Automatic envelope measuring system
First Claim
1. Apparatus for determining a clearance envelope along an elongated roadbed, comprising;
- means for emitting illumination in a radial direction about an axis parallel to said roadbed;
means including a television camera aimed in a direction parallel to said axis responsive to illumination from said emitting means reflected by an object disposed along the length of and spaced from said roadbed;
means for scanning said television camera with a plurality of radial scans for providing an electrical analog indication of the radial distance between said roadbed and said objects; and
means for recording on a record medium said electrical analog indication.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for automatically measuring a clearance envelope about a path of travel in a specific embodiment includes a laser and a rotating reflector mounted on a moving vehicle for radially scanning the region around the path of travel in a direction generally perpendicular to the path of travel. A television camera is mounted on the vehicle and is responsive to light from the laser that has been reflected by objects located within the viewing field of the camera. The television camera is radially scanned and provides analog video signals representative of the radial distances between the reflector and the scanned objects. An analog video tape recorder is utilized to record on video tape the distance representative video signals together with binary codes or identification numbers identifying the camera radial scanning information. The video tape may be played at a central or home office where the distance representative analog video signals may be converted to digital computer compatible binary form for suitable processing and storing by the computer.
22 Citations
24 Claims
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1. Apparatus for determining a clearance envelope along an elongated roadbed, comprising;
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means for emitting illumination in a radial direction about an axis parallel to said roadbed; means including a television camera aimed in a direction parallel to said axis responsive to illumination from said emitting means reflected by an object disposed along the length of and spaced from said roadbed; means for scanning said television camera with a plurality of radial scans for providing an electrical analog indication of the radial distance between said roadbed and said objects; and means for recording on a record medium said electrical analog indication. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for determining the clearance envelope associated with a path of travel and objects disposed along the length of and spaced from said path of travel comprising
means for directing a beam of coherent light for rotation about an axis of rotation parallel to the direction of and radially about said path of travel, a television camera directed in a direction parallel to said axis of rotation, said television camera being responsive to light reflected by objects disposed along said path of travel for providing an analog video signal indicative of the distance between the camera and said objects, means for scanning the field of said television camera, said scanning means including means for generating a digital representation for identifying each scanning line, and means for recording said video signal for subsequent processing by a remotely located processing system.
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23. A method for determining the cross sectional envelope defined by one or more obstacles radially disposed about a longitudinal axis parallel to an elongated path of travel comprising;
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scanning said obstacles with a rotary beam of light emitted radially about and relatively movable along said longitudinal axis to illuminate portions of said obstacles and to cause the area so illuminated to progress helically along said obstacles; detecting the illuminated portions of said obstacles, including the steps of aiming a television camera in a direction substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis and forming an image thereof on said television camera, said image having a shape similar to the cross section of the area between said longitudinal axis and the illuminated portions of said obstacles; providing an electrical analog signal corresponding to said image, said electrical analog signal being a video signal provided by said camera, and representative of the radial distance between said illuminated portions of said obstacles and said longitudinal axis; recording substantially all of said electrical analog signal on a record medium; and wherein the step of detecting the illuminated portions of said obstacles further includes the steps of scanning said television camera with a plurality of radial scanning lines and detecting changes in the amplitude of said video signal representative of the locations of the illuminated portions of said obstacles. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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Specification