Nighttime sensing
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsLucian Ion, Daniel E. Potter, Evan C. Cull, Xiaofeng Tang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for night vision combining sensor image types. Some implementations may include obtaining a long wave infrared image from a long wave infrared sensor; detecting an object in the long wave infrared image; identifying a region of interest associated with the object; adjusting a control parameter of a near infrared sensor based on data associated with the region of interest; obtaining a near infrared image captured using the adjusted control parameter of the near infrared sensor; and determining a classification of the object based on data of the near infrared image associated with the region of interest.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a long wave infrared sensor;
- a near infrared sensor;
- a visible spectrum sensor;
- and
- one or more processors coupled to the long wave infrared sensor, the near infrared sensor, and the visible spectrum sensor, configured to:
- obtain a long wave infrared image using the long wave infrared sensor,
- identify a region of interest associated with an object in the long wave infrared image,
- obtain a near infrared image captured using the near infrared sensor,
- obtain a visible spectrum image captured using the visible spectrum sensor,
- extract features for the region of interest using the near infrared image and the visible spectrum image,
- fuse the features for the region of interest from the near infrared sensor and the visible spectrum sensor, and
- determine a classification of the object using the fused features for the region of interest.
A method comprising:
- obtaining a long wave infrared image using a long wave infrared sensor;
- identifying a region of interest associated with an object in the long wave infrared image;
- obtaining a near infrared image captured using a near infrared sensor;
- obtaining a visible spectrum image captured using a visible spectrum sensor;
- extracting features for the region of interest using the near infrared image and the visible spectrum image;
- fusing the features for the region of interest from the near infrared sensor and the visible spectrum sensor;
- and
- determining a classification of the object using the fused features for the region of interest.
A vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle body;
- actuators operable to cause motion of the vehicle body;
- a long wave infrared sensor;
- a near infrared sensor;
- a visible spectrum sensor;
- and
- an automated controller configured to:
- obtain a long wave infrared image using the long wave infrared sensor,
- identify a region of interest associated with an object in the long wave infrared image,
- obtain a near infrared image captured using the near infrared sensor,
- obtain a visible spectrum image captured using the visible spectrum sensor,
- extract features for the region of interest using the near infrared image and the visible spectrum image,
- fuse the features for the region of interest from the near infrared sensor and the visible spectrum sensor, and
- determine a classification of the object using the fused features for the region of interest.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.