Driver Imaging Apparatus Dual Exposure Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
When capturing a driver's image from the front in a vehicle, external light causes shadows around the eyes, leading to underexposure and loss of contrast, making it difficult to determine the eye opening degree and direction of gaze accurately.
Innovation Solution
A driver imaging apparatus captures two images at different exposures: a first image with low exposure for the overall face and a second image with high exposure for the dark areas around the eyes, allowing for accurate image processing to determine the eye opening degree and direction of gaze.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If exposure is increased to illuminate shadowed eye areas, then underexposed dark portions become visible, but light portions become overexposed and lose contrast
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the face into multiple regions (light portions and dark portions) and captures them using different exposure settings. The control unit selects appropriate exposure images for each region, enabling precise measurement in both light and dark areas without the trade-off that affects single-exposure systems.
2Measurement precision
If exposure is decreased to maintain contrast in light portions, then light portions retain detail, but shadowed eye areas become underexposed and indistinct
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the imaging task by capturing multiple images at different exposure levels. Light portions are processed using normally-exposed images while dark portions use over-exposed images, eliminating the need to choose between these conflicting requirements in a single image.
3Device complexity
If a single exposure setting is used, then device complexity is reduced, but accurate determination of driver state in both light and dark areas becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit dynamically selects the appropriate exposure image based on the spatial location within the frame. Different exposure settings are applied selectively to different regions, allowing the system to maintain low complexity while achieving high measurement precision across the entire image.
Data Source
AI summary
An imaging mechanism captures an image of a face of a driver of a vehicle. A first image processor performs image processing on a wide portion of the face of the driver in a first image using a first image captured by the imaging mechanism. A second image processor performs image processing on a part of the face of the driver in a second image captured by the imaging mechanism at a higher exposure than the exposure of the first image, using the second image.