VEHICLE HEADLIGHT MANAGEMENT

• US 20120242832A1
• Filed: 03/25/2011
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Datta, Ankur, Otto, Charles A., Pankanti, Sharathchandra U.
• Granted Patent: US 8,605,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/143 combined with another condition, e.g. using vehicle recognition from camera images or activation of wipers
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/312 Adverse weather
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/3321 Detection of streetlights
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/41 preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/42 oncoming vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/584 of vehicle lights or traffic lights

Abstract

A method, data processing system, and computer program product for managing a headlight on a vehicle are presented. An image of an area in front of the vehicle is received. A first set of features is identified in the received image. The first set of features in the received image is compared with a number of sets of features from a plurality of previous images. Each image in the plurality of previous images is associated with a headlight setting. A second set of features from a previous image in the plurality of previous images matching the first set of features in the received image is identified. A determination is made whether to change a setting for the headlight on the vehicle based on the headlight setting associated with the previous image.

Claims

1. A method for managing a headlight on a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving an image of an area in front of the vehicle to form a received image;

identifying a first set of features in the received image;

comparing the first set of features in the received image with a number of sets of features from a plurality of previous images, wherein each image in the plurality of previous images is associated with a headlight setting;

identifying a second set of features from a previous image in the plurality of previous images matching the first set of features in the received image; and

determining whether to change a setting for the headlight on the vehicle based on the headlight setting associated with the previous image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to change the setting for the headlight on the vehicle comprises:

comparing the headlight setting associated with the previous image with the setting for the headlight on the vehicle; and

further comprising;

responsive to identifying a difference between the headlight setting associated with the previous image and the setting for the headlight on the vehicle, changing the setting for the headlight on the vehicle to match the headlight setting associated with the previous image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to change the setting for the headlight on the vehicle comprises:

determining whether to change the setting for the headlight on the vehicle to one of a high beam setting and a low beam setting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of previous images comprises a first set of images associated with a high beam setting as the headlight setting and a second set of images associated with a low beam setting as the headlight setting and wherein identifying the second set of features from the previous image in the plurality of previous images matching the first set of features in the received image comprises:

determining whether the first set of features in the received image is closer to sets of features from one of the first set of images and the second set of images.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether the first set of features in the received image is closer to sets of features from one of the first set of images and the second set of images comprises:

computing a first set of distances between a vector including values for the first set of features in the received image and a first number of vectors including values from sets of features from the first set of images and a second set of distances between the vector and a second number of vectors including values from sets of features from the second set of images; and

identifying the previous image to be used in determining whether to change the setting for the headlight on the vehicle based on a desired value for distance between the vector and one of the first number of vectors and the second number of vectors.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first set of features in the received image comprises:

identifying a value for illuminance at a plurality of points in the received image to form a plurality of values for illuminance; and

generating a vector for the first set of features, the vector including the plurality of values for illuminance.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

identifying a set of values for color at the plurality of points in the received image to form a plurality of values for color; and

including the plurality of values for color in the vector for the first set of features.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

identifying weather conditions occurring in an area outside the vehicle and a type of weather associated with a portion of the plurality of previous images; and

responsive to determining a difference in weather between the weather conditions and the type of weather associated with the portion of the plurality of previous images, modifying the plurality of values for illuminance in the vector to account for the difference in weather.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing information about the plurality of previous images in a storage device operably connected to the vehicle, wherein a first image in the of the plurality of previous images is an image of an area in front of another vehicle and wherein the information about the first image includes a headlight setting of headlights of the other vehicle at a time the first image was generated.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

capturing the image by a camera located on the vehicle.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a camera located on a vehicle and configured to capture an image of an area in front of the vehicle;

a storage device storing information about a plurality of previous images, wherein each image in the plurality of previous images is associated with a headlight setting; and

a headlight management system operably connected to the storage device, the headlight management system configured to receive the image from the camera to form a received image, identify a first set of features in the received image, compare the first set of features in the received image with a number of sets of features from the plurality of previous images, identify a second set of features from a previous image in the plurality of previous images matching the first set of features in the received image, and determine whether to change a setting for a headlight on the vehicle based on the headlight setting associated with the previous image.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein in determining whether to change the setting for the headlight on the vehicle the headlight management system is configured to compare the headlight setting associated with the previous image with the setting for the headlight on the vehicle and change the setting for the headlight on the vehicle to one of a high beam setting and a low beam setting to match the headlight setting associated with the previous image in response to identifying a difference between the headlight setting associated with the previous image and the setting for the headlight on the vehicle.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein in identifying the first set of features in the received image the headlight management system is configured to identify a value for illuminance at a plurality of points in the received image to form a plurality of values for illuminance, and generate a vector for the first set of features, the vector including the plurality of values for illuminance.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising:

a weather sensor connected to the vehicle and configured to identify weather conditions occurring in an area outside the vehicle; and

wherein the headlight management system is further configured to identify a type of weather associated with a portion of the plurality of previous images and modify the plurality of values for illuminance in the vector to account for a difference in weather in response to determining a difference in weather between the weather conditions and the type of weather associated with a portion of the plurality of previous images.

15. A computer program product for managing a headlight on a vehicle, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage device;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to receive an image of an area in front of the vehicle to form a received image;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to identify a first set of features in the received image;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to compare the first set of features in the received image with a number of sets of features from a plurality of previous images, wherein each image in the plurality of previous images is associated with a headlight setting;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to identify a second set of features from a previous image in the plurality of previous images matching the first set of features in the received image; and

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to determine whether to change a setting for the headlight on the vehicle based on the headlight setting associated with the previous image.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the program code configured to determine whether to change the setting for the headlight on the vehicle comprises:

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to compare the headlight setting associated with the previous image with the setting for the headlight on the vehicle; and

further comprising;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to change, responsive to identifying a difference between the headlight setting associated with the previous image and the setting for the headlight on the vehicle, the setting for the headlight on the vehicle to match the headlight setting associated with the previous image.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the plurality of previous images comprises a first set of images associated with a high beam setting as the headlight setting and a second set of images associated with a low beam setting as the headlight setting and wherein the program code configured to identify the second set of features from the previous image in the plurality of previous images matching the first set of features in the received image comprises:

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to determine whether the first set of features in the received image is closer to sets of features from one of the first set of images and the second set of images.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the program code configured to determine whether the first set of features in the received image is closer to sets of features from one of the first set of images and the second set of images comprises:

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to compute a first set of distances between a vector including values for the first set of features in the received image and a first number of vectors including values from sets of features from the first set of images and a second set of distances between the vector and a second number of vectors including values from sets of features from the second set of images; and

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to identify the previous image to be used in determining whether to change the setting for the headlight on the vehicle based on a desired value for distance between the vector and one of the first number of vectors and the second number of vectors.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the program code configured to identify the first set of features in the received image comprises:

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to identify a value for illuminance at a plurality of points in the received image to form a plurality of values for illuminance;

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to generate a vector for the first set of features, the vector including the plurality of values for illuminance.

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to identify a set of values for color at the plurality of points in the received image to form a plurality of values for color; and

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to include the plurality of values for color in the vector for the first set of features.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 further comprising:

program code, stored on the computer readable storage device, configured to store information about the plurality of previous images in a storage device operably connected to the vehicle, wherein a first image in the of the plurality of previous images is an image of an area in front of another vehicle and wherein the information about the first image includes a headlight setting of headlights of the other vehicle at a time the first image was generated.

21. A method for identifying information in an image, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of images of an area in front of a set of vehicles while a portion of the set of vehicles is traveling along a plurality of routes;

identifying a set of features in a first image in the plurality of images;

identifying a first headlight setting for a first vehicle in the set of vehicles associated with the first image at a time the first image was generated; and

storing the set of features and the first headlight setting for the first image in a storage device, wherein the set of features and the headlight setting are used in determining whether to change a setting associated with a headlight of another vehicle.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

identifying a headlight setting associated with each of the plurality of images; and

separating the plurality of images into a first set of images associated with a high beam setting as the headlight setting and a second set of images associated with a low beam setting as the headlight setting.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein identifying the set of features in the first image in the plurality of images comprises:

identifying a value for illuminance at a plurality of points in the first image to form a plurality of values for illuminance; and

generating a vector for the set of features, the vector including the plurality of values for illuminance; and

further comprising;

storing the vector for the set of features in association with the set of features and the headlight setting for the first image in the storage device.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

identifying a set of values for color at the plurality of points in the first image to form a plurality of values for color; and

including the plurality of values for color in the vector for the set of features.

25. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

identifying a type of weather occurring in an area outside the first vehicle at the time the first image was generated; and

storing information about the type of weather in association with the set of features, the headlight setting, and the vector for the first image in the storage device.