阅读说明：本技术 车用取像装置及其设定方法 (Image capturing device for vehicle and setting method thereof ) 是由 陈明泰 于 2018-07-13 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种车用取像装置及其设定方法,该车用取像装置的设定方法包括：侦测第一影像撷取单元的第一快门信号及第二影像撷取单元的第二快门信号,根据第一快门信号及第二快门信号输出点亮信号,并且根据点亮信号输出驱动电流至红外线发光组件；该信息撷取装置包含：麦克风接收一语音以生成对应的声音信号,语音辨识单元进行声音信号的语音辨识以得到一实际语音内容,影音录制单元进行影音录制以撷取一环境资料,控制单元于实际语音内容对应于指令语音内容时,取得对应指令语音内容的操作指令,响应该操作指令执行对应该操作指令的动作。(The invention provides an image capturing device for a vehicle and a setting method thereof, wherein the setting method of the image capturing device for the vehicle comprises the following steps: detecting a first shutter signal of the first image capturing unit and a second shutter signal of the second image capturing unit, outputting a lighting signal according to the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal, and outputting a driving current to the infrared light emitting component according to the lighting signal; the information acquisition device comprises: the microphone receives a voice to generate a corresponding voice signal, the voice identification unit carries out voice identification on the voice signal to obtain actual voice content, the audio-video recording unit carries out audio-video recording to capture environment data, and the control unit obtains an operation instruction corresponding to the instruction voice content when the actual voice content corresponds to the instruction voice content and responds to the operation instruction to execute action corresponding to the operation instruction.)

1. A method for setting an image capturing device for a vehicle, comprising:

detecting a first shutter signal of a first image capturing unit and a second shutter signal of a second image capturing unit;

outputting a lighting signal according to the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal;

outputting a driving current to an infrared light emitting component according to the lighting signal.

2. The setting method of the image capturing apparatus for vehicle as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

generating a first vehicle image by using the first image capturing unit;

obtaining an exposure value of the first image capturing unit according to the first vehicle image;

adjusting the driving current of the infrared light-emitting component according to the exposure value.

3. The setting method of the image capturing apparatus for vehicle as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of obtaining the exposure value of the first image capturing unit comprises:

the exposure value of the first vehicle image is obtained by performing image recognition on the first vehicle image captured by the first image capturing unit.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of adjusting the driving current of the infrared light emitting device according to the exposure value comprises:

converting the first vehicle image into an image histogram;

calculating the number of pixels in the image histogram, which are larger than a brightness threshold value;

comparing the pixel number with a number threshold;

when the number of the pixels is larger than the number threshold, outputting a first current as the driving current of the infrared light-emitting component; and

when the number of the pixels is smaller than the number threshold, a second current is output as the driving current of the infrared light emitting component, wherein the first current is smaller than the second current.

5. The setting method of the image capturing device for vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of outputting the lighting signal according to the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal comprises:

when at least one of the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal is at a first potential, the output lighting signal is an opening signal; and

when the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal are both at the second potential, the output lighting signal is a closing signal.

6. An image capturing device for a vehicle, comprising:

a first image capturing unit for capturing a vehicle to generate a first vehicle image of the vehicle and outputting a first shutter signal;

a second image capturing unit for capturing the vehicle to generate a second vehicle image of the vehicle and outputting a second shutter signal;

a control module coupled to the first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit, the control module including a logic circuit for detecting the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal and outputting a lighting signal according to the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal; and

and the infrared illumination module is coupled with the control module and outputs a driving current to an infrared light-emitting component according to the lighting signal.

7. The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the lighting signal outputted by the logic circuit is an on signal when either one of the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal is a first voltage level; and when the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal are both at a second potential, the lighting signal output by the logic circuit is a closing signal.

8. The image capturing device for vehicle as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control module further comprises:

an adjusting unit coupled to the first image capturing unit and the infrared illumination module, for obtaining an exposure value of the first image capturing unit according to the first vehicle image and adjusting the driving current of the infrared light emitting component according to the exposure value.

9. The image capturing apparatus for vehicle as claimed in claim 6, wherein the first image capturing unit is a monochrome image capturing unit, and the second image capturing unit is a color image capturing unit.

10. The image capturing apparatus for vehicle as claimed in claim 6, wherein the first image capturing unit further comprises an infrared filter.

11. The image capturing apparatus for vehicle as claimed in claim 6, wherein the logic circuit comprises an OR gate.

[ technical field ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

The present invention relates to an image capturing technology, and more particularly, to an image capturing device for a vehicle and a setting method thereof.

[ background of the invention ]

In daily life, most people rely on vehicles as transportation tools when going out, which leads to the gradual increase of vehicles, and the vehicles are indispensable transportation tools in the modern society. Since the road condition changes are difficult to predict, most of the current vehicles are equipped with image capturing devices for capturing the road conditions ahead of the vehicle or the vehicle.

At present, most of image capturing devices for vehicles are provided with infrared illumination modules, so that the images can be shot in low-illumination environments. However, the infrared illumination module is usually turned on to be in a normally bright state, so that the infrared illumination module is prone to problems of difficult heat dissipation or overexposure of the captured image. In addition, the lifetime of the infrared illumination module is also reduced.

[ summary of the invention ]

An embodiment of the invention provides a setting method of an image capturing device for a vehicle, including: the method comprises the steps of detecting a first shutter signal of a first image capturing unit and a second shutter signal of a second image capturing unit, outputting a lighting signal according to the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal, and outputting a driving current to an infrared light emitting component according to the lighting signal.

An embodiment of the invention provides an image capturing device for a vehicle, which includes a first image capturing unit, a second image capturing unit, a control module, and an infrared illumination module. The first image capturing unit captures a vehicle to generate a first vehicle image of the vehicle and outputs a first shutter signal. The second image capturing unit captures the vehicle to generate a second vehicle image of the vehicle and outputs a second shutter signal. The control module is coupled to the first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit and comprises a logic circuit, and the logic circuit detects the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal and outputs a lighting signal according to the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal. The infrared illumination module is coupled with the control module and outputs driving current to the infrared light-emitting component according to the lighting signal.

In summary, the image capturing device for a vehicle and the setting method thereof according to the embodiments of the invention are suitable for a vehicle, and can illuminate the infrared light emitting element according to the first shutter signal of the first image capturing unit and the second shutter signal of the second image capturing unit.

[ description of the drawings ]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an image capturing device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a setting method of an image capturing device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a setting method of an image capturing device for a vehicle according to another embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a setting method of an image capturing device for a vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of step S11.

FIG. 6 is an image histogram of an embodiment of a first vehicle image.

[ detailed description ] embodiments

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an image capturing device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a setting method of an image capturing device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, the image capturing device 100 for a vehicle is suitable for being installed on a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a host vehicle). In some embodiments, the image capturing device 100 for a vehicle can be mounted on the vehicle and capture a scene in front of the vehicle, where the scene includes a front vehicle in front of the vehicle.

The image capturing device 100 for a vehicle includes a first image capturing unit 110, a second image capturing unit 120, a control module 130 and an infrared illumination module 140. The first image capturing unit 110, the second image capturing unit 120 and the infrared illumination module 140 are respectively in signal connection with the control module 130.

The first image capturing unit 110 captures a front vehicle in front of the vehicle to generate a first vehicle image. Wherein, the first vehicle image at least comprises the license plate of the front vehicle. The first image capturing unit 110 outputs a first shutter signal during shooting. In other words, the first shutter signal is generated when the shutter of the first image capturing unit 110 is triggered. The second image capturing unit 120 captures a scene containing a front vehicle in front of the vehicle to generate a second vehicle image. The second vehicle image at least comprises a front vehicle and an environment in front of the vehicle. The second image capturing unit 110 outputs a second shutter signal during shooting. In other words, the second shutter signal is generated when the shutter of the second image capturing unit 110 is triggered. The control module 130 is coupled to the first image capturing unit 110 and the second image capturing unit 120. The control module 130 includes logic circuitry 132. The logic circuit 132 detects the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal (step S1) and outputs a lighting signal according to the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal (step S3). The infrared illumination module 140 is coupled to the control module 130. The infrared illumination module 140 includes a driving unit 142 and an infrared light emitting element 144, and the driving unit 142 outputs a driving current to the infrared light emitting element 144 according to the lighting signal (step S5). In one embodiment, the infrared light emitting element 144 includes at least one or more infrared light emitting diodes.

Herein, the image capturing device 100 for a vehicle is suitable for a vehicle, and can output a driving current according to the first shutter signal of the first image capturing unit 110 and the second shutter signal of the second image capturing unit 120 to illuminate the infrared light emitting element 144.

In one embodiment, the first image capturing unit 110 is a black and white image capturing unit. In one embodiment, the first image capturing unit 110 may include a black and white light sensor and an infrared filter, wherein the black and white light sensor captures black and white images and has a light sensing range of 400 nanometers (nm) to 1000 nanometers (nm), and the infrared filter has a light sensing wavelength of 850 ± 10 nanometers (nm) or 940 ± 10 nanometers (nm). The emission wavelength of the infrared light emitting element 144 may be 850 + -10 nanometers (nm) or 940 + -10 nanometers (nm). The license plate can reflect infrared wavelength of 850 + -10 nanometers (nm) or 940 + -10 nanometers (nm), for example. Herein, the first image capturing unit 110 may capture a preceding vehicle located in front of the host vehicle when a license plate of the preceding vehicle is exposed to radiation of a wavelength in an Infrared (IR) range, so as to generate a first vehicle image at least including the license plate of the preceding vehicle. Further, when the infrared light emitting element 144 is turned on, the license plate reflects the infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitting element 144 to the first image capturing unit 110, and the infrared filter allows the infrared light of 850 ± 10 nanometers (nm) or 940 ± 10 nanometers (nm) to pass through to the black and white light sensing element, so that the first image capturing unit 110 can clearly capture the license plate. In one embodiment, a Field of View (FOV) of the first image capturing unit 110 is determined according to the size of the black and white photosensitive element of the first image capturing unit 110 and the focal length of the camera lens of the first image capturing unit 110. In one embodiment, the Horizontal visual angle (FOV) (h) of the Field of View (FOV) of the first image capturing unit 110 is 2.51 meters (m), and the Vertical visual angle (FOV) (v) is 1.89 meters (m). In an embodiment, the black and white light sensing Device of the first image capturing unit 110 may be a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) or a Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) Device, so as to convert the first vehicle image. In an implementation aspect, the first image capturing unit 110 may include an output port capable of outputting the first vehicle image.

In one embodiment, the second image capturing unit 120 is a color image capturing unit. In one embodiment, the second image capturing unit 120 may include a color photosensitive device, wherein the color photosensitive device captures a color image and the photosensitive range of the color photosensitive device may be 400 nanometers (nm) to 1000 nm. In one embodiment, the Field of View (FOV) of the second image capturing unit 120 is determined according to the size of the color sensor of the second image capturing unit 120 and the focal length of the camera lens of the second image capturing unit 120. In one embodiment, the horizontal visual angle (FOV) (h)) of the capturing range (FOV) of the second image capturing unit 120 is 5.02 meters (m), and the vertical visual angle (FOV) (v) is 3.79 meters (m). In one embodiment, the color sensor of the second image capturing unit 120 may be a photosensitive coupling device or a cmos device to convert the second vehicle image. In one embodiment, the second image capturing unit 120 may include an output port for outputting the second vehicle image.

In one embodiment, the logic circuit 132 of the control module 130 includes an OR gate (OR gate), two input terminals of the OR gate (OR gate 132) are respectively coupled to the first image capturing unit 110 and the second image capturing unit 120, and an output terminal of the OR gate (OR gate 132) is coupled to the infrared illumination module 140. Here, as shown in fig. 3, it is determined whether the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal are at the second potential, and if at least one of the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal is at the first potential, the lighting signal output by the or gate (the logic circuit 132) is an on signal (step S301). If the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal are both at the second potential, the lighting signal outputted by the or gate (logic circuit 132) is a close signal (step S303). The first potential is a high potential (or logic 1), and the second potential is a low potential (or logic 0).

For example, in the first exemplary embodiment, assuming that the logic circuit 132 is implemented as an or gate, when the first shutter signal is at a high level (or logic 1) and the second shutter signal is at a high level (or logic 1), the lighting signal outputted by the logic circuit 132 to the driving unit 142 of the infrared illumination module 140 is an on signal, and the on signal is at a high level (or logic 1). Accordingly, the driving unit 142 outputs a driving current to the infrared light emitting element 144 in response to the on signal of the high voltage (or logic 1) to light the infrared light emitting element 144.

In a second example, assuming that the logic circuit 132 is an or gate, when the first shutter signal is at a high level (or logic 1) and the second shutter signal is at a low level (or logic 0), the lighting signal outputted by the logic circuit 132 to the driving unit 142 of the infrared illumination module 140 is an on signal, and the on signal is at a high level (or logic 1). Accordingly, the driving unit 142 outputs a driving current to the infrared light emitting element 144 in response to the on signal of the high voltage (or logic 1) to light the infrared light emitting element 144.

In a third example, assuming that the logic circuit 132 is an or gate, when the first shutter signal is a low level (or logic 0) and the second shutter signal is a high level (or logic 1), the lighting signal outputted by the logic circuit 132 to the driving unit 142 of the infrared illumination module 140 is an on signal, and the on signal is a high level (or logic 1). The driving unit 142 outputs a driving current to the infrared light emitting element 144 in response to the on signal of the high potential (or logic 1) to light the infrared light emitting element 144.

In a fourth example, assuming that the logic circuit 132 is an or gate, when the first shutter signal is at a low voltage (or logic 0) and the second shutter signal is at a low voltage (or logic 0), the logic circuit 132 outputs the turn-on signal to the driving unit 142 of the infrared illumination module 140 as a turn-off signal, and the turn-off signal is at a low voltage (or logic 0). Accordingly, the driving unit 142 does not output the driving current to the infrared light emitting device 144 in response to the low-level (or logic 0) off signal, or outputs the driving current with the current value of zero to the infrared light emitting device 144 in response to the low-level (or logic 0) off signal.

Further, when the second image capturing unit 120 (color image capturing unit) is in a low illumination environment, the time for opening the shutter is longer, and if the infrared light emitting element 144 is turned on at this time, and the first image capturing unit 110 (black-and-white image capturing unit) is turned on, the second image capturing unit 120 (color image capturing unit) will capture a flickering image due to the turning on of the infrared light emitting element 144, but according to the foregoing embodiment, when at least one of the first image capturing unit 110 (black-and-white image capturing unit) and the second image capturing unit 120 (color image capturing unit) is turned on for capturing, that is, when at least one of the first shutter signal and the second shutter signal is the first potential, the infrared light emitting element 144 is turned on, and the second image capturing unit 120 (color image capturing unit) will not capture the flickering image. In addition, when the first image capturing unit 110 (black-and-white image capturing unit) and the second image capturing unit 120 (color image capturing unit) are not turned on, the infrared light emitting element 144 is turned off, so that the service life of the infrared illumination module 140 can be prolonged, and the problem of difficult heat dissipation can be avoided.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 4, the control module 130 further includes an adjusting unit 134. The adjusting unit 134 is coupled to the first image capturing unit 110 and the driving unit 142 of the infrared illumination module 140. After the first image capturing unit 110 captures the scene to obtain the first vehicle image (step S7), the adjusting unit 134 receives and analyzes the first vehicle image to obtain the Exposure Value (EV) (step S9). Then, the adjusting unit 134 adjusts the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 144 according to the exposure value (step S11). Herein, when the image capturing device 100 for a vehicle determines to output the driving current to illuminate the infrared light emitting element 144 according to the first shutter signal of the first image capturing unit 110 and the second shutter signal of the second image capturing unit 120, the adjusting unit 134 can adjust the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 140 based on the exposure value of the first vehicle image, and change the brightness of the infrared light emitting element 140 by adjusting the light emitting power value of the infrared light emitting element 140. In one embodiment, the adjusting unit 134 may include an Image Signal Processor (ISP), but is not limited thereto.

In one embodiment, the control module 130 can be a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a central processing unit, or any analog and/or digital device that operates according to an operation command, but is not limited thereto.

In an example of step S9, the adjusting unit 134 may perform image recognition on the first vehicle image to calculate the brightness of all the pixels in the first vehicle image to obtain the exposure value. In another example of step S9, the adjusting unit 134 may perform image recognition on the first vehicle image to calculate the brightness of the pixels of the image of the front vehicle license plate in the first vehicle image to obtain the exposure value.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, 5 and 6, after the first image capturing unit 110 captures an image of a scene to obtain a first vehicle image (step S7), the adjusting unit 134 receives and analyzes the first vehicle image, and converts the first vehicle image into an image Histogram (Histogram) (step S1101). In this way, the number of pixels with the same brightness in the first vehicle image is accumulated to convert the image histogram. The horizontal axis of the image histogram is the gray-scale values of all the pixels in the first vehicle image, for example, ranging from 0 to 255, and the vertical axis of the image histogram is the number of pixels corresponding to each gray-scale value of the horizontal axis.

The adjusting unit 134 calculates the number of pixels in the image histogram that are larger than the luminance threshold T (step S1103). Here, the brightness threshold T is a threshold value with a preset gray level. If the luminance threshold T is a single value, the luminance threshold T is, for example, 160, the horizontal axis of the image histogram can be divided into two sections by the luminance threshold T, and the adjusting unit 134 calculates the number of pixels in the image histogram that are larger than the luminance threshold T. The adjusting unit 134 compares the number of pixels greater than the brightness threshold T with the number threshold (step S1105), and the adjusting unit 134 determines whether the number of pixels greater than the brightness threshold T is greater than the number threshold.

In this embodiment, the number threshold may be a single number threshold. Here, when the number of pixels greater than the brightness threshold T is greater than the number threshold, that is, it is determined that the exposure value of the first vehicle image is higher, the adjusting unit 134 adjusts the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 144 to be the first current, so that the infrared lighting module 140 outputs the first current as the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 144 (step S1107 a). When the number of pixels greater than the brightness threshold T is smaller than the number threshold, that is, it is determined that the exposure value of the first vehicle image is lower, the adjusting unit 134 adjusts the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 144 to be the second current, so that the infrared lighting module 140 outputs the second current as the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 144 (step S1107b), wherein the first current is smaller than the second current.

The number threshold includes a number threshold, which is only an example and can be changed according to different requirements. In other embodiments, the number threshold may be a combination of two number thresholds (e.g., an upper number limit and a lower number limit), and the like, where the number of comparison results between the number of pixels greater than the brightness threshold and the number thresholds and the magnitude of the driving current may be changed according to the number of the number thresholds when step S1105 is executed. For example: when the number of pixels greater than the brightness threshold is greater than the upper limit, i.e., the exposure value of the first vehicle image is determined to be higher, the adjusting unit 134 adjusts the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 144 to be the first current. When the number of pixels greater than the brightness threshold is between the upper limit value and the lower limit value, the adjusting unit 134 adjusts the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 144 to be the second current. When the number of pixels greater than the brightness threshold is smaller than the lower limit value, that is, the exposure value of the first vehicle image is determined to be lower, the adjusting unit 134 adjusts the driving current of the infrared light emitting element 144 to be the third current. The first current is smaller than the second current, and the second current is smaller than the third current.

In an embodiment, the first image capturing unit 110, the second image capturing unit 120, the control module 130 and the infrared illumination module 140 may be integrated into a same image capturing system, for example, an image capturing device with an infrared lamp, two image capturing units and a processor.

In summary, the image capturing device for a vehicle and the setting method thereof according to the embodiments of the invention are suitable for a vehicle, and can illuminate the infrared light emitting element according to the first shutter signal of the first image capturing unit and the second shutter signal of the second image capturing unit.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.