Driver assistance system for vehicle

A driver assistance system for a vehicle, said driver assistance system comprising:

• an imager disposed at a vehicle equipped with said driver assistance system and viewing one of (i) forward of the equipped vehicle through a windshield of the equipped vehicle and (ii) rearward of the equipped vehicle;
• said imager having a field of view exterior the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;
• said imager comprising (i) a lens, (ii) a spectral filter and (iii) an image sensor comprising a CMOS photosensor array of photosensor elements;
• a control comprising an image processor;
• wherein said control is operable to process captured image data for at least a first application and a second application, and wherein said first application comprises lane departure warning and said second application comprises headlamp control;
• wherein said control is operable to adjust said image sensor to at least two settings including at least a first setting and a second setting;
• wherein said control is operable to process captured image data via at least two processing techniques;
• wherein said control is operable to synchronize said at least two settings of said image sensor and said at least two processing techniques to extract information from said captured image data for said first and second applications;
• wherein said control adjusts a setting of said image sensor to said first setting to capture image data suitable for said first application;
• wherein said control adjusts a setting of said image sensor to said second setting to capture image data suitable for said second application;
• wherein said image processor processes captured image data captured by said image sensor at said first setting via a processing technique suitable for said first application;
• wherein said image processor processes captured image data captured by said image sensor at said second setting via a processing technique suitable for said second application;
• wherein said control is operable to process captured image data for a third application;
• wherein said driver assistance system comprises an auxiliary sensor;
• wherein said auxiliary sensor is selected from the group consisting of (i) an ultrasonic sensor, (ii) a radar sensor and (iii) a lidar sensor;
• wherein said auxiliary sensor is operable to detect an object exterior the equipped vehicle;
• and
• wherein, responsive at least in part to detection of the object by said auxiliary sensor, at least one of (i) a setting of said image sensor is adjusted and (ii) processing of image data that corresponds to a region at which the object is detected is enhanced.

A driver assistance system for a vehicle, said driver assistance system comprising:

• an imager disposed at a vehicle equipped with said driver assistance system and viewing forward of the equipped vehicle through a windshield of the equipped vehicle;
• said imager having a field of view exterior the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;
• said imager comprising (i) a lens, (ii) a spectral filter and (iii) an image sensor comprising a CMOS photosensor array of photosensor elements;
• a control comprising an image processor;
• wherein said control is operable to process captured image data for at least a first application and a second application, and wherein said first application comprises lane departure warning and said second application comprises headlamp control;
• wherein said control is operable to adjust said image sensor to at least two settings including at least a first setting and a second setting;
• wherein said control is operable to process captured image data via at least two processing techniques;
• wherein said control is operable to synchronize said at least two settings of said image sensor and said at least two processing techniques to extract information from said captured image data for said first and second applications;
• wherein said control adjusts a setting of said image sensor to said first setting to capture image data suitable for said first application;
• wherein said control adjusts a setting of said image sensor to said second setting to capture image data suitable for said second application;
• wherein said image processor processes captured image data captured by said image sensor at said first setting via a processing technique suitable for said first application;
• wherein said image processor processes captured image data captured by said image sensor at said second setting via a processing technique suitable for said second application;
• wherein said control is operable to process captured image data for a third application;
• wherein said imager and at least a part of said control are disposed in an accessory module of the equipped vehicle and wherein said accessory module is mounted at the inner-cabin surface of the windshield of the equipped vehicle;
• wherein said driver assistance system comprises an auxiliary sensor;
• wherein said auxiliary sensor is selected from the group consisting of (i) an ultrasonic sensor, (ii) a radar sensor and (iii) a lidar sensor;
• wherein said auxiliary sensor is operable to detect an object exterior the equipped vehicle;
• and
• wherein, responsive at least in part to detection of the object by said auxiliary sensor, at least one of (i) a setting of said image sensor is adjusted and (ii) processing of image data that corresponds to a region at which the object is detected is enhanced.