Smart face redaction in near infrared vehicle windshield images

• US 9,514,374 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2014
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Artan, Yusuf Oguzhan, Paul, Peter, Cantelli, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): HEIDEMANN, JASON E
• Application Number:
  US14/302,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20150363655A1
• Time in Patent Office: 908 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20076 Probabilistic image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20132 Image cropping
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30268 Vehicle interior
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/754 involving a deformation of the sample pattern or of the reference pattern; Elastic matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/54 of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/59 inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/593 Recognising seat occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

A system and method for redaction of faces in a windshield within an image that includes detecting a windshield within the captured image via a selected detection process, extracting a windshield region from the detected windshield within the image, and selectively applying an obscuration process to at least a portion of the extracted windshield region. A redacted image is then generated obscuring the face or faces in the windshield using the selectively applied obscuration process.

Claims

1. A system configured to perform redaction of a face in a windshield within an image comprising:

a data processing device including a processor; and

a processor-usable medium embodying computer code, the processor-usable medium in communication with the data processing device, the computer program code comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for;

extracting a windshield region from an image captured in a non-visible wavelength by an associated image capture device,

detecting at least one face via an associated face detection unit within the extracted windshield region,

redacting the at least one detected face in the extracted windshield region,

selectively applying an obscuration process to at least a portion of the extracted windshield region subsequent to the redacting of the at least one detected face in the extracted windshield region, and

generating a redacted image of the captured image in accordance with the at least one redacted face and the selectively applied obscuration process.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for:

detecting a windshield within the captured image via a selected detection process,

wherein the windshield region is extracted in accordance with the detected windshield in the captured image.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the obscuration process is selectively applied to a top portion of the extracted windshield region.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the obscuration process is selectively applied spatially varying from the top portion of the extracted windshield region to a bottom portion of the extracted windshield region.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the obscuration process is selected from the group consisting of a pixilation filtering process, a Gaussian filtering process, and an anisotropic filtering process.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the windshield region is extracted in accordance with a plurality of landmark points of a vehicle in the captured non-visible wavelength image, and wherein the portion of the extracted windshield region for obfuscation is determined in accordance with a set of the landmark points.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the non-visible wavelength is selected from infrared, near infrared, or far infrared.

8. A computer implemented method for redacting a face in a windshield within an image comprising:

detecting a windshield within an image captured in a non-visible wavelength by an associated image capture device via a selected detection process in accordance with a plurality of landmark points of a vehicle in the image;

extracting a windshield region from the detected windshield within the captured image;

detecting at least one face via an associated face detection unit within the extracted windshield region;

redacting the at least one detected face in the extracted windshield region;

selectively applying an obscuration process to at least a portion of the extracted windshield region subsequent to the redacting of the at least one detected face in the extracted windshield region, the at least a portion determined in accordance with a set of the landmark points; and

generating a redacted image of the captured image in accordance with the at least one redacted face and the selectively applied obscuration process.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising sectioning the extracted windshield region into at least a top portion and a bottom portion, wherein the obscuration process is selectively applied to the top portion.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising spatially varying the obscuration process from a top of the windshield region to a bottom of the windshield region.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the obscuration process is selected from the group consisting of a pixilation process, a Gaussian filter process, and an anisotropic filter process.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11, further comprising sectioning the extracted windshield region into at least a top portion and a bottom portion, wherein the obscuration process is selectively applied to at least the top portion of the extracted windshield region.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising acquiring the image from at least one of an infrared camera, a near infrared camera, or a far infrared camera.

14. A non-transitory computer-usable medium for performing landmark-based image analysis for redacting a face in a windshield within an image, the computer-usable medium embodying a computer program code, the computer program code comprising computer executable instructions configured for:

extracting a windshield region from an image captured in a non-visible wavelength by an associated image capture device process in accordance with a plurality of landmark points of a vehicle in the image;

detecting at least one face via an associated face detection unit within the extracted windshield region; and

redacting the at least one detected face in the extracted windshield region;

selectively applying an obscuration process to at least a portion of the extracted windshield region subsequent to the redacting of the at least one detected face in the extracted windshield region, the at least a portion determined in accordance with a set of the landmark points; and

generating a redacted image of the captured image in accordance with the at least one redacted face and the selectively applied obscuration process.

15. The non-transitory computer-usable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting a windshield within the captured image via a selected detection process,

wherein the windshield region is extracted in accordance with the detected windshield in the captured image.

16. The non-transitory computer-usable medium of claim 15, wherein the obscuration process is selected from the group consisting of a pixilation process, a Gaussian filter process, and an anisotropic filter process.

17. The non-transitory computer-usable medium of claim 16, further comprising sectioning the extracted windshield region into at least a top portion and a bottom portion, wherein the obscuration process is selectively applied to at least the top portion of the extracted windshield region.