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US 11,893,727 B2Granted
Rail feature identification system
AssigneeHarsco Technologies LLC
InventorJavier Fernandez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure includes systems, devices, and methods for identifying, detecting, and/or tracking rail features. In some aspects, a system includes a camera and a computer having at least one memory, at least one processor configured to receive a plurality of images from the camera, and for each of the images: assigning a location identifier and identifying one or more rail features that correspond to one of a plurality of predetermined rail features. In some systems, the at least one processor is configured to determine a location of each of the one or more identified rail features.
Claims19
A rail vehicle comprising:
- a frame coupled to a plurality of rail wheels configured to move along a rail track;
- and
- a railroad track feature detection system coupled to the frame, the feature detection system comprising:
- a camera coupled to the frame and positioned such that the camera is configured to capture a plurality of images of a rail track as the rail vehicle moves along the rail track;
- and
- a computer having:
- at least one memory comprising instructions;
- and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to:
- receive the plurality of images, and for each of the images:
- assign a location identifier;
- detect one or more rail features;
- identify the one or more rail features as a relevant rail feature from a dataset of predetermined rail features;
- and
- assign a feature identifier to each identified rail feature;
- based on the location identifier and the feature identifier:
- determine a geographical location of the one or rail more features;
- and
- track the one or more rail features;
- assign a first location identifier to a first image of the plurality of images;
- identify, in the first image, the one or more rail features;
- assign a second location identifier to a second image of the plurality of images;
- compare the first location identifier with the second location identifiter to determine a first displacement distance between the identified rail features in the first image;
- based on the first displacement distance, determine if one or more rail features in the second image correspond to one of the one or more identified rail features in the first image;
- and
- based on the determintion that:
- a first subset of the one or more rail features in the second image correspond to at least one of the one or more identified rail features in the first image, setting the first subset as detected rail features and re-identifying the first subset of the one or more rail features;
- and
- a second subset of the one or more features in the second image does not correspond to at least one of the one or more identified rail features in the first image, setting the second subset as detected rail features and identifying, in the first image, the second subset of the one or more rail features.
25 more elements
A railroad track feature detection system comprising:
- an imaging device configured to be coupled to a frame of a rail vehicle and positioned such that the imaging device is configured to capture a plurality of images of a rail track as the rail vehicle moves along the rail track;
- and
- a computer having:
- at least one memory comprising instructions, at least a portion of the instructions configured as a neural network;
- and
- at least one processor configured to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to perform one or more operations in real-time;
- wherein the one or more operations include:
- receiving the plurality of images, and for each of the images:
- assigning a location identifier;
- and
- identifying one or more rail features that correspond to one of a plurality of predetermined rail features;
- and
- determining a location of each of the one or more identified rail features;
- assigning a first location identifier to a first image of the plurality of images,
- identifying, in the first image, the one or more rail features;
- assigning a second location identifier to a second image of the plurality of images,
- comparing the first location identifier with the second location identifier to determine a first displacement distance between the identified rail features in the first image;
- based on the first displacement distance, determining if one or more rail features in the second image correspond to one of the one or more identified rail features in the first image;
- based on the determintion that:
- a first subset of the one or more rail features in the second image correspond to at least one of the one or more identified rail features in the first image, setting the first subset as detected rail features and re-identifying the first subset of the one or more rail features;
- and
- a second subset of the one or more rail features in the second image does not correspond to at least one of the one or more identified rail features in the first image, setting the second subset as detected rail features and identifying, in the first image, the second subset of the one or more rail features.
19 more elements
A railroad track feature detection system comprising:
- an imaging device configured to be coupled to a frame of a rail vehicle and postioned such that the imaging device is configured to capture a plurality of images of a rail track as the rail vehicle moves along the rail track;
- and
- a computer having:
- at least one memory comprising instuctions, at least a portion of the instructions configured as a neural network;
- and
- at least one processor configured to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to perform one or more operation in real-time;
- wherein the one or more operations include:
- receiving the plurality of images, and for each of the images:
- assigning a location identifier;
- and
- identifying one or more rail features that correspond to one of a plurality of predetermined rail features;
- and
- determining a location of each of the one or more identified rail features wherein the computer includes an object detector module, a color detector module, and a tracker module;
- and
- wherein the color detector module is configured to:
- receive the plurality of images;
- determine a hue/saturation/value (HSV) of a plurality of pixels within a latest image of the plurality of images;
- detect, in real-time, one or more color markers in the latest image;
- and
- output the one or more color markers.
17 more elements
A method of tracking one or more rail features, the method comprising:
- receiving a first image from a camera module;
- detecting one or more first rail features in the first image;
- identifying the one or more first rail features;
- receiving a second image from the camera module;
- calculating a displacement distance associated with the first and second images;
- detecting one or more second rail features in the second image;
- based on the displacement distance, identifying a first subset of the one or more second rail features that correspond to one of the one or more first rail features;
- re-identifying the first subset of the one or more second rail features;
- and
- identifying a second subset of the one or more second rail features that do not correspond to one of the one or more first rail features;
- identifying a first subset of the one or more first rail features that are not included in the second image;
- and
- setting the first subset of the one or more first rail features as tracked feature and transmitting feature data of the tracked features to a display unit.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.