×

System and method for automatically determining the position of landmarks in digitized images derived from a satellite-based imaging system

  • US 6,084,989 A
  • Filed: 11/15/1996
  • Issued: 07/04/2000
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/15/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
Patent Images

1. A method of determining offset errors between line and pixel coordinates of landmarks in a digitized image generated by a passive imaging system disposed on a spacecraft and line and pixel coordinates predicted by a mathematical model of the imaging system, said method comprising the steps of:

  • defining and storing a plurality of landmarks in a landmark database that are each defined as having a perimeter comprising a plurality of boundary vertices;

    generating a digitized image of a softcopy map derived from a database that is viewed on a display;

    selecting a landmark in the softcopy map for processing;

    reading out the plurality of boundary vertices of the landmark stored in the landmark database that corresponds to the selected landmark in the softcopy map;

    processing the plurality of boundary vertices of the stored landmark using a mathematical model of the passive imaging system to generate absolute coordinates of boundary pixels of the stored landmark;

    upsampling and rasterizing the absolute coordinates of boundary pixels of the stored landmark to generate a landmark mask;

    processing the digitized image derived from the passive imaging system to extract an image patch containing the selected landmark;

    upsampling the image patch so that it has the same magnification as the upsampled landmark mask; and

    processing the upsampled image patch and the upsampled landmark mask by an image matching algorithm to determine offset errors between the respective images.

View all claims
  • 5 Assignments
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×