CONTEST
Competed
$5,000
This contest is closed.
Problem
Patexia is looking for descriptions of a multi-camera setup on a vehicle with an image processor that can stitch the views from the cameras together to create a synthesized view of the vehicle’s exteriors and blind spots as if seen from a single camera from a single location. This view can be panoramic, bird’s eye, or something else, as long as it is shown to the driver as from the perspective of a single camera at a single location.
Submitted documents describing this system must be:
- filed or published before 05/22/1996
- not on the known references list
The entire submission must describe a multi-camera system where:
- at least 3 camera are mounted to the exterior of the car and located (1) on the driver’s side, (2) on the passenger’s side, and (3) at the rear of the vehicle
- the driver’s side and rear cameras have part of their fields of vision overlapping
- the passenger’s side and rear cameras have part of their fields of vision overlapping
- an image processor receives image data from all of the cameras and creates a seamless view from a single location as if viewed from a “virtual” camera on the outside of the vehicle
- the synthesized view doesn’t include any duplicate objects from the overlapping portions of image data
- the driver can view the synthesized image from a display screen while normally operating the vehicle
This contest is for a prior art search for US Patent 8,643,724, with a focus on claims 1, 49, 65, and 78, and specifically the feature allowing the synthesized view to include image data from all three cameras to be displayed to the driver of a vehicle from the perspective of a single camera located exterior of the vehicle.
Update: The family patents for the contest patent (US Patent 8,643,724) have been added to the known references list for easy access.
Contest icon from Google Material Design icons used under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Questions
| # | Question | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is the reference either a US patent filed, a foreign patent published, or a non-patent document published before May 22nd, 1996? | T/F |
| 2 | Is the reference about a car driver navigational aid that stitches the views from at least three cameras to provide a seamless view of the car’s exteriors and blind spots? | T/F |
| 3 | Does the reference show a vehicle with at least three exterior cameras placed on (1) the driver’s side, (2) the passenger’s side, and (3) the rear of the vehicle? | 15 |
| 4 | (3a) Does the reference further show that (1) the driver’s side and rear cameras have part of their fields of vision overlap, and that (2) the passenger’s side and rear cameras have part of their fields of vision overlap? | 10 |
| 5 | Does the reference show an image processor that can receive image data from all of the cameras? | 5 |
| 6 | (5a) Does the reference further show that the image processor stitches image data from the multiple cameras to create a seamless view, without any duplicate objects in the overlap portions of the image data, so as to create a view of the surrounding exterior of the vehicle as if seen by a single virtual camera at a single location? | 45 |
| 7 | (5b) Does the reference further show that the location of the single virtual camera shown to the driver is on the outside of the vehicle? | 25 |
Additional Notes
This is a Prior Art Search contest aimed at determining if a patent idea was known and publicly available before a patent was filed.
+5 bonus points will be awarded for non-patent literature and for foreign language references.
This contest will close on Sunday, May 3rd, 2015 at 11:59 PM PST.
Please review the Contest Rules. For more information on how to submit to this Contest type, please read the Intro to Prior Art Search page.
