Truncated Animal Detection Template for Vehicle Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing camera-based driver assistance systems lack an effective method for detecting large animals near a vehicle's path, which poses a significant threat to both the animal and vehicle occupants, especially at high speeds.
Innovation Solution
A system and method using a truncated animal appearance template to detect visual information associated with animals in images captured by cameras mounted in vehicles, initiating a predefined response when the template is recognized, which corresponds to a portion of an animal's body and limbs without the head, to alert drivers or trigger safety measures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a full animal appearance template is used for detection, then detection accuracy may be improved, but false positives increase and detection reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential portions of the animal appearance (body and limbs) while deliberately excluding the head portion. This truncated template approach removes the source of false positives (head shapes that resemble animals but aren't) while preserving the reliable detection features (body and limb patterns). The extraction principle resolves the contradiction by taking only what is necessary for accurate detection without the problematic elements.
2Loss of information
If traditional animal detection methods are used, then complete animal identification is achieved, but detection speed and processing efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and processes only the truncated portions of animal images (body and limbs) rather than analyzing complete animal appearances. This reduces the computational burden and processing time while maintaining sufficient information for effective detection and safety responses. The extraction of essential detection features resolves the contradiction between information completeness and processing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by using only the necessary portion of the animal appearance (truncated template without head) for detection purposes. This partial approach provides sufficient detection capability for safety applications without requiring complete animal identification, thereby improving processing speed and efficiency while maintaining adequate detection performance.
3Measurement precision
If head portion is included in detection template, then animal identification accuracy improves, but false positive rate increases due to head shape variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent systematically removes the head portion from the detection template, retaining only the body and limbs. This extraction eliminates the harmful factor of head shape variations that cause false positives, while preserving the stable and reliable body/limb patterns for accurate animal detection. The principle directly resolves the contradiction by extracting the problematic element.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potential harm of head inclusion (false positives) into benefit by deliberately excluding it. The truncated template design transforms the detection approach to rely on the more stable body and limb features, which provide consistent detection signals without the misleading variations introduced by diverse head shapes. This converts the detection strategy to avoid the harmful factor entirely.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for detecting an animal in a vicinity of a vehicle is disclosed. The system includes at least one processor programmed to receive, from an image capture device, at least one image of the vicinity of the vehicle; analyze the at least one image using a truncated animal appearance template to detect visual information suspected to be associated with an animal, wherein the truncated animal appearance template corresponds to a portion of a body and one or more limbs of a suspected animal; and initiate a vehicle response based on the detected visual information of the suspected animal in the at least one image.