Barrier operator system and method with obstruction detection

• US 8,558,885 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Chamberlain Group LLC
• Original Assignee: The Chamberlain Group, Inc. (The Chamberlain Group LLC)
• Inventors: Fitzgibbon, James J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Czekaj, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): LI, TRACY Y
• Application Number:
  US11/529,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20080079810A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,573 Days
• Field of Search: 348143-169
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 13/24 Safety devices in passenger lifts, not otherwise provided for, for preventing trapping of passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 29/005 Applications of security monitors
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 5/0012 Devices monitoring the users of the elevator system
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69

Abstract

At least one of an area to protect and an area to ignore are marked using a visual indicator. The area to protect and the area to ignore are in proximity to a moveable barrier operator system. Visual inputs from a camera representative of the visual indicator are received and evaluated to automatically distinguish between the area to protect and the area to ignore. An evaluation area of the camera is limited so as to coincide with substantially only with the area to protect. Thereafter, it is determined whether an obstruction exists in the evaluation area of the camera. The evaluation area may be recorded and used for future determinations as to whether obstructions exist in the pathway of the barrier.

Claims

1. A method for detecting an obstruction in a pathway of a moveable barrier, the method comprising:

at a first time;

receiving and recording visual inputs from and representative of a physical visual indicator via a camera having a field of view, the field of view comprising both an area to protect and an area to ignore, wherein the physical visual indicator defines an indicated area within the field of view that corresponds to at least one of the area to protect and the area to ignore, the indicated area having a fixed location which has been visually defined by a user within the field of view, the at least one of the area to protect and the area to ignore being in proximity to a moveable barrier which is configured to be moved by a movable barrier operator having a controller programmed to move the barrier;

evaluating the visual inputs from the physical visual indicator to determine the location of the indicated area within the field of view;

separating the field of view into the area to protect and the area to ignore;

determining a fixed evaluation area using the inputs representative of the physical visual indicator of the field of view that coincides with substantially only the area to protect;

defining a mask indicating the area to ignore and storing the mask in a memory;

at a second time;

retrieving the mask from the memory;

receiving an image of the field of view from the camera without the physical visual indicator;

applying the mask to the image to mask out objects that are located outside the fixed evaluation area but within the field of view of the camera without the presence of the physical visual indicator used to define the indicated area; and

determining whether an obstruction exists in the fixed evaluation area of the camera defined by the mask without the presence of the physical visual indicator used to define the indicated area and ignoring obstructions within the field of view but outside the fixed evaluation area.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising recording the evaluation area.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical visual indicator is a user creation which is selected from the group consisting of a marking applied to a surface, a manual walk-through of the at least one of the area to protect area and the area to ignore to define at least one of the area to protect and area to ignore, and a boundary formed with a light source to define at least one of the area to protect and area to ignore.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the evaluating comprises receiving an actuation from a remote control.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising starting, stopping or halting the evaluating in response to receiving the actuation.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the walk-through comprises a manual walk around of a border of at least one of the area to protect and the area to ignore.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical visual indicator has a characteristic selected from the group consisting of a predetermined shape, a predetermined dimension, a predetermined intensity, and a predetermined color.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the physical visual indicator is formed from a material selected from the group consisting of tape, paint, and string.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining an evasive action to take in response to determining an obstruction exists.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the evasive action is selected from the group consisting of halting a movement of the barrier and reversing a movement of the barrier.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining coordinates of the visual indicator.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the mask comprises the coordinates.

13. A movable barrier operator apparatus comprising:

a camera having a field of view;

a controller coupled to the camera, the controller configured to receive visual inputs from the camera and control movement of a barrier, the controller being programmed to;

at a first time

distinguish between an area to protect and an area to ignore which are fixed in a field of view of the camera and in proximity to a moveable barrier operator system based upon the received visual inputs from and representative of a manually formed physical visual indicator which visually defines the area to protect and the area to ignore fixed within the field of view of the camera;

distinguish between the area to protect and the area to ignore based upon characteristics of the manually formed physical visual indicator,

define a mask corresponding to substantially only the area to ignore to limit an evaluation area of the field of view of the camera so as to coincide with substantially only the area to protect in response to receiving the visual inputs representative of the manually formed physical visual indicator, and

store the mask in a memory and retrieve the mask from the memory,

at a second time;

receive a first group of visual images and apply the mask to the first group of visual images independent of the presence of the manually formed physical visual indicator at the second time to mask out objects outside the evaluation area but within the field of view, and

determine whether an obstruction to a pathway of the barrier exists in the evaluation area independent of the presence of the manually formed physical visual indicator at the second time.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to determining that an obstruction exists in the evaluation area, perform an evasive action at the barrier in order to avoid the obstruction.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the evasive action is an action selected from the group consisting of halting a movement of the barrier and reversing a movement of the barrier.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the manually formed physical visual indicator is selected from the group consisting of a marking applied to a surface, a human walk-through of at least one of the area to protect and the area to ignore to define at least one of the area to protect and area to ignore, and a boundary formed with a light source to define at least one of the area to protect and area to ignore.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the controller which is configured to receive the visual inputs is also configured to respond to receiving an actuation from a remote control to cause the controller to detect the formation of the physical visual indicator.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the actuation comprises starting, stopping or halting the controller detecting the formation of the physical visual indicator.

19. The of claim 16 wherein the human walk-through comprises a manual walk around of a border of at least one of the area to protect and the area to ignore.

20. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein manually formed physical visual indicator is a physical marker which has a characteristic selected from the group consisting of a predetermined shape, a predetermined dimension, a predetermined intensity, and a predetermined color.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the physical marker is made using a material selected from the group consisting of tape, paint, and string.

22. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the barrier is selected from the group consisting of a garage door, a swinging door, a swinging gate, a sliding gate, and shutters.

23. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the controller is further programmed to store the evaluation area in a memory for future obstruction detection.