Systems and methods for monitoring and tracking movement and location of shipping containers and vehicles using a vision based system
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring the movement of objects in a transit terminal, the system comprising:
- a plurality of imaging devices positioned about the transit terminal such that a positioning of the imaging devices provides for a continuous field of view for an object that moves throughout any area of the transit terminal; and
one or more object monitoring and tracking hosts in communication with one or more of the plurality of imaging devices, the hosts having a processor that executes a vision-based scene analysis routine to monitor, in real-time, the movement of objects in the transit terminal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides for systems and methods for location-identification and monitoring of objects, such as shipping containers, at a transit terminal using an automated vision based tracking system. Such a system is ideally suited to provide minimal error rates, low cost implementation, real-time data and automatic merging of data with corresponding object identification systems and terminal operating systems. The systems and methods of the present invention provide for location-tracking of objects without the need to retrofit the objects with a tagging or marker device. The vision-based system incorporates the use of multiple imaging devices and a hand-off method for tracking the location of the objects over extended distances.
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Citations
59 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring the movement of objects in a transit terminal, the system comprising:
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a plurality of imaging devices positioned about the transit terminal such that a positioning of the imaging devices provides for a continuous field of view for an object that moves throughout any area of the transit terminal; and
one or more object monitoring and tracking hosts in communication with one or more of the plurality of imaging devices, the hosts having a processor that executes a vision-based scene analysis routine to monitor, in real-time, the movement of objects in the transit terminal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for identifying and monitoring the movement of objects at a transit terminal, the system comprising:
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an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) identifying system that identifies objects; and
a vision-based tracking system in communication with the OCR identifying system that tracks, in real-time, the location of the objects that have been identified by the OCR identifying system. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for identifying and tracking the movement of objects at a transit terminal, the method comprising the steps of:
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identifying a transit terminal-related movable object proximate an entry point of the transit terminal;
communicating object identification information to a Terminal Operating System (TOS);
providing object image data to a vision-based tracking system;
implementing a scene analysis routine within the vision-based tracking system; and
communicating scene analysis routine data to the TOS for managing the object at the transit terminal. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for monitoring vehicles at a staging area in a transit terminal, the method comprising the steps of:
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monitoring at a transit terminal, with one or more imaging devices, one or more vehicle pedestals and a queuing area associated with the pedestals;
providing image data from the pedestals and the queuing area to a vision-based monitoring system; and
managing the vehicle pedestals and the queuing area based on the image data provided to the vision-based monitoring system. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A system for monitoring vehicles at a staging area in a transit terminal, the system comprising:
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a one or more imaging devices positioned about the staging area in a transit terminal such that the imaging devices provide for a continuous field of view for an object that moves through a queuing area and a pedestal area associated with the staging area; and
one or more object monitoring and tracking hosts in communication with the one or more imaging devices having a processor that executes a vision-based scene analysis routine to monitor, in real-time, objects in the staging area. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method for real-time monitoring of storage of a transit container at a transit terminal, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing for one or more imaging devices to monitor a transit container storage area;
providing real-time image data from the imaging devices to a vision-based monitoring system; and
managing the containers in the storage area based on the image data provided to the vision-based monitoring system. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45)
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46. A system for real-time monitoring of the storage of a transit container at a transit terminal, the system comprising:
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one or more imaging devices positioned proximate a container storage area, such that the imaging devices provide for a continuous field of view for one or more containers stored in the storage area; and
one or more object monitoring and tracking hosts in communication with the one or more imaging devices having a processor that executes a vision-based scene analysis routine to monitor, in real-time, containers in the storage area. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A method for real-time monitoring of an area proximate a landing area associated with a quay crane the method comprising the step of:
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providing for one or more imaging devices to monitor a landing area associated with a quay crane;
providing real-time image data from the imaging devices to a vision-based monitoring system; and
managing the landing area associated with the quay crane based on the image data provided to the vision-based monitoring system. - View Dependent Claims (52)
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53. A system for real-time monitoring of an area proximate a landing area associated with a quay crane, the system comprising:
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one or more imaging devices positioned proximate a landing area associated with a quay crane;
such that the imaging devices provide for a continuous field of view of the landing area; and
one or more object monitoring and tracking hosts in communication with the one or more imaging devices having a processor that executes a vision-based scene analysis routine to monitor, in real-time, the landing area. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55)
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56. A system for triggering optical character recognition imaging at a transit terminal, the system comprising:
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one or more triggering imaging devices that capture images of objects proximate an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) station;
a triggering host in communication with the one or more triggering imaging devices, the host includes a processor that executes a triggering routine that determines if the object is in a position for OCR;
an OCR system in communication with the triggering host that receives inputs from the triggering routine to commence the capture of images; and
one or more OCR cameras in communication with the OCR system that capture images of the optical characters based on commands from the OCR system. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59)
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Specification