US 2013/0076885 A1 · EYE CLOSURE DETECTION USING STRUCTURED ILLUMINATION

Abstract

A monitoring system and method for monitoring and/or predicting drowsiness of a driver of a vehicle or a machinery operator are provided. A set of infrared, IR, or near infrared, NIR, light sources, is arranged such that an amount of the light emitted from the light source incidents on an eye of the driver or operator. The light that impinges on the eye of the driver or operator forms a virtual image of the signal sources on the eye including the sclera and/or cornea. An image sensor obtains consecutive images capturing the reflected light, wherein each image will contain glints from at least a subset or all of the light sources. A drowsiness index can be determined based on the extracted information of the glints of the sequence of images, wherein the drowsiness index indicates a degree of drowsiness of the driver or operator.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A monitoring system for monitoring and/or predicting drowsiness of a driver of a vehicle or a machinery operator, said system being adapted to be arranged in said vehicle or at said machinery, comprising:

a set of infrared, IR, or near infrared, NIR, light sources, each light source being arranged in said vehicle or at said machinery such that a substantial amount of the light emitted from said light source incidents on an eye of said driver or operator, said emitted light thereby forming a virtual image of said signal source on said eye including the cornea;
an image sensor arranged and oriented such that light reflected from said eye can be captured in an image and adapted to generate consecutive images forming a sequence of images over time, wherein each image contains glints from at least subset of said light sources;
an image processing unit adapted to extract information of said glints in said images by processing said images using an image processing algorithm;
and
a determining unit adapted to determine a drowsiness index based on said extracted information of said glints of said sequence of images, wherein said drowsiness index indicates a degree of drowsiness.

2 more elements

A method for monitoring and/or predicting drowsiness of a driver of a vehicle or a machinery operator, comprising:

emitting light using a set of infrared, IR, or near infrared, NIR, light sources, each light source being arranged in said vehicle or at said machinery such that a substantial amount of the light emitted from said light source incidents on an eye of said driver or operator, said emitted light thereby forming a virtual image of said signal source on said eye including the cornea;
capturing light reflected from said eye in an image using an image sensor;
generate consecutive images forming a sequence of images over time, wherein each image contains glints from at least a subset of said light sources;
processing said images to extract information of said glints;
and
determining a drowsiness index based on said extracted information of said glints of said sequence of images, wherein said drowsiness index indicates a degree of drowsiness.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Eye closure detection using structured illumination

Life of this patent

Eye closure detection using structured illumination

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18