This application claims the benefit of Taiwan Patent Application No. 103138700, filed on Nov. 7, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to driving recorder technology and more particularly, to a 360-degree panorama driving recorder system, which uses one single main unit to mate with multiple lenses for capturing and recording 360-degree panorama images. The invention relates also to a360-degree panorama driving recording method using the 360-degree panorama driving recorder system.
2. Description of the Related Art
After through technological evolution of driving recorder technology over the years, the function and technical advances of driving recorder have been greatly improved, rendering considerable help in monitoring driving conditions and clarifying the responsibility of traffic accidents. Conventional driving recorders generally provide one single lens or two lenses. When an accident happed, key images may be missed, or not recorded due to a dead angle, increasing the risk of driving safety and leading to an inaccurate accident judgment due to lack of proof.
In order to increase traffic safety and to eliminate imaging dead angle, the demand for a driving recorder having a panorama image recording function has been continuously increasing. A driving recorder having a panorama image recording function needs to use multiple lenses. Regular driving recorders with panorama image recording function are commonly designed for enabling the lenses to be mounted on the outside of the car at different locations in different view angles, for example, at the two rear-view mirrors of the car. This installation method greatly complicates the installation procedure, and also relatively increases the cost of the system.
Further, mounting the lenses of a driving recorder on the outside of the body of a car should consider various risks in the external environment, such as rain, impact and abrasion, etc. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a driving recorder system for recording 360-degree panorama images that allows the lenses to be installed on the inside of a car.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present invention to provide a 360-degree panorama driving recorder system, which uses one single main unit to mate with multiple lenses for capturing and recording 360-degree panorama images.
To achieve this and other objects of the present invention, a 360-degree panorama driving recorder of the invention is installed in a carrier, comprising a display unit for displaying image records, at least one lens and at least one sensor respectively electrically connected together for capturing different view angle image records, and a microcontroller unit electrically coupled with the sensors for receiving the view angle image records captured through the lenses during running of the carrier and integrating the view angle image records into an integrated 360-degree panorama image record and then transmitting the integrated 360-degree panorama image record to the display unit for display.
To achieve this and other objects of the present invention, a 360-degree panorama driving recording method of the invention comprise the step of providing a display unit in a carrier, the step of installing lenses sensors in the carrier for capturing at least one view angle image record, and the step of installing a microcontroller unit in the carrier and electrically coupling the microcontroller unit with the lenses and the sensors for receiving multiple view angle image records from the lenses through the sensors and integrating the view angle image records into an integrated 360-degree panorama image record and then transmitting the integrated 360-degree panorama image record to the display unit for display.
The 360-degree panorama driving recorder system of the invention utilizes a software program to integrate multiple view angle image records captured by multiple lenses through multiple sensors into a 360-degree panorama image record for display and storage. As the invention uses one single main unit to mate with multiple lenses for capturing and recording 360-degree panorama images, the invention greatly reduces the system installation cost. Further, the invention has the lenses and sensors installed inside the carrier, saving much the maintenance cost and prolonging the system lifespan. Other advantages and features of the present invention will be fully understood by reference to the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference signs denote like components of structure.
Referring to
The 360-degree panorama driving recorder system is mountable in a carrier, for example, a car, or any other transportable vehicle. The 360-degree panorama driving recorder system further comprises a display unit having a display screen for displaying recorded images. In this embodiment, the 360-degree panorama driving recorder system comprises at least three lenses. Each lens is electrically connected to a respective sensor and a microcontroller unit. In the embodiment shown in
The first lens 210, the second lens 310 and the third lens 410 are arranged on one level. The hardware design of the 360-degree panorama driving recorder can have a spherical or rectangular configuration. The positions of the lenses can be changed according to the design of the driving recorder. In another embodiment of the present invention, the first lens 210, the second lens 310 and the third lens 410 are respectively equipped with a respective view angle adjuster for adjusting the direction of the first view angle image record 220, the direction of the second view angle image record 320 and the direction of the third view angle image record 420 respectively at different elevations. When increasing the number of the lenses, the number of the view angle adjuster and the number of the view angle image records shall be relatively increased.
The image record displayed on the display unit is a combination of the first view angle image record 220, the second view angle image record 320 and the third view angle image record 420 synthesized by the microcontroller unit 100. The display unit further comprises a touch unit for inputting a control instruction to adjust the display mode of the display unit.
Referring to
The 360-degree panorama driving recorder system of the invention further comprises a network device linkable to the Internet. The view angle image records of the lenses can be transmitted to the display screen of the display unit by a wired or wireless transmission interface. Through the Internet, these view angle image records can be transmitted to a mobile electronic device.
The 360-degree panorama driving recorder system of the invention further comprises a storage module electrically connected to the microcontroller unit 100 for storing the view angle image records, and interface means (for example, USB interface) for the connection of an external storage device for storing view angle image records. Through this interface means, view angle image records can be stored in or fetched from the connected external storage device.
During running of the carrier, the microcontroller unit 100 of the 360-degree panorama driving recorder system obtains and processes the view angle image records of continuous series of images of the lenses through the respective sensors, and then transmits these view angle image records to the display unit 600 for display. Referring also to
The image integration module 500 of the microcontroller unit 100 computes the error value of the image overlap of the view angle image records. There is an image overlap between multiple image records captured by different lenses. By means of a software program, the microcontroller unit 100 applies an arithmetic processing to integrate multiple view angle image records with the error value minimized, and then transmits the integrated view angle image record to the display unit 600 for display.
In conclusion, the invention provides a 360-degree panorama driving recorder system, which utilizes a software program to integrate multiple view angle image records captured by multiple lenses through multiple sensors into a 360-degree panorama image record for display and storage. As the invention uses one single main unit to mate with multiple lenses for capturing and recording 360-degree panorama images, the invention greatly reduces the system installation cost. Further, the invention has the lenses and sensors installed inside the carrier, saving much the maintenance cost and prolonging the system lifespan.
Although a particular embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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103138700 | Nov 2014 | TW | national |