White balance and color correction for interior vehicle camera
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsDavid Michael Herman, Larry Sanders
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image is received from a camera built into a cabin of a vehicle. The image is demosaiced and its noise is reduced. A segmentation algorithm is applied to the image. A global illumination for the image is solved. Based on the segmentation of the image and the global illumination, a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) for color and/or reflectance information of material in the cabin area of the vehicle is solved for. A white balance matrix and a color correction matrix for the image are computed based on the BRDF. The white balance matrix and the color correction matrix are applied to the image, which is then displayed or stored for addition image processing.
Claims20
A method performed by one or more computing devices comprising processing hardware and storage hardware, the method performed by the processing hardware executing instructions from the storage hardware, the method comprising:
- receiving an image captured by a camera, the image comprising a representation of a cabin area of a vehicle;
- demosaicing the image;
- and
- optimizing white balancing of the image based on previously determined data associated with the cabin area of the vehicle, the previously determined data comprising color information for a material of the cabin area of the vehicle, the optimizing comprising:
- classifying pixels in the image;
- solving global illumination for the image;
- based on the classification of the pixels and the global illumination, solving a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) for the color information about the material in the cabin area of the vehicle;
- and
- based on the BRDF, generating a white balance matrix for the image;
- applying the white balance matrix to the image;
- and
- outputting the white-balanced image.
Computer-readable storage hardware storing information configured to, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a process, the process comprising:
- receiving an image from a camera incorporated in a cabin of a vehicle;
- and
- optimizing color correction and white balancing of the image via prior knowledge of the cabin of the vehicle, the prior knowledge comprising color information, the color information comprising information about color and/or reflectivity of one or more surfaces of the cabin area, the optimizing comprising:
- applying a segmentation algorithm to the image to either classify pixels in the image or to compute depths of pixels in the image;
- based on the classification or depth of the pixels, solving a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) for the color information;
- and
- based on the BRDF, computing a white balance matrix and a color correction matrix for the image;
- applying the white balance matrix and the color correction matrix to the image;
- and
- after the step of applying the white balance matrix and the color correction matrix to the image, storing or displaying the image.
A method performed by a computing device, the method comprising:
- receiving an image from a camera built into a cabin of a vehicle;
- demosaicing the image and applying a noise reduction step to the image;
- applying a segmentation algorithm to the image;
- solving global illumination for the image;
- based on the segmentation of the image and the global illumination, solving a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) for at least one of color or reflectance information of material in the cabin of the vehicle;
- based on the BRDF, computing a white balance matrix and a color correction matrix for the image;
- applying the white balance matrix and the color correction matrix to the image;
- and
- storing or displaying the white-balanced and color-corrected image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.