System and method for opportunistic imaging
A system for opportunistic imaging includes an imaging device that generates data comprising a plurality of sequential image frames. The system also includes a control module that causes the imaging device to generate standard-resolution image frames at a standard-frame rate and a standard-resolution, such that there is a processing time lull between the generation of sequential standard-resolution image frames. The control module also causes the imaging device to generate one or more burst-resolution image frames at a burst-frame rate and a burst-resolution within the processing time lull.
1. A system for opportunistic imaging, comprising:
an imaging device configured to generate data comprising a plurality of sequential image frames; and
a control module configured to:
cause the imaging device to generate standard-resolution image frames at a standard-frame rate and a standard-resolution, wherein the standard frame rate delineates a reserved processing time that includes a processing time lull that the control module has reserved for processing the standard-resolution image frames but in which the control module is not processing the sequential standard-resolution image frames; and
cause the imaging device to generate one or more burst-resolution image frames at a burst-frame rate and a burst-resolution within the processing time lull, wherein the burst-resolution image frames are generated via pixel sampling at a fraction of the standard resolution.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the burst-resolution image frames are generated such that corresponding reconstructed image frames can be generated, at the standard-resolution and higher, from the burst-resolution image frames via image reconstruction.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processing time lull is idle time between the image processing time reserved by the control module for generating the standard-resolution image frames.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the burst-resolution image frames are generated by pixel sampling corresponding image frames at random, non-overlapping, pixel locations.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the random, non-overlapping, pixel locations are stored in a predetermined look-up table and each burst-resolution image frame is associated with a key to the lookup table.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is mounted to a vehicle surface via a wobbly mount.
7. A method for opportunistic imaging, comprising:
generating, via an imaging device, sequential standard-resolution image frames at a standard-frame rate and a standard-resolution, wherein the standard frame rate delineates a reserved processing time that includes a processing time lull that a control module has reserved for processing the standard-resolution image frames but in which the control module is not processing the standard-resolution image frames; and
generating, via the imaging device, sequential burst-resolution image frames at a burst-frame rate and a burst-resolution within the processing time lull, wherein the burst-resolution image frames are generated via pixel sampling at a fraction of the standard resolution.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the burst-resolution image frames are generated such that corresponding reconstructed image frames can be generated, at the standard-resolution and higher, from the burst-resolution image frames via image reconstruction.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the processing time lull is idle time between the image processing time reserved for generating the standard-resolution image frames.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein each of the burst-resolution image frames are generated by pixel sampling corresponding image frames at random, non-overlapping pixel locations.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the random, non-overlapping pixel locations are stored in a predetermined look-up table and each burst-resolution image frame is associated with a key to the lookup table.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
transmitting the burst-resolution image frames and the look-up table to a remote computer system; and
generating, at the remote computer system, corresponding reconstructed image frames from the burst-resolution image frames via image reconstruction based on the look-up table.
13. An on-vehicle event detection and reporting system, comprising:
a vehicle mounted imaging device configured to capture data comprising a plurality of sequential image frames;
an event detection system configured to detect vehicle and/or driver related events based on the captured video data;
an image control module configured to, at least in response to the detected vehicle and/or driver related events:
cause the imaging device to generate standard-resolution image frames at a standard-frame rate and a standard-resolution, wherein the standard frame rate delineates a reserved processing time that includes a processing time lull that the control module has reserved for processing the standard-resolution image frames but in which the control module is not processing the sequential standard-resolution image frames, and
cause the imaging device to generate one or more burst-resolution image frames at a burst-frame rate and a burst-resolution within the processing time lull, wherein the burst-resolution image frames are generated via pixel sampling at a fraction of the standard resolution.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the burst-resolution image frames are generated such that corresponding reconstructed image frames can be generated from the burst-resolution image frames via image reconstruction.
15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising: a remote system configured to receive the burst-resolution image frames and to generate the corresponding reconstructed image frames therefrom via image reconstruction.
16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processing time lull is idle time between the image processing time reserved by the control module for generating the standard-resolution image frames.
17. The system of claim 13 , wherein each of the burst-resolution image frames are generated by pixel sampling corresponding image frames at random, non-overlapping pixel locations.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the random, non-overlapping pixel locations are stored in a predetermined look-up table and each burst-resolution image frame is associated with a key to the lookup table.
19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising:
a remote system configured to receive the burst-resolution image frames and to generate corresponding reconstructed image frames therefrom via image reconstruction and based on the look-up table.
20. The system of claim 13 ,
wherein the imaging device is mounted to the vehicle via a wobbly mount, and wherein the burst-resolution image frames are generated such that corresponding super-resolution image frames can be generated from the burst-resolution image frames via image reconstruction.