is updated at a predefined frame rate;

reading out image data at a predefined readout rate from the buffer storage at an initial readout instance, a plurality of consecutive intermediate readout instances and a final readout instance;

determining a set of initial sampling points on the initial projection surface and a set of final sampling points on the final projection surface, wherein each final sampling point is assigned to exactly one of the initial sampling points;

determining, for each of the intermediate readout instances, a set of intermediate sampling points, wherein each intermediate sampling point interpolates between one of the final sampling points and the respective assigned initial sampling point, and an intermediate projection surface containing the set of intermediate sampling points is determined; and

projecting for each of the intermediate readout instances, the read out image data to the respective intermediate projection surface and an intermediate image depending on the projected image data is displayed on a display device of the vehicle.

2 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

providing predefined initial viewing parameters of a virtual observer, which include an initial position of the virtual observer, and predefined final viewing parameters of the virtual observer, which include a final position of the virtual observer;

determining, for each of the intermediate readout instances, intermediate viewing parameters of the virtual observer including a respective intermediate position of the virtual observer, wherein the intermediate position lies on a predefined curve connecting the initial position to the final position; and

projecting, for each of the intermediate readout instances, the read out image data to the respective intermediate projection surface and transformed according to the respective intermediate viewing parameters and the respective intermediate image depends on the projected and transformed image data.

3 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 2 ,

wherein the initial viewing parameters include an initial orientation of the virtual observer and the final viewing parameters include a final orientation of the virtual observer and, for each of the intermediate readout instances, the respective intermediate viewing parameters include a respective intermediate orientation of the virtual observer, and/or

wherein the initial viewing parameters include an initial field of view of the virtual observer and the final viewing parameters include a final field of view of the virtual observer and, for each of the intermediate readout instances, the respective intermediate viewing parameters include a respective intermediate field of view of the virtual observer.

4 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

projecting for the initial readout instance, the read out image data to the initial projection surface and an initial image depending on the projected image data is displayed on the display device; and/or

projecting for the final readout instance, the read out image data to the final projection surface and a final image depending on the projected image data is displayed on the display device.

5 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein, for each of the final sampling points, the intermediate sampling points interpolating between the final sampling point and the assigned initial sampling point for all intermediate readout instances lie on a straight line connecting the final sampling point and the assigned initial sampling point.

6 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein for each of the final sampling points, respective distances between intermediate sampling points interpolating between the final sampling point and the assigned initial sampling point are identical for each pair of consecutive intermediate readout instances.

7 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the readout rate is greater than the frame rate.

8 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the readout rate is at least two times the frame rate.

9 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the readout rate is equal to or smaller than a refresh rate of the display device.

10 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the initial projection surface is given by points fulfilling the equation

Z

=

∑

i

=

1

n

a

i

⁢

X

i

+

b

i

⁢

Y

i

+

c

,

wherein X, Y and Z denote Cartesian coordinates of the respective point on the initial projection surface, Z corresponds to a height above a predefined ground plane, on which the vehicle is located, n is an even integer equal to or greater than four, and a i , b i and c are predefined real coefficients, and/or

wherein the final projection surface is given by points fulfilling equation

Z

=

∑

i

=

1

n

′

a

i

′

⁢

X

i

+

b

i

′

⁢

Y

i

+

c

′

,

wherein X, Y and Z denote Cartesian coordinates of the respective point on the final projection surface, Z corresponds to a height above the ground plane, n′ is an even integer equal to or greater than four, and a i ′, b i ′ and c′ are predefined real coefficients.

11 . The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the initial projection surface comprises an initial base portion, which is given by an initial part of a predefined ground plane, on which the vehicle is located,

wherein the vehicle is located within the initial base portion, and an initial raised portion that adjoins the initial base portion at an outer boundary of the initial base portion, and/or

wherein the final projection surface comprises a final base portion, which is given by a final part of the ground plane, wherein the vehicle is located within the final base portion, and a final raised portion that adjoins the final base portion at an outer boundary of the final base portion.

12 . An electronic vehicle guidance system for a vehicle, comprising at least one computing unit, which stores a predefined initial projection surface and a predefined final projection surface and is configured to:

receive a video stream depicting an environment of the vehicle from a camera system of the vehicle and to buffer the video stream in a buffer storage, wherein the buffer storage is updated at a predefined frame rate;

read out image data from the buffer storage at a predefined readout rate at an initial readout instance, a plurality of consecutive intermediate readout instances and a final readout instance;

determine a set of initial sampling points on the initial projection surface and a set of final sampling points on the final projection surface, wherein each final sampling point is assigned to exactly one of the initial sampling points;

determine, for each of the intermediate readout instances, a set of intermediate sampling points, wherein each intermediate sampling point interpolates between one of the final sampling points and the respective assigned initial sampling point, and to determine an intermediate projection surface containing the set of intermediate sampling points; and

project, for each of the intermediate readout instances, the read out image data to the respective intermediate projection surface and control a display device of the vehicle to display an intermediate image depending on the projected image data.

13 . The electronic vehicle guidance system according to claim 12 ,

wherein the readout rate is equal to or smaller than a refresh rate of the display device, and/or

wherein the readout rate is greater than the frame rate.

14 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by at least one computing unit, cause the at least one computing unit to carry out a computer-implemented method according to claim 1 .

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (47)