Vision-based methods for driver monitoring

This project involves the use of a dashboard-mounted camera to monitor the direction a driver is looking. This is accomplished by using the framework for processing video (FPV), developed at the University of Minnesota by Osama Masoud. The monitoring software works by first finding the lips on the driver's face using color analysis. Then, the skin color of the driver can be sampled and a face region is generated. The largest holes in this region are the lips and eyes. Once the eyes are found, the software finds the darkest pixels in the eyes and marks these as the pupils. The software uses the relative positions of the eyes and pupils to make statements about the gaze direction. Also discussed is monitoring various other driver activities such as adjusting as car stereo.