Method and system for identification of assets

• US 9,070,057 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2012
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Hamilton, Donald Wagner, Tu, Peter Henry, Yu, Ting, Yao, Yi, Gao, Dashan
• Primary Examiner(s): Stanford, Christopher
• Assistant Examiner(s): Habib, Asifa
• Application Number:
  US13/663,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20140117077A1
• Time in Patent Office: 973 Days
• Field of Search: 235/382, 369/1, 256/621, 700/12, 250/226, 359/351, 340/573.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/382 absorbing or reflecting infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/20 involving the use of a pass
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/253 visually
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6812 based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/684 performed by controlling the image sensor readout, e.g. by controlling the integration time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

A method for identifying assets is provided. The method includes illuminating an identification pattern associated with the asset with non-visible light. The identification pattern includes retroreflective material that represents identity information of the asset. The method further includes adjusting either a shutter speed of an image sensor, or a power of the non-visible light, or both, based on motion state of the asset. The image sensor is configured to receive response of the retroreflective material to the non-visible light. Furthermore, the method includes the step of identifying the asset based on decoded identity information. The decoded identity information is obtained by processing the response of the retroreflective material.

Claims

1. A method for identifying an asset, the method comprising:

illuminating an identification pattern for the asset with non-visible light, wherein the identification pattern comprises retroreflective material encoding identity information of the asset;

adjusting a shutter speed of an image sensor and a power of the non-visible light based on a motion state of the asset, wherein the motion state of the asset causes oscillating movement of the identification pattern, wherein the image sensor is configured to receive a response of the retroreflective material to the incident non-visible light;

selecting at least a portion of the response for processing based on a determination of a probable location of the identification pattern on the asset, wherein the probable location of the identification pattern is detected based on the oscillating movement of the identification pattern; and

identifying the asset based on decoded identity information, wherein the decoded identity information is obtained by processing the selected portion of the response of the retroreflective material.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the oscillating movement of the identification pattern causes an angle of incidence of the non-visible light with respect to the identification pattern to vary.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining the motion state of the asset through a second imaging sensor disposed to capture images of the asset.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein processing the response further comprising:

obtaining a binary image from the response received by the image sensor;

labeling connected components of the binary image; and

determine identity information from the labeled connected components of the binary image.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising forming the identification pattern by placing light blocking material over a substrate of the retroreflective material.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising disposing the image sensor proximate to a light source, wherein the light source is configured to emit the non-visible light.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising adjusting a spectral sensitivity of the image sensor to a wavelength of the non-visible light emitted by a light source.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining the identity information from a plurality of identity information determined from the response of the retroreflective material, wherein the identity information is determined based on historical information pertaining to the correlation of the asset with each of the plurality of identity information.

9. A system for identification of an asset, the system comprising:

an identification pattern for the asset comprising retroreflective material, wherein the identification pattern encodes identity information of the asset;

a light source for illuminating the identification pattern for the asset with non-visible light;

an image sensor disposed to receive a response of the identification pattern to the incident non-visible light; and

a processor configured to;

generate control commands to control a shutter speed of the image sensor and a power supplied to the light source based on a motion state of the asset, wherein the motion state of the asset causes an oscillating movement of the identification pattern;

select at least a portion of the response based on a determination of a probable location of the identification pattern, wherein the probable location of the identification pattern is detected based on the oscillating movement of the identification pattern; and

process the selected portion of the response of the identification pattern to decode the identity information of the asset.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, further comprises a controller configured to control one or both of the shutter speed of the image sensor, or the power supplied to the light source based on the control commands generated by the processor.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, further comprises a second image sensor to capture images of the asset in motion, wherein the motion state of the asset is varying.

12. The system as recited in claim 9, further comprises a controller configured to adjust an angle of incidence of the light source with respect to the identification pattern based on the oscillating movement of the identification pattern.

13. The system as recited in claim 9, further comprises light blocking material of predetermined shapes disposed on a substrate of the retroreflective material to form the identification pattern.

14. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

obtain a binary image from the response received by the image sensor;

label connected components of the binary image; and

determine identity information from the labeled connected components of the binary image.

15. The system as recited in claim 9 further comprises a data repository to store information pertaining to past identity information determination for the asset.

16. A system for identification of at least one asset in a hospital, the system comprising:

an identification pattern for the asset comprising retroreflective material, wherein the identification pattern encodes identity information of the asset;

a light source for illuminating the identification pattern for the asset with non-visible light;

an image sensor disposed to receive a response of the identification pattern to the incident non-visible light; and

a processor configured to;

generate control commands to control a shutter speed of the image sensor and a power supplied to the light source based on a motion state of the asset, wherein the motion state of the asset causes an oscillating movement of the identification pattern;

select at least a portion of the response based on a determination of a probable location of the identification pattern, wherein the probable location of the identification pattern is detected based on the oscillating movement of the identification pattern; and

process the selected portion of the response of the identification pattern to decode the identity information of the asset.

17. The system as recited in claim 16, further comprises a second image sensor to capture images of the asset in motion.

18. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to calculate the motion state of the asset based on image inputs provided by the second image sensor.

19. The system as recited in claim 16, further comprises a controller configured to control one or both of the shutter speed of the image sensor, or the power supplied to the light source based on the control commands generated by the processor.

20. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

obtain a binary image from the response received by the image sensor;

label connected components of the binary image; and

determine identity information from the labeled connected components of the binary image.

21. The system as recited in claim 16 further comprises a data repository to store information pertaining to past identity information determination for the asset.