Identification of a pantograph represented in an image

A computer system for identifying a pantograph represented in an image comprised of points, the computer system comprising:

• a memory to store instructions;
• a bus to communicate the instructions from the memory;
• a processor to perform the instructions from the memory communicated via the bus
• for each pair of adjacent edges represented in the images, to determine a plurality of distances between the adjacent edges, where the plurality of distances are in a same direction;
• for each of the plurality of distances, to determine a point weight for points of the image between the adjacent edges in the same direction by comparing the distance to a value or a value range representing a dimension of the pantograph;
• and
• to determine a region of the image that represents the pantograph based on the point weights.

A computer-implemented method for determining a condition of a pantograph, the method comprising:

• for each pair of adjacent edges represented in the image, determining a plurality of distances between the adjacent edges, wherein the plurality of distances are in a same direction;
• for each of the plurality of distances, determining a point weight for points of the image associated with the distance by comparing the distance to a value or a value range representing a dimension of the pantograph;
• determining a region of the image that represents the pantograph based on the point weights;
• and
• comparing the region of the image that represents the pantograph to at least one of an expected range of point weights or a prior recorded region of the image that represents the pantograph, wherein a deviation from the expected range or from the prior recorded region indicates a damaged condition of the pantograph.