OPTICAL IMAGE MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VEHICLES
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of acquiring information from an image of at least a portion of a vehicle comprising the steps of:
- providing at least one imaging device aboard said vehicle;
providing a computer processor connected to controlling said imaging device;
capturing an image of said at least a portion of a vehicle with said imaging device;
inputting said image to said computer processor;
identifying with said computer processor a state of said image; and
said computer processor providing an output corresponding to said image state.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of acquiring information from an image of a vehicle in real time wherein at least one imaging device with advanced light metering capabilities is placed aboard a vehicle, a computer processor means is provided to control the imaging device and the advanced light metering capabilities, the advanced light metering capabilities are used to capture an image of at least a portion of the vehicle, and image recognition algorithms are used to identify the current state or position of the corresponding portion of the vehicle.
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Citations
52 Claims
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1. A method of acquiring information from an image of at least a portion of a vehicle comprising the steps of:
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providing at least one imaging device aboard said vehicle; providing a computer processor connected to controlling said imaging device; capturing an image of said at least a portion of a vehicle with said imaging device; inputting said image to said computer processor; identifying with said computer processor a state of said image; and said computer processor providing an output corresponding to said image state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of acquiring information pertaining to the operation of a vehicle from images of objects of interest within the vehicle, from the exterior surface of the vehicle, or a combination thereof, which method comprises the steps of:
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providing at least one imaging device aboard said vehicle; providing a computer processor connected to and controlling said imaging device; calibrating the imaging device with an adaptive imaging module; acquiring a test image of said object of interest with said adaptive imaging module; identifying coordinates for said object of interest in said test image; providing an object library comprising information corresponding to images of pre-identified objects corresponding to specific types of vehicles; determining if an object of interest is included in the object library; selecting the vehicle type from said object library. if said object of interest is found in the object library, storing the object of interest configuration from said object library with said computer processor; if said object of interest is not found in the object library, identifying and storing its configuration and operational characteristics with said computer processor; providing raw image data of objects of interest from said imaging device; applying a low-pass filter to said raw image data to remove image noise therefrom; using an edge detection algorithm for identifying points in said image data at which the image brightness changes sharply or has detectable discontinuities; applying a binary hard limiter to convert edge-only images to binary images of said objects of interest; providing an output from said computer processor corresponding to a state of said objects of interest binary images; applying either a high-pass filter or an image differentiator to perform edge detection on said image data; using a set-up utility to create multiple individual fiducial images of multiple objects of interest; storing with said computer processor said fiducial images; providing binary images of said objects of interest with said imaging device; aligning said binary images detected by said imaging device by comparing and cross-correlating said binary images with said fiducial images; using said set-up utility to create a feature mask for each individual object of interest; applying a mask to said aligned binary images to isolate portions of said objects of interest; said imaging device providing an input to said computer processor corresponding to said isolated portions of said objects of interest; said computer processor analyzing a state of said isolated portions of said objects of interest and providing a corresponding output; determining states of the objects of interest using either;
synthetic images of the isolated portions of the objects of interest for comparison with the masked binary images;
or linear regressions to fit the points (pixels) from the masked binary images to determine the objects of interest states;providing configuration files for the objects of interest with limits of travel of moving or changing parts of the objects of interest; determining operating conditions of the vehicle by comparing the objects of interest binary files with the configuration files; receiving geospatial data corresponding to a geospatial position, velocity or attitude of said vehicle; combining said geospatial data with data from said imaging device corresponding to states of objects of interest in said vehicle to create fused sensor values; providing a rules engine corresponding to operating characteristics of said vehicle; comparing with said computer processor said fused sensor values with said rules engine; detecting an exceedance(s) of said rules engine based on said comparisons with said fused sensor values; and providing an event response(s) comprising at least one of;
recording said fused sensor value corresponding to said event;
recording a video from said imaging device output;
communicating the event and/or the fused sensor value offboard the vehicle via a telemetry device; and
communicating the event and/or the fused sensor value offboard the vehicle via a wide-area network.
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26. A system for acquiring information from an image of at least a portion of a vehicle, which system comprises:
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a software-controlled imaging device mounted on an interior or exterior surface of said vehicle; a computer processor connected to and adapted for controlling said imaging device; said computer processor including a memory module; said imaging device capturing an image of said object of interest and providing imaging data as an input to said computer processor; storing said imaging data in said memory module; and said computer processor using said imaging data to determine an image state of said vehicle and providing an output corresponding thereto. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A storage medium encoded with a machine-readable computer program code, the code including instructions for causing a computer to implement a method for acquiring information from an image of at least a portion of a vehicle, which method comprises the steps of:
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providing at least one imaging device aboard said vehicle; providing a computer processor to control said imaging device; capturing an image of said at least a portion of said vehicle with said imaging device; inputting said image to said computer processor; identifying with said computer processor a state of said image; said computer processor providing an output corresponding to said image state; calibrating said imaging device with an adaptive imaging module; acquiring a test image of an object of interest with said adaptive imaging module; identifying coordinates for said object of interest in said test image; creating a fiducial image of the object of interest; storing with said computer processor said fiducial image; providing a binary image with said imaging device; aligning said binary image detected by said imaging device by comparing and cross-correlating said binary image with said fiducial image; applying a mask to said aligned binary image to isolate a portion of said object of interest; said imaging device providing an input to said computer processor corresponding to said isolated portion of said object of interest; and said computer processor analyzing a state of said isolated portion of said object of interest and providing a corresponding output.
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52. A computer data signal comprising code configured to cause a processor to implement a method for acquiring information from an image of at least a portion of a vehicle, which method comprises the steps of:
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providing at least one imaging device aboard said vehicle; providing a computer processor to control said imaging device; capturing an image of said at least a portion of said vehicle with said imaging device; inputting said image to said computer processor; identifying with said computer processor a state of said image; said computer processor providing an output corresponding to said image state; calibrating said imaging device with an adaptive imaging module; acquiring a test image of an object of interest with said adaptive imaging module; identifying coordinates for said object of interest in said test image; creating a fiducial image of the object of interest; storing with said computer processor said fiducial image; providing a binary image with said imaging device; aligning said binary image detected by said imaging device by comparing and cross-correlating said binary image with said fiducial image; applying a mask to said aligned binary image to isolate a portion of said object of interest; said imaging device providing an input to said computer processor corresponding to said isolated portion of said object of interest; and said computer processor analyzing a state of said isolated portion of said object of interest and providing a corresponding output.
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Specification