Building night vision and other driver assistance systems (DAS) using near infra-red (NIR) illumination and a rolling shutter
First Claim
1. A system, the system comprising:
- a camera configured to scan image data line-by-line into a plurality of image frames;
a processor configured to receive the image data from the camera;
a near infra-red illuminator configured to provide a near infra-red illumination in a field of view of the camera, wherein the near infra-red illumination oscillates with an oscillation frequency and an illumination duty cycle; and
a synchronization mechanism configured to;
synchronize the oscillation frequency and the illumination duty cycle line-by-line with the exposure of the image frames; and
vary the intensity of the near infra-red illumination between at least two lines during line-by-line scanning of image data by the camera,wherein the illuminator provides a first intensity of near infra-red illumination while a first line of a first image frame of the plurality of image frames is scanned,wherein the illuminator provides a second intensity of near infra-red illumination while a second line of the first image frame is scanned,wherein the first and second lines are different, andwherein the first and second intensities of near infra-red illumination are different.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system mountable in a motor vehicle. The system includes a camera and a processor configured to receive image data from the camera. The camera includes a rolling shutter configured to capture the image data during a frame period and to scan and to read the image data into multiple image frames. A near infra-red illuminator may be configured to provide a near infra-red illumination cone in the field of view of the camera. The near infra-red illumination oscillates with an illumination period. A synchronization mechanism may be configured to synchronize the illumination period to the frame period of the rolling shutter. The frame period may be selected so that the synchronization mechanism provides a spatial profile of the near infra-red illumination cone which may be substantially aligned vertically to a specific region, e.g. near the center of the image frame.
22 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A system, the system comprising:
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a camera configured to scan image data line-by-line into a plurality of image frames; a processor configured to receive the image data from the camera; a near infra-red illuminator configured to provide a near infra-red illumination in a field of view of the camera, wherein the near infra-red illumination oscillates with an oscillation frequency and an illumination duty cycle; and a synchronization mechanism configured to; synchronize the oscillation frequency and the illumination duty cycle line-by-line with the exposure of the image frames; and vary the intensity of the near infra-red illumination between at least two lines during line-by-line scanning of image data by the camera, wherein the illuminator provides a first intensity of near infra-red illumination while a first line of a first image frame of the plurality of image frames is scanned, wherein the illuminator provides a second intensity of near infra-red illumination while a second line of the first image frame is scanned, wherein the first and second lines are different, and wherein the first and second intensities of near infra-red illumination are different. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method performable by a system including a camera and a processor, the method comprising:
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scanning by the camera to read image data line-by-line into a plurality of image frames; receiving the image data by the processor; illuminating to provide near infra-red illumination in a field of view of the camera while oscillating the near infra-red illumination with an oscillation frequency and an illumination duty cycle and while synchronizing the oscillation frequency and the illumination duty cycle line-by-line with the exposure of the image frames; and varying the intensity of a near infra-red illumination between at least two lines during line-by-line scanning of image data by the camera, comprising; providing a first intensity of near infra-red illumination while a first line of a first image frame of the plurality of image frames is scanned, and providing a second intensity of near infra-red illumination while a second line of the first image frame is scanned, wherein the first and second lines are different, and wherein the first and second intensities of near infra-red illumination are different. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification