Method and device for determining concealed regions in the vehicle environment of a vehicle
AssigneeConti Temic microelectronic GmbH
InventorsMarkus Friebe, Felix Loehr
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A driver assistance system (1) for a vehicle includes environment sensors (2), which sense a vehicle environment of the vehicle, and a data processing unit (4), which evaluates sensor data of the environment sensors (2) to detect obstacles (H) in the vehicle environment. In accordance with detected obstacles (H), concealed regions (VB) in the vehicle environment of the vehicle are determined, which concealed regions are concealed by the obstacles (H) and restrict a field of view (FOV) of optical environment sensors (2) of the driver assistance system (1).
Claims22
A driver assistance system for a vehicle, comprising:
- environment sensors including optical environment sensors, configured to sense a vehicle environment of the vehicle;
- and
- a data processing unit, configured to evaluate sensor data of the environment sensors in order to detect obstacles in the vehicle environment;
- wherein the data processing unit is further configured to determine, from the sensor data, concealed regions in the vehicle environment dependent on the detected obstacles, which concealed regions are concealed from a respective view of at least a respective one of the optical environment sensors by the detected obstacles and restrict a respective field of view of the respective optical environment sensor, wherein the determining of the concealed regions comprises respectively determining, from the sensor data, at least one of a size, an extent and a contour of each respective one of the detected obstacles, and then calculating each respective one of the concealed regions from the respective determined size, extent and/or contour of the respective detected obstacle that conceals the respective concealed region.
A method of determining concealed regions in a vehicle environment of a vehicle, comprising the following steps:
- (a) evaluating sensor data, which are generated by environment sensors including optical environment sensors of the vehicle, to detect obstacles in the vehicle environment;
- and
- (b) calculating, from the sensor data, dependent on the detected obstacles, concealed regions which are concealed from a respective view of at least a respective one of the optical environment sensors by the detected obstacles and restrict a respective field of view of the respective optical environment sensor, wherein the calculating of the concealed regions comprises respectively determining, from the sensor data, at least one of a size, an extent and a contour of each respective one of the detected obstacles, and then calculating each respective one of the concealed regions from the respective determined size, extent and/or contour of the respective detected obstacle that conceals the respective concealed region.
A method of operating a driver assistance system of a vehicle having a display, a data processor and sensors including a first optical sensor mounted on the vehicle, wherein the method comprises the steps:
- a) with the sensors, sensing an environment outside of the vehicle and producing sensor data that represents features of the environment;
- b) with the data processor, evaluating the sensor data, and from the sensor data, detecting an obstacle that exists in the environment, determining that the obstacle conceals, from the first optical sensor, a concealed region in a field of view of the first optical sensor, determining at least one of a size, an extent and a contour of the obstacle, and calculating the concealed region from the determined size, extent and/or contour of the obstacle;
- c) with the data processor, further processing the sensor data to produce processed data dependent on and in response to the calculated concealed region;
- and
- d) on the display, displaying information determined from the processed data, wherein the information is adapted to assist a driver of the vehicle in performing a driving maneuver of the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.