Incident light sensor on autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017257547-A1
Application number	US-201615243892-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 22, 2016
Priority date	Mar 7, 2016
Publication date	Sep 7, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An incident light meter on an autonomous vehicle receives ambient light and outputs an incident light measurement in response the ambient light. One or more image sensors of the autonomous vehicle image the environment of the autonomous vehicle. An exposure setting is generated at least in part on the incident light measurement. The one or more image sensors capture a digital image at the exposure setting.

First claim

1 - 21 . (canceled)

22 . An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
a propulsion system; an incident light meter configured to output an incident light measurement in response to receiving ambient light; at least one image sensor; and a management module configured to:
generate an exposure setting based at least in part on the incident light measurement of the incident light meter;
trigger the at least one image sensor to generate image data using the exposure setting; and
adjust the propulsion system based at least in part on the image data from the at least one image sensor.

23 . The UAV of claim 22 , wherein the exposure setting comprises an exposure period of the at least one image sensor.

24 . The UAV of claim 22 , wherein the management module is further configured to initiate the incident light measurement by sending a request command to the incident light meter.

25 . The UAV of claim 22 , wherein the incident light meter is connected to a frame of the UAV and includes a photosensitive element disposed beneath a diffusive dome, wherein the incident light meter is positioned on a top portion of the UAV, and wherein the propulsion system includes a plurality of propellers associated with the frame of the UAV to generate lift.

26 . An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
an incident light meter to receive ambient light; at least one image sensor to capture an image of an environment surrounding the autonomous vehicle; and the autonomous vehicle configured to:
generate an exposure setting based at least in part on an incident light measurement from the incident light meter;
trigger the at least one image sensor to generate image data using the exposure setting; and
adjust a propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle in response to the image data generated using the exposure setting.

27 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 26 , wherein the autonomous vehicle is a UAV, and wherein the propulsion system includes a plurality of propellers.

28 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 26 further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, wherein the propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle is also adjusted based at least in part on a GPS coordinate received from the GPS receiver.

29 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 26 , wherein the exposure setting comprises an exposure period of the at least one image sensor.

30 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 26 further configured to initiate the incident light measurement by sending a request command to the incident light meter.

31 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 26 , wherein the autonomous vehicle is a UAV, and wherein the incident light meter is positioned on a top portion of the UAV.

32 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 26 , wherein the incident light meter comprises a diffusive dome and a photosensitive element positioned under the diffusive dome to receive the ambient light.

33 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 26 , wherein the at least one image sensor is among a plurality of image sensors of the autonomous vehicle, and wherein the exposure setting is sent to a first portion of the image sensors in the plurality of image sensors but the exposure setting is not sent to a remaining portion of the image sensors in the plurality of image sensors.

34 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 26 , wherein the at least one image sensor is included in a down-ward looking camera.

35 . A method comprising:
measuring incident light using an incident light meter of an autonomous vehicle; determining an exposure setting based at least in part on the measured incident light; capturing, by using an image sensor of the autonomous vehicle, at least one digital image at the exposure setting; and adjusting a propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the at least one digital image.

36 . The method of claim 35 , wherein determining the exposure setting comprises calculating the exposure setting from an equation, wherein the measured incident light is an input to the equation.

37 . The method of claim 35 , wherein determining the exposure setting comprises accessing a look-up table that includes exposure setting entries corresponding to incident light values.

38 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the autonomous vehicle is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and wherein the at least one digital image comprises a target landing area and adjusting the propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle comprises causing the UAV to center the target landing area under a camera that captured the at least one digital image at the exposure setting.

39 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the autonomous vehicle is a UAV, and wherein the propulsion system includes a plurality of propellers for generating lift.

40 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the exposure setting is a gain of pixels of the image sensor.

41 . The method of claim 35 , wherein adjusting the propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle comprises re-positioning the autonomous vehicle and capturing a second digital image at a second incident light measurement.

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Safarik Stephen Thomas

Classifications

• B64U2201/10

  autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] · CPC title

• H04N23/71 Primary

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title

• B64U2201/104

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• H04N23/72

  Combination of two or more compensation controls · CPC title

• H04N23/73

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title