Detection of environmental conditions in a sequence of images

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A method for determining the presence and location of static shadows and other ambient conditions (such as glare snow, rain, etc.) in a series of time-successive images is provided. Each image comprises a series of image elements locatable on a plane with each element being associated with a color defined by three chromatic elements. Furthermore each image is partitioned into a set of elements with each element comprising one or more pixels. According to the process of the present method the ambient conditions are detected using a mixture of processes which utilize the chromatic elements luminance qualities and temporal characteristics of the series of images.