Vehicle Camera Occlusion Detection Using Multi-Cue Image Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicles equipped with cameras often face issues due to occlusions caused by water, dirt, or other obstacles, which hinder clear image capture and affect driver assistance systems like lane-keeping technology.
Innovation Solution
A compute device processes images from the camera using optical flow analysis, blurriness detection, edge detection, and circular lens artifact analysis to identify occlusions, and can trigger cleaning mechanisms or alert drivers, allowing for real-time occlusion detection and mitigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple image processing algorithms are used to detect occlusions, then detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides occlusion detection into multiple independent algorithmic modules: optical flow analysis, blurriness detection, edge detection, and circular lens artifact analysis. Each module processes specific visual features separately and contributes to the overall detection result, improving accuracy while maintaining modular system architecture that manages complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The compute device integrates multiple detection algorithms into a single unified system that can identify various types of occlusions (water, dirt, snow, ice) using different visual cues. This multi-functional approach allows one system to handle diverse occlusion scenarios that would otherwise require separate specialized systems.
2Reliability
If real-time occlusion detection is implemented, then driver assistance reliability is improved, but processing time and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies multiple detection algorithms but does not require all algorithms to reach full completion before generating a detection result. The occlusion detection can be triggered by sufficient evidence from one or more algorithms, allowing real-time response without waiting for exhaustive processing of all visual features.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical cleaning systems with computational image processing algorithms that analyze visual data to detect occlusions. This substitution enables real-time detection through software-based analysis rather than mechanical intervention, reducing physical complexity while maintaining reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
Technologies for detecting occlusions on a camera of a vehicle by a compute device are disclosed. The compute device may receive one or more images from the camera. The compute device may analyze the images using various algorithms such as optical flow calculations, blurriness detection for portions of the image, edge detection, and circular artifact detection. The analysis may be used to determine the presence of occlusions on the camera, such as water drops, mud, dirt, etc. The compute device may send a command to clean the camera and/or may use the determined presence of occlusions as part analyzing images from the camera for a driver assist system, such as by ignoring portions of the image that are occluded.