METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING A REAR VEHICLE LIGHT
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Accused Products
Abstract
A state of a rear vehicle light is detected. A camera system integrated in a vehicle generates an image of an environment in front of the vehicle. An evaluation unit connected to the camera system detects at least one vehicle contained in the image, defines an image range associated with said vehicle, and divides the image range into sub-ranges comprising at least a left sub-range and a right sub range. A segmentation of the sub-ranges into image segments is performed by way of the evaluation unit on the basis of brightness values of points contained in said sub-ranges. At least one brightest image segment is extracted from each of said sub-ranges, and the extracted image segments are checked for whether they can be associated with a particular vehicle light in an ON state.
31 Citations
42 Claims
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1-22. -22. (canceled)
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23. A method for detecting a state of a rear vehicle light comprising:
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receiving an image of an environment in front of a vehicle; detecting at least one vehicle contained in the image; defining an image region of the image associated with the at least one vehicle; dividing the image region into part regions that include at least one left part region and at least one right part region; segmenting the left and right part regions into image segments based on brightness values of pixels contained in the left and right part regions; extracting at least one brightest image segment from each of the left and right part regions; analyzing the extracted image segments as to whether they can be associated with the rear vehicle light in a switched on state; and generating a signal if the rear vehicle light is in the switched on state. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A system for detecting a state of a rear vehicle light comprising:
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camera system integrated in a vehicle configured to generate an image of an environment in front of the vehicle; and an evaluation unit connected to the camera system, the evaluation unit configured to; detect at least one vehicle contained in the image, define an image region of the image associated with this vehicle, divide the image region into part regions that include at least one left part region and one right part region, segment the left and right part regions into image segments based on brightness values of pixels contained in the left and right part regions, extract at least one brightest image segment from each of the left and right part regions, analyze the extracted image segments as to whether they can be associated with the rear vehicle light in a switched on state, and generate a signal if the rear vehicle light is in the switched on state. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification