APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR IMAGE PROCESSING OF VEHICLE

• US 20140333717A1
• Filed: 12/31/2013
• Published: 11/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: KIM, Sung Un, SHIN, Dongsoo
• Application Number:
  US14/144,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20140333717A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/141 Control of illumination
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/107 Static hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 Control of cameras or camera modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means

Abstract

An image processing apparatus includes a lighting switch turned on or off based on a control signal input from an outside thereof to selectively radiate light to an object of a recognition target. A first diffuser is connected to the lighting switch and spreads the light radiated from the lighting switch to the object. An image collector collects a first image of the object in a turned-on state of the lighting switch and collects a second image of the object in a turned-off state of the lighting switch. An image processor obtains a panoramic image by subtracting the second image from the first image, and thereby recognizing a gesture of the object.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a lighting switch turned on or off based on a control signal inputted from an outside thereof to selectively radiate a light to an object of a recognition target;

a first diffuser connected to the lighting switch and spreading the light radiated from the lighting switch to the object;

an image collector collecting a first image of the object in a turned-on state of the lighting switch and collecting a second image of the object in a turned-off state of the lighting switch; and

an image processor obtaining panoramic image by subtracting the second image from the first image, and thereby recognizing a gesture of the object.

2. The image processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a second diffuser installed to the image collector, receiving the light when the light is reflected from the object and eliminating an image existing at an outside of a recognition region of the image collector; and

a filter installed between the image collector and the second diffuser, and increasing resolution of the image decreased by the second diffuser.

3. The image processing apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a lighting controller controlling the lighting switch to be turned on or off based on the control signal generated by the image processor.

4. The image processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the lighting switch emits an infrared light, and the filter is an infrared filter.

5. An image processing method by an image processing apparatus, comprising:

radiating light to a recognition object according to a control signal;

obtaining a first image of the object when the light is radiated to the object;

turning off the light according to the control signal and obtaining a second image of the object;

obtaining a panoramic image based on the first image and the second image; and

recognizing a gesture of the object from the obtained panoramic image.

6. The image processing method of claim 5, further comprising generating the control signal which controls the light before the light is irradiated to the object.

7. The image processing method of claim 5, wherein the panoramic image is obtained by eliminating the second image from the first image while obtaining the panoramic image.

8. The image processing method of claim 7, wherein the first image includes an image of the object and the background, and the second image includes only an image of the object.