Method for determining the angular magnitude of imaging acquiring apparatus and vehicle collision warning system using thereof

#The present invention relates to a safety warning technique for carrier, and more particularly, relates to a method for determining installed angle of an image acquiring apparatus on a carrier and a collision warning system for safety warning according the installed angle and the image around the carrier.

#With the gradual development of technology and affluent society, automobiles are available to every household for bringing convenience of traffic as well as the convenience is also gradually improved due to the progress of the automobile technology. However, with the popularizing of the utilization of automobiles, the casualties caused by automobile accidents are getting higher and higher. According statistics over the years published by ministry of the Interior of R.O.C, the number of death due to the automobile accidents is around 3000 each year in Taiwan area while the injured people are around 200,000. For example, in year 2005, the number of death and injured persons are 2,894 and 200,009 respectively, i.e. an average of 8 persons died daily due to the traffic accidents.

#Analyzing the cause of accidents, it reveals that 97% of automobile accidents are caused by inappropriate driving behavior, and the most frequent type of automobile accident is the rear-end collision. The accidents not only cause mental or physical burdens to each individual or family but also consume the limited medical resources of the society and cause the loss of productivity of the country. In regard to this, if it is possible for building a collision warning system by image acquiring apparatus with advanced image processing techniques for identifying the other vehicles around and estimating the relative distance therebetween and issuing an alarm signal while the relative distance is too close so that the driver is capable of proceeding an appropriate operation such as lowing speed for preventing automobile accidents from being occurred and reducing incidence rate of automobile accidents.

#The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention and wherein:

#FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B illustrate a process flow chart representing an embodiment of the method for determining installed angle of an image acquiring apparatus of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 illustrates installation of an image acquiring apparatus in the present invention.

#For your esteemed members of reviewing committee to further understand and recognize the fulfilled functions and structural characteristics of the invention, several exemplary embodiments cooperating with detailed description are presented as the follows.

#Please refer to the FIG. 1a, which is a process flow chart representing an embodiment of the method for determining installed angle of an image acquiring apparatus of the present invention. The method 1 in FIG. 1a is started at step 10. In step 10, process is performed to install an image acquiring apparatus on a carrier. The image acquiring apparatus is installed on the carrier within a predetermined angular range. In the step 10, the carrier can be, but should not be limited to, a vehicle or other transportation apparatus. Meanwhile, the location where the image acquiring apparatus is installed may include, but should not limited to, the front side of the carrier, rear side of the carrier, left side of the carrier, right side of the carrier or the combination of the foregoing sides. As to the way to install the image acquiring apparatus within the predetermined angular range is capable of being implemented by many prior arts, which are known by the one of skilled in the art. In the present embodiment of the present invention, an angular stationary device is adapted for supporting the image acquiring apparatus within the predetermined angular range.

#Please refer to FIG. 2, which is an embodiment of the angular stationary device of the present invention. In the embodiment, the angular stationary device 2 disposed on the carrier 90 has a base frame 21 and a bubble gauge disposed on the base frame 21. In addition, the angular stationary device 2 further has a supporting mechanism 22, connected to the base frame 21. The supporting mechanism 22 is capable of supporting the image acquiring apparatus 23 in a predetermined angle θ related to the horizontal axis of the bubble gauge. Therefore, theoretically, when the angular stationary device 2 is installed on the carrier 90, it is capable of lightly adjusting the bubble gauge, i.e. bubble in the center of the bubble to keep the horizontal axis of the bubble gauge parallel to the horizontal ground plane so as to make the angle between the image acquiring apparatus 23 and ground plane equal to the predetermined angle θ.