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US 9,792,522 B2Granted
Weather information extraction using sequential images
AssigneeBloomSky, Inc.
InventorsXinning Shen, Wei Chu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques for weather information extraction using image data are described herein. In accordance with the present disclosure, economical weather data collection devices may be installed in any places on the earth, and form a dense network of weather data collection devices. Preferably, these weather data collection devices include image capture components that may capture series of sequential images over time (i.e., image streams) from any particular locations. The disclosed techniques include extracting a sky portion from a series of time-sequenced images. The extracted sky portion may be used for determining cloud coverage, a sun track, and so on, thereby enabling to provide accurate weather forecast as well as other weather data mining abilities.
Claims16
A method of extracting a sky portion, comprising:
- receiving a plurality of images, the plurality of images time-sequenced and the plurality of images each comprising a plurality of corresponding data elements, wherein the plurality of corresponding data elements each share a same position among the plurality of images;
- identifying a plurality of candidate data elements among the plurality of corresponding data elements of each image among the plurality of images based on color values;
- identifying a plurality of second type of data elements among the plurality of corresponding data elements of each image among the plurality of images by an edge detector;
- determining a first number of images among the plurality of images, wherein a corresponding data element is identified as a candidate data element among the plurality of candidate data elements of each of the first number of images;
- determining a second number of images among the plurality of images, wherein the corresponding data element is identified as a second type of data element among the plurality of second type of data elements of each of the second number of images;
- determining that the corresponding data element is a first type of data element in response to a first determination that the first number of images is greater than a first threshold and a second determination that the second number of images is greater than a second threshold;
- and
- generating a representative of the plurality of images based on a plurality of determined first type of data elements, the representative comprising at least a set of neighbouring first type of data elements among the plurality of determined first type of data elements indicative of at least a sky component.
5 more elements
A system of extracting a sky portion, comprising:
- at least a processor;
- and
- at least a memory communicatively coupled to the at least a processor to configure the at least a processor to:
- receive a plurality of images, the plurality of images time-sequenced and the plurality of images each comprising a plurality of corresponding data elements, wherein the plurality of corresponding data elements each share a same position among the plurality of images;
- identify a plurality of candidate data elements among the plurality of corresponding data elements of each image among the plurality of images based on color values;
- identify a plurality of second type of data elements among the plurality of corresponding data elements in each image among the plurality of images by an edge detector;
- determine a first number of images among the plurality of images, wherein a corresponding data element is identified as a candidate data element among the plurality of candidate data elements of each of the first number of images;
- determine a second number of images among the plurality of images, wherein the corresponding data element is identified as a second type of data element among the plurality of second type of data elements of each of the second number of images;
- determine that the corresponding data element is a first type of data element in response to a first determination that the first number of images is greater than a first threshold and a second determination that the second number of images is greater than a second threshold;
- and
- generate a representative of the plurality of images based on a plurality of determined first type of data elements, the representative comprising at least a set of neighbouring first type of data elements among the plurality of determined first type of data elements indicative of at least a sky component.
8 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing computer-readable instructions that upon execution on a computing device cause the computing device at least to:
- receive a plurality of images, the plurality of images time-sequenced and the plurality of images each comprising a plurality of corresponding data elements, wherein the plurality of corresponding data elements each share a same position among the plurality of images;
- identify a plurality of candidate data elements among the plurality of corresponding data elements of each image among the plurality of images based on color values;
- identify a plurality of second type of data elements among the plurality of corresponding data elements of each image among the plurality of images by an edge detector;
- determine a first number of images among the plurality of images, wherein a corresponding data element is identified as a candidate data element among the plurality of candidate data elements of each of the first number of images;
- determine a second number of images among the plurality of images, wherein the corresponding data element is identified as a second type of data element among the plurality of second type of data elements of each of the second number of images;
- determine that the corresponding data element is a first type of data element in response to a first determination that the first number of images is greater than a first threshold and a second determination that the second number of images is greater than a second threshold;
- and
- generate a representative of the plurality of images based on a plurality of determined first type of data elements, the representative comprising at least a set of neighbouring first type of data elements among the plurality of determined first type of data elements indicative of at least a sky component.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.