EYE CLOSURE DETECTION USING STRUCTURED ILLUMINATION
First Claim
1. A monitoring system for monitoring and/or predicting drowsiness of a driver of a vehicle or a machinery operator, the system being adapted to be arranged in the vehicle or at the machinery, comprising:
- a set of infrared or near infrared light sources, each light source being arranged in the vehicle or at the machinery such that a substantial amount of the light emitted from the light source incidents on an eye of the driver or operator, the emitted light thereby forming a virtual image of the signal source on the eye including the cornea;
an image sensor arranged and oriented such that light reflected from the eye can be captured in an image and adapted to generate consecutive images forming a sequence of images over time, wherein each image contains glints from at least subset of the light sources;
an image processing unit adapted to extract information of the glints in the images by processing the images using an image processing algorithm; and
a determining unit adapted to determine a drowsiness index based on the extracted information of the glints of the sequence of images, wherein the drowsiness index indicates a degree of drowsiness.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A monitoring system monitors and/or predicts drowsiness of a driver of a vehicle or a machine operator. A set of infrared or near infrared light sources is arranged such that an amount of the light emitted from the light source strikes an eye of the driver or operator. The light that impinges on the eye of the driver or operator forms a virtual image of the signal sources on the eye, including the sclera and/or cornea. An image sensor obtains consecutive images capturing the reflected light. Each image contains glints from at least a subset or from all of the light sources. A drowsiness index can be determined based on the extracted information of the glints of the sequence of images. The drowsiness index indicates a degree of drowsiness of the driver or operator.
76 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A monitoring system for monitoring and/or predicting drowsiness of a driver of a vehicle or a machinery operator, the system being adapted to be arranged in the vehicle or at the machinery, comprising:
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a set of infrared or near infrared light sources, each light source being arranged in the vehicle or at the machinery such that a substantial amount of the light emitted from the light source incidents on an eye of the driver or operator, the emitted light thereby forming a virtual image of the signal source on the eye including the cornea; an image sensor arranged and oriented such that light reflected from the eye can be captured in an image and adapted to generate consecutive images forming a sequence of images over time, wherein each image contains glints from at least subset of the light sources; an image processing unit adapted to extract information of the glints in the images by processing the images using an image processing algorithm; and a determining unit adapted to determine a drowsiness index based on the extracted information of the glints of the sequence of images, wherein the drowsiness index indicates a degree of drowsiness. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for monitoring and/or predicting drowsiness of a driver of a vehicle or a machinery operator, comprising:
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emitting light using a set of infrared or near infrared light sources, each light source being arranged in the vehicle or at the machinery such that a substantial amount of the light emitted from said light source incidents on an eye of the driver or operator, the emitted light thereby forming a virtual image of said signal source on the eye including the cornea; capturing light reflected from the eye in an image using an image sensor; generate consecutive images forming a sequence of images over time, wherein each image contains glints from at least a subset of said light sources; processing the images to extract information of the glints; and determining a drowsiness index based on the extracted information of the glints of the sequence of images, wherein the drowsiness index indicates a degree of drowsiness. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification