BMW creates the intelligent mirror that eliminates objects

Manufacturers are constantly researching new technological solutions that improve safety or make a vehicle easier to use. For example, BMW has just created the Smart Mirror that eliminates interfering objects in your field of vision to give you a full view of what’s going on behind the vehicle.

At the moment, BMW has filed a patent for a multi-camera digital rear view mirror with advanced optical processing that incorporates multiple views into a single display unit mounted on the interior mirror.

Although digital mirrors are not an innovative technology, since many vehicles already equip them on the market. There is also another evolution of this technology like the one that equips the BMW X7, which offers the possibility to choose the standard view behind the vehicle or a completely digital image supplied by external cameras that allows you to see through the rear passengers.

BMW creates the intelligent mirror that eliminates objects

Now, the patent filed at the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), which has been discovered by Carbuzz, proposes a digital rear-view mirror powered by not just one but multiple cameras, including one directed at the rear of the cab.

The first camera is mounted inside the vehicle in such a way that its image is largely identical to what a normal mirror would reflect if it were adjusted to point at the rear seating area. The second camera is located outside, at the rear, and offers an image very similar to that of a rear view camera used for parking.

To decide which image is most relevant to the driver, the system relies on occupancy sensors and microphones for the interior, weather sensors for the exterior to detect fog, snow or rain; and proximity sensors to detect obstacles.

This information is then processed by software to combine the images into one in the interior mirror. The system proposed by BMW processes both images and they are presented simultaneously on the screen that acts as a rearview mirror, determining which is more important (highlighting it) for the driver.

Another feature of the BMW patent is that the system will recognize rear-seat activity when a conversation is initiated between the driver and a rear-seat passenger. In addition to reproducing a clearer image of the rear speaker, the internal microphones and speakers will be used so that both can hear the conversation more clearly.

Both camera views can be displayed simultaneously if configured to do so, where a human ability called “selective perception” will filter out the irrelevant image. The camera system can also be expanded to include multiple side cameras, from which the image processing unit can build a wide-angle view to project onto the mirror.