IP Library Granted Patent US 11,631,197
Granted Patent B2
US 11,631,197 · App. 17/060,158 · Granted Apr 18, 2023

Traffic camera calibration

Inventors: Enrique Corona (Canton, MI); Armin Parchami (Ann Arbor, MI); Faizan Shaik (Ann Arbor, MI)
Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
G06T7/80G06T7/20G06T7/536G06T7/70G08G1/09H04N17/002G06T2207/10016G06T2207/30236G06T2207/30244
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,631,197
App. No.
17/060,158
Granted
Apr 18, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system, including a processor and a memory, the memory including instructions to be executed by the processor to determine camera calibration parameters including camera focal distance, camera height and camera tilt based on a two-dimensional calibration pattern located parallel to and coincident with a ground plane determined by a roadway surface and determine object data including object location, object speed and object direction for one or more objects in a field of view of the video camera.

Claims (26)

1. A system, comprising a computing device including:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory including instructions executable by the processor to:

determine camera calibration parameters for a camera including camera focal distance, camera height and camera tilt based on a two-dimensional calibration pattern located parallel to and coincident with a ground plane determined by a roadway surface; and

determine object data including object location, object speed and object direction for one or more objects in a field of view of the camera including determining distances to objects as measured on the roadway surface in image data based on a vanishing point determined in the image data, measuring fiducials, and determining a camera calibration constant C based on the camera focal distance, the camera height, and the camera tilt.

2. The system of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to determine a ground plane by fitting a plane to real-world locations of points measured on the roadway surface in the field of view of the camera.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the camera calibration parameters transform pixel data into real-world coordinates.

4. The system of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the camera focal distance by determining a distance between an optical center of the camera and a camera sensor plane by processing an image of the two-dimensional calibration pattern.

5. The system of claim 4 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the camera height by determining a distance between the optical center of the camera and a ground plane by processing the image of the two-dimensional calibration pattern.

6. The system of claim 5 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the camera tilt by determining a distance between the optical center of the camera and a vanishing line determined by connecting two or more vanishing points determined by processing the image of the two-dimensional calibration pattern, wherein the vanishing points are locations in the image where parallel lines in the two-dimensional calibration pattern meet due to perspective distortion.

7. The system of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to determine the object speed and the object direction by determining and the object location in a time series of video frames.

8. The system of claim 1 , the instructions including further instructions to download the object data to a vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is included in a traffic infrastructure system.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the camera is a stationary video camera.

11. A method, comprising:

determining camera calibration parameters for a camera including camera focal distance, camera height and camera tilt based on a two-dimensional calibration pattern located parallel to and coincident with a ground plane determined by a roadway surface; and

determining object data including object location, object speed and object direction for one or more objects in a field of view of the camera including determining distances to objects as measured on the roadway surface in image data based on a vanishing point determined in the image data, measuring fiducials, and determining a camera calibration constant C based on the camera focal distance, the camera height, and the camera tilt.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining a ground plane by fitting a plane to real-world locations of points measured on the roadway surface in the field of view of the camera.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the camera calibration parameters transform pixel data into real-world coordinates.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining the camera focal distance by determining a distance between an optical center of the camera and a camera sensor plane by processing an image of the two-dimensional calibration pattern.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising determining the camera height by determining a distance between the optical center of the camera and a ground plane by processing the image of the two-dimensional calibration pattern.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining the camera tilt by determining a distance between the optical center of the camera and a vanishing line determined by connecting two or more vanishing points determined by processing the image of the two-dimensional calibration pattern, wherein the vanishing points are locations in the image where parallel lines in the two-dimensional calibration pattern meet due to perspective distortion.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining the object speed and the object direction by determining the object location in a time series of video frames.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising downloading the object data to a vehicle.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the processor is included in a traffic infrastructure system.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the camera is a stationary video camera.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 1, 2020
From: CORONA, ENRIQUE; PARCHAMI, ARMIN; SHAIK, FAIZAN
To: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Reel/Frame 053943/0908 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220108473A1 · Apr 7, 2022
Cited By (2)
US 12,373,972 US 12,412,307