Vehicle-window-transmittance-control apparatus and method

A system comprising:

• a vehicle having a window with variable transmittance;
• a camera secured to the vehicle and outputting image data corresponding to one or more images taken of an occupant within the vehicle;
• an artificial neural network running on hardware carried onboard the vehicle;
• the artificial neural network classifying, based on the image data, the occupant's response to radiant flux transmitted through the window, the classifying comprising
• generating an affinity score for each of a plurality of classes of occupant response using the image data as an input, each of the plurality of classes corresponding to a different response to radiant flux, and
• selecting, from among the plurality of classes, a class of occupant response associated with the occupant based on an affinity score for the class of occupant response satisfying at least one threshold;
• at least one controller carried onboard the vehicle;
• and
• the at least one controller changing the transmittance of the window based on the occupant response to radiant flux corresponding to the selected class of occupant response.

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a computer system carried on-board a vehicle, image data captured by an in-cabin camera oriented toward an occupant of the vehicle;
• receiving, by an artificial neural network running on the computer system, the image data as an input;
• classifying, by the artificial neural network, the occupant's response to radiant flux transmitted through a window of the vehicle, the classifying comprising
• generating affinity scores for each of a plurality of classes of occupant response based on the input, each of the plurality of classes corresponding to a different occupant response to radiant flux, and
• selecting, from among the plurality of classes, a class of occupant response associated with the occupant based on an affinity score for the class of occupant response satisfying at least one threshold;
• and
• changing, by the computer system, the transmittance of the window based on the occupant response to radiant flux corresponding to the selected class of occupant response.