US 11,700,458 B2
White balance and color correction for interior vehicle camera
David Michael Herman, West Bloomfield, MI (US); and Larry Sanders, Dearborn, MI (US)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Aug. 6, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/396,007.
Prior Publication US 2023/0043536 A1, Feb. 9, 2023
Int. Cl. H04N 23/88 (2023.01); G06T 3/40 (2006.01); G06T 15/50 (2011.01); G06T 5/00 (2006.01)
CPC H04N 23/88 (2023.01) [G06T 3/4015 (2013.01); G06T 5/002 (2013.01); G06T 15/506 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20081 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20084 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30268 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. 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.