Method and apparatus of determining air quality

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9317732-B2
Application number	US-201414527132-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2014
Priority date	Oct 31, 2013
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and apparatus of determining air quality. The method comprising: determining at least one key area; acquiring a reference clear image, a training image under poor air quality and corresponding actual air quality index in at least one location of the key area; and training an air quality model of the key area based on feature extracted from the reference clear image and the training image and based on the actual air quality index. With the method and apparatus of the invention, air quality can be determined based on image.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of determining an air quality, the method comprising:
determining, by one or more computer processors, at least one key area;
acquiring, by one or more computer processors, a reference clear image, a training image under poor air quality and corresponding actual air quality index in at least one location of the key area; and
training, by one or more computer processors, an air quality model of the key area based on air quality related feature extracted from the reference clear image and the training image and based on the actual air quality index.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the air quality related feature comprises at least one of: a luminance, a chrominance, a texture and a density gradient.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by one or more computer processors, an image to be measured;
determining, by one or more computer processors, an air quality model of a key area associated with the image to be measured;
acquiring, by one or more computer processors, a reference clear image corresponding to the image to be measured; and
determining, by one or more computer processors, an air quality index to be measured based on an air quality related feature extracted from the image to be measured and the corresponding reference clear image and based on the determined air quality model of the key area.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein,
the step of acquiring a reference clear image corresponding to the image to be measured comprises: determining a first reference clear image based on location of the image to be measured, the first reference clear image is a reference clear image in the associated key area closest to the image to be measured; and
the step of determining the air quality index to be measured based on feature extracted from the image to be measured and the corresponding reference clear image and based on the determined air quality model comprises: determining the air quality index to be measured at least based on the first reference clear image.

5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein,
the step of acquiring a reference clear image corresponding to the image to be measured comprises: determining a second reference clear image by performing scene matching based on at least one feature of the image to be measured, the second reference clear image is a reference clear image in the associated key area best matched with the image to be measured; and
the step of determining the air quality index to be measured based on feature extracted from the image to be measured and the corresponding reference clear image and based on the determined air quality model of the key area comprises: determining the air quality index to be measured at least based on the second reference clear image.

6. The method according to claim 3 , wherein,
the step of acquiring a reference clear image corresponding to the image to be measured comprises: determining a third reference clear image by performing haze removal on the image to be measured; and
the step of determining the air quality index to be measured based on feature extracted from the image to be measured and the corresponding reference clear image and based on the determined air quality model of the key area comprises: determining the air quality index to be measured at least based on the third reference clear image.

7. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising:
acquiring, by one or more computer processors, additional information of the image to be measured, the additional information comprises at least one of: shooting parameter information of the image to be measured, geographic location information of the image to be measured; and
the step of acquiring a reference clear image corresponding to the image to be measured comprises: acquiring, by one or more computer processors, a reference clear image corresponding to the image to be measured based on the additional information.

8. An apparatus of determining an air quality, the apparatus comprising:
a key area determination module configured to determine at least one key area;
a training data determination module configured to acquire a reference clear image, a training image under poor air quality and corresponding actual air quality index in at least one location of the key area; and
a model determination module configured to train an air quality model of the key area based on air quality related feature extracted from the reference clear image and the training image and based on the actual air quality index.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the air quality related feature comprises at least one of: a luminance, a chrominance, a texture and a density gradient.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising, for an image to be measured:
a model determination module configured to determine an air quality model of a key area associated with the image to be measured;
a reference clear image determination module configured to acquire a reference clear image corresponding to the image to be measured; and
an air quality determination module configured to determine an air quality index to be measured based on an air quality related feature extracted from the image to be measured and the corresponding reference clear image and based on the determined air quality model of the key area.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein,
the reference clear image determination module comprises: a module configured to determine a first reference clear image based on location of the image to be measured, the first reference clear image is a reference clear image in the associated key area closest to the image to be measured; and
the air quality determination module comprises: a module configured to determine the air quality index to be measured based on the first reference clear image.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein,
the reference clear image determination module comprises: a module configured to determine a second reference clear image by performing scene matching based on at least one feature of the image to be measured, the second reference clear image is a reference clear image in the associated key area best matched with the image to be measured; and
the air quality determination module comprises: a module configured to determine the air quality index to be measured based on the second reference clear image.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein,
the reference clear image determination module comprises: a module configured to acquire a third reference clear image by performing haze removal on the image to be measured; and
the air quality determination module comprises: a module configured to determine the air quality index to be measured based on the third reference clear image.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10 , further comprising:
a module configured to acquire additional information of the image to be measured, the additional information comprises at least one of: shooting parameter information of the image to be measured, geographic location information of the image to be measured; and
the reference clear image determination module comprises: a module configured to acquire a reference clear image corresponding to the image to be measured based on the additional information.

15. A non-transitory computer program product for determining an air quality, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Gong Min
• Wang Yu
• Wang Zhi H
• Yan Junchi
• Zhang Chao
• Zhao Qian K
• Zhu Jun

Classifications

• G01N33/0062 Primary

  concerning the measuring method or the display, e.g. intermittent measurement or digital display · CPC title

• G06F18/214

  Generating training patterns; Bootstrap methods, e.g. bagging or boosting · CPC title

• G06K9/00 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01J1/42

  using electric radiation detectors (optical or mechanical part G01J1/04; by comparison with a reference light or electric value G01J1/10) · CPC title