Method and Apparatus of Taking Aerial Surveys
AssigneeIntergraph Software Technologies Company
InventorElaine Acree
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of taking an aerial survey maps boundaries of a first image and a second image from a first plane to a second plane to determine boundaries of an output image in the second plane. For a plurality of pixels in the output image, the method determines a corresponding pixel of either the first image or second image in the first plane.
Claims20
A method of taking an aerial survey, the method comprising:
- mapping boundaries of a first image and a second image from a first plane to a second plane to determine boundaries of an output image in the second plane;
- and
- for a plurality of pixels in the output image determining a corresponding pixel of either the first image or second image in the first plane.
A method of taking an aerial survey, the method comprising:
- determining boundaries of an output image in a second plane using the boundaries of a first image and a second image in a first plane, the first and second images being in a plane different from the first plane;
- and
- for a plurality of pixels in the output image determining a corresponding pixel of either the first image or second image in the first plane.
A method of taking an aerial survey, the method comprising;
- mapping boundaries of a plurality of images in a first plane to a second plane to determine the boundaries of an output image in the second plane, the plurality of images in the first and second planes and the output image having a plurality of pixels;
- and
- for the plurality of pixels in the output image determining a corresponding pixel of the plurality of images in the first plane.
An aerial survey method comprising:
- defining an image plane having a plurality of image portions with a resolution;
- receiving one of a plurality of pictures of at least a part of a ground area;
- dividing the ground area part based on the resolution of the image plane to form a plurality of ground portions;
- and
- using ray-tracing mathematics to map the plurality of ground portions to the plurality of image portions.
An aerial survey method comprising:
- receiving image data for first and second pictures of a ground area;
- dividing the first picture into a plurality of ground portions, the plurality of ground portions in the first picture having a first ground portion with a first distance value;
- dividing the second picture into plurality of ground portions, the plurality of ground portions in the second picture having a second ground portion with a second distance value, the first and second ground portions having corresponding data;
- and
- discarding one of the first ground portion and the second ground portion based on the first and second distance values.
A computer-implemented method for generating a mosaic pixilated digital image from a plurality of acquired pixilated images, each acquired image being of a portion of a surface of an astronomical body, each acquired image having been acquired by a digital camera while the camera translated above the surface of the astronomical body, the method comprising:
- using a mathematical model of a surface shape of the astronomical body and 3-D ray tracing, from a model of the digital camera to the model of the surface of the astronomical body, to determine a plurality of locations on the surface of the astronomical body corresponding to respective locations in the plurality of acquired images to determine an extent to which the surface of the astronomical body was imaged by the plurality of acquired images;
- determining boundaries of the mosaic image based at least in part on the determined extent to which the surface of the astronomical body was imaged;
- and
- for each pixel within the determined boundaries of the mosaic image:
- using the mathematical model of the shape of the astronomical body and reverse 3-D ray tracing, from the model of the surface of the astronomical body to a model of an image plane of the digital camera, in each of at least one candidate image of the plurality of acquired images, determining a candidate pixel in the candidate image that geographically corresponds to the pixel in the mosaic image, thereby determining at least one candidate pixel;
- and
- assigning a value to the pixel in the mosaic image, based on a value of the determined at least one candidate pixel.
A system for generating a mosaic pixilated digital image from a plurality of acquired pixilated images, each acquired image being of a portion of a surface of an astronomical body, each acquired image having been acquired by a digital camera while the camera translated above the surface of the astronomical body, the system comprising:
- a computer processor programmed to:
- use a mathematical model of a surface shape of the astronomical body and 3-D ray tracing, from a model of the digital camera to the model of the surface of the astronomical body, to determine a plurality of locations on the surface of the astronomical body corresponding to respective locations in the plurality of acquired images to determine an extent to which the surface of the astronomical body was imaged by the plurality of acquired images;
- determine boundaries of the mosaic image based at least in part on the determined extent to which the surface of the astronomical body was imaged;
- for each pixel within the determined boundaries of the mosaic image:
- use the mathematical model of the shape of the astronomical body and reverse 3-D ray tracing, from the model of the surface of the astronomical body to a model of an image plane of the digital camera, in each of at least one candidate image of the plurality of acquired images, determining a candidate pixel in the candidate image that geographically corresponds to the pixel in the mosaic image, thereby determining at least one candidate pixel;
- and
- assign a value to the pixel in the mosaic image, based on a value of the determined at least one candidate pixel;
- and
- store the assigned values of the pixels in the mosaic image in a memory.
A computer program product for generating a mosaic pixilated digital image from a plurality of acquired pixilated images, each acquired image being of a portion of a surface of an astronomical body, each acquired image having been acquired by a digital camera while the camera translated above the surface of the astronomical body, the computer program product comprising a tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer readable program code stored thereon, the computer readable program including:
- program code for using a mathematical model of a surface shape of the astronomical body and 3-D ray tracing, from a model of the digital camera to the model of the surface of the astronomical body, to determine a plurality of locations on the surface of the astronomical body corresponding to respective locations in the plurality of acquired images to determine an extent to which the surface of the astronomical body was imaged by the plurality of acquired images;
- program code for determining boundaries of the mosaic image based at least in part on the determined extent to which the surface of the astronomical body was imaged;
- and
- program code for, for each pixel within the determined boundaries of the mosaic image:
- using the mathematical model of the shape of the astronomical body and reverse 3-D ray tracing, from the model of the surface of the astronomical body to a model of an image plane of the digital camera, in each of at least one candidate image of the plurality of acquired images, determining a candidate pixel in the candidate image that geographically corresponds to the pixel in the mosaic image, thereby determining at least one candidate pixel;
- and
- assigning a value to the pixel in the mosaic image, based on a value of the determined at least one candidate pixel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.