Patents by Inventor Dieter Krökel

Dieter Krökel has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20200139887
    Abstract: The invention relates to a camera system (2) for a vehicle. The camera system (2) comprises a camera (3) and an image evaluating unit (4), wherein the camera (3) is adapted to be arranged in an interior (6) of the vehicle behind a windowpane (7) of the vehicle so that the camera (3) can record an image sequence with a plurality of external recordings of external surroundings (8) of the vehicle through the windowpane (7). Further, the image evaluating unit (4) is adapted to detect static image components in the external recordings and to extract the detected static image components from the external recordings, wherein the static image components are projected into the external recordings through reflections.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2017
    Publication date: May 7, 2020
    Inventors: Thomas FECHNER, Karsten BREUER, Dieter KROEKEL
  • Publication number: 20200128161
    Abstract: The invention relates to a camera system, in particular a stereo camera system, for a driver assistance system, comprising a first camera having a first aperture angle and a second camera having a second aperture angle, the first camera producing a wide-angle camera image and the second camera producing a telephoto camera image, the two camera images having an area of overlap. The first camera is a rolling shutter camera and the second camera is a global shutter camera, the camera system being designed in such a way that the two cameras are synchronized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2017
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Inventors: Dieter KROEKEL, Stefan HEGEMANN, Stefan HEINRICH, Simon HACHFELD, Aless LASARUK, Reik MUELLER
  • Publication number: 20200059613
    Abstract: The invention relates to a camera device (2) for detecting a surrounding area of a driver's own vehicle (1), with optoelectronics comprising a high-resolution image capturing sensor and a wide-angle optical system, wherein the optoelectronics are designed to output an image sequence (8) of the surrounding area with a periodic exchange of high-resolution and resolution-reduced images (3, 4).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 4, 2017
    Publication date: February 20, 2020
    Inventors: Florian DREIER, Dieter KROEKEL, Karsten BREUER, Boris WERTHESSEN
  • Publication number: 20200059598
    Abstract: A camera device (2) for capturing a surrounding area of a driver's own vehicle has optoelectronics including a high-resolution image capturing sensor and a wide-angle optical system for capturing at least one initial image of the surrounding area. The optoelectronics are configured to generate, from the at least one initial image, a processed output image (4) that has, compared to the associated initial image, at least one non-modified image section (4a) and a resolution-reduced remainder image region (4b) bordering on the at least one non-modified image section (4a).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 4, 2017
    Publication date: February 20, 2020
    Inventors: Karsten BREUER, Boris WERTHESSEN, Konrad ROTHENHAEUSLER, Dieter KROEKEL
  • Publication number: 20190357352
    Abstract: A flexible conductor track (10) for connecting electronic modules, includes conductor track structures (12), two connecting regions (14, 16) for electrically connecting the conductor track structures (12) to corresponding conductor tracks of electronic modules, and at least one long slit (18, 20) in a region (11) in the conductor track (10) located between the two connecting regions. At least one of the connecting regions is designed to be connected to a corresponding connecting region of an electronic module by anisotropic conductive film adhesive (ACFA) bonding.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2017
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Konrad ROTHENHAEUSLER, Franz PFEIFFER, Thilo BERG, Jos BECHER, Andreas SCHLEINKOFER, Martin VALLENDOR, Matthias DROPMANN, Oscar TORRES ALSINA, Steffen GOERMER, Patrick ALBRECHT, Hendrik POWILEIT, Dieter KROEKEL
  • Publication number: 20190344702
    Abstract: The invention relates to a driver assistance system of a motor vehicle comprising a lighting system (1) of the motor vehicle, having an illumination unit (2) configured to illuminate a scene (3) in the surroundings of the vehicle by projecting a total area (5), consisting of a total number of actuatable pixels (4), wherein the illumination unit (2) is configured to project a predefined pattern onto the scene; an image capture unit (7) configured to capture an image of at least part of the scene; and a computation unit (8) configured to compute at least one geometric property (9; 10) of the scene by means of the captured image and the predefined pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2017
    Publication date: November 14, 2019
    Inventors: Karsten BREUER, Thomas FECHNER, Dieter KROEKEL, Steffen GOERMER, Tobias SCHWARZ, Bruno NUNES-SILVA, Christopher KUENZEL, Maximilian AUSTERER
  • Patent number: 10435029
    Abstract: An environment detection device for a vehicle is includes a sensor unit for determining environment information of a surrounding area of the vehicle itself, with a temperature measurement unit, configured to measure at least one state temperature of the sensor unit, and with a controller, configured to trigger at least one action for reducing the state temperature if a prescribed temperature warning value is exceeded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: CONTI TEMIC MICROELECTRONIC GMBH
    Inventors: Günter Anton Fendt, Konrad Rothenhäusler, Manfred Gantner, Dieter Krökel
  • Publication number: 20190281235
    Abstract: The invention relates to a camera device for capturing a surrounding region of an ego-vehicle. The camera device comprises an optronics system and an image capture control unit, which are configured to acquire a sequence of images of the surrounding region. The optronics system comprises a wide-angle optical system and a high-resolution image acquisition sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2017
    Publication date: September 12, 2019
    Inventors: Karsten BREUER, Dieter KROEKEL, Robert THIEL, Martin PFITZER
  • Patent number: 10349004
    Abstract: A method of saving image data of a camera in an accident data recorder of a vehicle involves: a) performing object recognition to determine object data regarding objects detected from the camera image data; b) compressing the camera image data by a lossy compression method to form compressed image data; c) storing the object data and the compressed image data in a storage unit; d) overwriting the data in the storage unit after a predefined volume of data has been stored; and e) statically saving the object data and the compressed image data in response to a trigger signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Fechner, Dieter Kroekel
  • Patent number: 10334234
    Abstract: A stereo camera (1) for a vehicle includes a first camera (1.1), which has a first image sensor (1.11) and the camera field of vision (S1) of which has a first opening angle (?1), and a second camera (1.2), which has a second image sensor (1.21) and the camera field of vision (S2) of which has a second opening angle (?2). The second opening angle (?2) is greater than the first opening angle (?1). The first camera (1.1) has a first lens optical unit (1.12) and the second camera (1.2) has a second lens optical unit (1.22), which both have an angular resolution that is higher in a central region (Z1, Z2) of the field of vision (S1, S2) lying in the angular range (?11, ?21) around the optical axis (O1) than outside of the central region. The cameras are arranged so that the fields of vision (S1, S2) overlap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Rolf Adomat, Thomas Fechner, Dieter Kroekel, Gerhard Mueller, Martin Punke
  • Patent number: 10209480
    Abstract: A camera arrangement for or in a motor vehicle includes at least one objective with each objective including at least one lens. A temperature measurement device is configured to measure the temperature of the objective and/or of the environment of the objective. A temperature adjustment device is thermally coupled to the at least one objective and configured to adjust the temperature of the objective as a function of the measured temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: CONTI TEMIC MICROELECTRONIC GMBH
    Inventors: Thomas Fechner, Dieter Krökel
  • Patent number: 10147002
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus determine a road condition using a vehicle camera. At least one image is acquired using the camera. A first image area that includes an image of the road surface is determined in the at least one image. A classifier assigns the first image area to at least one class (among pre-established classes) that represents a specific road condition of the road surface. Information regarding this specific road condition is output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignees: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH, Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG
    Inventors: Bernd Hartmann, Dieter Kroekel, Stefan Fritz, Joachim Denzler, Bjoern Froehlich, Michael Kemmler, Stefan Schubert, Eric Bach
  • Patent number: 10106126
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method are for detecting precipitation on a windscreen of a motor vehicle. A camera device records a first image and thereafter a second image. A comparison device produces a first comparison image by comparing the first image with the second image. An image detection device identifies objects on the first comparison image, and determines motion of the objects, to detect whether there is precipitation on the windscreen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Christopher Kosubek, Dieter Kroekel, Urban Meis
  • Patent number: 10093233
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for displaying the surroundings of a vehicle and to a driver assistance system having such an apparatus having at least one sensor for producing sensor data for the surroundings of a vehicle. In this case, the sensor data are conditioned to produce raw image data, if need be using a grid model of the surroundings of the vehicle, if need be the raw image data are processed to produce object information using a grid model of the surroundings of the vehicle, and the object information obtained is used to condition raw image data to produce image object data, and finally the image object data are displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignees: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH, Continental Automotive GmbH, Continental Teves AG & Co. oHG
    Inventors: Dieter Krökel, Christian Exner, Herbert Meier, Stefan Lüke, Sebastian Houben, Jan Salmen
  • Publication number: 20180167587
    Abstract: The invention relates to a vehicle camera device for capturing the surroundings of a motor vehicle, having a first and a second optronic unit, wherein the first and second optronic units each comprise an optical device and an image sensor, wherein the first optronic unit is designed to capture a first detection area and the second optronic unit is designed to capture a second detection area of the surroundings, wherein the first and second optronic units have different image angles with an overlapping section of the detection areas, wherein the overlapping section which is captured by the first optronic unit has a different angular resolution from the rest of the first detection area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2018
    Publication date: June 14, 2018
    Applicant: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventor: Dieter Krökel
  • Publication number: 20180149827
    Abstract: A camera arrangement for or in a motor vehicle includes at least one objective with each objective including at least one lens. A temperature measurement device is configured to measure the temperature of the objective and/or of the environment of the objective. A temperature adjustment device is thermally coupled to the at least one objective and configured to adjust the temperature of the objective as a function of the measured temperature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2017
    Publication date: May 31, 2018
    Applicant: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Fechner, Dieter Krökel
  • Publication number: 20170355380
    Abstract: An environment detection device for a vehicle is includes a sensor unit for determining environment information of a surrounding area of the vehicle itself, with a temperature measurement unit, configured to measure at least one state temperature of the sensor unit, and with a controller, configured to trigger at least one action for reducing the state temperature if a prescribed temperature warning value is exceeded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2017
    Publication date: December 14, 2017
    Applicant: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Günter Anton Fendt, Konrad Rothenhäusler, Manfred Gantner, Dieter Krökel
  • Publication number: 20170347036
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a driver assistance system for a motor vehicle, such as a truck. The driver assistance system includes an environment camera with an image sensor and an optical system. The driver assistance system also includes an imaging unit and a display element in the interior of the motor vehicle. The environment camera, the imaging unit, and the display element form a digital exterior mirror, where the digital exterior mirror is arranged such that at least two visual field regions, namely a first visual field region and a second visual field region, are mapped with different magnifications.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2017
    Publication date: November 30, 2017
    Applicant: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Dieter Krökel, Konrad Rothenhäusler, Ulrich Roskoni, Tobias Schmalriede
  • Publication number: 20170310952
    Abstract: The invention relates to a stereo camera (1) for a vehicle (10), comprising a first camera (1.1), which has a first image sensor (1.11) and the camera field of vision (S1) of which has a first opening angle (?1), and a second camera (1.2), which has a second image sensor (1.21) and the camera field of vision (S2) of which has a second opening angle (?2), wherein the second opening angle (?2) is greater than the first opening angle (?1). According to the invention, the first camera (1.1) has a first lens optical unit (1.12) and the second camera (1.2) has a second lens optical unit (1.22), wherein both the first lens optical unit (1.12) and the second lens optical unit (1.22) are designed with an angular resolution that is higher in a central region (Z1, Z2) of the camera field of vision (S1, S2) lying in the angular range (?11, ?21) around the optical axis (O1) than outside of the central region (Z1, Z2), and the first camera (1.1) and the second camera (1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2015
    Publication date: October 26, 2017
    Inventors: Rolf ADOMAT, Thomas FECHNER, Dieter KROEKEL, Gerhard MUELLER, Martin PUNKE
  • Patent number: 9720132
    Abstract: A device for detecting rain includes a camera and a lighting source for emitting visible light onto a window. The camera and the lighting source are configured and arranged in such a way that the camera can detect a signal of the visible light which the lighting source emits onto the window. The signal which is detected by the camera correlates with visible light of the lighting source, which visible light is reflected or scattered at the inner face of the window or outer face of the window and/or at the raindrop. The visible light passes through a shutter device which causes the light to be blocked or highly attenuated in a predefined direction perpendicular to the illumination direction of structures of the shutter device. In contrast, the light in the direction perpendicular to the predefined direction and to the illumination direction can propagate virtually unimpeded through the shutter device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Dieter Krökel, Wolfgang Fey, Martin Randler