System, Method and Computer Readable Medium for Determining an Informational Property of Wayside Equipment Adjacent to a Route

• US 20090309976A1
• Filed: 06/11/2008
• Published: 12/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Kumar, Ajith Kuttannair
• Application Number:
  US12/137,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20090309976A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/161
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 23/00 Control, warning or like safety means along the route or between vehicles or trains
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 23/041 Obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/53 for trackside elements or systems, e.g. trackside supervision of trackside control system conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 3/065 controlling optically

Abstract

A system is provided for determining an informational property of wayside equipment adjacent to a route. The system includes a camera to collect visible spectral data of the wayside equipment. The camera is attached to a powered system traveling along the route. The system includes at least one filter to filter a known portion of the visible spectral data based upon known filter properties. The system further includes a controller coupled to the camera, to compare unfiltered visible spectral data with the filtered visible spectral data, in conjunction with the known properties of the filter, to determine the informational property of the wayside equipment. The unfiltered visible spectral data includes the data collected by the camera prior to the at least one filter being applied to the camera. Additionally, a method and computer readable medium are provided for determining an informational property of wayside equipment adjacent to a route.

Claims

1. A system for determining an informational property of wayside equipment adjacent to a route, said system comprising:

a camera configured to collect visible spectral data of said wayside equipment, said camera being attached to a powered system traveling along said route;

at least one filter, said at least one filter being configured to filter a known portion of said visible spectral data based upon known properties of said filter; and

a controller coupled to said camera, said controller configured to compare unfiltered visible spectral data with said filtered visible spectral data, in conjunction with said known properties of said filter, to determine said informational property of said wayside equipment, wherein the unfiltered visible spectral data comprises the data collected by the camera prior to the at least one filter being applied thereto.

2. The system of claim 1, said camera being positioned on an external surface of said powered system, said powered system is one of an off-highway vehicle, a marine vehicle, a rail vehicle, a transport bus, and an agricultural vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein as said powered system travels along the route, said controller is configured to store unfiltered visible spectral data in a memory prior to said comparison of said unfiltered spectral visible data with said filtered visible spectral data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said wayside equipment is a light signal positioned adjacent to said route, said informational property is a color of said light signal, and said at least one filter is at least one color filter configured to filter a known color based upon known properties of said color filter.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein upon said controller comparing said unfiltered visible spectral data with said filtered spectral data, said controller is configured to determine said color of said light signal based upon a color of said unfiltered spectral data being removed from said filtered spectral data.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein said at least one filter comprises a plurality of filters, each filter being configured to filter a discrete known portion of color within said visible spectral data based upon said known properties of said filter.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each filter of said plurality of filters is individually consecutively positioned between said lens and said light signal, said controller being configured to compare said unfiltered visible spectral data with said filtered spectral data for each individual filter.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein upon said controller having determined that said unfiltered visible spectral data and said filtered visible spectral data include a common group of colors, a subsequent filter is positioned between said lens and said light signal.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein said color filters include at least one of an electronic or a mechanical color filter.

10. A method for determining an informational property of wayside equipment adjacent to a route, said method comprising:

collecting visible spectral data of said wayside equipment with a camera attached to a powered system traveling along said route;

filtering a known portion of said visible spectral data based upon known properties of at least one filter; and

comparing unfiltered visible spectral data with said filtered visible spectral data in conjunction with said known properties of said filter to determine said informational property of said wayside equipment, said unfiltered visible spectral data comprising at least part of the visible spectral data collected by the camera prior to said filtering.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said comparing is performed by a controller coupled to said camera, and further comprising:

positioning said at least one filter between a lens of said video camera and said wayside equipment, for filtering said known portion of said visible spectral data; and

,

prior to positioning said at least one filter, storing said unfiltered visible spectral data in a memory of said controller.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said wayside equipment is a light signal positioned adjacent to said route, said informational property is a color of said light signal, and said at least one filter is at least one color filter configured to filter a known color based upon known properties.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein upon said comparing said unfiltered visible spectral data with said filtered spectral data, said method further includes determining said color of said light signal based upon a color of said unfiltered spectral data being removed from said filtered spectral data.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said at least one filter includes a plurality of filters, each filter being configured to filter a discrete known portion of color within said visible spectral data based upon said known properties.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising individually consecutively positioning each filter of said plurality of filters between said lens and said light signal, wherein said comparing said unfiltered visible spectral data with said filtered spectral data is performed for each individual filter.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein upon determining that said unfiltered visible spectral data and said filtered visible spectral data include a common group of colors, a subsequent filter is positioned between said lens and said light signal.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein said filters include at least one of an electronic or a mechanical color filter.

18. Computer readable medium for determining an informational property of wayside equipment adjacent to a route, said computer readable medium comprising computer program code that when executed by a controller causes the controller:

to receive visible spectral data of wayside equipment collected by a camera attached to a powered system traveling along said route, said camera being connected to the controller, wherein a known portion of said visible spectral data is filtered based upon known properties of at least one filter, and wherein at least part of said collected visible spectral data is maintained as unfiltered data; and

to compare the unfiltered visible spectral data with said filtered visible spectral, in conjunction with said known properties of said filter, to determine said informational property of said wayside equipment.