Analyzing smoke or other emissions with pattern recognition

• US 20080246622A1
• Filed: 04/09/2007
• Published: 10/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Chen, Yu-Gene T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,872,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/628
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0008 checking presence/absence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 17/12 Actuation by presence of radiation or particles, e.g. of infrared radiation or of ions

Abstract

A system and method for analyzing smoke or other emissions are provided. An image is analyzed and processed to identify characteristics associated with the emission, such as color, densities, dispersion rates, fuel mixture characteristics, and other suitable analysis factors. If the analysis indicates that abnormal conditions exist or that any user-defined alerts are warranted, a message is sent to an operator terminal. The system and method may continue to capture subsequent images and thus provide real-time data. The data may be stored in memory and collected over time. The data may be associated with a digital signature and used to create reports for company quality control boards, regulatory control agencies, and the public. The system and method thus provide a cost effective, reliable, and repeatable mechanism for real-time analysis of smoke stacks and other environmental changes.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory operable to store an image, the image associated with an environmental change; and

a processing module operable to process the image to identify one or more characteristics associated with the environmental change.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the environmental change comprises at least one of:

a smoke emission, a chemical release, and a hazardous condition.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics comprise at least one of:

a color characteristic, a density rate, and a dispersion rate.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics comprise an emission level.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the image comprises video images.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one camera operable to capture the image.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing module is further operable to store the one or more characteristics in the memory along with authentication information.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing module is further operable to output a warning message to an operator terminal when the environmental change is an abnormal condition.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing module is operable to output a message to an operator terminal when the environmental change exceeds a user-defined level.

10. A method comprising:

correlating data associated with an image of an emission with a desired emission characteristic associated with the emission; and

storing emission data associated with the correlated data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the correlating occurs in real-time.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the desired emission characteristic comprises at least one of:

a color characteristic, a density rate, and a dispersion rate.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the desired emission characteristic comprises an emission level.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the image comprises digital video images.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising analyzing the image to determine the data associated with the image of the emission.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising outputting a warning message to an operator terminal when an abnormal condition exists.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising outputting a message to an operator terminal when a user-defined level is exceeded.

18. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program comprising computer readable program code for:

correlating data associated with an image of an emission with a desired emission characteristic associated with the emission; and

storing emission data associated with the correlated data.

19. The computer program of claim 18, further comprising outputting a warning message when an abnormal condition exists.

20. The computer program of claim 18, further comprising outputting a warning message when a user-defined level is exceeded.