US 11,900,576 B2
Preserving dynamic range in images
Ming-Hsuan Hsu, Milpitas, CA (US); Boyang Zhang, San Jose, CA (US); Shane McGuire, Redwood City, CA (US); and Michael Shagam, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to GM Cruise Holdings LLC, San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by GM Cruise Holdings LLC, San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Feb. 7, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/106,534.
Application 18/106,534 is a continuation of application No. 17/520,194, filed on Nov. 5, 2021, granted, now 11,587,213.
Prior Publication US 2023/0177660 A1, Jun. 8, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06T 5/00 (2006.01); H04N 23/741 (2023.01)
CPC G06T 5/009 (2013.01) [H04N 23/741 (2023.01); G06T 2207/10024 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20208 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30252 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for preserving dynamic range in images, the computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, at an autonomous vehicle system associated with an autonomous vehicle navigating a route, image data from an image sensor of the autonomous vehicle;
generating, by the autonomous vehicle system, a dual channel HDR and most significant bit (MSB) output to prevent light saturated signals in the image data captured in a low light environment by:
buffering a first portion of the image data from the image sensor;
performing HDR processing on a second portion of the image data in parallel with buffering the first portion of the image data to generate an HDR output; and
performing an 8-bit MSB processing to remove light saturation from the processed second portion of the image data of the low light environment that preserves the dynamic range of the HDR processing, and generating an 8-bit MSB output.