Patent · US Active

Bright spot detection and classification method for a vehicular night-time video imaging system

US8199198B2 · kind B2 · utility

3Cited by
1References
9Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 18, 2007
Grant dateJun 12, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 27, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG08G1/166
  • WIPO fieldControl
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Bright spots imaged by a forward-looking monochrome video camera during night-time operation of a host vehicle are detected and classified to determine the presence of leading and on-coming vehicles. A specified region-of-interest in each image frame is globally scanned to adaptively detect the bright spot contours, and search windows bounding the larger bright spot contours are locally scanned to adaptively detect individual bright spot contours that were fused in the global scan. A sensitive area within the region-of-interest is locally scanned to adaptively detect dim taillights of a leading vehicle, and path prediction of the host vehicle is used for frame-to-frame tracking of detected spots. Detected spots are classified depending on their location and frame-to-frame movement within the region-of-interest and their glare and pairing characteristics.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.