Method and system for storing calibration data within image files

• US 20060072903A1
• Filed: 12/05/2005
• Published: 04/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Everest Vit, Inc. (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: Everest Vit, Inc. (GE Aerospace)
• Inventors: Lesmerises, Michael C., Karpen, Thomas, Salvati, Jon, Bendall, Clark, Weldum, David
• Application Number:
  US11/294,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20060072903A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/239
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/04 combined with photographic or television appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0079 Medical imaging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3204 of data relating to a user, sender, addressee, machine or electronic recording medium H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3252 Image capture parameters, e.g. resolution, illumination conditions, orientation of the image capture device H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3264 of sound signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3277 The additional information being stored in the same storage device as the image data

Abstract

A system and method for storing, within an image transfer medium, an image and image-specific data associated with the image includes obtaining the image-specific data from a probe such as a borescope or endoscope, obtaining the corresponding image, choosing a specific image transfer medium, writing the image to the medium, and writing the image-specific data to a marker in the medium. In this manner, storing a combination of image data and one or more of system calibration data, overlay replacement data, and audio comment data in a single file of either a non-standard file format or a standard file format that does not explicitly support the inclusion of these data types is possible.

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29. A method of inspecting an engine, said method comprising the steps of:

providing an endoscopic probe;

providing an optical measurement tip for use with said endoscopic probe;

capturing image data representative of a portion of said engine using said endoscopic probe and said optical measurement tip;

performing a dimensional measurement using said captured image data and measurement tip calibration data specific to said optical measurement tip;

embedding data sets representative of said captured image data and said measurement tip calibration data into a single data package; and

storing said single data package.

30. A method as recited in claim 29, wherein the embedding step includes the step of embedding a data set representative of said dimensional measurement into said single data package.

31. A method as recited in claim 29, wherein said single data package is selected from the group consisting essentially of digital still image, digital video, and analog video formats.

32. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein said digital still image format includes at least one of JPEG, TIFF, bitmap, and PCX formats.

33. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein said digital video format includes at least one of MPEG and AVI formats.

34. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein said analog video format uses closed captioning.

35. A method as recited in claim 29, including the step of embedding markers for each of the dimensional measurement and measurement tip calibration data within the single data package in relation to said image data.

36. A method as recited in claim 29, including the steps of capturing audio data as part of said inspection and embedding the captured audio data into said single data package.

37. A method of measuring the defect of an object, said method comprising the steps of:

providing an endoscope;

providing an optical measurement tip for use with said endoscope;

capturing image data representative of a portion of said defect using said endoscope probe and said optical measurement tip;

performing a dimensional measurement of said defect using said captured image data and measurement tip calibration data specific to said optical measurement tip;

embedding data sets representative of said captured image data and said measurement tip calibration data into a single data package; and

storing said single data package.

38. A method as recited in claim 37, including the step of embedding a data set representative of the dimensional measurement into the single data package.

39. A method as recited in claim 37, wherein said data package is selected from the group consisting essentially of digital still image, digital video, and analog video formats.

40. A method as recited in claim 39, wherein said digital still image format includes at least one of JPEG, TIFF, bitmap, and PCX formats.

41. A method as recited in claim 39, wherein said digital video format includes at least one of MPEG and AVI formats.

42. A method as recited in claim 39, wherein said analog video format uses closed captioning.

43. A method as recited in claim 37, including the steps of capturing audio data associated with said measurement and embedding the captured audio data in the single data package.

44. A method as recited in claim 37, wherein said embedding step includes the step of providing markers for each of the measurement image data and calibration tip data within the single data package in relation to said image data.

45. A method as recited in claim 37, wherein the measurement tip calibration data specific to said optical tip includes at least one of the tip type, the tip color code, the tip serial number, the tip optical distortion, shadow geometry parameters, and a checksum of tip calibration data.

46. A method of inspecting an engine, said method comprising the steps of:

providing an endoscopic probe;

providing an optical measurement tip for use with said endoscopic probe;

capturing image data representative of a portion of said engine using said endoscopic probe and said optical measurement tip;

performing a dimensional measurement using said captured image data and measurement tip calibration data specific to said optical measurement tip;

embedding data sets representative of said captured image data, said measurement tip calibration data and said dimensional measurement into a single data package; and

storing said single data package.

47. A method of measuring the defect of an object, said method comprising the steps of:

providing an endoscope;

providing an optical measurement tip for use with said endoscope;

capturing image data representative of a portion of said defect using said endoscope probe and said optical measurement tip;

performing a dimensional measurement of said defect using said captured image data and measurement tip calibration data specific to said optical measurement tip;

embedding data sets representative of said captured image data, said measurement tip calibration data and said dimensional measurement into a single data package; and

storing said single data package.

48. A system for inspecting and measuring an object comprising:

an endoscope having an endoscopic probe including an optical measurement tip;

means for capturing image data representative of a portion of said object using endoscopic probe and said optical measurement tip;

means for performing a dimensional measurement using said captured image data and measurement tip calibration data specific to said optical measurement tip;

means for embedding data sets representative of said captured image data, said measurement tip calibration data and said dimensional measurement into a single data package; and

means for storing said single data package.