System and method to identify backup camera vision impairment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10721376-B2
Application number	US-201815960685-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2018
Priority date	Apr 24, 2018
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

A system to identify vision sensor impairment, the system including: a memory with one or more executable instructions; a controller to execute the executable instructions; a vision sensor located on a vehicle to capture at least one image of at least a portion of an environment surrounding the vehicle; where the executable instructions enable the controller to: receive a request communicated from a mobile computing device; in response to the request, communicate an activation signal to the vision sensor, the activation signal to activate the vision sensor to capture an image of the environment surrounding the vehicle; receive the captured image from the vision sensor; determine whether the view of the captured image includes a substantially impairing weather debris object; and based on this determination, generate a notification and communicate the notification to the mobile computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system to identify backup camera impairment, the system comprising:
a memory configured to comprise one or more executable instructions;
a controller configured to execute the executable instructions;
a backup camera located on a rear end of a vehicle exterior, the backup camera configured to capture at least one image of at least a portion of an area behind a vehicle; and
wherein the executable instructions enable the controller to:
receive a request communicated from a mobile computing device;
in response to the request, communicate an activation signal to the backup camera, the activation signal configured to activate the backup camera to capture at least one image of at least a portion of an area behind the vehicle upon the vehicle being turned on and before the vehicle begins to move;
receive the at least one captured image from the backup camera;
determine whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises an impairing amount of weather debris that has covered the lens of the backup camera such that the at least one captured image cannot operatively assist a user while attempting to operate the vehicle in reverse; and
based on the determination of whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises at least one substantially impairing debris object, generate a notification and communicate the notification to the mobile computing device, wherein the notification is configured to provide a warning for the user to manually clean the lens of the backup camera such that the user should substantially remove the weather debris from the lens.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further enable the controller to, in response to the request, communicate a remote start signal to the vehicle, the remote start signal configured to turn on the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the notification is further configured to be displayed via a vehicle app installed onto the mobile computing device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determination of whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises at least one substantially impairing debris object is further based on a result from at least one object recognition technique carried out at a data center.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determination of whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises at least one substantially impairing debris object is further based on a result from at least one object recognition technique carried out at the backup camera.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory and controller are located at a data center.

7. A method to identify backup camera impairment, the method comprising:
providing a memory configured to comprise one or more executable instructions;
providing a controller configured to execute the executable instructions;
providing a backup camera located on a rear end of a vehicle exterior, the backup camera configured to capture at least one image of at least a portion of an area behind a vehicle;
receiving (via the controller) a request communicated from a mobile computing device;
in response to the request, communicating (via the controller) an activation signal to the backup camera, the activation signal configured to activate the backup camera to capture at least one image of at least a portion of an area behind the vehicle upon the vehicle being turned on and before the vehicle begins to move;
receiving (via the controller) the at least one captured image from the backup camera;
determining (via the controller) whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises an impairing amount of weather debris that has covered the lens of the backup camera such that the at least one captured image cannot operatively assist a user while attempting to operate the vehicle in reverse; and
based on the determination step, generating and communicating (via the controller) a notification to the mobile computing device, wherein the notification is configured to provide a warning for the user to manually clean the lens of the backup camera such that the user should substantially remove the weather debris from the lens.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, in response to the request, communicating (via the controller) a remote start signal to the vehicle, the remote start signal configured to turn on the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the notification is further configured to be displayed via a vehicle app installed onto the mobile computing device.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the determination of whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises at least one substantially impairing weather debris object is further based on a result from at least one object recognition technique carried out at a data center.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the determination of whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises at least one substantially impairing weather debris object is further based on a result from at least one object recognition technique carried out at the backup camera.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the memory and controller are located at a data center.

13. A non-transitory and machine-readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions adapted to identify backup camera impairment, which when provided to a controller and executed thereby, causes the controller to:
receive a request communicated from a mobile computing device;
in response to the request, communicate an activation signal to a backup camera, wherein the backup camera located on a rear end of a vehicle exterior, and wherein the activation signal configured to activate the backup camera to capture at least one image of at least a portion of an area behind the vehicle upon the vehicle being turned on and before the vehicle begins to move;
receive the at least one captured image from the backup camera;
determine whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises an impairing amount of weather debris that has covered the lens of the backup camera such that the at least one captured image cannot operatively assist a user while attempting to operate the vehicle in reverse; and
based on the determination of whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises the impairing amount of weather debris, generate and communicate a notification to the mobile computing device, wherein the notification is configured to provide a warning for the user to manually clean the lens of the backup camera such that the user should substantially remove the weather debris from the lens.

14. The non-transitory and machine-readable memory of claim 13 , further comprising, in response to the request, communicate a remote start signal to the vehicle, the remote start signal configured to turn on the vehicle.

15. The non-transitory and machine-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein the notification is further configured to be displayed via a vehicle app installed onto the mobile computing device.

16. The non-transitory and machine-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein the determination of whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises at least one substantially impairing weather debris object is further based on a result of at least one object recognition technique carried out at a data center.

17. The non-transitory and machine-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein the determination of whether the view of the at least one captured image comprises at least one substantially impairing weather debris object is further based o

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Jaggi Kunal

Classifications

• H04N23/811 Primary

  by dust removal, e.g. from surfaces of the image sensor or processing of the image signal output by the electronic image sensor · CPC title

• H04N7/188 Primary

  Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position (signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253) · CPC title

• H04N23/634

  Warning indications · CPC title

• G06V20/00

  Scenes; Scene-specific elements (control of digital cameras H04N23/60) · CPC title

• G06V20/58

  Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads · CPC title