Traffic surveillance system
First Claim
1. A traffic surveillance system for detecting the presence of vehicles and for generating signals for operating a traffic light, comprising:
- means for receiving electromagnetic wavelengths of varying frequencies from the vehicle;
a plurality of filter means for receiving said electromagnetic wavelengths from said receiving means and passing portions of said electromagnetic wavelengths according to said varying frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, each filter means passing a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum;
means receiving the electromagnetic wavelengths passed by said plurality of filter means for translating said portions of said electromagnetic wavelengths passed by said filter means into a corresponding plurality of images;
means coupled to said translating means for selecting one of said images formed from said portions of said electromagnetic wavelength as a function of varying detectability conditions;
image processing means coupled to said selecting means which uses said selected image to determine if a vehicle is present and generates a signal indicative thereof; and
means coupled to said image processing means for receiving said indicating signal and for changing the traffic light according to said signal.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A machine vision system for detecting and recognizing objects. The system includes a camera which forms three different images of the object using different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and uses these different images depending on the time of day and weather conditions. The machine vision system also enables an operator to select zones within the camera'"'"'s field of view than may be of any size or shape. The machine vision system only detects objects in the specified zones. The vision system provides signals to a traffic light controller to provide vehicle or object presence indications for traffic signal sequencing purposes. The vision system can simply detect an object or optionally can pattern match for specific objects.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A traffic surveillance system for detecting the presence of vehicles and for generating signals for operating a traffic light, comprising:
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means for receiving electromagnetic wavelengths of varying frequencies from the vehicle; a plurality of filter means for receiving said electromagnetic wavelengths from said receiving means and passing portions of said electromagnetic wavelengths according to said varying frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, each filter means passing a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum; means receiving the electromagnetic wavelengths passed by said plurality of filter means for translating said portions of said electromagnetic wavelengths passed by said filter means into a corresponding plurality of images; means coupled to said translating means for selecting one of said images formed from said portions of said electromagnetic wavelength as a function of varying detectability conditions; image processing means coupled to said selecting means which uses said selected image to determine if a vehicle is present and generates a signal indicative thereof; and means coupled to said image processing means for receiving said indicating signal and for changing the traffic light according to said signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A machine vision system for detecting and recognizing objects, comprising:
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means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from the object; a plurality of filter means receiving said electromagnetic radiation from said receiving means and passing portions of said electromagnetic radiation according to frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, each filter means passing a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum; means for translating said portions of said electromagnetic radiation passed by said filter means into a corresponding plurality of images; storing means for storing reference object images; and image processing means coupled to said translating means which compares portions of one of said images with said reference object images to determine if an object is present and generates signals indicative of which of said reference object images most closely matches said portion of said image.
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10. A traffic surveillance system for detecting the presence of vehicles, comprising:
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means for receiving electromagnetic wavelengths of varying frequencies from the vehicle, wherein said receiving means has a field of view; image processing means coupled to said translating means to determine if a vehicle is present in said field of view, said image processing means including; (a) means for converting said image into a digital image comprising a plurality of pixels having associated values; (b) latching means for storing a threshold value; (c) comparator means coupled to said converting means and said latching means for comparing said threshold value with said associated values of each of said pixels and generating a signal value indicating thereof; (d) means coupled to said comparator means for storing each of said comparator means signal value for each pixel; and (e) means coupled to said storing means for receiving said stored comparator means signal values and generating an image edge density value representing the percentage of said comparator means signal values greater than said threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A machine vision system for detecting the presence of objects, comprising:
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means for receiving electromagnetic wavelengths of varying frequencies from the object; a plurality of filter means for receiving said electromagnetic wavelengths from said receiving means and passing portions of said electromagnetic wavelengths according to said varying frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, each filter means passing a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum; means receiving the electromagnetic wavelengts passed by said plurality of filter means for translating said portions of said electromagnetic radiation passed by said filter means into a corresponding plurality of images; means coupled to said translating means for selecting one of said images formed from said portions of said electromagnetic wavelengths as a function of varying detectability conditions; and image processing means coupled to said selecting means which uses said selected image to determine if an object is present and generates a signal indicative thereof. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A machine vision system for detecting and recognizing objects, comprising:
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means for receiving electromagnetic wavelengths of varying frequencies from the object; a plurality of filters receiving said electromagnetic wavelengths from said receiving means and each passing a portion of said electromagnetic wavelengths as a function of the frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum; means for translating portions of said electromagnetic wavelengths into a corresponding plurality of images; storing means for storing multiple reference object images; and imaging processing means coupled to said translating means which compares at least one of said plurality of images with said reference object images to determine if an object is present and generates signals indicative of which of said multiple reference object images most closely matches said at least one of said plurality of images. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification