US Patent 9886636 Enhanced top-down view generation in a front curb viewing system

A system and method for creating an enhanced virtual top-down view of an area in front of a vehicle, using images from left-front and right-front cameras. The enhanced virtual top-down view not only provides the driver with a top-down view perspective which is not directly available from raw camera images, but also removes the distortion and exaggerated perspective effects which are inherent in wide-angle lens images. The enhanced virtual top-down view also includes corrections for three types of problems which are typically present in de-warped images—including artificial protrusion of vehicle body parts into the image, low resolution and noise around the edges of the image, and a “double vision” effect for objects above ground level.