Situational awareness systems and methods

Abstract

Example systems and methods are described that help increase the situational awareness of a user of a helmet, such as a motorcycle helmet. One or more cameras are physically coupled to the helmet, where each camera includes a lens and an associated image sensor. Each camera is configured to generate a video feed, which is presented to a user on a display. The video feed represents a field-of-view around the helmet, and may be projected onto a surface, such as the visor of the helmet, thereby enabling enhanced situational awareness for the user of the helmet.

1 . A helmet comprising:
 an image sensor configured to generate a video signal;   a lens system optically coupled to the image sensor, wherein the lens system is configured to project a 360-degree field-of-view onto the image sensor;   a processor configured to process the video signal generated by the image sensor, wherein the video signal includes the 360-degree field-of-view, and wherein the processor is further configured to correct for any distortion present in the video signal and generate a corrected video signal; and   a projection system that projects the corrected video signal onto a display to offer a 360-degree field-of-view or a portion of the 360-degree field-of-view for viewing by a user of the helmet.   
     
     
         2 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the display is a transparent display. 
     
     
         3 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the display is a visor of the helmet. 
     
     
         4 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the image sensor and the lens system are physically coupled to the helmet. 
     
     
         5 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the 360-degree field-of-view is a 360-degree field-of-view around the helmet. 
     
     
         6 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the portion of the 360-degree field-of-view is selected by the user. 
     
     
         7 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the portion of the 360-degree field-of-view is selected by the processor. 
     
     
         8 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the portion of the 360-degree field-of-view is fixed. 
     
     
         9 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the portion of the 360-degree field-of-view is variable depending on the orientation of the head of the user. 
     
     
         10 . The helmet of  claim 1 , wherein the 360-degree field-of-view is generated by a single lens or by a system of multiple lenses. 
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by one or more processors, one or more video streams collectively containing visual information associated with a 360-degree field-of-view;   independently correcting, by the one or more processors, distortion present in the one or more video streams to generate one or more corrected video streams; and   projecting, onto a display attached to a helmet, the one or more corrected video streams, for viewing by a user of the helmet.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the display is a visor of the helmet.