Parcel dimensioning measurement system and method

• US 8,132,728 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2007
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SICK Incorporated (Sick)
• Original Assignee: SICK Incorporated (Sick)
• Inventors: Dwinell, John, Bian, Long Xiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): GUDORF, LAURA A
• Application Number:
  US11/732,541
• Publication Number:
  US 20080245873A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,805 Days
• Field of Search: 235/454, 235/440, 235/462.41, 382/101, 382/102
• US Class Current: 235/454
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/60 Analysis of geometric attributes

Abstract

A parcel dimension measurement system includes image sensors oriented to image a parcel, an imaging subsystem configured to stitch together outputs of the image sensors to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels, and a general dimension subsystem including general parcel dimension information. A fine dimensioning subsystem is configured to determine dimension measurements of the parcel using the at least one two-dimensional image and the general parcel dimension information.

Claims

1. A parcel dimension measurement system comprising:

line scan cameras oriented to image a parcel having six faces or sides as said parcel is transported through a shipping or sorting tunnel system;

an imaging subsystem configured to stitch together outputs of the line scan cameras to produce a two-dimensional image of at least one face or side of said parcel, said two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

a general dimension subsystem including general parcel dimension information; and

a fine dimensioning subsystem configured to include line scanning to determine dimension measurements of said at least one face of the parcel using the two-dimensional image and the general parcel dimension information.

2. The system of claim 1 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is configured to:

locate points on the parcel in the two-dimensional image using the general parcel dimension information,

calculate the number of pixels from one point to another point, and

convert the number of pixels to a dimension measurement.

3. The system of claim 2 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is configured to locate a point on the parcel in the at least one two-dimensional image by:

determining pixel coordinates of a point on the parcel in the least one two-dimensional image;

conducting line scans proximate said point;

calculating an average numerical value of the pixels in each line scan;

detecting a significant change in the average numerical value of the pixels of the line scans proximate the pixel coordinates of said point; and

setting the pixel coordinates of said point to pixel coordinate values where the significant change in the average numerical value of the pixels of the line scans was detected.

4. The system of claim 2 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is , configured to convert the number of pixels to a dimension measurement by:

determining dots per inch from the image sensors; and

multiplying the number of pixels calculated by the dots per inch.

5. The system of claim 3 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is configured to calculate the number of pixels from one point to another point by determining the difference between the pixel coordinate values of the two points.

6. The system of claim 2 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is further configured to create a mapping of said points in the two-dimensional image.

7. The system of claim 6 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is further configured to formulate from said mapping a line representing an edge of the parcel in the two-dimensional image.

8. The system of claim 3 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is further configured to conduct multi-level detection and set the pixel coordinates of the point using sub-sampling of the at least one two-dimensional image.

9. The system of claim 3 in which the points are located on an edge of the two-dimensional image of the parcel.

10. The system of claim 3 in which at least one point is a corner of the two-dimensional image of the parcel.

11. The system of claim 10 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is further configured to set the pixel coordinates of four corners of the parcel in the at least one two-dimensional image.

12. The system of claim 11 in which the fine dimensioning subsystem is further configured to set the pixel coordinates of the four corners of each face of the parcel.

13. The system of claim 1 in which the dimension measurement is a legal for trade dimension.

14. The system of claim 1 in which the imaging subsystem is configured to store in memory the at least one two-dimensional image of the parcel.

15. The system of claim 1 further including a bar code decoder subsystem configured to decode any bar codes on the parcel.

16. The system of claim 15 in which bar code data and parcel dimension measurements are integrated and displayed.

40. The system of claim 1 in which said fine dimensioning subsystem is configured to determine dimension measurements of less than one inch.

17. A parcel dimension measurement system comprising:

image sensors oriented to image a parcel;

an imaging subsystem configured to stitch together outputs of the image sensors to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

a general dimension subsystem including general parcel dimension information; and

a fine dimensioning subsystem configured to;

locate points on the parcel in the two-dimensional image using the general parcel dimension information by;

determining pixel coordinates of a point on the parcel in the least one two-dimensional image,

conducting line scans proximate said point,

calculating an average numerical value of the pixels in each line scan,

detecting a significant change in the average numerical value of the pixels of the line scans proximate the pixel coordinates of said point,

setting the pixel coordinates of said point to pixel coordinate values where the significant change in the average numerical value of the pixels of the line scans was detected;

calculate the number of pixels from one point to another point; and

convert the number of pixels to a dimension measurement.

18. A parcel dimension measurement system comprising:

image sensors oriented to image a parcel;

an imaging subsystem configured to stitch together outputs of the image sensors to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

a general dimension subsystem including general parcel dimension information; and

a fine dimensioning subsystem configured to;

locate points on the parcel in the two-dimensional image using the general parcel dimension information,

calculate the number of pixels from one point to another point in the two-dimensional image, and

convert the number of pixels to a dimension measurement by determining dots per inch from the image sensors and multiplying the number of pixels calculated by the dots per inch.

19. A parcel dimension measurement method comprising:

imaging a parcel having six faces or sides using line scan cameras as said parcel is transported through a shipping or sorting tunnel system;

stitching together outputs of the line scan cameras to produce a two-dimensional image of at least one face or side of said parcel, said two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

determining general parcel dimension information; and

determining dimension measurements of the parcel using line scanning, the two-dimensional image and the general parcel dimension information.

20. The method of claim 19 further including:

locating points on the parcel in the two-dimensional image using the general parcel dimension information;

calculating the number of pixels from one point to another point in the at least one two-dimensional image; and

converting the number of pixels to a dimension measurement.

21. The method of claim 20 further including:

determining pixel coordinates of a point on the parcel in the least one two-dimensional image;

conducting line scans proximate said point;

calculating an average numerical value of the pixels in each line scan;

detecting a significant change in the average numerical value of the pixels of the line scans proximate the pixel coordinates of said point; and

setting the pixel coordinates of said point to pixel coordinate values where the significant change in the average numerical value of the pixels of the line scans was detected.

22. The method of claim 20 in which converting the number of pixels to a dimension measurement includes:

determining dots per inch from the line scan cameras; and

multiplying the number of pixels calculated by the dots per inch.

23. The method of claim 21 in which calculating the number of pixels from one point to another point includes determining the difference between the pixel coordinate values of the two points.

24. The method of claim 20 further including creating a mapping of said points in the two-dimensional image.

25. The method of claim 24 further including formulating from said mapping a line representing an edge of the two-dimensional image of the parcel.

26. The method of claim 21 further including conducting multi-level detection and setting of the pixel coordinates of said point using sub-sampling of the at least one two-dimensional images.

27. The method of claim 21 in which said points are located on an edge of the two-dimensional image of the parcel.

28. The method of claim 21 in which at least one point is a corner of the two-dimensional image of the parcel.

29. The method of claim 28 further including setting the pixel coordinates of four corners of the parcel in the at least one two-dimensional image.

30. The method of claim 29 further including setting the pixel coordinates of four corners of each face of the parcel.

31. The method of claim 19 in which the fine dimension measurement is a legal for trade dimension.

32. The method of claim 19 further including storing in memory the at least one two-dimensional image of the parcel.

33. The method of claim 19 further including decoding any bar codes on the parcel.

34. The method of claim 33 further including integrating and displaying bar code data and parcel fine dimension measurements.

35. A parcel dimension measurement method comprising:

imaging a parcel using image sensors;

stitching together outputs of the image sensors to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

determining general parcel dimension information;

locating points on the parcel in the two-dimensional image using the general parcel dimension information by;

determining pixel coordinates of a point on the parcel in the least one two-dimensional image,

conducting line scans proximate said point,

calculating an average numerical value of the pixels in each line scan,

detecting a significant change in the average numerical value of the pixels of the line scans proximate the pixel coordinates of said point,

setting the pixel coordinates of said point to pixel coordinate values where the significant change in the average numerical value of the pixels of the line scans was detected;

calculating the number of pixels from one point to another point; and

converting the number of pixels to dimension measurement.

36. A parcel dimension measurement method comprising:

imaging a parcel using image sensors;

stitching together outputs of the image sensors to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

determining general parcel dimension information;

locating points on the parcel in the two-dimensional image using the general parcel dimension information;

calculating the number of pixels from one point to another point; and

converting the number of pixels to a dimension measurement by determining dots per inch from the image sensors and multiplying the number of pixels calculated by the dots per inch.

37. A parcel dimension measurement system comprising:

image sensors oriented to produce one-dimensional images a parcel;

an imaging subsystem configured to stitch together outputs of the image sensors to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

a general dimension subsystem including general parcel dimension information; and

a fine dimensioning subsystem configured to determine dimension measurements of the parcel of less than one inch using the at least one two-dimensional image and the general parcel dimension information.

38. A parcel dimension measurement system comprising:

image sensors oriented to produce a one-dimensional image of a parcel;

an imaging subsystem configured to stitch together outputs of the image sensors to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

a general dimension subsystem including general parcel dimension information;

a fine dimensioning subsystem configured to determine dimension measurements of the parcel using the at least one two-dimensional image and the general parcel dimension information; and

a bar code decoder subsystem configured to decode any bar codes on the parcel, with bar code data and parcel dimension measurements integrated and displayed.

39. A parcel dimension measurement method comprising:

imaging a parcel using image sensors;

stitching together outputs of the image sensors to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

determining general parcel dimension information;

determining dimension measurements of the parcel using the at least one two-dimensional image and the general parcel dimension information;

locating points on the parcel in the two-dimensional image using the general parcel dimension information;

calculating the number of pixels from one point to another point in the at least one two-dimensional image; and

converting the number of pixels to a dimension measurement by;

determining dots per inch from the image sensors; and

multiplying the number of pixels calculated by the dots per inch.

41. A parcel dimension measurement system comprising:

line scan cameras oriented to image a parcel;

an imaging subsystem configured to stitch together outputs of the line scan cameras to produce at least one two-dimensional image comprised of a plurality of pixels;

a general dimension subsystem including general parcel dimension information and at least one unit configured to measure general dimensions of the parcel; and

a fine dimensioning subsystem configured to determine dimension measurements of the parcel using the at least one two-dimensional image and the general parcel dimension information and to determine the parcel dimensions more precisely based on the general parcel dimension information known from the general dimension subsystem.