Abstract: A vehicular structure from motion (SfM) system can store a number of image frames acquired from a vehicle-mounted camera in a frame stack according to a frame stack update logic. The SfM system can detect feature points, generate flow tracks, and compute depth values based on the image frames, the depth values to aid control of the vehicle. The frame stack update logic can select a frame to discard from the stack when a new frame is added to the stack, and can be changed from a first in, first out (FIFO) logic to last in, first out (LIFO) logic upon a determination that the vehicle is stationary. An optical flow tracks logic can also be modified based on the determination. The determination can be made based on a dual threshold comparison to insure robust SfM system performance.

Abstract: A method for analyzing images to generate a plurality of output features includes receiving input features of the image and performing Fourier transforms on each input feature. Kernels having coefficients of a plurality of trained features are received and on-the-fly Fourier transforms (OTF-FTs) are performed on the coefficients in the kernels. The output of each Fourier transform and each OTF-FT are multiplied together to generate a plurality of products and each of the products are added to produce one sum for each output feature. Two-dimensional inverse Fourier transforms are performed on each sum.

Abstract: This invention predicts that intra mode prediction is more effective for the macroblocks where motion estimation in inter mode prediction fails. This failure is indicated by a large value of the inter mode SAD. This invention performs intra mode prediction for only macro blocks have larger inter mode SADs. The definition of a large inter mode SAD differs for different content. This invention compares the inter mode SAD of a current macroblock with an adaptive threshold. This adaptive threshold depends on the average and variance of the SADs of the previous predicted frame. An adaptive threshold is calculated for each new predictive frame.

Abstract: An image processing system includes a processor and optical flow (OF) determination logic for quantifying relative motion of a feature present in a first frame of video and a second frame of video that provide at least one of temporally and spatially ordered images with respect to the two frames of video. The OF determination logic configures the processor to implement performing OF estimation between the first frame and second frame using a pyramidal block matching (PBM) method to generate an initial optical flow (OF) estimate at a base pyramid level having integer pixel resolution, and refining the initial OF estimate using at least one pass of a modified Lucas-Kanade (LK) method to provide a revised OF estimate having fractional pixel resolution.

Abstract: Advanced driver assistance systems need to be able to recognize and to classify traffic signs under real time constraints, and under a wide variety of visual conditions. The invention shown employs binary masks extracted by color space segmentation, with a different binary mask generated for each sign shape. Temporal tracking is employed to add robustness to the detection system. The system is generic, and is trainable to the signs used in various countries.

Abstract: A method for estimating time to collision (TTC) of a detected object in a computer vision system is provided that includes determining a three dimensional (3D) position of a camera in the computer vision system, determining a 3D position of the detected object based on a 2D position of the detected object in an image captured by the camera and an estimated ground plane corresponding to the image, computing a relative 3D position of the camera, a velocity of the relative 3D position, and an acceleration of the relative 3D position based on the 3D position of the camera and the 3D position of the detected object, wherein the relative 3D position of the camera is relative to the 3D position of the detected object, and computing the TTC of the detected object based on the relative 3D position, the velocity, and the acceleration.

Abstract: Estimation of the ground plane of a three dimensional (3D) point cloud based modifications to the random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is provided. The modifications may include applying roll and pitch constraints to the selection of random planes in the 3D point cloud, using a cost function based on the number of inliers in the random plane and the number of 3D points below the random plane in the 3D point cloud, and computing a distance threshold for the 3D point cloud that is used in determining whether or not a 3D point in the 3D point cloud is an inlier of a random plane.

Abstract: Methods and systems providing for real time structure from motion (SfM) processing in a computer vision system receiving images from a monocular camera are disclosed. The real time SfM processing described exploits constraints of the three dimensional (3D) environment that can be assumed for automotive applications and other applications with similar constraints.

Abstract: A vehicular structure from motion (SfM) system can store a number of image frames acquired from a vehicle-mounted camera in a frame stack according to a frame stack update logic. The SfM system can detect feature points, generate flow tracks, and compute depth values based on the image frames, the depth values to aid control of the vehicle. The frame stack update logic can select a frame to discard from the stack when a new frame is added to the stack, and can be changed from a first in, first out (FIFO) logic to last in, first out (LIFO) logic upon a determination that the vehicle is stationary. An optical flow tracks logic can also be modified based on the determination. The determination can be made based on a dual threshold comparison to insure robust SfM system performance.

Abstract: A method for dynamically quantizing feature maps of a received image. The method includes convolving an image based on a predicted maximum value, a predicted minimum value, trained kernel weights and the image data. The input data is quantized based on the predicted minimum value and predicted maximum value. The output of the convolution is computed into an accumulator and re-quantized. The re-quantized value is output to an external memory. The predicted min value and the predicted max value are computed based on the previous max values and min values with a weighted average or a pre-determined formula. Initial min value and max value are computed based on known quantization methods and utilized for initializing the predicted min value and predicted max value in the quantization process.

Abstract: This invention predicts that intra mode prediction is more effective for the macroblocks where motion estimation in inter mode prediction fails. This failure is indicated by a large value of the inter mode SAD. This invention performs intra mode prediction for only macro blocks have larger inter mode SADs. The definition of a large inter mode SAD differs for different content. This invention compares the inter mode SAD of a current macroblock with an adaptive threshold. This adaptive threshold depends on the average and variance of the SADs of the previous predicted frame. An adaptive threshold is calculated for each new predictive frame.

Abstract: Estimation of the ground plane of a three dimensional (3D) point cloud based modifications to the random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is provided. The modifications may include applying roll and pitch constraints to the selection of random planes in the 3D point cloud, using a cost function based on the number of inliers in the random plane and the number of 3D points below the random plane in the 3D point cloud, and computing a distance threshold for the 3D point cloud that is used in determining whether or not a 3D point in the 3D point cloud is an inlier of a random plane.

Abstract: A method for analyzing images to generate a plurality of output features includes receiving input features of the image and performing Fourier transforms on each input feature. Kernels having coefficients of a plurality of trained features are received and on-the-fly Fourier transforms (OTF-FTs) are performed on the coefficients in the kernels. The output of each Fourier transform and each OTF-FT are multiplied together to generate a plurality of products and each of the products are added to produce one sum for each output feature. Two-dimensional inverse Fourier transforms are performed on each sum.

Abstract: A vehicular structure from motion (SfM) system can store a number of image frames acquired from a vehicle-mounted camera in a frame stack according to a frame stack update logic. The SfM system can detect feature points, generate flow tracks, and compute depth values based on the image frames, the depth values to aid control of the vehicle. The frame stack update logic can select a frame to discard from the stack when a new frame is added to the stack, and can be changed from a first in, first out (FIFO) logic to last in, first out (LIFO) logic upon a determination that the vehicle is stationary. An optical flow tracks logic can also be modified based on the determination. The determination can be made based on a dual threshold comparison to insure robust SfM system performance.

Abstract: A method for analyzing images to generate a plurality of output features includes receiving input features of the image and performing Fourier transforms on each input feature. Kernels having coefficients of a plurality of trained features are received and on-the-fly Fourier transforms (OTF-FTs) are performed on the coefficients in the kernels. The output of each Fourier transform and each OTF-FT are multiplied together to generate a plurality of products and each of the products are added to produce one sum for each output feature. Two-dimensional inverse Fourier transforms are performed on each sum.

Abstract: A confidence map for optical flow gradients is constructed calculating a set of gradients for each pixel of an image, filtering said gradients and extracting confidence values from said gradients using a plurality of decision tree classifiers. A confidence map is then generated from said confidence values.

Abstract: Described examples include an integrated circuit including a vector multiply unit including a plurality of multiply/accumulate nodes, in which the vector multiply unit is operable to provide an output from the multiply/accumulate nodes, a first data feeder operable to provide first data to the vector multiply unit in vector format, and a second data feeder operable to provide second data to the vector multiply unit in vector format.

Abstract: A method of optical flow estimation is provided that includes identifying a candidate matching pixel in a reference image for a pixel in a query image, determining a scaled binary pixel descriptor for the pixel based on binary census transforms of neighborhood pixels corresponding to scaling ratios in a set of scaling ratios, determining a scaled binary pixel descriptor for the candidate matching pixel based on binary census transforms of neighborhood pixels corresponding to scaling ratios in the set of scaling ratios, and determining a matching cost of the candidate matching pixel based on the scaled binary pixel descriptors.

Abstract: A method for convolution in a convolutional neural network (CNN) is provided that includes accessing a coefficient value of a filter corresponding to an input feature map of a convolution layer of the CNN, and performing a block multiply accumulation operation on a block of data elements of the input feature map, the block of data elements corresponding to the coefficient value, wherein, for each data element of the block of data elements, a value of the data element is multiplied by the coefficient value and a result of the multiply is added to a corresponding data element in a corresponding output block of data elements comprised in an output feature map.

Abstract: A method for generating a sparsified convolutional neural network (CNN) is provided that includes training the CNN to generate coefficient values of filters of convolution layers, and performing sparsified fine tuning on the convolution layers to generate the sparsified CNN, wherein the sparsified fine tuning causes selected nonzero coefficient values of the filters to be set to zero.