Digital Rearview Headlight Accentuation for Low-Light Vehicle Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital rearview systems struggle to enhance the visibility of vehicles in rearward traffic situations, especially in low-light environments or when vehicles are of dark colors.
Innovation Solution
A method that utilizes a digital rearview system to receive images from a rearview camera, recognizes and accentuates the image portion representing the vehicle's headlights if they are not lit up, thereby enhancing the visibility of the vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If no headlight accentuation is applied, then the image remains natural and unprocessed, but the visibility of vehicles with unlit headlights deteriorates in low-light environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies accentuation only to specific regions (headlight areas) detected in the image rather than processing the entire image. The system identifies headlight positions and applies enhancement selectively to those regions, maintaining natural appearance in non-headlight areas while improving visibility where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes parameters such as brightness, contrast, and saturation specifically for detected headlight regions. By adjusting these visual parameters locally in areas where vehicles may be hard to detect, the system improves overall visibility without requiring global image processing.
2Reliability
If headlight accentuation is applied to all vehicles, then visibility is improved, but unnecessary distraction of the driver increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies accentuation only to detected headlight regions rather than the entire image or all vehicles. This localized approach ensures that enhancement is applied only where necessary for detection, minimizing visual noise and potential driver distraction while maintaining reliability in identifying vehicles with unlit headlights.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies accentuation selectively to detected headlight areas rather than uniformly to all regions. This partial action approach ensures enhancement is applied only to the extent necessary for improving detection reliability, avoiding excessive processing that could create distraction.
3Illumination intensity
If accentuation is applied in low-light conditions, then visibility of dark-colored vehicles improves, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs accentuation only on detected headlight regions rather than processing the entire image. This localized processing significantly reduces computational energy requirements while still achieving visibility enhancement for dark-colored vehicles in low-light conditions where it is most needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies accentuation only to the extent necessary - specifically to detected headlight regions - rather than processing the entire image. This partial action approach minimizes energy consumption while maintaining effective visibility enhancement for vehicles with unlit headlights.
Data Source
Figure 1~2(b)
Figure 3
AI summary
The disclosure relates to a method for highlighting a vehicle (16) in an image (I) being provided by a digital rearview system. According to the method, an image of a traffic situation comprising a frontal view of the vehicle (16) is received and at least one headlight (34a, 34b) of the vehicle (16) in the image (I) is recognized. Subsequently, it is determined whether the at least one headlight (34a, 34b) is lit up. If so, the image portion representing the at least one headlight (34a, 34b) is accentuated and the image (I) including the accentuated portion is provided to a display device. Moreover, a data processing apparatus comprising means for carrying out this method is presented. Furthermore, a digital rearview system is shown which comprises such a data processing apparatus. Additionally, a vehicle comprising such a digital rearview system is described. Also, a computer program and a computer-readable storage medium are shown.