Ladar point cloud compression
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- a processor receiving frame data representative of an environmental scene that serves as a scan area for a scanning ladar transmission system, the frame data comprising a plurality of points that define the scan area;
the processor identifying a plurality of frame data segments corresponding to different segments of the environmental scene;
the processor performing corner detection on the frame data to identify a corner feature within the environmental scene; and
the processor selecting a subset of the points to use as range points for targeting by ladar pulses transmitted by the scanning ladar transmission system, wherein the subset includes a plurality of points corresponding to the identified corner feature within the environmental scene, wherein the selecting step comprises the processor selecting a relatively higher concentration of range points within an area of the environmental scene corresponding to the identified corner feature than within another area of the environmental scene, and wherein the selecting step further comprises the processor selecting the subset of range points on a segment-by-segment basis; and
the scanning ladar transmission system transmitting a plurality of ladar pulses toward the range points of the selected subset.
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Abstract
Various embodiments are disclosed ladar point cloud compression. For example, a processor can be used to analyze data representative of an environmental scene to intelligently select a subset of range points within a frame to target with ladar pulses via a scanning ladar transmission system. In another example embodiment, a processor can perform ladar point cloud compression by (1) processing data representative of an environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated point cloud.
144 Citations
83 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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a processor receiving frame data representative of an environmental scene that serves as a scan area for a scanning ladar transmission system, the frame data comprising a plurality of points that define the scan area; the processor identifying a plurality of frame data segments corresponding to different segments of the environmental scene; the processor performing corner detection on the frame data to identify a corner feature within the environmental scene; and the processor selecting a subset of the points to use as range points for targeting by ladar pulses transmitted by the scanning ladar transmission system, wherein the subset includes a plurality of points corresponding to the identified corner feature within the environmental scene, wherein the selecting step comprises the processor selecting a relatively higher concentration of range points within an area of the environmental scene corresponding to the identified corner feature than within another area of the environmental scene, and wherein the selecting step further comprises the processor selecting the subset of range points on a segment-by-segment basis; and the scanning ladar transmission system transmitting a plurality of ladar pulses toward the range points of the selected subset. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 66)
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2. A method comprising:
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a processor receiving frame data representative of an environmental scene that serves as a scan area for a scanning ladar transmission system, the frame data comprising a plurality of points that define the scan area; the processor identifying a plurality of frame data segments corresponding to different segments of the environmental scene; the processor controlling the segmentation according to a size parameter and a threshold parameter; the processor analyzing each of a plurality of the identified frame data segments separately to identify high contrast areas within such frame data segments; and the processor selecting a subset of the points to use as range points for targeting by ladar pulses transmitted by the scanning ladar transmission system, wherein the subset includes a relatively higher concentration of range points within an area of the environmental scene corresponding to identified high contrast areas than within another area of the environmental scene; and the scanning ladar transmission system transmitting a plurality of ladar pulses toward the range points of the selected subset. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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3. An apparatus comprising:
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a scanning ladar transmission system; and a processor configured to receive frame data representative of an environmental scene that serves as a scan area for the scanning ladar transmission system, the frame data comprising a plurality of points that define the scan area, (2) identify a plurality of frame data segments corresponding to different segments of the environmental scene, (3) perform corner detection on the frame data to identify a corner feature within the environmental scene, and (4) select a subset of the points to use as range points for targeting by ladar pulses transmitted by the scanning ladar transmission system, wherein the subset includes a plurality of points corresponding to the identified corner feature within the environmental scene; wherein the processor is further configured to select the subset such that a relatively higher concentration of range points within an area of the environmental scene corresponding to the identified corner feature are selected than within another area of the environmental scene; wherein the processor is further configured to select the range points for inclusion in the subset on a segment-by-segment basis; and wherein the scanning ladar transmission system is configured to transmit a plurality of ladar pulses toward the range points of the selected subset. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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4. An apparatus comprising:
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a scanning ladar transmission system; and a processor configured to (1) receive frame data representative of an environmental scene that serves as a scan area for the scanning ladar transmission system, the frame data comprising a plurality of points that define the scan area, (2) identify a plurality of frame data segments corresponding to different segments of the environmental scene, (3) control the segmentation according to a size parameter and a threshold parameter, (4) analyze each of a plurality of the identified frame data segments separately to identify high contrast areas within such frame data segments, and (5) select a subset of the points to use as range points for targeting by ladar pulses transmitted by the scanning ladar transmission system, wherein the subset includes a relatively higher concentration of range points within an area of the environmental scene corresponding to identified high contrast areas than within another area of the environmental scene; and wherein the scanning ladar transmission system is configured to transmit a plurality of ladar pulses toward the range points of the selected subset. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38)
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5. A method comprising:
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generating a 3D point cloud via ladar, the 3D point cloud being representative of an environmental scene and comprising a plurality of range points; and a processor compressing the 3D point cloud, wherein the compressing step comprises the processor (1) processing data representative of the environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the 3D point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated 3D point cloud; and wherein the compressing step further comprises the processor flattening the 3D point cloud into a 2D intensity map from a selected perspective from among a plurality of perspectives, wherein the 2D intensity map serves as the environmental scene data. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 43)
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6. A method comprising:
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generating a point cloud via ladar, the point cloud being representative of an environmental scene and comprising a plurality of range points; and a processor compressing the point cloud, wherein the compressing step comprises the processor (1) processing data representative of the environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated point cloud; wherein the processing step comprises the processor analyzing the data representative of the environmental scene to identify areas of contrast within the environmental scene that exceed a threshold, and wherein the selecting step comprises the processor selecting a relatively higher concentration of range points within the identified area than within another area of the environmental scene. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42)
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7. A method comprising:
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generating a point cloud via ladar, the point cloud being representative of an environmental scene and comprising a plurality of range points; and a processor compressing the point cloud, wherein the compressing step comprises the processor (1) processing data representative of the environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated point cloud; wherein the processing step comprises the processor analyzing the data representative of the environmental scene to identify areas within the environmental scene corresponding to a line or corner, and wherein the selecting step comprises the processor selecting a relatively higher concentration of range points within the identified area than within another area of the environmental scene; wherein the processing step further comprises the processor identifying a fill portion of the environmental scene, and wherein the selecting step comprises the processor (1) defining a fill pattern for the fill portion, and (2) selecting a plurality of range points within the fill portion in accordance with the defined fill pattern.
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8. A method comprising:
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generating a point cloud via ladar, the point cloud being representative of an environmental scene and comprising a plurality of range points; and a processor compressing the point cloud, wherein the compressing step comprises the processor (1) processing data representative of the environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated point cloud; wherein the processing step comprises; the processor pre-filtering the data representative of the environmental scene to reduce noise according to a filter; the processor analyzing the pre-filtered data to identify a plurality of segments of the environmental scene; and wherein the selecting step comprises the processor selecting the range points on a segment-by-segment basis. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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9. An apparatus comprising:
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a ladar system, the ladar system configured to generate a 3D point cloud via ladar, the 3D point cloud being representative of an environmental scene and comprising a plurality of range points; and a processor configured to compress the 3D point cloud by (1) processing data representative of the environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the 3D point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated 3D point cloud; and wherein the processor is further configured to flatten the 3D point cloud into a 2D intensity map from a selected perspective from among a plurality of perspectives, wherein the 2D intensity map serves as the environmental scene data. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 57, 67, 68)
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10. An apparatus comprising:
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a ladar system, the ladar system configured to generate a point cloud via ladar, the point cloud being representative of an environmental scene and comprising a plurality of range points; and a processor configured to compress the point cloud by (1) processing data representative of the environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated point cloud; and wherein the processor is further configured to (1) analyze the data representative of the environmental scene to identify areas of contrast within the environmental scene that exceed a threshold, and (2) select a relatively higher concentration of range points within the identified area than within another area of the environmental scene. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73)
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11. An apparatus comprising:
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a ladar system, the ladar system configured to generate a point cloud via ladar, the point cloud being representative of an environmental scene and comprising a plurality of range points; and a processor configured to compress the point cloud by (1) processing data representative of the environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated point cloud; wherein the processor is further configured to (1) analyze the data representative of the environmental scene to identify areas within the environmental scene corresponding to a line or corner, and (2) select a relatively higher concentration of range points within the identified area than within another area of the environmental scene; and wherein the processor is further configured to (1) identify a fill portion of the environmental scene, (2) define a fill pattern for the fill portion, and a) select a plurality of range points within the fill portion in accordance with the defined fill pattern. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
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12. An apparatus comprising:
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a ladar system, the ladar system configured to generate a point cloud via ladar, the point cloud being representative of an environmental scene and comprising a plurality of range points; and a processor configured to compress the point cloud by (1) processing data representative of the environmental scene, and (2) based on the processing, selecting a plurality of the range points in the point cloud for retention in a compressed point cloud, the compressed point cloud comprising fewer range points than the generated point cloud; and wherein the processor is further configured to; pre-filter the data representative of the environmental scene to reduce noise according to a filter; analyze the pre-filtered data to identify a plurality of segments of the environmental scene; and select the range points on a segment-by-segment basis. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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Specification