Vision system for vehicle

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to imaging systems or vision systems for vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Use of imaging sensors in vehicle imaging systems is common and known. Examples of such known systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,331; 5,670,935 and/or 5,550,677, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a vision system or imaging system for a vehicle that utilizes one or more cameras to capture images exterior of the vehicle, and provides the communication/data signals, including camera data or image data that is processed and, responsive to such image processing, detects an object at or near the vehicle and in the path of travel of the vehicle, such as when the vehicle is backing up. The present invention transfers the intelligence from the camera to an image displaying device or image display or cluster, central display or head unit (later referred as head unit or HU) or to a mobile device wired or wireless connected or attached to- or plugged into the head unit (as an app). The data transfer rate can be enhanced by LVDS having raw data transmitted as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,979,536, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Optionally, the users may be served with dump rear cameras, with DAS software functions, running independent and remote from the camera, but not in another control device. Thus, a business model may be provided that sells an app, not the hardware, to the end users or consumers.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a vision system for a vehicle includes at least one camera or image sensor disposed at a vehicle and having a field of view exterior of the vehicle, and a display device operable to display images for viewing by a driver of the vehicle. The camera provides almost raw image data to a display device and has a control channel for a data line, and wherein a graphic engine or image processing runs as a routine at the display device.

These and other objects, advantages, purposes and features of the present invention will become apparent upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a vehicle with a vision system and imaging sensors or cameras that provide exterior fields of view in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic of an automotive vision camera for providing data and getting controlled from an image processing control device, with the image processing control device providing image data to a head unit or other display device;

FIG. 3A is a schematic of an automotive vision camera with graphic processing board incorporated within the same device, whereby the processed image data gets provided to a head unit or other display device;

FIG. 3B is a schematic of an automotive vision camera with graphic processing board incorporated within the same device, whereby the processed image data gets provided to a head unit or other display device and with the camera being controlled via a back channel;

FIG. 3C is a schematic of an automotive vision camera with graphic processing board incorporated within the same device, whereby the processed image data gets provided to a head unit or other display device and with an additional bidirectional channel for exchanging control data or parameter;

FIG. 3D is a schematic of an example of a graphic processing architecture solution embedded into an automotive vision camera (system on chip), whereby the processed image data is provided to a head unit or other display device by at least one channel but maybe two in parallel to different output bus interfaces for the camera features, where the busses may be used mono-directional or semi-directional (beside RGB888 and NTSC) for control, and shown with RMII, but RGMII may be used alternatively;

FIG. 4 is a schematic of an automotive vision camera that provides mostly raw image data to the head unit, which is carrying out any kind of graphic processing, and there is no communication channel for data from the head unit to the camera, either directly or via gateways, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a schematic of an automotive vision camera system of the present invention with graphic processing incorporated within the head unit by hardware and software, with raw image data (directly) provided to a head unit or other display device for further image processing, and with an additional bidirectional channel for exchanging control data or parameter;

FIG. 5B is a schematic of an automotive vision camera system of the present invention with graphic processing incorporated within the head unit by hardware and software, with raw image data (directly) provided to a head unit or other display device for further image processing, and with the camera being controlled via a back channel;

FIG. 6 is a schematic of an automotive vision camera system of the present invention with graphic processing incorporated within the head unit, and with raw image data provided to a head unit or other display device for further image processing, and with the image data transferred via different busses linked by a bus gateway, and with the camera being controlled via a back channel (which may comprise one bidirectional channel);

FIG. 7 is a schematic of an automotive vision camera system of the present invention with graphic processing incorporated within the head unit, and with raw image data provided to a head unit or other display device for further image processing, and with the image data transferred via different busses linked by a bus gateway, and with the camera control back channel established via bus gateway (which may comprise a bidirectional channel on one or both bus systems);

FIG. 8 is a schematic of an automotive vision camera, which provides almost raw data to the head unit or other display device and has a control channel which might be any kind of data line or bus, and with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running as a routine on the head unit or other display device, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIG. 8, which uses LVDS/Ethernet as an Image data transfer channel, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIGS. 8 and 9, which uses LVDS/Ethernet as a bidirectional control channel and an image data transfer channel, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 11A is a schematic of an automotive vision multi camera architecture, where all cameras are controlled by one control/image data processing device, and where the image data processing device sends processed image data to the head unit or other display device;

FIG. 11B is a schematic of an automotive vision multi camera architecture, where all of the system cameras are controlled by one control/image data processing device, and where the image data processing device sends processed image data to the head unit or other display device, with an additional mono-directional or bidirectional channel for exchanging control data or parameter with the display device;

FIG. 11C is a schematic of an automotive vision multi (smart) camera architecture, where the cameras incorporate one part of the image data processing chain and the control device processes a second or alternative part of the image data processing, and where the image data processing device sends processed image data to the head unit or other display device;

FIG. 11D is a schematic of an automotive vision multi (smart) camera architecture, where the cameras incorporate one part of the image data processing chain and the control device processes a second or alternative part of the image data processing, and where the image data processing device sends processed or raw image data to the head unit or other display device, which processes a third or alternative part of the image data processing;

FIG. 11E is a schematic of an automotive vision multi (smart) camera architecture, where the cameras incorporate one part of the image data processing chain and the head unit or other display device processes a second or alternative part of the image data processing, and where the image data and controls from and to the cameras are collected and/or transferred to the head unit or other display device by a router;

FIG. 11F is a schematic of an automotive vision multi camera architecture where the cameras send almost raw data over a router to a head unit or other display device via monodirectional data lines or bus channel, where the data may be compressed by the cameras or by the router before sending;

FIG. 12A is a schematic of an automotive vision multi camera architecture, where all of the cameras provide almost raw data to the head unit or other display device direct without having a central image processing device or router in between and have a control channel for exchanging control data or parameter with the head unit or display device which might be any kind of data line or bus, and with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running on an integrated hardware on the head unit or other display device, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12B is a schematic of an automotive vision multi camera architecture, where all of the cameras provide almost raw data to the head unit or other display device direct without having a central image processing device or router in between and have a monodirectional camera control channel which may comprise any kind of data line or bus, and with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running on an integrated hardware on the head unit or other display device, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12C is a schematic of an automotive vision multi camera architecture, where some or all of the cameras provide almost raw data to the head unit or other display device direct without having a central image processing or router device in between using monodirectional data channels as like NTSC and with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running on an integrated hardware on the head unit or other display device, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic of an automotive vision multi camera architecture, where all of the cameras providing almost raw data to the head unit or other display device and with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running as a routine mainly on the CPU, without having dedicated vehicle camera image processing hardware on the head unit or other display device, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIG. 8, with the head unit or other display device conjuncted to a mobile infotainment device or mobile phone or mobile device, and with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) on the mobile device, in accordance with the present invention, and with the camera comprising a basic or baseline camera, which has no control input;

FIG. 15 is a schematic of an automotive vision system, with a single camera providing image date to the head unit or other display device, and with the camera controlled via a control channel, and with the head unit carrying communication hardware for communicating with the camera, and with the vision software or vision applications utilizing the incoming data for further (high level) processing, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIGS. 8 and 14, with the head unit or other display device conjuncted to a mobile infotainment device or mobile phone or mobile device, and with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) on the mobile device, in accordance with the present invention, and with a single camera in use that is controlled via a control channel;

FIG. 17 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIG. 16, with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) on the mobile device, and with the software additionally computing additional parameters and with the steering angle taken into account, which may be used for processing graphical steering aid overlays to a rear camera image while backing up the vehicle, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIG. 17, with the system processing image data captured by more than one camera and by other driver assistant system sources such as ultrasound sensors, Radar sensors, infrared and visual cameras, Lidar or Laser sensors, in accordance with the present invention, with the graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) on the mobile device;

FIG. 19A is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIGS. 8 to 18, with the system using apps certified by according certification boards of governmental organs or mobile device companies and/or OEMs, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 19B is a schematic of an automotive vision/driver assistant system according to FIGS. 18 and 19A, with the system is connected to a mobile phone which transmits control commands to vehicle inherent devices (as like warnings, invasive interaction);

FIG. 20 is a schematic of an automotive vision system having a bus gateway within the path of image raw data between camera and mobile infotainment device or mobile phone, with the back channel to the camera established separately, and with the mobile infotainment device or mobile phone doing the graphic processing, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIG. 16, having non permanently mounted USB based cameras plugged into a USB port that is part of the vehicle's bus architecture that may have bus gateways such as USB to CAN, with the Camera sending images via the USB, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a schematic of an automotive vision system having a bus gateway within the path of image raw data between the camera and head unit or other display device, with the back channel to the camera established separately, and with the head unit doing the graphic processing, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a schematic of an automotive vision system having a bus gateway within the path of image raw data between camera and mobile infotainment device or mobile phone, with the camera control back channel established via the gateways (which may comprise a bidirectional channel on one or both bus systems), and with the mobile device doing the graphic processing, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a schematic of an automotive vision system having non-permanently mounted USB based cameras plugged into any USB port that is part of the vehicle's bus architecture, which might have bus gateways such as USB to CAN, with the Camera sending images via the USB, and with the camera control back channel established via the gateways (which may comprise a bidirectional channel on one or both bus systems), and with the mobile device doing the graphic processing, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a schematic of an automotive vision system having a bus gateway within the path of image raw data between camera and head unit, with the camera control back channel established via the gateways (which may comprise a bidirectional channel on one or both bus systems), and with the mobile device doing the graphic processing, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 26A is a schematic of an automotive vision system with a consecutive solution to FIG. 18, where the app visualizes driver assistant functions, and also controls outputs such as driving interventions or active warnings such as steering wheel or foot pedal vibrations, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 26B is a schematic of an automotive vision system with the system using apps certified by according certification boards of governmental organs or mobile device companies and/or OEMs, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 27 is a schematic of an automotive vision system having a bus gateway within the path of image raw data between camera and head unit, with the back channel to the camera established separately, and with the head unit or other display device doing the graphic processing, with the head unit carrying communication hardware for communicating with the camera, and with the vision software or vision applications utilizing the incoming data for further (high level) processing, which may run on designated image processing hardware, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a schematic of an automotive vision system having a bus gateway within the path of image raw data between camera and head unit, with the camera control back channel established via the gateways (which may comprise a bidirectional channel on one or both bus systems), and with the head unit or other display device doing the graphic processing, and with the vision software or vision applications utilizing the incoming data for further (high level) processing, which may run on designated image processing hardware, and with the head unit carrying commutation hardware for communicating with the camera, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 29A is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, with a graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, and with the head unit connected to a phone or communication device;

FIG. 29B is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, with a graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, with the head unit connected to a phone or communication device and with a wireless camera connected to the head unit via the connection to the phone or communication device and via a wireless communication hardware at or to the phone or communication device;

FIG. 29C is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, with a graphic engine (or the image processing) running on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, having at least one automotive camera and with a wireless camera connected to the head unit connected via wireless communication to a wireless camera without control loop;

FIG. 29D is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, with a graphic engine (or the image processing) running on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, having at least one automotive camera and with a wireless camera connected to the head unit connected via wireless communication to a wireless camera with control loop;

FIG. 29E is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention consecutive to FIG. 11, having several vehicle inherent automotive cameras connected to a control device and with a wireless camera connected additionally via wireless communication hardware on the control device to a wireless camera with control loop;

FIG. 29F is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, with a graphic engine (or the image processing) running on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, having at least one automotive camera and with an external vehicle inherent wireless device connected to the head unit on which wireless camera with control loop is connected;

FIG. 29G is a schematic of an automotive vision or driver assistant system of the present invention, with a graphic engine (or the image processing) running on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, having several automotive cameras connected and with wireless camera connected to the head unit;

FIG. 29H is a schematic of an automotive vision or driver assistant system of the present invention consecutive to FIG. 29G, with a mobile phone or communication device attached additionally;

FIG. 29I is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention consecutive to FIG. 29B, with a first graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, and with the head unit connected to a phone or communication device and with a wireless camera connected to the head unit via the connection to the phone or communication device and via a wireless communication hardware at the phone or communication device and with a second graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software on the mobile device executing a first part of the image processing while the graphic engine on the head unit is processing a second or alternative part of image processing;

FIG. 29J is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention consecutive to FIG. 29I, with a first graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, and with the head unit connected to a phone or communication device and with a wireless camera connected to the head unit via the connection to the phone or communication device and via a wireless communication hardware at the phone or communication device and with a second graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software on the mobile device executing a first part of the image processing while the graphic engine on the head unit is processing a second or alternative part of image processing, with more than one vehicle inherent cameras, other vision devices, other sensors and other outputs and actuators attached to a common bus or backbone for exchanging data and commands;

FIG. 29K is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention consecutive to FIGS. 29I and 29J, with a graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, and with a wireless camera connected to the head unit/display device via a wireless communication hardware at it and with more than one vehicle inherent cameras, other vision devices, other sensors and other outputs and actuators attached to a common bus or backbone for exchanging data and commands;

FIG. 29L is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention consecutive to FIG. 29I to 29J, with a graphic engine (or the image processing) running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software on the head unit/display device's main control or on a graphic hardware, and with a bus or backbone connected to the head unit and with several vehicle inherent cameras connected to the head unit via the back bone and with wireless camera connected via wireless communication to a wireless communication device which is itself to the head unit/display device via the backbone and with other vision devices, other sensors and other outputs and actuators attached to a common bus or backbone for exchanging data and commands;

FIG. 29M is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention consecutive to FIG. 29I to 29L, with the image processing is running as an ‘app’ (application) or (evtl. additional) software or hardware in part on a communication device and in part on a dedicated vehicle inherent image processing device (SVS) and/or in part on a head unit/display device, with the devices interconnected to each other by data lines buses or back bones, and with a wireless camera attached via wireless connection to the communication device, and with the actuators mainly connected to the central display device, and with the central display device optionally displaying data coming from the wireless camera and coming from the vehicle inherent cameras;

FIG. 30 is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, with the head unit connected to at least one camera and a phone or communication device in accordance with FIG. 29A, and with the image processing software running mainly on the head unit or other display device, wherein the image processing software becomes updated from a remote device by transferring a data container containing an updated version of software;

FIG. 31 is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, with the head unit or other display device connected to at least one camera and a phone or communication device in accordance with FIG. 29A, and with a bidirectional data channel established between the camera and the head unit, and wherein the image processing software is running mainly on the camera, but there may be parts of image processing software that is running on the head unit or at a mobile ‘app’, with the image processing software in the camera (and evtl. also these of the head unit and/or communication device) becoming updated from a remote device or communication by transferring a data container containing an updated version of software from the communication device to the camera, preferably over the head unit, and eventually directly via a common bus;

FIG. 32 is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, where the communication between head units or other display devices and mobile phones may use a layer based model, and such layer based models may be used in the driver assistant and safety vision system's cameras;

FIG. 33 is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention, wherein, similar to the general layer model from FIG. 32, a virtual communication layer comes into use, with the application communication layer communicating via virtual communication layer to other applications which may be located on other devices in a manner as if all applications are local, and showing examples of a communication between applications on a mobile device and those at a head unit equipped with graphic processing hardware and graphic processing applications, with the hardware link comprising data buses or channels such as CAN, LIN, Ethernet, Bluetooth, NFC (Near Field Communication), and/or the like;

FIG. 34 is a schematic of an automotive vision system of the present invention similar to that of FIG. 33, with a virtual communication layer extended over several devices, and with communication between applications on a mobile device, a head unit and a camera, wherein the connection may be capable to exchange image data, camera control, parameters from sensors and other devices, and driver assistant controls and/or the like;

FIG. 35 is a schematic of an automotive vision system that uses data decoders and/or line drivers in automotive vision camera systems, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 36 is a schematic of an automotive vision system that uses LVDS/Ethernet data decoders for driving in automotive vision camera images in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 37 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIGS. 9 and 10, with the LVDS/Ethernet (or other bus) driver chip sharing one device with the imager, and with the optics comprising a separate component, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 38 is a schematic of an automotive vision system according to FIG. 37, with the LVDS/Ethernet (or other bus) driver chip sharing one device with the imager, and with the optics incorporated to the substrate to provide a single compact assembly in accordance with the present invention, and with the so called wafer level cameras incorporating the bus driver, with an optical assembly or lens assembly that may comprise a single optic or lens or multiple optics or lenses;

FIG. 39 is a schematic of a vehicle (10) viewed from top down with a one axis trailer (20) hooked on, wherein the trailer has its own rear camera (14a′), which may be connected by wire or wireless to the vehicle's vision devices or a cell phone displaying the area of view (25) of the trailer rear camera on a display or incorporating the image data information on a machine vision assist system in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 40 is an exemplary view of a vehicle top view when an additional trailer camera (such as of the type shown in the set up of FIG. 39) sends images that are incorporated to the top view of the vehicle's main display device;

FIG. 41 shows an overview of a smart camera suitable for use with a vision system of the present invention;

FIG. 42-44 show view transformation and machine vision capabilities of the smart camera of FIG. 41;

FIG. 45 shows a summary of the various aspects and properties of the unique feature-point based object detection for use with a vision system according the present invention;

FIG. 46 is a schematic showing a possible architecture solution when the invention's processing algorithm are integrated to a smart vehicle camera featuring different output bus interfaces; and

FIGS. 47-65 show various connections and system architecture and other aspects and constructions and features of a smart camera and associated accessories and systems for use with a vision system according the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A driver assist system and/or vision system and/or object detection system and/or alert system may operate to capture images exterior of the vehicle and process the captured image data to detect objects at or near the vehicle and in the predicted path of the vehicle, such as to assist a driver of the vehicle in maneuvering the vehicle in a rearward direction. The object detection may utilize detection and analysis of moving vectors representative of objects detected in the field of view of the vehicle camera, in order to determine which detected objects are objects of interest to the driver of the vehicle, such as when the driver of the vehicle undertakes a reversing maneuver.

Referring now to the drawings and the illustrative embodiments depicted therein, a vehicle 10 includes an imaging system or vision system 12 that includes one or more imaging sensors or cameras (such as a rearward facing imaging sensor or camera 14a and/or a forwardly facing camera 14b at the front (or at the windshield) of the vehicle, and/or a sidewardly/rearwardly facing camera 14c, 14b at the sides of the vehicle), which capture images exterior of the vehicle, with the cameras having a lens for focusing images at or onto an imaging array or imaging plane of the camera (FIG. 1). The vision system 12 is operable to process image data captured by the cameras and may provide displayed images at a display device 16 for viewing by the driver of the vehicle. Optionally, the vision system may process image data to detect objects, such as objects to the rear of the subject or equipped vehicle during a reversing maneuver, or such as approaching or following vehicles or vehicles at a side lane adjacent to the subject or equipped vehicle or the like. Optionally, the object detection may utilize detection and analysis of moving vectors representative of objects detected in the field of view of the vehicle camera, in order to determine which detected objects are objects of interest to the driver of the vehicle, such as when the driver of the vehicle undertakes a reversing maneuver (such as by utilizing aspects of the systems described in U.S. provisional applications, Ser. No. 61/605,409, filed Mar. 1, 2012; and Ser. No. 61/563,965, filed Nov. 28, 2011, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Vehicle vision systems typically use sophisticated image processing algorithms. For example, either the algorithm runs on a hardware which is integrated to a vision camera or the algorithm runs on an external control device collecting and processing the incoming camera raw data, and then sends a processed image data stream to a display device, cluster or head unit. Vehicle displays vehicle vision systems may be provided at multi-media head units (such as by utilizing aspects of the mirror assemblies described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,937,667, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), and may process several input sources, such that processing power is adapted accordingly. Optionally, a system may visualize and control the apps running on a mobile infotainment device or mobile phone which is connected to or in communication with the head unit, either wirelessly (near field communication, BLUETOOTH®, and the like) or plugged in. It is known to control the app interactively and depending on the driving situation.

The present invention provides a system that delocates the computing load from the camera or separate image control to the head unit or conjuncted or connected mobile device which typically come with high processing performance and are embedded into the display or head unit environment anyway. The system may utilize aspects of the systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,697,027 and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/377,673, filed Dec. 12, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,036,026, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Vision system camera electronics are preferably developed to cost efficient. Due to lower development costs, vision camera systems are typically uniformed as much as possible to lower the number of variants. Also, the complexity is preferably reduced or limited or held as low as possible. Every electronic part that is integrated into cameras produces heat and takes precious space. Simplifying and standardizing of cameras and their interfaces enables use of modern embedding methods, which reduces system costs and enables the shrinking of the camera, which provide customer benefits.

A different or alternative approach is to eliminate dedicated vision system control devices by transferring its functions (intelligence) either into the (smart) cameras or by transferring its functions to the end devices as like the head unit, the (display) cluster, or other display device. By that also the IOs and controls (such as, for example, invasive assistant systems) may be transferred/placed on those devices.

For reducing the cabling costs, there is the trend to use busses/data backbones onto several sensing and actuator devices attached. Some systems may be able to request data direct from another device on the backbone without interaction of the main unit (head unit). This requires at least bus interfaces on some or all nodes and maybe also processors and may require a sophisticated state and priority handling across the devices.

Vehicle development cycles are typically quite long compared to the rush changing infotainment industry. Because of this, infotainment and vehicle driver assistant and safety systems (DAS) outdate quite rapidly. The appearance and functionality is often already a step behind after-market systems when a vehicle inherent or vehicle-based system enters the market. To counter these circumstances, it would be desirable to vehicle manufacturers to keep (DAS) systems up to date.

The present invention provides an economized vehicle vision system architecture that reduces the cost and complexity of the vehicle camera and vision system.

(1) For lowering the number of variants of different car vision camera systems, the inventive solution is to not implement the electronics in a camera or a separate image processing device and may transfer the graphic engine to the head up unit. By avoiding this, the camera electronics can be reduced to the main functionalities for image capturing and own supply power control. Preferably, a simple data transfer interface finds use to send the camera's (raw) data to the head unit (or other image giving/processing end device). On the head unit or other image giving/processing end device the graphic engine (or the image processing) is processed. Other image giving/processing devices may comprise a mirror display within or outside of the passenger compartment, such as a mirror display at the top center region (such as a video mirror utilizing aspects of the displays described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,855,755 and/or 7,777,611, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties). There it may be sufficient to place image processing tasks, and the hardware and software, when it comes to comparably low sophisticated light balancing, distortion and stitching tasks, may be fed by comparably low performance rear and side cameras. The early state of the art was to capture images and send it over data lines to a display, typically via an analog signal such as an NTSC signal or the like. This was done without controlling or loop controlling the camera. The solution of the present invention also incorporates a control line running from the head unit to the camera. A loop controlling of the camera and the graphic engine (or the image processing) is realized by that. The controlling is necessary for light and color balancing (such as described in PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/063520, filed Nov. 5, 2012, and published on May 16, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013/070539, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) and gain control. Also, the gamma correction may be controlled by the back channel. Other control commands may by for sleep/wake up/idle, low high resolution switching, reduced area selection, compression control or triggering a data dump of intrinsic calibration data (such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,979,536, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).

(2) Optionally, a continuative idea of the solution of the present invention is to realize the image data stream from the camera to the head unit (or other end device) on a data encoder chip, preferably by a Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS) or Ethernet interface, preferably using a mono coaxial cable and Ethernet encoder chips (in the camera and in the head unit). The Data stream would be mono-directional (such as by utilizing aspects of U.S. provisional application 61/537,279, filed Sep. 21, 2011, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).

(3) Optionally, a further continuative idea is that the control line (HU—Cam) may be realized by a CAN/LIN/other car bus interface or just by a single signal line/wire.

(4) Optionally, and as an alternative to (3), above, the control signal may be transferred via the data encoder chip, preferably by LVDS/Ethernet (data line from (2), above) so the interfaces and data stream are bi-directional.

(5) As solution for the graphic engine (or the image processing) (from (1), above) running on the head unit for a mono or multi camera system, processing the camera control, image dewarp, enhancing, adding overlays, DAS functionality and the like, the software could be running on a hardware added to the head unit.

(6) A continuative idea from (5), above, is to have the head unit connected to a phone or communication device and to one or more cameras (see FIG. 29A).

(7) As a continuative idea to (6), above, the image processing software is running primarily on the head unit. The image processing software becomes updated from a remote source or device by transferring a data container containing an updated version of the image processing software. The container is a frame which is made individually for each vehicle communication environment. The content is preferably vehicle type and manufacturer independent, so the content may be substantially standardized to keep the variety low. Preferably, the communication device enables an app to carry the container.

The container may also be transported by an audio (voice) channel, SMS, MMS, DSRC, near field communication, via a pier to pier protocol and/or the like (see FIG. 30). An alternative is to provide updates by a data medium, a removable cable or an OEM's service interface, either connected to a vehicle's port, a head unit's port, a communication device's port or a vision device's port.

(8) In cases where the hardware set up allows bidirectional communication between the head unit and the camera(s) and a phone or communication or between the communication device and the camera(s) directly, there is a continuative idea to (7), above, which may update the camera(s) image processing software by remote transferring data containers via the communication channels mentioned in (7) or by a common bus, or by an OEM service interface within a data container, from the communication device over the head unit to the camera. This may occur at once or step by step. There may be a part of the image processing software at the head unit, and this may be updated as well with the same or a different data container, at the same or another time (see FIG. 31).

(9) An addition solution to (7) and (8), above, is to have data security protocols in place making sure no data in the head unit, camera(s) or communication device or conjuncted system's software becomes overwritten or corrupted by wrong versions or by draft versions, or unauthorized versions, or by incomplete data sets or incompatible data sets, or by pirated versions or data sets, or virulent data sets, and/or the like. This task may also be managed by the data container's functionality.

(10a) The data of (9) preferably have been authorized by an application provider or distributor, the camera or image system software provider or distributer or the according OEM in compliance to the local or worldwide legal or OEM's safety standards and testing procedures for safety relevant software and non-safety relevant software, whichever may apply for the particular application.

(10b) As an additional or alternative solution, the image processing may be done in part on the mobile device or cellular phone or smart phone and in part on the head unit or other display device and/or in part in a dedicated image processing unit (see FIG. 29M).

As an additional aspect to the inventive solution, one of the systems described above may supplement or substitute the vehicle inherent rear camera's image input by an attached (aftermarket) non vehicle inherent camera image. An exemplary use case is shown in FIG. 39, where a trailer camera 14a′, which is attached to the rear of a trailer 20, and which camera's image is sent to the vehicle vision system or a non vehicle display and/or communication device (such as a cell phone's display or the like) via wireless communication (such as, for example, via a Bluetooth communication or via a WLAN or NTSC communication or the like). The architecture may be similar to those shown in FIGS. 29B, 29E and 29G-M. In the cases where the vehicle vision system receives the wireless camera image, the vision system is displaying the trailer camera's image as well. The system may switch to use or display the image of the vehicle rear camera 14a, such as for (machine vision) trailer (side) blind spot detection and trailer angle detection. The area where usually the rear camera is placed within top view (mode) may be filled with the image from the wireless camera so as to be seen in the display (FIG. 40). Since the wireless trailer camera 14a′ may not be calibrated and some area between the vehicle rear camera 14a and the trailer camera 14a′ may not be captured by any camera there may be voids or black bars in the top view images between the areas encompassed by the vehicle inherent cameras and the area encompassed by trailer camera. The trailer camera may be acquired with the trailer, or may be purchased independently (aftermarket) and then attached to the trailer or may be an optional delivery content from the OEM distributer.

(11) Optionally, the system may use layer based models in the communication architecture between head units, actuators, sensors, communication devices, image processing and/or driver assistant devices, and mobile phones, and may use such layer based models in the driver assistant and safety vision system's cameras this might be new (see FIG. 32). The devices may be interconnected by one or more data lines, busses or backbones (see FIG. 29L), or may be interconnected over other devices and or gateways (see FIG. 29M). The proposed model contains an “Application layer” in which the application's semaphores run, a “Middle (soft-)ware” (MW) which adapts to the operation system and provides the communication between the application components, an “Operation System Abstraction Layer” (OSAL) which provides the abstracted base services of the Operation system as like LINUX which has configurable tasks and events and controls the communication behavior. Also, there is a “Run time operation system” (RTOS) which is the operation system itself and the “Board support package” (BSP) which adapts the operation system to the specific hardware.

(12) The present invention provides for DAS systems to establish a virtual communication layer, which expands over several devices having the same layer structure, and is connected via the communication hardware physically. The application communication layer communicates via virtual communication layer to other applications which are located on the same or other devices in a manner as if all applications would be on the local device (see FIGS. 33 and 34). Graphic capturing or processing applications might connect to each other by this. The hardware link may comprise removable ports (mentioned in (7), above), data buses or channels, such as CAN, LIN, LVDS/Ethernet, Bluetooth, NFC (Near Field Communication), and the like.

(13) Using the layer model from (12), above, a continuative idea is to transport data containers (from 7) from one device to the other.

(14) The virtual communication layer may have security tasks as well for doing that.

(15) Over these layers (from (12), above) there may become image data, camera control, parameters from sensors and other devices, driver assistant controls exchanged.

(16) Optionally, and as an alternative to (5), above, the graphic engine (or the image processing) of a mono or multi camera car vision system could be part of the head unit's software in full extend or partially, so a routine which preferably is served in real time may be provided. The processing performance and architecture of the head unit and peripheral interfaces has to be chosen or selected accordingly.

(17) Optionally, and as an alternative solution to (5) and (16), above, the head unit may be conjuncted to or connected to or in communication with a mobile device, such as, for example, a mobile infotainment device or a mobile phone. The graphic engine (or the image processing) may be running as an ‘app’ (application) on the mobile device and processing camera images which are not taken by the mobile phone's cameras but preferably taken or captured by a fixed mounted car vision camera or cameras, a wireless or wired aftermarket camera or cameras or a USB camera or cameras plugged into any USB port that is part of the car integrated bus architecture or other car based plug in bus.

(18) Optionally, and as an additional feature to (17), above, the app used in the mobile device is certified by according certification boards of governmental organs or (mobile device) companies and/or OEMs.

(19) Optionally, and as an additional feature to (17) or (18), above, the vision system's additional functions (value added) may be provided separate to the camera with the software installed on the head unit or on the app conjuncted to the head unit or from a cloud server or the like.

(20) Optionally, and as an additional solution to (19), above, the software (SW) or app may additionally compute additional parameters, and may consider or take into account various parameters, such as the steering angle of the vehicle or the like. This might be used for processing graphical steering aid overlays to a rear cameras displayed images while backing up the vehicle or for other driver assistant systems overlays.

(21) Optionally, and as an additional solution to (19) or (20), above, the SW (app) may additionally compute or process more than one camera, and also other driver assistant system sources like ultrasound sensors, Radar sensors, infrared or visual cameras, Lidar or Laser sensors.

(22) Optionally, and as an additional solution to (19) to (21), above, the app may not just visualize driver assistant functions, but may also control driving interventions or active warnings, such as haptic alerts or the like, such as, for example, steering wheel vibrations or foot pedal vibrations or the like.

(23) Optionally, and as an additional solution to (19) to (22), above, the app may be adaptable for being updated, debugged, licensed, remote controlled, purchased, sold on ‘app-stores’ or the like, leased, time limited tried, reimbursed when given back, transferred, and/or the like. Also, the camera or vision system calibration may be running on the app or as an app.

(24) Optionally, and as a consecutive solution to (4), above, the LVDS/Ethernet (or other bus) driver chip may share one device with the imager. Thus, the present invention may provide a nearly monolytic assembly.

(25) Optionally, and as a consecutive solution to (24), above, and instead of having a lens holder as a separate component, the optics of the camera or imager may be incorporated to the compact, monolytic design of the imager device. The lens assembly or optics may comprise one lens or lens optic or optical element, or a plurality of lenses or lens optics, such as many small ones. So called wafer level cameras are state of the art in automotive applications but also incorporating the bus driver is new to such automotive camera applications.

(26) Optionally, any kind of automotive camera including wafer level cameras from (25) above may comprise a tunable liquid (micro-) lens capable to adapt the focal length of the lens. Optionally, the viewing direction may also be tunable by a microelectronic mechanical (MEM) or other mechanical element, either by turning the camera or a mirror that the camera has in its optical path. Such an assembly may be capable to focus on specific details or objects of interest within the field of view to enhance the performance of the object detection of the driver assistant system. Instead of using wide angle cameras (such as like fish eye lens cameras and the like), a focus tunable camera with a generally longer focus band may be used. The full area may be detectable by ‘scanning’ through all of the extensions of the mechanics' displacement angles. By that the same area as that provided by a fisheye lens may be covered but with the ability to perceive the area much better and evenly. The focus point to objects in the area or field of view may be a degree to determine or at least to estimate the distance between the focused object and the camera's imager (as like the eye of a chameleon does). For example, an exterior viewing camera with a relatively narrow field of view (for example, a horizontal field of view of about 40 degrees) can be mechanically moved rapidly so that its field of view scans or senses or rasters across a wider field of view (for example, a horizontal field of view of about 200 degrees). If this mechanical motion of the principal viewing direction of the subject camera is executed fast enough (for example, if an entire scan can be executed in about 30 ms or lower, video captured by the rastering camera, as displayed to the driver on an in-cabin video screen, will be usable to that driver as the rate of movement of the rastering camera exceeds the rate at which the eye perceives.

Also, if the focus of the camera can be varied, this can be used to estimate or determine distance to an object, such as discussed below. For illustrative purposes, assume that the focus-variable lens has a five meter focal point/length and assume that a person is standing 10 meters away from the subject lens/camera. The image of the person as captured by that camera will be out of focus. Then, as the focal point/length is progressively increased to six meters, then seven meters and then eight meters and then nine meters, the person ten meters away from the camera remains out of focus and comes into focus only when the variable-focus lens is set to have an about ten meter focal point/length. Thus, the distance from the camera can be determined or estimated based on varying the focal point/length of the lens and determining when the imaged object comes into focus in the captured images.

The camera or sensor may comprise any suitable camera or sensor. Optionally, the camera may comprise a “smart camera” that includes the imaging sensor array and associated circuitry and image processing circuitry and electrical connectors and the like as part of a camera module, such as by utilizing aspects of the vision systems described above and shown in FIGS. 41-65.

The vehicle may include any type of sensor or sensors, such as imaging sensors or radar sensors or lidar sensors or ultrasonic sensors or the like. The imaging sensor or camera may capture image data for image processing and may comprise any suitable camera or sensing device, such as, for example, an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in at least 640 columns and 480 rows (at least a 640×480 imaging array), with a respective lens focusing images onto respective portions of the array. The photosensor array may comprise a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in a photosensor array having rows and columns. The logic and control circuit of the imaging sensor may function in any known manner, and the image processing and algorithmic processing may comprise any suitable means for processing the images and/or image data. For example, the vision system and/or processing and/or camera and/or circuitry may utilize aspects described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,005,974; 5,760,962; 5,877,897; 5,796,094; 5,949,331; 6,222,447; 6,302,545; 6,396,397; 6,498,620; 6,523,964; 6,611,202; 6,201,642; 6,690,268; 6,717,610; 6,757,109; 6,802,617; 6,806,452; 6,822,563; 6,891,563; 6,946,978; 7,859,565; 5,550,677; 5,670,935; 6,636,258; 7,145,519; 7,161,616; 7,230,640; 7,248,283; 7,295,229; 7,301,466; 7,592,928; 7,881,496; 7,720,580; 7,038,577; 6,882,287; 5,929,786 and/or 5,786,772, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2010/047256, filed Aug. 31, 2010 and published Mar. 10, 2011 as International Publication No. WO 2011/028686 and/or International Publication No. WO 2010/099416, published Sep. 2, 2010, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US10/25545, filed Feb. 26, 2010 and published Sep. 2, 2010 as International Publication No. WO 2010/099416, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/048800, filed Jul. 30, 2012, and published on Feb. 7, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013019707, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/048110, filed Jul. 25, 2012, and published Jan. 31, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013016409, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/CA2012/000378, filed Apr. 25, 2012, and published on Nov. 1, 2012 as International Publication No. WO 2012145822, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/056014, filed Sep. 19, 2012, and published on Mar. 28, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013043661, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US12/57007, filed Sep. 25, 2012, and published on Apr. 4, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013/048994, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/061548, filed Oct. 24, 2012, and published May 2, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013063014, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/062906, filed Nov. 1, 2012, and published May 10, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013067083, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/063520, filed Nov. 5, 2012, and published May 16, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013070539, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/064980, filed Nov. 14, 2012, and published May 23, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013074604, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/660,306, filed Oct. 25, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,146,898; Ser. No. 13/653,577, filed Oct. 17, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,174,574; and/or Ser. No. 13/534,657, filed Jun. 27, 2012, and published on Jan. 3, 2013 as U.S. Patent Publication No. US-2013-0002873, and/or U.S. provisional applications, Ser. No. 61/710,924, filed Oct. 8, 2012; Ser. No. 61/696,416, filed Sep. 4, 2012; Ser. No. 61/682,995, filed Aug. 14, 2012; Ser. No. 61/682,486, filed Aug. 13, 2012; Ser. No. 61/680,883, filed Aug. 8, 2012; Ser. No. 61/678,375, filed Aug. 1, 2012; Ser. No. 61/676,405, filed Jul. 27, 2012; Ser. No. 61/666,146, filed Jun. 29, 2012; Ser. No. 61/653,665, filed May 31, 2012; Ser. No. 61/653,664, filed May 31, 2012; Ser. No. 61/648,744, filed May 18, 2012; Ser. No. 61/624,507, filed Apr. 16, 2012; Ser. No. 61/616,126, filed Mar. 27, 2012; Ser. No. 61/615,410, filed Mar. 26, 2012; Ser. No. 61/613,651, filed Mar. 21, 2012; Ser. No. 61/607,229, filed Mar. 6, 2012; Ser. No. 61/602,878, filed Feb. 24, 2012; Ser. No. 61/602,876, filed Feb. 24, 2012; Ser. No. 61/600,205, filed Feb. 17, 2012; Ser. No. 61/588,833, filed Jan. 20, 2012; Ser. No. 61/583,381, filed Jan. 5, 2012; Ser. No. 61/570,017, filed Dec. 13, 2011; Ser. No. 61/568,791, filed Dec. 9, 2011; Ser. No. 61/567,446, filed Dec. 6, 2011; and/or Ser. No. 61/567,150, filed Dec. 6, 2011, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The system may communicate with other communication systems via any suitable means, such as by utilizing aspects of the systems described in PCT Application No. PCT/US10/038477, filed Jun. 14, 2010, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/202,005, filed Aug. 17, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,126,525, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

The imaging device and control and image processor and any associated illumination source, if applicable, may comprise any suitable components, and may utilize aspects of the cameras and vision systems described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,550,677; 5,877,897; 6,498,620; 5,670,935; 5,796,094; 6,396,397; 6,806,452; 6,690,268; 7,005,974; 7,123,168; 7,004,606; 6,946,978; 7,038,577; 6,353,392; 6,320,176; 6,313,454 and 6,824,281, and/or International Publication No. WO 2010/099416, published Sep. 2, 2010, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US10/47256, filed Aug. 31, 2010 and published Mar. 10, 2011 as International Publication No. WO 2011/028686, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/508,840, filed Jul. 24, 2009, and published Jan. 28, 2010 as U.S. Pat. Publication No. US 2010-0020170, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/048110, filed Jul. 25, 2012, and published Jan. 31, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013016409, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/534,657, filed Jun. 27, 2012, and published Jan. 3, 2013 as U.S. Patent Publication No. US-2013-0002873, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The camera or cameras may comprise any suitable cameras or imaging sensors or camera modules, and may utilize aspects of the cameras or sensors described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/091,359, filed Apr. 24, 2008 and published Oct. 1, 2009 as U.S. Publication No. US-2009-0244361, and/or Ser. No. 13/260,400, filed Sep. 26, 2011, now U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,542,451, and/or 7,965,336 and/or 7,480,149, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The imaging array sensor may comprise any suitable sensor, and may utilize various imaging sensors or imaging array sensors or cameras or the like, such as a CMOS imaging array sensor, a CCD sensor or other sensors or the like, such as the types described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,550,677; 5,670,935; 5,760,962; 5,715,093; 5,877,897; 6,922,292; 6,757,109; 6,717,610; 6,590,719; 6,201,642; 6,498,620; 5,796,094; 6,097,023; 6,320,176; 6,559,435; 6,831,261; 6,806,452; 6,396,397; 6,822,563; 6,946,978; 7,339,149; 7,038,577; 7,004,606 and/or 7,720,580, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/534,632, filed May 11, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,965,336; and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2008/076022, filed Sep. 11, 2008 and published Mar. 19, 2009 as International Publication No. WO 2009/036176, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2008/078700, filed Oct. 3, 2008 and published Apr. 9, 2009 as International Publication No. WO 2009/046268, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

The camera module and circuit chip or board and imaging sensor may be implemented and operated in connection with various vehicular vision-based systems, and/or may be operable utilizing the principles of such other vehicular systems, such as a vehicle headlamp control system, such as the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,796,094; 6,097,023; 6,320,176; 6,559,435; 6,831,261; 7,004,606; 7,339,149 and/or 7,526,103, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, a rain sensor, such as the types disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,353,392; 6,313,454; 6,320,176 and/or 7,480,149, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, a vehicle vision system, such as a forwardly, sidewardly or rearwardly directed vehicle vision system utilizing principles disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,550,677; 5,670,935; 5,760,962; 5,877,897; 5,949,331; 6,222,447; 6,302,545; 6,396,397; 6,498,620; 6,523,964; 6,611,202; 6,201,642; 6,690,268; 6,717,610; 6,757,109; 6,802,617; 6,806,452; 6,822,563; 6,891,563; 6,946,978 and/or 7,859,565, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, a trailer hitching aid or tow check system, such as the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,005,974, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, a reverse or sideward imaging system, such as for a lane change assistance system or lane departure warning system or for a blind spot or object detection system, such as imaging or detection systems of the types disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,720,580; 7,038,577; 5,929,786 and/or 5,786,772, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/239,980, filed Sep. 30, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,881,496, and/or U.S. provisional applications, Ser. No. 60/628,709, filed Nov. 17, 2004; Ser. No. 60/614,644, filed Sep. 30, 2004; Ser. No. 60/618,686, filed Oct. 14, 2004; Ser. No. 60/638,687, filed Dec. 23, 2004, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, a video device for internal cabin surveillance and/or video telephone function, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,760,962; 5,877,897; 6,690,268 and/or 7,370,983, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/538,724, filed Jun. 13, 2005 and published Mar. 9, 2006 as U.S. Publication No. US-2006-0050018, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, a traffic sign recognition system, a system for determining a distance to a leading or trailing vehicle or object, such as a system utilizing the principles disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,396,397 and/or 7,123,168, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, and/or the like.

Optionally, the circuit board or chip may include circuitry for the imaging array sensor and or other electronic accessories or features, such as by utilizing compass-on-a-chip or EC driver-on-a-chip technology and aspects such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,255,451 and/or 7,480,149; and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/226,628, filed Sep. 14, 2005 and published Mar. 23, 2006 as U.S. Publication No. US-2006-0061008, and/or Ser. No. 12/578,732, filed Oct. 14, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,487,144, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Optionally, the vision system may include a display for displaying images captured by one or more of the imaging sensors for viewing by the driver of the vehicle while the driver is normally operating the vehicle. Optionally, for example, the vision system may include a video display device disposed at or in the interior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle, such as by utilizing aspects of the video mirror display systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,690,268 and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/333,337, filed Dec. 21, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,264,672, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The video mirror display may comprise any suitable devices and systems and optionally may utilize aspects of the compass display systems described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,370,983; 7,329,013; 7,308,341; 7,289,037; 7,249,860; 7,004,593; 4,546,551; 5,699,044; 4,953,305; 5,576,687; 5,632,092; 5,677,851; 5,708,410; 5,737,226; 5,802,727; 5,878,370; 6,087,953; 6,173,508; 6,222,460; 6,513,252 and/or 6,642,851, and/or European patent application, published Oct. 11, 2000 under Publication No. EP 0 1043566, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/226,628, filed Sep. 14, 2005 and published Mar. 23, 2006 as U.S. Publication No. US-2006-0061008, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Optionally, the video mirror display screen or device may be operable to display images captured by a rearward viewing camera of the vehicle during a reversing maneuver of the vehicle (such as responsive to the vehicle gear actuator being placed in a reverse gear position or the like) to assist the driver in backing up the vehicle, and optionally may be operable to display the compass heading or directional heading character or icon when the vehicle is not undertaking a reversing maneuver, such as when the vehicle is being driven in a forward direction along a road (such as by utilizing aspects of the display system described in PCT Application No. PCT/US2011/056295, filed Oct. 14, 2011 and published Apr. 19, 2012 as International Publication No. WO 2012/051500, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).

Optionally, the vision system (utilizing the forward facing camera and a rearward facing camera and other cameras disposed at the vehicle with exterior fields of view) may be part of or may provide a display of a top-down view or birds-eye view system of the vehicle or a surround view at the vehicle, such as by utilizing aspects of the vision systems described in PCT Application No. PCT/US10/25545, filed Feb. 26, 2010 and published on Sep. 2, 2010 as International Publication No. WO 2010/099416, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US10/47256, filed Aug. 31, 2010 and published Mar. 10, 2011 as International Publication No. WO 2011/028686, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2011/062834, filed Dec. 1, 2011 and published Jun. 7, 2012 as International Publication No. WO 2012/075250, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/048993, filed Jul. 31, 2012, and published Feb. 7, 2013 as International Publication No. WO 2013019795, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US11/62755, filed Dec. 1, 2011 and published Jun. 7, 2012 as International Publication No. WO 2012-075250, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/CA2012/000378, filed Apr. 25, 2012, and published Nov. 1, 2012 as International Publication No. WO 2012145822, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/333,337, filed Dec. 21, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,264,672, and/or U.S. provisional applications, Ser. No. 61/615,410, filed Mar. 26, 2012; Ser. No. 61/588,833, filed Jan. 20, 2012; Ser. No. 61/570,017, filed Dec. 13, 2011; and/or Ser. No. 61/568,791, filed Dec. 9, 2011, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Optionally, a video mirror display may be disposed rearward of and behind the reflective element assembly and may comprise a display such as the types disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,530,240; 6,329,925; 7,855,755; 7,626,749; 7,581,859; 7,446,650; 7,370,983; 7,338,177; 7,274,501; 7,255,451; 7,195,381; 7,184,190; 5,668,663; 5,724,187 and/or 6,690,268, and/or in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/091,525, filed Apr. 25, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,855,755; Ser. No. 11/226,628, filed Sep. 14, 2005 and published Mar. 23, 2006 as U.S. Publication No. US-2006-0061008; and/or Ser. No. 10/538,724, filed Jun. 13, 2005 and published Mar. 9, 2006 as U.S. Publication No. US-2006-0050018, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The display is viewable through the reflective element when the display is activated to display information. The display element may be any type of display element, such as a vacuum fluorescent (VF) display element, a light emitting diode (LED) display element, such as an organic light emitting diode (OLED) or an inorganic light emitting diode, an electroluminescent (EL) display element, a liquid crystal display (LCD) element, a video screen display element or backlit thin film transistor (TFT) display element or the like, and may be operable to display various information (as discrete characters, icons or the like, or in a multi-pixel manner) to the driver of the vehicle, such as passenger side inflatable restraint (PSIR) information, tire pressure status, and/or the like. The mirror assembly and/or display may utilize aspects described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,184,190; 7,255,451; 7,446,924 and/or 7,338,177, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The thicknesses and materials of the coatings on the substrates of the reflective element may be selected to provide a desired color or tint to the mirror reflective element, such as a blue colored reflector, such as is known in the art and such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,910,854; 6,420,036 and/or 7,274,501, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Optionally, the display or displays and any associated user inputs may be associated with various accessories or systems, such as, for example, a tire pressure monitoring system or a passenger air bag status or a garage door opening system or a telematics system or any other accessory or system of the mirror assembly or of the vehicle or of an accessory module or console of the vehicle, such as an accessory module or console of the types described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,289,037; 6,877,888; 6,824,281; 6,690,268; 6,672,744; 6,386,742 and 6,124,886, and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/538,724, filed Jun. 13, 2005 and published Mar. 9, 2006 as U.S. Publication No. US-2006-0050018, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Changes and modifications to the specifically described embodiments may be carried out without departing from the principles of the present invention, which is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims as interpreted according to the principles of patent law.

Claims

1. A vehicular vision system, said vehicular vision system comprising: a plurality of cameras disposed at a vehicle equipped with said vehicular vision system, each having a respective field of view exterior of the vehicle;said plurality of cameras comprising a front camera disposed at a front portion of the equipped vehicle, said front camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said front camera having a forward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;said plurality of cameras comprising a rear camera disposed at a rear portion of the equipped vehicle, said rear camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said rear camera having a rearward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;said plurality of cameras comprising a driver-side camera disposed at a driver-side portion of the equipped vehicle, said driver-side camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera having a sideward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;said plurality of cameras comprising a passenger-side camera disposed at a passenger-side portion of the equipped vehicle, said passenger-side camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera having a sideward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;a central video/image processor;wherein said front camera connects with said central video/image processor via a first mono coaxial cable;wherein said rear camera connects with said central video/image processor via a second mono coaxial cable;wherein said driver-side camera connects with said central video/image processor via a third mono coaxial cable;wherein said passenger-side camera connects with said central video/image processor via a fourth mono coaxial cable;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said front camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said first mono coaxial cable as a Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS);wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said rear camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said second mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said third mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said fourth mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein said first mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said front camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said front camera from said front camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said second mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said rear camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said rear camera from said rear camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said third mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said driver-side camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera from said driver-side camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said fourth mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said passenger-side camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera from said passenger-side camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said central video/image processor generates an output provided to a video display device of the equipped vehicle, said video display device comprising a video display screen viewable by a driver of the equipped vehicle;wherein said video display screen is operable to display a birds-eye view of an area around the equipped vehicle; andwherein the birds-eye view of the area around the equipped vehicle is derived, at least in part, from image data captured by the imaging sensors of (i) said front camera, (ii) said rear camera, (iii) said driver-side camera and (iv) said passenger-side camera.
2. The vision system of claim 1, wherein image data captured by at least said rear camera of said plurality of cameras is processed at said central video/image processor to detect an object to the rear of the equipped vehicle.
3. The vision system of claim 2, wherein, responsive to said processing at said central video/image processor, said vision system determines movement vectors, and wherein, responsive to determination of movement vectors, said vision system determines an object of interest in the field of view of at least said rear camera.
4. The vision system of claim 1, wherein said central video/image processor is operable to process input from at least one of an ultrasound sensor, a radar sensor, an infrared sensor, a Lidar sensor and a Laser sensor.
5. The vision system of claim 1, wherein said central video/image processor receives input from at least one non-permanently mounted device.
6. The vision system of claim 5, wherein at least one of (i) said non-permanently mounted device is plugged into a port attached to a bus architecture of the vehicle, (ii) said non-permanently mounted device is wirelessly connected to a bus architecture of the vehicle, (iii) said non-permanently mounted device comprises a mobile phone device and (iv) said non-permanently mounted device comprises a camera.
7. The vision system of claim 5, wherein said non-permanently mounted device comprises a camera that is wirelessly linked to the equipped vehicle.
8. The vision system of claim 1, wherein, responsive at least in part to processing of image data at said central video/image processor detecting presence of a hazardous object exterior of the equipped vehicle, an alert is provided to the driver of the vehicle.
9. The vision system of claim 1, wherein each camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a wafer level camera.
10. The vision system of claim 1, wherein each camera of said plurality of cameras comprises an LVDS chip.
11. The vision system of claim 1, wherein said driver-side camera disposed at the driver-side portion of the equipped vehicle is part of a driver-side exterior mirror assembly of the equipped vehicle, and wherein said passenger-side camera disposed at the passenger-side portion of the equipped vehicle is part of a passenger-side exterior mirror assembly of the equipped vehicle.
12. The vision system of claim 1, wherein said central video/image processor is disposed at a head unit of the equipped vehicle.
13. The vision system of claim 1, wherein said central video/image processor comprises a graphic engine.
14. The vision system of claim 1, wherein said rear camera comprises a rear backup camera of the equipped vehicle.
15. A vehicular vision system, said vehicular vision system comprising: a plurality of cameras disposed at a vehicle equipped with said vehicular vision system, each having a respective field of view exterior of the vehicle;said plurality of cameras comprising a front camera disposed at a front portion of the equipped vehicle, said front camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said front camera having a forward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;said plurality of cameras comprising a rear camera disposed at a rear portion of the equipped vehicle, said rear camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said rear camera having a rearward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;said plurality of cameras comprising a driver-side camera disposed at a driver-side portion of the equipped vehicle, said driver-side camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera having a sideward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;wherein said driver-side camera disposed at the driver-side portion of the equipped vehicle is part of a driver-side exterior mirror assembly of the equipped vehicle;said plurality of cameras comprising a passenger-side camera disposed at a passenger-side portion of the equipped vehicle, said passenger-side camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera having a sideward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;wherein said passenger-side camera disposed at the passenger-side portion of the equipped vehicle is part of a passenger-side exterior mirror assembly of the equipped vehicle;a central video/image processor;wherein said front camera connects with said central video/image processor via a first mono coaxial cable;wherein said rear camera connects with said central video/image processor via a second mono coaxial cable;wherein said driver-side camera connects with said central video/image processor via a third mono coaxial cable;wherein said passenger-side camera connects with said central video/image processor via a fourth mono coaxial cable;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said front camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said first mono coaxial cable as a Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS);wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said rear camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said second mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said third mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said fourth mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein said first mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said front camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said front camera from said front camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said second mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said rear camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said rear camera from said rear camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said third mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said driver-side camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera from said driver-side camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said fourth mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said passenger-side camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera from said passenger-side camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said central video/image processor generates an output provided to a video display device of the equipped vehicle, said video display device comprising a video display screen viewable by a driver of the equipped vehicle;wherein said video display screen is operable to display a birds-eye view of an area around the equipped vehicle;wherein the birds-eye view of the area around the equipped vehicle is derived, at least in part, from image data captured by the imaging sensors of (i) said front camera, (ii) said rear camera, (iii) said driver-side camera and (iv) said passenger-side camera; andwherein image data captured by at least said rear camera of said plurality of cameras is processed at said central video/image processor to detect an object to the rear of the equipped vehicle.
16. The vision system of claim 15, wherein, responsive to said processing at said central video/image processor, said vision system determines movement vectors, and wherein, responsive to determination of movement vectors, said vision system determines an object of interest in the field of view of at least said rear camera.
17. The vision system of claim 15, wherein said central video/image processor is operable to process input from at least one sensor selected from the group consisting of an ultrasound sensor, a radar sensor and a Lidar sensor.
18. The vision system of claim 15, wherein each camera of said plurality of cameras comprises an LVDS chip.
19. The vision system of claim 18, wherein said central video/image processor comprises a graphic engine.
20. A vehicular vision system, said vehicular vision system comprising: a plurality of cameras disposed at a vehicle equipped with said vehicular vision system, each having a respective field of view exterior of the vehicle;said plurality of cameras comprising a front camera disposed at a front portion of the equipped vehicle, said front camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said front camera having a forward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;said plurality of cameras comprising a rear camera disposed at a rear portion of the equipped vehicle, said rear camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said rear camera having a rearward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;wherein said rear camera comprises a rear backup camera of the equipped vehicle;said plurality of cameras comprising a driver-side camera disposed at a driver-side portion of the equipped vehicle, said driver-side camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera having a sideward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;wherein said driver-side camera disposed at the driver-side portion of the equipped vehicle is part of a driver-side exterior mirror assembly of the equipped vehicle;said plurality of cameras comprising a passenger-side camera disposed at a passenger-side portion of the equipped vehicle, said passenger-side camera comprising an imaging sensor comprising an array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in multiple columns and multiple rows, the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera having a sideward field of view exterior of the equipped vehicle and operable to capture image data;wherein said passenger-side camera disposed at the passenger-side portion of the equipped vehicle is part of a passenger-side exterior mirror assembly of the equipped vehicle;a central video/image processor;wherein said front camera connects with said central video/image processor via a first mono coaxial cable;wherein said rear camera connects with said central video/image processor via a second mono coaxial cable;wherein said driver-side camera connects with said central video/image processor via a third mono coaxial cable;wherein said passenger-side camera connects with said central video/image processor via a fourth mono coaxial cable;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said front camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said first mono coaxial cable as a Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS);wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said rear camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said second mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said third mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein image data captured by the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera is carried as captured to said central video/image processor via said fourth mono coaxial cable as an LVDS;wherein said first mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said front camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said front camera from said front camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said second mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said rear camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said rear camera from said rear camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said third mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said driver-side camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said driver-side camera from said driver-side camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said fourth mono coaxial cable functions as a bidirectional channel carrying control data from said central video/image processor to said passenger-side camera and carrying image data captured by the imaging sensor of said passenger-side camera from said passenger-side camera to said central video/image processor;wherein said central video/image processor generates an output provided to a video display device of the equipped vehicle, said video display device comprising a video display screen viewable by a driver of the equipped vehicle;wherein said video display screen is operable to display a birds-eye view of an area around the equipped vehicle;wherein the birds-eye view of the area around the equipped vehicle is derived, at least in part, from image data captured by the imaging sensors of (i) said front camera, (ii) said rear camera, (iii) said driver-side camera and (iv) said passenger-side camera; andwherein said central video/image processor is operable to process input from at least one sensor selected from the group consisting of an ultrasound sensor, a radar sensor and a Lidar sensor.
21. The vision system of claim 20, wherein said central video/image processor is operable to process input from an ultrasound sensor.
22. The vision system of claim 20, wherein said central video/image processor is operable to process input from a radar sensor.
23. The vision system of claim 20, wherein said central video/image processor is operable to process input from a Lidar sensor.
24. The vision system of claim 20, wherein image data captured by at least said rear camera of said plurality of cameras is processed at said central video/image processor to detect an object to the rear of the equipped vehicle.
25. The vision system of claim 24, wherein said plurality of cameras is a plurality of megapixel cameras.
26. The vision system of claim 20, wherein each camera of said plurality of cameras comprises an LVDS chip.
27. The vision system of claim 26, wherein said central video/image processor comprises a graphic engine.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/359,341, filed May 20, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,071,687, which is a 371 national phase filing of PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/066571, filed Nov. 27, 2012, which claims the filing benefit of U.S. provisional applications, Ser. No. 61/650,667, filed May 23, 2012; Ser. No. 61/605,409, filed Mar. 1, 2012; Ser. No. 61/579,682, filed Dec. 23, 2011; Ser. No. 61/565,713, filed Dec. 1, 2011; and Ser. No. 61/563,965, filed Nov. 28, 2011, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/359,341 is a continuation-in-part of PCT/US2012/066570, filed Nov. 27, 2012, which claims the filing benefit of U.S. provisional applications, Ser. No. 61/605,409, filed Mar. 1, 2012, and Ser. No. 61/563,965, filed Nov. 28, 2011.

US Referenced Citations (523)

Number	Name	Date	Kind
4443769	Aschwanden et al.	Apr 1984	A
4485398	Chapin, Jr. et al.	Nov 1984	A
4720790	Miki et al.	Jan 1988	A
4967319	Seko	Oct 1990	A
4970653	Kenue	Nov 1990	A
4987357	Masaki	Jan 1991	A
4991054	Walters	Feb 1991	A
5001558	Burley et al.	Mar 1991	A
5003288	Wilhelm	Mar 1991	A
5012082	Watanabe	Apr 1991	A
5016977	Baude et al.	May 1991	A
5027001	Torbert	Jun 1991	A
5027200	Petrossian et al.	Jun 1991	A
5044706	Chen	Sep 1991	A
5055668	French	Oct 1991	A
5059877	Teder	Oct 1991	A
5064274	Alten	Nov 1991	A
5072154	Chen	Dec 1991	A
5086253	Lawler	Feb 1992	A
5096287	Kakinami et al.	Mar 1992	A
5097362	Lynas	Mar 1992	A
5121200	Choi	Jun 1992	A
5124549	Michaels et al.	Jun 1992	A
5130709	Toyama et al.	Jul 1992	A
5168378	Black	Dec 1992	A
5170374	Shimohigashi et al.	Dec 1992	A
5172235	Wilm et al.	Dec 1992	A
5177606	Koshizawa	Jan 1993	A
5177685	Davis et al.	Jan 1993	A
5182502	Slotkowski et al.	Jan 1993	A
5184956	Langlais et al.	Feb 1993	A
5189561	Hong	Feb 1993	A
5193000	Lipton et al.	Mar 1993	A
5193029	Schofield et al.	Mar 1993	A
5204778	Bechtel	Apr 1993	A
5208701	Maeda	May 1993	A
5208750	Kurami et al.	May 1993	A
5214408	Asayama	May 1993	A
5243524	Ishida et al.	Sep 1993	A
5245422	Borcherts et al.	Sep 1993	A
5255442	Schierbeek et al.	Oct 1993	A
5276389	Levers	Jan 1994	A
5285060	Larson et al.	Feb 1994	A
5289182	Brillard et al.	Feb 1994	A
5289321	Secor	Feb 1994	A
5305012	Faris	Apr 1994	A
5307136	Saneyoshi	Apr 1994	A
5309137	Kajiwara	May 1994	A
5313072	Vachss	May 1994	A
5325096	Pakett	Jun 1994	A
5325386	Jewell et al.	Jun 1994	A
5329206	Slotkowski et al.	Jul 1994	A
5331312	Kudoh	Jul 1994	A
5336980	Levers	Aug 1994	A
5341437	Nakayama	Aug 1994	A
5351044	Mathur et al.	Sep 1994	A
5355118	Fukuhara	Oct 1994	A
5374852	Parkes	Dec 1994	A
5386285	Asayama	Jan 1995	A
5394333	Kao	Feb 1995	A
5406395	Wilson et al.	Apr 1995	A
5408346	Trissel et al.	Apr 1995	A
5410346	Saneyoshi et al.	Apr 1995	A
5414257	Stanton	May 1995	A
5414461	Kishi	May 1995	A
5416313	Larson et al.	May 1995	A
5416318	Hegyi	May 1995	A
5416478	Morinaga	May 1995	A
5424952	Asayama	Jun 1995	A
5426294	Kobayashi et al.	Jun 1995	A
5430431	Nelson	Jul 1995	A
5434407	Bauer et al.	Jul 1995	A
5440428	Klegg et al.	Aug 1995	A
5444478	Lelong et al.	Aug 1995	A
5451822	Bechtel et al.	Sep 1995	A
5457493	Leddy et al.	Oct 1995	A
5461357	Yoshioka et al.	Oct 1995	A
5461361	Moore	Oct 1995	A
5469298	Suman et al.	Nov 1995	A
5471515	Fossum et al.	Nov 1995	A
5475494	Nishida et al.	Dec 1995	A
5497306	Pastrick	Mar 1996	A
5498866	Bendicks et al.	Mar 1996	A
5500766	Stonecypher	Mar 1996	A
5510983	Lino	Apr 1996	A
5515448	Nishitani	May 1996	A
5521633	Nakajima et al.	May 1996	A
5528698	Kamei	Jun 1996	A
5529138	Shaw et al.	Jun 1996	A
5530240	Larson et al.	Jun 1996	A
5530420	Tsuchiya et al.	Jun 1996	A
5535144	Kise	Jul 1996	A
5535314	Alves et al.	Jul 1996	A
5537003	Bechtel et al.	Jul 1996	A
5539397	Asanuma et al.	Jul 1996	A
5541590	Nishio	Jul 1996	A
5550677	Schofield et al.	Aug 1996	A
5555555	Sato et al.	Sep 1996	A
5568027	Teder	Oct 1996	A
5574443	Hsieh	Nov 1996	A
5581464	Woll et al.	Dec 1996	A
5594222	Caldwell	Jan 1997	A
5610756	Lynam et al.	Mar 1997	A
5614788	Mullins	Mar 1997	A
5619370	Guinosso	Apr 1997	A
5632092	Blank et al.	May 1997	A
5634709	Iwama	Jun 1997	A
5642299	Hardin et al.	Jun 1997	A
5648835	Uzawa	Jul 1997	A
5650944	Kise	Jul 1997	A
5660454	Mod et al.	Aug 1997	A
5661303	Teder	Aug 1997	A
5666028	Bechtel et al.	Sep 1997	A
5670935	Schofield et al.	Sep 1997	A
5677851	Kingdon et al.	Oct 1997	A
5699044	Van Lente et al.	Dec 1997	A
5724316	Brunts	Mar 1998	A
5732379	Eckert et al.	Mar 1998	A
5737226	Olson et al.	Apr 1998	A
5757949	Kinoshita et al.	May 1998	A
5760826	Nayar	Jun 1998	A
5760828	Cortes	Jun 1998	A
5760931	Saburi et al.	Jun 1998	A
5760962	Schofield et al.	Jun 1998	A
5761094	Olson et al.	Jun 1998	A
5765116	Wilson-Jones et al.	Jun 1998	A
5765118	Fukatani	Jun 1998	A
5781437	Wiemer et al.	Jul 1998	A
5786772	Schofield et al.	Jul 1998	A
5790403	Nakayama	Aug 1998	A
5790973	Blaker	Aug 1998	A
5793308	Rosinski et al.	Aug 1998	A
5793420	Schmidt	Aug 1998	A
5796094	Schofield et al.	Aug 1998	A
5835255	Miles	Nov 1998	A
5837994	Stam et al.	Nov 1998	A
5844505	Van Ryzin	Dec 1998	A
5844682	Kiyomoto et al.	Dec 1998	A
5845000	Breed et al.	Dec 1998	A
5848802	Breed et al.	Dec 1998	A
5850176	Kinoshita et al.	Dec 1998	A
5850254	Takano et al.	Dec 1998	A
5867591	Onda	Feb 1999	A
5877707	Kowalick	Mar 1999	A
5877897	Schofield et al.	Mar 1999	A
5878357	Sivashankar et al.	Mar 1999	A
5878370	Olson	Mar 1999	A
5883739	Ashihara et al.	Mar 1999	A
5884212	Lion	Mar 1999	A
5890021	Onoda	Mar 1999	A
5896085	Mori et al.	Apr 1999	A
5899956	Chan	May 1999	A
5915800	Hiwatashi et al.	Jun 1999	A
5920367	Kajimoto et al.	Jul 1999	A
5923027	Stam et al.	Jul 1999	A
5924212	Domanski	Jul 1999	A
5929786	Schofield et al.	Jul 1999	A
5956181	Lin	Sep 1999	A
5959555	Furuta	Sep 1999	A
5963247	Banitt	Oct 1999	A
5986796	Miles	Nov 1999	A
5990469	Bechtel et al.	Nov 1999	A
5990649	Nagao et al.	Nov 1999	A
6020704	Buschur	Feb 2000	A
6049171	Stam et al.	Apr 2000	A
6052124	Stein et al.	Apr 2000	A
6066933	Ponziana	May 2000	A
6084519	Coulling et al.	Jul 2000	A
6091833	Yasui et al.	Jul 2000	A
6097024	Stam et al.	Aug 2000	A
6100799	Fenk	Aug 2000	A
6100811	Hsu et al.	Aug 2000	A
6115159	Baker	Sep 2000	A
6144022	Tenenbaum et al.	Nov 2000	A
6175300	Kendrick	Jan 2001	B1
6178034	Allemand et al.	Jan 2001	B1
6198409	Schofield et al.	Mar 2001	B1
6201642	Bos	Mar 2001	B1
6223114	Boros et al.	Apr 2001	B1
6226061	Tagusa	May 2001	B1
6227689	Miller	May 2001	B1
6250148	Lynam	Jun 2001	B1
6259423	Tokito et al.	Jul 2001	B1
6266082	Yonezawa et al.	Jul 2001	B1
6266442	Laumeyer et al.	Jul 2001	B1
6285393	Shimoura et al.	Sep 2001	B1
6285778	Nakajima et al.	Sep 2001	B1
6294989	Schofield et al.	Sep 2001	B1
6297781	Turnbull et al.	Oct 2001	B1
6302545	Schofield et al.	Oct 2001	B1
6310611	Caldwell	Oct 2001	B1
6313454	Bos et al.	Nov 2001	B1
6317057	Lee	Nov 2001	B1
6320282	Caldwell	Nov 2001	B1
6333759	Mazzilli	Dec 2001	B1
6341523	Lynam	Jan 2002	B2
6353392	Schofield et al.	Mar 2002	B1
6370329	Teuchert	Apr 2002	B1
6392315	Jones et al.	May 2002	B1
6396397	Bos et al.	May 2002	B1
6411204	Bloomfield et al.	Jun 2002	B1
6420975	DeLine et al.	Jul 2002	B1
6424273	Gutta et al.	Jul 2002	B1
6430303	Naoi et al.	Aug 2002	B1
6442465	Breed et al.	Aug 2002	B2
6477326	Partynski	Nov 2002	B1
6477464	McCarthy et al.	Nov 2002	B2
6497503	Dassanayake et al.	Dec 2002	B1
6498620	Schofield et al.	Dec 2002	B2
6516664	Lynam	Feb 2003	B2
6523964	Schofield et al.	Feb 2003	B2
6534884	Marcus et al.	Mar 2003	B2
6539306	Turnbull	Mar 2003	B2
6547133	Devries, Jr. et al.	Apr 2003	B1
6553130	Lemelson et al.	Apr 2003	B1
6559435	Schofield et al.	May 2003	B2
6570998	Ohtsuka et al.	May 2003	B1
6574033	Chui et al.	Jun 2003	B1
6578017	Ebersole et al.	Jun 2003	B1
6587573	Stam et al.	Jul 2003	B1
6589625	Kothari et al.	Jul 2003	B1
6593011	Liu et al.	Jul 2003	B2
6593698	Stam et al.	Jul 2003	B2
6594583	Ogura et al.	Jul 2003	B2
6605775	Seeber et al.	Aug 2003	B1
6611202	Schofield et al.	Aug 2003	B2
6611610	Stam et al.	Aug 2003	B1
6627918	Getz et al.	Sep 2003	B2
6631316	Stam et al.	Oct 2003	B2
6631994	Suzuki et al.	Oct 2003	B2
6636258	Strumolo	Oct 2003	B2
6648477	Hutzel et al.	Nov 2003	B2
6650455	Miles	Nov 2003	B2
6672731	Schnell et al.	Jan 2004	B2
6674562	Miles	Jan 2004	B1
6678056	Downs	Jan 2004	B2
6678614	McCarthy et al.	Jan 2004	B2
6680792	Miles	Jan 2004	B2
6690268	Schofield et al.	Feb 2004	B2
6700605	Toyoda et al.	Mar 2004	B1
6703925	Steffel	Mar 2004	B2
6704621	Stein et al.	Mar 2004	B1
6710908	Miles et al.	Mar 2004	B2
6711474	Treyz et al.	Mar 2004	B1
6714331	Lewis et al.	Mar 2004	B2
6717610	Bos et al.	Apr 2004	B1
6735506	Breed et al.	May 2004	B2
6741377	Miles	May 2004	B2
6744353	Sjonell	Jun 2004	B2
6757109	Bos	Jun 2004	B2
6762867	Lippert et al.	Jul 2004	B2
6794119	Miles	Sep 2004	B2
6795221	Urey	Sep 2004	B1
6802617	Schofield et al.	Oct 2004	B2
6806452	Bos et al.	Oct 2004	B2
6807287	Hermans	Oct 2004	B1
6819231	Berberich et al.	Nov 2004	B2
6822563	Bos et al.	Nov 2004	B2
6823241	Shirato et al.	Nov 2004	B2
6824281	Schofield et al.	Nov 2004	B2
6850156	Bloomfield et al.	Feb 2005	B2
6864930	Matsushita et al.	Mar 2005	B2
6882287	Schofield	Apr 2005	B2
6889161	Winner et al.	May 2005	B2
6909753	Meehan et al.	Jun 2005	B2
6946978	Schofield	Sep 2005	B2
6953253	Schofield et al.	Oct 2005	B2
6968736	Lynam	Nov 2005	B2
6975775	Rykowski et al.	Dec 2005	B2
6989736	Berberich et al.	Jan 2006	B2
7004606	Schofield	Feb 2006	B2
7005974	McMahon et al.	Feb 2006	B2
7038577	Pawlicki et al.	May 2006	B2
7062300	Kim	Jun 2006	B1
7065432	Moisel et al.	Jun 2006	B2
7079017	Lang et al.	Jul 2006	B2
7085637	Breed et al.	Aug 2006	B2
7092548	Laumeyer et al.	Aug 2006	B2
7111968	Bauer et al.	Sep 2006	B2
7113867	Stein	Sep 2006	B1
7116246	Winter et al.	Oct 2006	B2
7123168	Schofield	Oct 2006	B2
7133661	Hatae et al.	Nov 2006	B2
7136753	Samukawa et al.	Nov 2006	B2
7145519	Takahashi et al.	Dec 2006	B2
7149613	Stam et al.	Dec 2006	B2
7151996	Stein	Dec 2006	B2
7161616	Okamoto et al.	Jan 2007	B1
7167796	Taylor et al.	Jan 2007	B2
7195381	Lynam et al.	Mar 2007	B2
7202776	Breed	Apr 2007	B2
7227611	Hull et al.	Jun 2007	B2
7230640	Regensburger et al.	Jun 2007	B2
7248283	Takagi et al.	Jul 2007	B2
7295229	Kumata et al.	Nov 2007	B2
7311406	Schofield et al.	Dec 2007	B2
7325934	Schofield et al.	Feb 2008	B2
7325935	Schofield et al.	Feb 2008	B2
7336299	Kostrzewski et al.	Feb 2008	B2
7338177	Lynam	Mar 2008	B2
7365769	Mager	Apr 2008	B1
7370983	DeWind et al.	May 2008	B2
7375803	Bamji	May 2008	B1
7380948	Schofield et al.	Jun 2008	B2
7381089	Hosier, Sr.	Jun 2008	B2
7388182	Schofield et al.	Jun 2008	B2
7402786	Schofield et al.	Jul 2008	B2
7423821	Bechtel et al.	Sep 2008	B2
7460951	Altan	Dec 2008	B2
7480149	DeWard et al.	Jan 2009	B2
7482916	Au et al.	Jan 2009	B2
7490007	Taylor et al.	Feb 2009	B2
7492281	Lynam et al.	Feb 2009	B2
7526103	Schofield et al.	Apr 2009	B2
7532109	Takahama et al.	May 2009	B2
7541743	Salmeen et al.	Jun 2009	B2
7561181	Schofield et al.	Jul 2009	B2
7565006	Stam et al.	Jul 2009	B2
7566851	Stein et al.	Jul 2009	B2
7567291	Bechtel et al.	Jul 2009	B2
7576767	Lee et al.	Aug 2009	B2
7581859	Lynam	Sep 2009	B2
7592928	Chinomi et al.	Sep 2009	B2
7605856	Imoto	Oct 2009	B2
7616781	Schofield et al.	Nov 2009	B2
7619508	Lynam et al.	Nov 2009	B2
7633383	Dunsmoir et al.	Dec 2009	B2
7639149	Katoh	Dec 2009	B2
7681960	Wanke et al.	Mar 2010	B2
7711201	Wong et al.	May 2010	B2
7720580	Higgins-Luthman	May 2010	B2
7724962	Zhu et al.	May 2010	B2
7777611	Desai	Aug 2010	B2
7786898	Stein et al.	Aug 2010	B2
7792329	Schofield et al.	Sep 2010	B2
7843451	Lafon	Nov 2010	B2
7855755	Weller et al.	Dec 2010	B2
7855778	Yung et al.	Dec 2010	B2
7881496	Camilleri et al.	Feb 2011	B2
7914187	Higgins-Luthman et al.	Mar 2011	B2
7925441	Maemura	Apr 2011	B2
7930160	Hosagrahara et al.	Apr 2011	B1
7949486	Denny et al.	May 2011	B2
7952490	Fechner et al.	May 2011	B2
7965336	Bingle et al.	Jun 2011	B2
8009868	Abe	Aug 2011	B2
8013780	Lynam	Sep 2011	B2
8017898	Lu et al.	Sep 2011	B2
8027029	Lu et al.	Sep 2011	B2
8058977	Lynam	Nov 2011	B2
8064643	Stein et al.	Nov 2011	B2
8072486	Namba et al.	Dec 2011	B2
8082101	Stein et al.	Dec 2011	B2
8090976	Maciver et al.	Jan 2012	B2
8134596	Lei et al.	Mar 2012	B2
8164628	Stein et al.	Apr 2012	B2
8203440	Schofield et al.	Jun 2012	B2
8224031	Saito	Jul 2012	B2
8233045	Luo et al.	Jul 2012	B2
8254635	Stein et al.	Aug 2012	B2
8294563	Shimoda et al.	Oct 2012	B2
8300886	Hoffmann	Oct 2012	B2
8320628	Cheng et al.	Nov 2012	B2
8340866	Hanzawa et al.	Dec 2012	B2
8378851	Stein et al.	Feb 2013	B2
8421865	Euler et al.	Apr 2013	B2
8452055	Stein et al.	May 2013	B2
8502860	Demirdjian	Aug 2013	B2
8553088	Stein et al.	Oct 2013	B2
8849495	Chundrik, Jr. et al.	Sep 2014	B2
8908039	De Wind et al.	Dec 2014	B2
9019090	Weller et al.	Apr 2015	B2
9041806	Baur et al.	May 2015	B2
9090234	Johnson et al.	Jul 2015	B2
9092986	Salomonsson et al.	Jul 2015	B2
9146898	Ihlenburg et al.	Sep 2015	B2
9205776	Turk	Dec 2015	B2
9210307	Gebauer et al.	Dec 2015	B2
9900490	Ihlenburg et al.	Feb 2018	B2
10071687	Ihlenburg et al.	Sep 2018	B2
20020005778	Breed et al.	Jan 2002	A1
20020011611	Huang et al.	Jan 2002	A1
20020015153	Downs	Feb 2002	A1
20020037054	Schurig	Mar 2002	A1
20020044065	Quist et al.	Apr 2002	A1
20020113873	Williams	Aug 2002	A1
20020116106	Breed et al.	Aug 2002	A1
20020149679	Deangelis et al.	Oct 2002	A1
20030103142	Hitomi et al.	Jun 2003	A1
20030137586	Lewellen	Jul 2003	A1
20030222982	Hamdan et al.	Dec 2003	A1
20040032321	McMahon et al.	Feb 2004	A1
20040114381	Salmeen et al.	Jun 2004	A1
20040164228	Fogg et al.	Aug 2004	A1
20050078389	Kulas et al.	Apr 2005	A1
20050134983	Lynam	Jun 2005	A1
20050219852	Stam et al.	Oct 2005	A1
20050237385	Kosaka et al.	Oct 2005	A1
20050264891	Uken et al.	Dec 2005	A1
20060018511	Stam et al.	Jan 2006	A1
20060018512	Stam et al.	Jan 2006	A1
20060061008	Kamer et al.	Mar 2006	A1
20060072011	Okada	Apr 2006	A1
20060091813	Stam et al.	May 2006	A1
20060103727	Tseng	May 2006	A1
20060133476	Page	Jun 2006	A1
20060164221	Jensen	Jul 2006	A1
20060212624	Kim	Sep 2006	A1
20060232670	Chu	Oct 2006	A1
20060250501	Widmann et al.	Nov 2006	A1
20060254805	Scherer et al.	Nov 2006	A1
20060255920	Maeda et al.	Nov 2006	A1
20060290479	Akatsuka et al.	Dec 2006	A1
20070024724	Stein et al.	Feb 2007	A1
20070103313	Washington	May 2007	A1
20070104476	Yasutomi et al.	May 2007	A1
20070242339	Bradley	Oct 2007	A1
20070257923	Whitby-Strevens	Nov 2007	A1
20080043099	Stein	Feb 2008	A1
20080063129	Voutilainen	Mar 2008	A1
20080147321	Howard et al.	Jun 2008	A1
20080150814	Hedou	Jun 2008	A1
20080166024	Iketani	Jul 2008	A1
20080192132	Bechtel et al.	Aug 2008	A1
20080266396	Stein	Oct 2008	A1
20090024756	Spalla et al.	Jan 2009	A1
20090093938	Isaji et al.	Apr 2009	A1
20090113509	Tseng et al.	Apr 2009	A1
20090160987	Bechtel et al.	Jun 2009	A1
20090171559	Lehtiniemi et al.	Jul 2009	A1
20090177347	Breuer et al.	Jul 2009	A1
20090190015	Bechtel et al.	Jul 2009	A1
20090243824	Peterson et al.	Oct 2009	A1
20090244361	Gebauer et al.	Oct 2009	A1
20090256938	Bechtel et al.	Oct 2009	A1
20090265069	Desbrunes	Oct 2009	A1
20090273524	Furuya	Nov 2009	A1
20090290032	Zhang et al.	Nov 2009	A1
20090295181	Lawlor et al.	Dec 2009	A1
20100020170	Higgins-Luthman et al.	Jan 2010	A1
20100076621	Kubotani et al.	Mar 2010	A1
20100088021	Viner	Apr 2010	A1
20100097469	Blank et al.	Apr 2010	A1
20100097519	Byrne et al.	Apr 2010	A1
20100110939	Fukuda	May 2010	A1
20100118145	Betham et al.	May 2010	A1
20100228437	Hanzawa et al.	Sep 2010	A1
20100231409	Okada et al.	Sep 2010	A1
20100296519	Jones	Nov 2010	A1
20110115615	Luo et al.	May 2011	A1
20110141381	Minikey, Jr. et al.	Jun 2011	A1
20110157309	Bennett et al.	Jun 2011	A1
20110193961	Peterson	Aug 2011	A1
20110216201	McAndrew et al.	Sep 2011	A1
20110224978	Sawada	Sep 2011	A1
20110228088	Gloger	Sep 2011	A1
20110257973	Chutorash et al.	Oct 2011	A1
20110286544	Avudainayagam et al.	Nov 2011	A1
20120044066	Mauderer et al.	Feb 2012	A1
20120045112	Lundblad et al.	Feb 2012	A1
20120050550	Oba et al.	Mar 2012	A1
20120062743	Lynam et al.	Mar 2012	A1
20120069184	Hoffmann	Mar 2012	A1
20120069185	Stein	Mar 2012	A1
20120127062	Bar-Zeev	May 2012	A1
20120154591	Baur et al.	Jun 2012	A1
20120186447	Hodgson et al.	Jul 2012	A1
20120200707	Stein et al.	Aug 2012	A1
20120218412	Dellantoni et al.	Aug 2012	A1
20120239242	Uehara	Sep 2012	A1
20120245817	Cooprider et al.	Sep 2012	A1
20120262340	Hassan et al.	Oct 2012	A1
20120287140	Lin et al.	Nov 2012	A1
20120303222	Cooprider et al.	Nov 2012	A1
20120314071	Rosenbaum et al.	Dec 2012	A1
20120320209	Vico et al.	Dec 2012	A1
20130103259	Eng	Apr 2013	A1
20130116859	Ihienburg et al.	May 2013	A1
20130124052	Hahne	May 2013	A1
20130129150	Saito	May 2013	A1
20130131918	Hahne	May 2013	A1
20130134964	Ahrentorp et al.	May 2013	A1
20130141578	Chundrlik, Jr. et al.	Jun 2013	A1
20130141580	Stein et al.	Jun 2013	A1
20130147957	Stein	Jun 2013	A1
20130169812	Lu et al.	Jul 2013	A1
20130187445	Mutzabaugh	Jul 2013	A1
20130222593	Byrne et al.	Aug 2013	A1
20130242413	Baba	Sep 2013	A1
20130278769	Nix et al.	Oct 2013	A1
20130286193	Pflug	Oct 2013	A1
20130314503	Nix et al.	Nov 2013	A1
20130328672	Sesti et al.	Dec 2013	A1
20140009633	Chopra et al.	Jan 2014	A1
20140043473	Gupta et al.	Feb 2014	A1
20140063254	Shi et al.	Mar 2014	A1
20140067206	Pflug	Mar 2014	A1
20140098229	Lu et al.	Apr 2014	A1
20140152778	Ihlenburg et al.	Jun 2014	A1
20140156157	Johnson et al.	Jun 2014	A1
20140160291	Schaffner	Jun 2014	A1
20140176711	Kirchner et al.	Jun 2014	A1
20140218529	Mahmoud et al.	Aug 2014	A1
20140218531	Michiguchi	Aug 2014	A1
20140218535	Ihlenburg et al.	Aug 2014	A1
20140222280	Salomonsson et al.	Aug 2014	A1
20140247352	Rathi et al.	Sep 2014	A1
20140247354	Knudsen	Sep 2014	A1
20140247355	Ihlenburg	Sep 2014	A1
20140313339	Diessner	Oct 2014	A1
20140320658	Pliefke	Oct 2014	A1
20140333729	Pflug	Nov 2014	A1
20140340510	Ihlenburg et al.	Nov 2014	A1
20140347486	Okouneva	Nov 2014	A1
20140362209	Ziegenspeck et al.	Dec 2014	A1
20140373345	Steigerwald	Dec 2014	A1
20140379233	Chundrlik, Jr. et al.	Dec 2014	A1
20150042807	Ihlenburg et al.	Feb 2015	A1
20150156383	Biemer et al.	Jun 2015	A1
20150222795	Sauer et al.	Aug 2015	A1
20150232030	Bongwald	Aug 2015	A1
20150294169	Zhou et al.	Oct 2015	A1
20150296135	Wacquant et al.	Oct 2015	A1

Foreign Referenced Citations (8)

Number	Date	Country
1115250	Jul 2001	EP
2377094	Oct 2011	EP
2667325	Nov 2013	EP
H1168538	Jul 1989	JP
200274339	Mar 2002	JP
2012139636	Oct 2012	WO
2012139660	Oct 2012	WO
2012143036	Oct 2012	WO

Non-Patent Literature Citations (12)

Entry
Achler et al., “Vehicle Wheel Detector using 2D Filter Banks,” IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium of Jun. 2004.
Behringer et al., “Simultaneous Estimation of Pitch Angle and Lane Width from the Video Image of a Marked Road,” pp. 966-973, Sep. 12-16, 1994.
Broggi et al., “Multi-Resolution Vehicle Detection using Artificial Vision,” IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium of Jun. 2004.
Kastrinaki et al., “A survey of video processing techniques for traffic applications”.
Philomin et al., “Pedestrain Tracking from a Moving Vehicle”.
Sahli et al., “A Kalman Filter-Based Update Scheme for Road Following,” IAPR Workshop on Machine Vision Applications, pp. 5-9, Nov. 12-14, 1996.
Sun et al., “On-road vehicle detection using optical sensors: a review”, IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2004.
Van Leeuwen et al., “Motion Estimation with a Mobile Camera for Traffic Applications”, IEEE, US, vol. 1, Oct. 3, 2000, pp. 58-63.
Van Leeuwen et al., “Motion Interpretation for In-Car Vision Systems”, IEEE, US, vol. 1, Sep. 30, 2002, p. 135-140.
Van Leeuwen et al., “Real-Time Vehicle Tracking in Image Sequences”, IEEE, US, vol. 3, May 21, 2001, pp. 2049-2054, XP010547308.
Van Leeuwen et al., “Requirements for Motion Estimation in Image Sequences for Traffic Applications”, IEEE, US, vol. 1, May 24, 1999, pp. 145-150, XP010340272.
International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Feb. 8, 213 for PCT Application No. PCT/US2012/066571.

Related Publications (1)

	Number	Date	Country
	20190001889 A1	Jan 2019	US

Provisional Applications (7)

Number	Date	Country
61650667	May 2012	US
61605409	Mar 2012	US
61579682	Dec 2011	US
61565713	Dec 2011	US
61563965	Nov 2011	US
61605409	Mar 2012	US
61563965	Nov 2011	US

Continuations (1)

	Number	Date	Country
Parent	14359341	May 2014	US
Child	16125903		US

Continuation in Parts (1)

	Number	Date	Country
Parent	PCT/US2012/066570		US
Child	14359341		US

Vision system for vehicle

Information

Patent Number

Date Filed

Date Issued

Inventors

Original Assignees

Examiners

Agents

CPC

Field of Search

US

CPC

International Classifications

Abstract