Digital imaging for vehicular and other security applications
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus comprising:
- means for capturing an image of an area of a vehicle that should remain unaltered after a reference image for said area is stored;
means for comparing an image captured by said means for capturing to said reference image of said vehicle and for making a determination as to whether there exists at least one difference between said reference image and said captured image; and
means for producing an alert when it is determined that at least one difference exists.
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Abstract
Apparatus for inspecting a vehicle in order to determine whether portions of the vehicle have been altered to conceal contraband or explosives. The apparatus captures an image of an area of a vehicle that should not be altered from a known configuration and compares the image to a reference image of the area as it should appear if it is unaltered. If the captured image and the reference image match, the vehicle is considered unaltered, and hence safe to pass. If the captured image and the reference image do not match, the vehicle is identified as likely to have been altered, and hence a candidate for further inspection. An alert is produced if at least one such difference is found.
82 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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means for capturing an image of an area of a vehicle that should remain unaltered after a reference image for said area is stored;
means for comparing an image captured by said means for capturing to said reference image of said vehicle and for making a determination as to whether there exists at least one difference between said reference image and said captured image; and
means for producing an alert when it is determined that at least one difference exists. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for inspecting an area of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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capturing an image of said area of said vehicle that should remain unaltered after a reference image for said area is stored;
comparing said captured image to said reference image of said vehicle and making a determination as to whether there exists at least one difference between said reference image and said captured image; and
producing an alert when there exists at least one difference. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of operating a system for inspecting an area of a vehicle, said system having a) an automated image capture system, b) at least one processor executing an image matching process, and c) said at least one processor having access to at least one database that stores a reference image, said method comprising the steps of:
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capturing, with said automated image capture system, an image of said area of said vehicle that should remain unaltered after said reference image for said area is stored;
determining, by said processor, whether there exists any differences between said captured image and said reference image; and
producing an alert when the result of said determining step is that there exists at least one difference.
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- 18. An apparatus operable to a) capture an image of an area of a vehicle that should remain unaltered after a reference image for said area is stored, b) compare said captured image to said reference image, and c) produce an alert when at least one difference exists between said captured image of said area and said reference image.
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20. An apparatus comprising:
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a digital image capture for capturing a digital image of an area of a vehicle that should remain unaltered after a reference image for said area is stored;
an identification reader for obtaining an identifier of said vehicle; and
a processor for comparing said captured image of said area with a reference image obtained from a database of reference images of vehicles as a function of said identifier, and for generating an alert signal when at least one difference is found. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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Specification