US 11,941,897 B2
Vehicle occupant monitoring system including an image acquisition device with a rolling shutter image sensor
Istvan Andorko, Galway (IE); Petronel Bigioi, Galway (IE); and Piotr Stec, Galway (IE)
Assigned to FotoNation Limited, (IE)
Filed by FotoNation Limited, Galway (IE)
Filed on Dec. 9, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/547,060.
Prior Publication US 2023/0186650 A1, Jun. 15, 2023
Int. Cl. G06V 20/59 (2022.01); H04N 5/33 (2023.01); H04N 23/73 (2023.01); H04N 23/74 (2023.01)
CPC G06V 20/593 (2022.01) [H04N 5/33 (2013.01); H04N 23/73 (2023.01); H04N 23/74 (2023.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle occupant monitoring system, OMS, comprising:
an image acquisition device with a rolling shutter image sensor, said device being configured to selectively operate in either: a full-resolution image mode where an image frame
corresponding to the full image sensor is provided; or a region of interest, ROI, mode, where an image frame corresponding to a limited portion of a limited number of rows of the image sensor is provided, wherein the image sensor is rotated through ninety degrees such that the rows of the image sensor run upward when the OMS determines that an image of the vehicle occupant's body region needs to be acquired for gesture detection;
at least one infra-red, IR, light source disposed within a cabin of said vehicle and being configured to illuminate at least said occupant of the vehicle;
an object detector configured to receive a full-resolution image from said image sensor and to identify a ROI corresponding to an object of interest within said image; and
a controller configured to obtain an image corresponding to said ROI from said image sensor operating in ROI mode, said image having an exposure time long enough for all rows of said ROI to be illuminated by a common pulse of light from said at least one light source and
short enough to limit motion blur within said image.