Method and apparatus for estimating a camera reference horizon
First Claim
1. A method for generating a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ
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0, the method comprising steps of;
receiving a sequence of images including projections of objects thereon, with projections including horizontal edges;
estimating vertical motion occurring in the sequence of images and storing the estimated vertical motion as a motion history;
computing the projection of the horizontal edges in the images;
segmenting the projected horizontal edges in the images;
compensating for motion in the images using the estimated vertical motion from the motion history;
tracking the projections of the horizontal edges from image to image to generate tracks representing objects and maintaining an active track storage by adding more data to update the active track storage from each subsequent image;
screening the generated tracks using screening criteria to produce a subset of tracks in order to enhance track reliability;
receiving the subset of tracks from the screening step and estimating distances to the objects represented by the tracks and heights of the objects represented by the tracks;
further screening the subset of tracks by calculating an error criteria for each track and selecting a subset of remaining tracks satisfying the error criteria; and
generating a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ
0 from the remaining tracks.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method, apparatus, and computer program product are presented for estimating a camera reference horizon Ŷ0. Operations include receiving images including projections of objects including horizontal edges. Vertical motion is estimated for the images and is stored. The projection of horizontal edges in the images is computed. The projected edges are segmented out and motion is compensated. Projections of the horizontal edges from image to image are used to generate tracks. Active track storage is maintained by adding data to update the storage from each subsequent image. The tracks are screened using a criteria set to produce a subset of tracks to enhance track reliability. Distances to, and heights of, the objects are then estimated. Further screening is performed by calculating an error criteria for each track and selecting a subset satisfying the error criteria. The remaining tracks are used to generate a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ0.
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Citations
57 Claims
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1. A method for generating a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ
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0, the method comprising steps of;
receiving a sequence of images including projections of objects thereon, with projections including horizontal edges;
estimating vertical motion occurring in the sequence of images and storing the estimated vertical motion as a motion history;
computing the projection of the horizontal edges in the images;
segmenting the projected horizontal edges in the images;
compensating for motion in the images using the estimated vertical motion from the motion history;
tracking the projections of the horizontal edges from image to image to generate tracks representing objects and maintaining an active track storage by adding more data to update the active track storage from each subsequent image;
screening the generated tracks using screening criteria to produce a subset of tracks in order to enhance track reliability;
receiving the subset of tracks from the screening step and estimating distances to the objects represented by the tracks and heights of the objects represented by the tracks;
further screening the subset of tracks by calculating an error criteria for each track and selecting a subset of remaining tracks satisfying the error criteria; and
generating a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ
0 from the remaining tracks. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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0, the method comprising steps of;
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20. A computer program product for generating a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ
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0, the computer program product comprising means, residing on a computer-readable medium, for;
receiving a sequence of images including projections of objects thereon, with projections including horizontal edges;
estimating vertical motion occurring in the sequence of images and storing the estimated vertical motion as a motion history;
computing the projection of the horizontal edges in the images;
segmenting the projected horizontal edges in the images;
compensating for motion in the images using the estimated vertical motion from the motion history;
tracking the projections of the horizontal edges from image to image to generate tracks representing objects and maintaining an active track storage by adding more data to update the active track storage from each subsequent image;
screening the generated tracks using screening criteria to produce a subset of tracks in order to enhance track reliability;
receiving the subset of tracks from the means for screening and estimating distances to the objects represented by the tracks and heights of the objects represented by the tracks;
further screening the subset of tracks by calculating an error criteria for each track and selecting a subset of remaining tracks satisfying the error criteria; and
generating a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ
0 from the remaining tracks. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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0, the computer program product comprising means, residing on a computer-readable medium, for;
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39. An apparatus for generating a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ
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0, the apparatus comprising;
a memory for storing data and processing results;
a processor operationally coupled with the memory, the processor including means for receiving a sequence of images including projections of objects thereon, with projections including horizontal edges, the processor including means for performing operations thereon, for;
estimating vertical motion occurring in the sequence of images and storing the estimated vertical motion as a motion history;
computing the projection of the horizontal edges in the images;
segmenting the projected horizontal edges in the images;
compensating for motion in the images using the estimated vertical motion from the motion history;
tracking the projections of the horizontal edges from image to image to generate tracks representing objects and maintaining an active track storage by adding more data to update the active track storage from each subsequent image;
screening the generated tracks using screening criteria to produce a subset of tracks in order to enhance track reliability;
receiving the subset of tracks from the means for screening and estimating distances to the objects represented by the tracks and heights of the objects represented by the tracks;
further screening the subset of tracks by calculating an error criteria for each track and selecting a subset of remaining tracks satisfying the error criteria; and
generating a camera reference horizon estimate Ŷ
0 from the remaining tracks. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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0, the apparatus comprising;
Specification