Method and apparatus for distortion correction and image enhancing of a vehicle rear viewing system

A method of enhancing an image in a vehicle imaging system comprising the steps of:

• receiving captured images by at least one imaging device located on the vehicle;
• communicating said captured images to an image enhancing module;
• enhancing said captured images such that pixels located in said captured images are clustered and segmented to form at least one area of interest by referencing the pixels from a ground plane in the captured images and pixels located in said captured images are repositioned from a first position to a second position by a transfer operation to form modified images, said first position being expressed by (Xa, Ya), said second position being expressed by (Xc, Yc), and said transfer operation being performed in accordance with the formulas:
• Xc=s*cos φ*Xa*(1+k1ρ2+k2ρ4) and
• Yc=(s*sin φ*Xa+cos φ*Ya)(1+k1ρ2+k2ρ4)
• wherein, s is an aspect ratio of pixel unit, φ is a rectification angle, the lens distortion coefficients are k1 and k2 and ρ=((s*cos φ*Xa)2+(s*sin φ*Xa+cos φ*Ya)2)1/2;
• and
• communicating said modified images from said enhancing module to a display unit located in said vehicle.

An image enhancing system for improving images received by an imaging device located on a vehicle, the image enhancing system comprising:

• at least one camera located on said vehicle, the camera having a pixel array for receiving real-time captured images within the camera field of view;
• a computing unit having an image enhancing module in communication with said camera for improving said captured images by repositioning pixels in said captured images from a first position, represented by coordinates (X, Y, and Z), to a second position, within a remapped domain, in accordance with a transfer operation performed by the image enhancing module such that the repositioning of the pixels form enhanced images, said second position is expressed by (Xp, Yp) and said transfer operation is performed in accordance with the formulas:
• xp=fX/Z and yp=fY/Z
• wherein the parameter f is the distance of the remapped domain to an origin along an optical axis of the imaging device;
• and
• a display unit in communication with said computing unit and located within said vehicle for displaying said enhanced images.

A rearview image enhancing system for a vehicle comprising:

• a display unit for displaying modified images enhanced by the image enhancing system;
• an imaging device for receiving captured images enhanced by said image enhancing system;
• an image enhancing module in communication with said display unit and said imaging device for improving said captured images by repositioning pixels in said captured images from a first position, represented by coordinates (X, Y, and Z), to a second position, within a remapped domain, in accordance with a transfer operation performed by the image enhancing module such that the repositioning of the pixels form enhanced images said second position is expressed by (Xp, Yp) and said transfer operation is performed in accordance with the formulas:
• xp=fX/Z and yp=fY/Z
• wherein the parameter f is the distance of the remapped domain to an origin along an optical axis of the imaging device;
• and
• said image enhancing module further comprising a clustering function configured to cluster and segment pixels located in said captured images to form at least one area of interest by referencing the pixels from a ground plane in the captured images to form said modified images, said clustered and segmented pixels being used to separate ground and non-ground regions in obtaining the area of interest.