Method of operation for a vision-based occupant sensing system

摘要

Image processing parameters of an imaging chip (20b) in a vision-based occupant sensing system (VS) are adjusted for each frame based on ambient illumination responsive information obtained in the idle period preceding that frame (36, 42). The same sensing data is also used to determine if active illumination is needed to supplement existent ambient illumination during the ensuing image acquisition interval (38). The inter-frame ambient illumination is detected with an external light sensor (24) or with selected pixels of the imaging chip (20b), and the information is used to calculate and set the gain and integration time (42) of the imaging chip (20b). In applications where the resolution of the imaging chip (20b) significantly exceeds the resolution required for occupant sensing, intensity data from one or more otherwise inactive pixels (28) is averaged with the intensity data from the normally active pixels (26) to adapt the sensitivity of the imaging chip (20b) to changing ambient illumination.