Freeform Field of View Mask for Automotive Camera Calibration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional camera calibration systems in vehicles crop an excessive amount of the image, reducing the field of view and removing more of the image than necessary, which can lead to reduced safety due to obscured obstacles.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses a freeform field of view mask created through image processing, including blurring filters and threshold-based boundary determination, to maximize the camera's field of view by cropping only the unwanted areas, thereby preserving more of the image and enhancing obstacle detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional rectangular cropping is used to remove vehicle components from the image, then all obstructions are removed from the field of view, but excessive image area is removed reducing the field of view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image into distinct regions: a first region containing vehicle components to be removed, and a second region containing the desired field of view to be preserved. This segmentation allows selective removal of obstructions while maintaining the maximum possible field of view area through precise boundary definition between regions.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If vertical cropping is performed to remove obstructions, then all possible obstructions are removed from the field of view, but more image is removed than desired
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a customized mask for each specific camera installation location and vehicle type. Instead of uniform vertical cropping, the mask is tailored to remove only the specific obstructions present in each scenario while preserving all other image information, achieving obstruction removal with minimal information loss.
3Ease of manufacture
If a fixed mask is used for camera calibration, then the calibration process is simple, but the field of view is limited and cannot be optimized for different camera locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamics by making the field of view mask adaptive rather than fixed. The mask is dynamically determined based on the camera's specific installation location, orientation, and the vehicle's geometry. This allows the system to automatically optimize the field of view for each unique configuration while maintaining a systematic calibration process.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium are provided for creating a freeform field of view mask for a camera in a vehicle to increase the field of view of the camera during operation of the vehicle. The camera captures an image of a portion of the vehicle in front of a calibration screen. A processor includes logic that applies a blurring filter to the captured image to create a blurred image, determines a freeform boundary of a field of view of the camera in the blurred image, creates a field of view mask based on the freeform boundary; and applies the field of view mask to the camera for maximizing the field of view of the camera during operation of the vehicle.