Automated method of and system for dimensioning objects over a conveyor belt structure by applying contouring tracing, vertice detection, corner point detection, and corner point reduction methods to two-dimensional range data maps of the space above the conveyor belt captured by an amplitude modulated laser scanning beam
First Claim
1. An automated object dimensioning system for measuring dimension-related parameters of a scanned object transported along a conveyor belt structure, comprising:
- a system housing having a light transmission aperture, supportable above a conveyor belt structure;
an optical bench, disposed within said system housing;
a laser beam production module disposed within said system housing, for generating an amplitude modulated laser beam;
a scanning mechanism, mounted on said optical bench, for projecting and said amplitude modulated laser beam through said light transmission aperture, and repeatedly scanning said amplitude modulated laser beam across the width of said conveyor belt structure;
a light collecting mechanism, mounted within said system housing, for collecting laser light reflected off said scanned object and focusing said reflected laser light;
a photodetector, mounted on said optical bench, for detecting said focused laser light and producing an electrical signal corresponding thereto;
signal processing circuitry, disposed within said system housing, for processing said produced electrical signal and, during each scan of said amplitude modulated laser beam across said scanned object, generating a row of raw digital range data representative of the distance from said scanning element to sampled points along said scanned object, measured with respect to a polar-type coordinate system symbolically-embedded within said automatic object dimensioning system;
a preprocessing data buffer, disposed within said system housing, for storing rows of raw digital range data produced by said signal processing circuitry; and
a programmed digital image processor, disposed within said system housing, for(i) receiving rows of raw range data from said preprocessing data buffer,(ii) processing data, including said rows of raw digital range data buffered in said preprocessing data buffer, so as to automatically produce a range data map representative of the space above said conveyor belt structure and buffer said range data map, and trace contours within said buffered range data map, and(iii) computing dimension-related parameters of the object represented by said image contours traced within said buffered range data map.
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Abstract
A fully automated package identification and measuring system, in which an omni-directional holographic scanning tunnel is used to read bar codes on packages entering the tunnel, while a package dimensioning subsystem is used to capture information about the package prior to entry into the tunnel. Mathematical models are created on a real-time basis for the geometry of the package and the position of the laser scanning beam used to read the bar code symbol thereon. The mathematical models are analyzed to determine if collected and queued package identification data is spatially and/or temporally correlated with package measurement data using vector-based ray-tracing methods, homogeneous transformations, and object-oriented decision logic so as to enable simultaneous tracking of multiple packages being transported through the scanning tunnel.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. An automated object dimensioning system for measuring dimension-related parameters of a scanned object transported along a conveyor belt structure, comprising:
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a system housing having a light transmission aperture, supportable above a conveyor belt structure; an optical bench, disposed within said system housing; a laser beam production module disposed within said system housing, for generating an amplitude modulated laser beam; a scanning mechanism, mounted on said optical bench, for projecting and said amplitude modulated laser beam through said light transmission aperture, and repeatedly scanning said amplitude modulated laser beam across the width of said conveyor belt structure; a light collecting mechanism, mounted within said system housing, for collecting laser light reflected off said scanned object and focusing said reflected laser light; a photodetector, mounted on said optical bench, for detecting said focused laser light and producing an electrical signal corresponding thereto; signal processing circuitry, disposed within said system housing, for processing said produced electrical signal and, during each scan of said amplitude modulated laser beam across said scanned object, generating a row of raw digital range data representative of the distance from said scanning element to sampled points along said scanned object, measured with respect to a polar-type coordinate system symbolically-embedded within said automatic object dimensioning system; a preprocessing data buffer, disposed within said system housing, for storing rows of raw digital range data produced by said signal processing circuitry; and a programmed digital image processor, disposed within said system housing, for (i) receiving rows of raw range data from said preprocessing data buffer, (ii) processing data, including said rows of raw digital range data buffered in said preprocessing data buffer, so as to automatically produce a range data map representative of the space above said conveyor belt structure and buffer said range data map, and trace contours within said buffered range data map, and (iii) computing dimension-related parameters of the object represented by said image contours traced within said buffered range data map. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13)
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11. The automated object dimensioning system of 1, wherein said scanning mechanism comprises a holographic-type laser scanning mechanism for scanning said amplitude modulated laser beam across the width of said conveyor belt structure.
Specification