US 12,291,152 B2
Image processing method
Michael Buckley, Tuam (IE); Trevor Dempsey, Tuam (IE); and Tony Reilly, Tuam (IE)
Assigned to CONNAUGHT ELECTRONICS Ltd., Tuam (IE)
Appl. No. 17/602,529
Filed by Connaught Electronics Ltd., Tuam (IE)
PCT Filed Mar. 31, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/059030
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 8, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/207850, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 15, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2019 109 748.7 (DE), filed on Apr. 12, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0169179 A1, Jun. 2, 2022
Int. Cl. G06T 7/11 (2017.01); B60R 1/28 (2022.01); G06T 1/00 (2006.01)
CPC B60R 1/28 (2022.01) [G06T 1/0007 (2013.01); G06T 7/11 (2017.01); B60R 2300/10 (2013.01); B60R 2300/30 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30252 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An image processing method for an image acquisition system of a vehicle, the image acquisition system comprising a camera arranged to capture successive images with a field of view (FOV) of a portion of an environment surrounding the vehicle, said FOV intersecting a window of the vehicle comprising one or more heater elements that are visible within the FOV of the camera, the method comprising:
obtaining an image;
determining whether one or more sequences of pixels within the image corresponds to an image of a respective heater element, each pixel within the one or more sequences of pixels having a colour and an intensity within respective thresholds,
wherein determining whether the one or more sequences of pixels within the image corresponds to an image of a respective heater element comprises:
determining a shape of the one or more heater elements, and
performing scanning of the one or more sequences of pixels within the image along a scanning path corresponding to said shape, and
wherein determining the shape of the respective heater element comprises calibrating the image acquisition system by:
capturing an image of a scene with a constant colour,
marking pixels not identified as being of said constant colour as pixels of the one or more heater elements,
determining said shape corresponding to a distribution of pixels of the one or more heater elements, and
storing said shape in a memory and/or retrieving the shape of the respective heater element from the memory;
correcting, within the image, the one or more sequences of pixels corresponding to a respective heater element by replacing pixel values for the one or more sequences of pixels with pixel values derived from pixels which do not correspond with a heater element; and
displaying said corrected image.