Methods and systems for imaging and classifying targets as empty or non-empty
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for processing an empty-status of a target comprising:
- directing radiation at a target with at least one radiation source;
detecting the directed radiation that passes through the target with at least one radiation detector;
generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and
processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, the processing including;
identifying a region of the target in the target image; and
determining an interior of the target from the identified target region, including;
identifying a first wall and a second wall of the target;
identifying a floor of the target; and
identifying a ceiling of the target, including;
determining whether a correlation in mean brightness intensity from one pixel row to an adjacent lower pixel row in the container region meets a predetermined correlation threshold when the one pixel row is shifted to right or left, beginning from a top of the container region; and
upon determining that the correlation in mean brightness intensity between one of the upper pixel rows in the container region when shifted to the left or right and an adjacent lower one of the pixels no longer meets the predetermined correlation, identifying the one upper pixel row as the target ceiling.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to systems and methods for characterizing targets, e.g., trucks, pallets, trains, cars, and the like, using digital target imaging. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide, at base: a) image segmentation and filtering to identify surrounding white space, interior walls, floor, and ceiling of the container; morphology routines to identify and classify objects found inside the container; and decision routines to report status of container as empty or non-empty with a confidence factor from 1-100.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for processing an empty-status of a target comprising:
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directing radiation at a target with at least one radiation source; detecting the directed radiation that passes through the target with at least one radiation detector; generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, the processing including; identifying a region of the target in the target image; and determining an interior of the target from the identified target region, including; identifying a first wall and a second wall of the target; identifying a floor of the target; and identifying a ceiling of the target, including; determining whether a correlation in mean brightness intensity from one pixel row to an adjacent lower pixel row in the container region meets a predetermined correlation threshold when the one pixel row is shifted to right or left, beginning from a top of the container region; and upon determining that the correlation in mean brightness intensity between one of the upper pixel rows in the container region when shifted to the left or right and an adjacent lower one of the pixels no longer meets the predetermined correlation, identifying the one upper pixel row as the target ceiling. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for imaging a target comprising:
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a radiation source configured to direct radiation at the target; a detector configured to detect at least a portion of the radiation from the radiation source that passes through the target; a computer readable medium on which is encoded program code, the program code comprising; program code for generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and program code for processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, including; program code for identifying a region of the target in the target image; program code for determining an interior of the target from the identified target region, including; program code for identifying a first wall and a second wall of the target; program code for identifying a floor of the target; program code for identifying a ceiling of the target, including; program code for determining whether a correlation in mean brightness intensity from one pixel row to an adjacent lower pixel row in the container region meets a predetermined correlation threshold when the one pixel row is shifted to right or left, beginning from a top of the container region; and upon determining that the correlation in mean brightness intensity between one of the upper pixel rows in the container region when shifted to the left or right and an adjacent lower one of the pixels no longer meets the predetermined correlation, program code identifying the one upper pixel row as the target ceiling. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for processing an empty-status of a target comprising:
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directing radiation at a target with at least one radiation source; detecting the directed radiation that passes through the target with at least one radiation detector; generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, the processing including; identifying a region of the target in the target image; and determining an interior of the target from the identified target region including; identifying a first wall and a second wall of the target; identifying a floor of the target; and identifying a ceiling of the target including; performing a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) of the brightness intensity of each pixel row in the target region; identifying a dominant frequency from the FFT of a predetermined number of upper rows in the target region; identifying a disappearance of dominant frequency from one of the predetermined upper rows to another one of the predetermined upper rows; and selecting the one of the predetermined upper rows as the target ceiling.
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23. A method for processing an empty-status of a target comprising:
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directing radiation at a target with at least one radiation source; detecting the directed radiation that passes through the target with at least one radiation detector; generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, the processing including; identifying a region of the target in the target image; and determining an interior of the target from the identified target region, including; identifying a first wall and a second wall of the target; identifying a floor of the target; and identifying a ceiling of the target, including; determining vertical and diagonal edge pixels in the container region; calculating a mean edge density function for all pixel rows in the container region based on the determined vertical and diagonal edges; fitting a best ramp function to the mean edge density function; and identifying the target ceiling from the best ramp function.
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24. A method for processing an empty-status of a target comprising:
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directing radiation at a target with at least one radiation source; detecting the directed radiation that passes through the target with at least one radiation detector; generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, the processing including; identifying a region of the target in the target image; determining an interior of the target from the identified target region; performing a first segmentation of the target interior into empty and non-empty regions; reporting any problems with the processing of the target image; determining whether the non-empty region exceeds a predetermined threshold percentage of the target; upon the non-empty region exceeding the predetermined threshold percentage, classifying the target as non-empty; upon the non-empty region not exceeding the predetermined threshold percentage additionally processing the target image to evaluate the non-empty region including; removing any vertical patterns from the empty region of the target interior; re-determining the target interior based at least on the removing the vertical patterns from the empty region of the target interior; performing a second segmentation of the target interior into new empty and new non-empty regions based on the re-determining the target interior; performing morphological operations to the new non-empty region; identifying one or more objects in the non-empty region and assigning weighing factors to pixels representing the one or more identified objects based on the morphological operations; declaring the target as empty or non-empty based on the first predetermined criterion; and assigning a confidence factor based at least on the weighting factors to the pixels representing the one or more identified objects.
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25. A system for imaging a target comprising:
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a radiation source configured to direct radiation at the target; a detector configured to detect at least a portion of the radiation from the radiation source that passes through the target; a computer readable medium on which is encoded program code, the program code comprising; program code for generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and program code for processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, including; program code for identifying a region of the target in the target image; program code for determining an interior of the target from the identified target region, including; program code for identifying a first wall and a second wall of the target; program code for identifying a floor of the target; program code for identifying a ceiling of the target including; program code for performing a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) of the brightness intensity of each pixel row in the target region; program code for identifying a dominant frequency from the FFT of a predetermined number of upper rows in the target region; program code for identifying a disappearance of dominant frequency from one of the predetermined upper rows to another one of the predetermined upper rows; and program code for selecting the one of the predetermined upper rows as the target ceiling.
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26. A system for imaging a target comprising:
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a radiation source configured to direct radiation at the target; a detector configured to detect at least a portion of the radiation from the radiation source that passes through the target; a computer readable medium on which is encoded program code, the program code comprising; program code for generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and program code for processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, including; program code for identifying a region of the target in the target image; program code for determining an interior of the target from the identified target region, including; program code for identifying a first wall and a second wall of the target; program code for identifying a floor of the target; program code for identifying a ceiling of the target, including; program code for determining vertical and diagonal edge pixels in the container region; program code for calculating a mean edge density function for all pixel rows in the container region based on the determined vertical and diagonal edges; program code for fitting a best ramp function to the mean edge density function; and program code for identifying the target ceiling from the best ramp function.
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27. A system for imaging a target comprising:
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a radiation source configured to direct radiation at the target; a detector configured to detect at least a portion of the radiation from the radiation source that passes through the target; a computer readable medium on which is encoded program code, the program code comprising; program code for generating an image of the target, the image including a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, each of the plurality of pixels is assigned a brightness intensity based on the detecting; and program code for processing the target image based on the brightness intensity of each of the plurality of pixels to declare the target as empty or non-empty in accordance with a first predetermined criterion, including; program code for identifying a region of the target in the target image; program code for determining an interior of the target from the identified target region, including; program code for performing a first segmentation of the target interior into empty and non-empty regions; and program code for reporting any problems with the processing of the target image, including; program code for determining whether the non-empty region exceeds a predetermined threshold percentage of the target; and program code for upon the non-empty region exceeding the predetermined threshold percentage, classifying the target as non-empty upon the non-empty region not exceeding the predetermined threshold percentage, program code for additionally processing the target image to evaluate the non-empty region, including; program code for removing any vertical patterns from the empty region of the target interior; program code for re-determining the target interior based at least on the removing the vertical patterns from the empty region of the target interior; and program code for performing a second segmentation of the target interior into new empty and new non-empty regions based on the re-determining the target interior program code for performing morphological operations to the new non-empty region; program code for identifying one or more objects in the non-empty region and assigning weighing factors to pixels representing the one or more identified objects based on the morphological operations; program code for declaring the target as empty or non-empty based on the first predetermined criterion; and program code for assigning a confidence factor based at least on the weighting factors to the pixels representing the one or more identified objects.
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Specification