ROADWAY MARK DATA ACQUISITION AND ANALYSIS APPARATUS, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS

• US 20130190981A1
• Filed: 01/15/2013
• Published: 07/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LimnTech LLC
• Original Assignee: LimnTech LLC
• Inventors: Dolinar, Douglas D., Haller, William R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,935,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/41
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/00 Arrangements for holding or mounting articles, not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/004 outside the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/0087 around two axes
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 23/01 Devices or auxiliary means for setting-out or checking the configuration of new surfacing, e.g. templates, screed or reference line supports form rails E01C19/50; Applications of apparatus for measuring, indicating, or recording the surface configuration of existing surfacing, e.g. profilographs E01C23/07 takes precedence; measuring roughness or irregularity in general G01B
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 23/163 for marking-out the location of the markings; Guiding or steering devices for marking apparatus, e.g. sights
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/10 around a horizontal axis F16M11/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/18 with mechanism for moving the apparatus relatively to the stand
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/2014 around a vertical axis F16M11/2035 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/2028 for rolling, i.e. for creating a landscape-portrait rotation
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 13/022 repositionable
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/00 Surveying instruments or accessories not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method for determining characteristics of a roadway mark at a remote location. The system includes a vehicle having at least one imager for producing image data containing at least one actual roadway mark evident on a roadway surface. A GPS antenna is mounted on the vehicle. A GPS receiver is responsive to the GPS antenna for determining a GPS location of the GPS antenna. An apparatus responsive to the imager and the GPS receiver determines a GPS location of the roadway mark and filters and compresses the image data, the filtered and compressed image data containing the image data of the roadway mark. An apparatus communicates the filtered and compressed image data to the remote location for analyzing the roadway mark characteristics from the image data.

Claims

1. A system for determining characteristics of a roadway mark at a remote location, comprising:

a vehicle having at least one imager for producing image data containing at least one actual roadway mark evident on a roadway surface;

a GPS antenna mounted on the vehicle;

a GPS receiver responsive to the GPS antenna for determining a GPS location of the GPS antenna;

an apparatus responsive to the imager and the GPS receiver for determining a GPS location of the roadway mark and filtering and compressing the image data, the filtered and compressed image data containing the image data of the roadway mark; and

an apparatus for communicating the filtered and compressed image data to the remote location for analyzing the roadway mark characteristics from the image data.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the filtered image data comprises cropped versions of images.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image data comprises a plurality of images of the roadway surface including at least a portion of the roadway mark and unmarked roadway surface, and the images are cropped to include the roadway mark and a portion of the unmarked roadway surface surrounding the roadway mark.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image data comprises at least one pixel intensity value, and the filtered image data comprises the pixel intensity value as compared to a predetermined value.

5. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a wireless transceiver and a wireless antenna adapted to receive incoming radio waves from, and transmit outgoing radio waves to, the remote location.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the remote location is a remote repository and processing facility comprising a wireless transceiver antenna, a wireless transceiver, a bi-directional communication bus, a computer, and a display.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the remote repository and processing facility comprises an inverse compression program and an inverse filtering program.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the GPS antenna, adapted to receive GPS radio wave signals originating from a GPS satellite system or a GPS-pseudolite array, is connected to the GPS receiver which decodes the GPS signals for determining the GPS location of the GPS antenna.

9. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a speed detector.

10. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a vehicle navigation and control system controlling the direction, speed, and acceleration of the vehicle along a predetermined path.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one imager comprises a first imager and a second imager, the first imager mounted on the vehicle and aligned to image the at least one roadway mark substantially parallel to, and to the left of, a direction of travel of the vehicle;

and the second imager mounted on the vehicle and aligned to image the at least one roadway mark substantially parallel to, and to the right of, the direction of travel of the vehicle.

12. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a mount for affixing the at least one imager to the vehicle comprising:

an adjustable mount for positioning the at least one imager to image at least one roadway mark and including at least one fixably adjustable axis of rotation substantially parallel to the roadway surface, and

at least one magnetic clamp affixed to the adjustable mount for removably affixing the adjustable mount to the vehicle.

13. A method for determining characteristics of a roadway mark at a remote location, comprising:

producing roadway image data of an actual roadway mark evident on a roadway surface from an imager mounted on a moving vehicle;

determining a GPS location of the roadway mark from the roadway image data;

filtering and compressing the roadway image data, the filtered and compressed image data containing the roadway mark image; and

communicating the filtered and compressed image data to the remote location for analyzing the characteristics of the roadway mark from the filtered and compressed roadway mark image data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the filtering step comprises cropping images of the image data.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the filtering step comprises image thresholding.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein the compression step comprises applying lossless image compression algorithms.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the compression step comprises a two-stage portable network graphics compression.

18. The method according to claim 13 further comprising, at the remote location, reversing the compressed image data and the filtered image data to restore the original roadway image data.

19. The method according to claim 13 further comprising encrypting the filtered and compressed image to form encrypted image data.

20. The method according to claim 19 further comprising, at the remote location, decrypting the encrypted image data, reversing the compressed image data to restore the filtered image, and reversing the filtered image data to restore the original roadway image data.