Method for identifying soiling on a transparent screen
First Claim
1. A method to identify soiling on a protective screen of a motor vehicle, wherein a camera is arranged in the motor vehicle to monitor, through the protective screen, a surrounding environment outside of the motor vehicle, and the camera is focused on a scene in the surrounding environment through the protective screen,characterized in thata relative velocity vrel between the camera and at least one recorded object in the surrounding environment recorded by the camera is not equal to zero,a trajectory of the at least one recorded object with vrel not equal to zero is predicted, anda degree of correspondence of the recorded object and/or several similar objects as recorded in different image regions respectively imaged by the camera through different partial areas of the protective screen is analyzed and a conclusion is derived therefrom about soiling on the screen based on determining a difference of a degree of soiling respectively on the different partial areas of the protective screen.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A camera for identifying soiling on a protective screen, such as a vehicle windscreen, is focused on a scene through the protective screen and can be used to identify soiling and for other applications, e.g. to identify driving lanes and/or objects in the scene. Soiling is identified merely by evaluating successively recorded image frames, and artificial reference frames or reference objects are not required. A prerequisite is that the relative speed vrel between the camera and at least one recorded object in the scene is not equal to zero and its trajectory in the image is predicted. By comparing the relevant image frame sections, possible soiling on subregions of the protective screen is identified.
16 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method to identify soiling on a protective screen of a motor vehicle, wherein a camera is arranged in the motor vehicle to monitor, through the protective screen, a surrounding environment outside of the motor vehicle, and the camera is focused on a scene in the surrounding environment through the protective screen,
characterized in that a relative velocity vrel between the camera and at least one recorded object in the surrounding environment recorded by the camera is not equal to zero, a trajectory of the at least one recorded object with vrel not equal to zero is predicted, and a degree of correspondence of the recorded object and/or several similar objects as recorded in different image regions respectively imaged by the camera through different partial areas of the protective screen is analyzed and a conclusion is derived therefrom about soiling on the screen based on determining a difference of a degree of soiling respectively on the different partial areas of the protective screen.
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7. A method of identifying soiling on a protective screen of a motor vehicle using a camera arranged in the vehicle, comprising steps:
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a) directing and focusing a field of view of said camera through said protective screen so as to acquire successive image frames of a surrounding environment outside of said motor vehicle with said camera; b) selecting at least one selected object that is present in said surrounding environment, and that is imaged respectively as at least one object image in said successive image frames, and that has a non-zero relative velocity relative to said camera such that said at least one object image is moving in said field of view and is imaged successively through different sub-regions of said protective screen in said successive image frames; c) predicting a respective trajectory of a motion of said at least one object image in said field of view; d) specifying plural image regions, corresponding to said sub-regions of said protective screen, respectively along said trajectory in said field of view among said successive image frames such that said at least one object image respectively appears successively in said plural image regions successively among said successive image frames; e) detecting respective values of at least one image parameter of said at least one object image successively in said plural image regions successively among said successive image frames; and f) comparing said respective values in said plural image regions successively among said successive image frames, and determining a variation of a degree of soiling of said different sub-regions of said protective screen from said comparing. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. A method of identifying soiling on a protective screen of a motor vehicle using a camera arranged in the vehicle, comprising steps:
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a) acquiring with said camera, through said protective screen, successive image frames of a surrounding environment outside of said motor vehicle; b) selecting at least one object of said surrounding environment, wherein each said object exhibits motion among said successive image frames; c) predicting a respective trajectory of said motion of each said object among said successive image frames; d) detecting respective values of at least one image parameter of each said object respectively at successive positions of said object along said trajectory through successive different sub-regions of said protective screen respectively in said successive image frames; and e) evaluating a variation of said values, and determining different degrees of soiling of said different sub-regions of said protective screen from a result of said evaluating. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification