SYSTEM AND METHOD OF IMAGE ANALYSIS FOR AUTOMATED ASSET IDENTIFICATION

• US 20160321513A1
• Filed: 04/29/2015
• Published: 11/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Jeffrey, Brian David, Mitti, Aaron Richard
• Granted Patent: US 9,710,720 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/63 Scene text, e.g. street names

Abstract

A system and method are provided that capture an image of an asset and analyze the captured image to identify an indicia on the asset. The indicia is used, after identification, to identify the asset. The system may also be configured to identify a type of asset, to track the asset, to verify a manifest for a group of assets, or to identify damage to an asset based on comparing the captured image of the asset with a previously captured image of the asset.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a device configured to capture an image of at least a portion of an asset and of an indicia on the asset; and

a controller configured to;

receive the image from the device,

determine an asset type of the asset,

determine an indicia location based upon the determined asset type, and

identify the asset by analyzing at least a portion of the image corresponding to the determined indicia location to determine the indicia that is on the asset.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the asset type of the asset by analyzing the image of at least a portion of the asset.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the asset type of the asset based upon receipt of an electronically communicated asset type identification.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to access a database containing an association of asset types with indicia locations for the asset types.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

associate and store the image with the identification of the identified asset and with at least one of a location where the image was captured or a time when the image was captured.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

receive a reference manifest for a plurality of associated assets, wherein the reference manifest defines the plurality of associated assets,

generate an image-based manifest for the plurality of associated assets by identifying each asset based on images captured by the device,

compare the reference manifest and the image-based manifest to identify differences, and

communicate a notification regarding the differences.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

retrieve a previous image of the asset from a database,

compare the image to the retrieved previous image,

determine an indication of at least one of wear or damage of the asset based on the comparison of the image and the previous image, and

transmit a notification regarding the indication of wear or damage of the asset.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the indication of wear or damage of the asset is one of wear on a wheel of the asset or a dent on the asset.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the indication of wear or damage of the asset is whether a seal is intact on a portion of the asset.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is further configured to compensate for environmental variance between the image and the retrieved previous image when comparing the image to the retrieved previous image, wherein the variance is at least one of a time of day, a lighting change, or a state of weather, and wherein the state of weather is at least one of a presence of dust, leaves, smoke, snow, rain, or fog.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset is a mobile asset, and the device is stationary and positioned proximate to a route over which the asset travels.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the device is a mobile device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

activate the device to capture a second image of the asset that includes the determined indicia location; and

identify the asset by analyzing at least a portion of the second image to determine the indicia that is on the asset.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

activate the device to capture the image in response to receiving a signal associated with the asset being proximate to the device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the signal is from at least one of a switch coupled to a rail system that that detects the asset being proximate to the device, or a location tracking component of the asset that detects the asset being proximate to the device.

16. A method, comprising:

capturing an image of an asset that includes an indicia, and one or both of a time stamp or a geographic location;

identifying an asset type of the asset;

determining where the indicia is located on the asset based at least in part on the identification of the asset type;

identifying the indicia by analyzing at least a portion of the image corresponding to the location of the indicia;

identifying the asset based on the identified indicia; and

storing the image associated with the identified asset and associated with one or both of the time stamp or the geographic location.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

matching the identified asset to an inventory list to validate the identification of the asset.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

comparing the image with one or more previously captured images of the asset; and

determining an indication of at least one of wear or damage of the asset based on a comparison of the image and the one or more previously captured images of the asset.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

responding to a query about the asset by transmitting a query result that includes a series of images that are a set or subset of the images captured of the asset that are associated with a specified geographic location.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

responding to a query about the asset by transmitting a query result that includes a series of images that are a set or subset of the images captured of the asset along a route.

21. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

responding to a query about the asset by transmitting a query result that includes a series of images that are a set or subset of the images captured of the asset during a specified time period.

22. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

capturing a second image of the asset that includes the determined indicia location, and

identifying the indicia by analyzing at least a portion of the second image.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

prior to capturing the second image, modifying a parameter of an image capture device to facilitate identification of the indicia in the second image.

24. A system comprising:

a device that is configured to capture and store an image on a memory, wherein the image is of a portion of a consist that couples to a rail system and each portion of the consist includes an indicia;

a software module that is configured to be executed by a processor for enabling the processor to receive the image from the memory, and perform a first image analysis on the image, wherein the first image analysis results in identifying the indicia from the image;

the software module is further configured to enable the processor to query a data store with the indicia to receive a query result that is a data representative of the portion of the consist, wherein the data representative of the portion of consist includes a previously stored image of the portion of the consist;

a second software module that is configured to be executed by a processor for enabling the processor to perform a second image analysis on the image and the previously stored image, wherein the second image analysis is a comparison between the image and the previously stored image of the portion of the consist which results in identifying a change to an area of the consist;

a third software module that is configured to be executed by a processor for enabling the processor to store, on the memory, the following data upon capture of the image of the portion of the consist by the device;

a time stamp of when the image was captured, and a geographic location of where the image was captured; and

the third software module is further configured to enable the processor to track an inventory of one or more consists for a rail yard based on evaluating the time stamp and the geographic location.