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US 9,810,533 B2Granted
Railway track monitoring
AssigneeTrimble Inc.
InventorsBryn Allen Fosburgh, Mark Edward Nichols, Per Martin Holmgren, Nils Thomas Larsson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Novel tools and techniques for monitoring railway track geometry. In one aspect, some such tools and techniques can determine a location of a platform along a railway, capture one or more images of the railway, and/or analyze the rail configuration at that point. In another aspect, some solutions might employ photogrammetric techniques to analyze the rail configuration and thereafter store data about the rail configuration, perhaps correlated with the location of the images, in a data store.
Claims26
A method, comprising:
- capturing, with a first image capture device mounted on a mobile platform configured for movement along a railway comprising one or more rails, a series of position reference images as the mobile platform travels along the railway;
- identifying, in at least one position reference image, a visual target positioned proximate to the railway;
- determining a distance from the mobile platform to the visual target;
- calculating, at a computer system, a location of the mobile platform on the railway, based at least in part on the determined distance from the mobile platform to the visual target;
- capturing, with a second one or more image capture devices, one or more railway images of the one or more rails;
- performing, at the computer system, photogrammetric analysis on at least one of the one or more rail images to identify a rail configuration of the railway, wherein the railway comprises a plurality of rails and the photogrammetric analysis on at least one of the one or more rail images comprises:
- identifying, in the at least one image, a location of a first edge of a first rail;
- identifying a location of a second edge of a second rail;
- and
- calculating a distance between the rails, based on the location of the first edge of the first rail and the location of the second edge of the second rail;
- associating the rail configuration with the location of the mobile platform on the railway;
- and
- storing, in a data store, a data record comprising data about the rail configuration and the associated location of the mobile platform.
10 more elements
A railway track monitoring system, comprising:
- a mobile platform configured for movement along a railway comprising one or more rails;
- a first image capture device, mounted on the mobile platform, for capturing a series of position reference images as the mobile platform travels along the railway;
- a second one or more image capture devices for capturing one or more railway images of the one or more rails;
- a data store for storing railway configuration data;
- and
- a computer system comprising one or more processors and one or more computer readable storage media having encoded thereon a set of instructions operable by the one or more processors to cause the computer system to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising:
- instructions for identifying, in at least one position reference image, the visual target;
- instructions for determining a distance from the mobile platform to the visual target;
- instructions for calculating a position of the mobile platform, based at least in part on the determined distance from the mobile platform to the visual target;
- instructions for performing photogrammetric analysis on at least one of the one or more rail images to identify a rail configuration of the railway, wherein the railway comprises a plurality of rails and the photogrammetric analysis on at least one of the one or more rail images comprises:
- identifying, in the at least one image, a location of a first edge of a first rail;
- identifying a location of a second edge of a second rail;
- and
- calculating a distance between the rails, based on the location of the first edge of the first rail and the location of the second edge of the second rail;
- instructions for associating the rail configuration with the location of the mobile platform on the railway;
- and
- instructions for storing, in the data store, a record comprising data about the rail configuration and the associated location of the mobile platform.
14 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a non-transitory computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by one or more computers to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising:
- instructions for identifying, in at least one position reference image captured by a first image capture device mounted on a mobile platform configured for movement along a railway comprising one or more rails, a visual target positioned proximate to the railway;
- instructions for determining a distance from the mobile platform to the visual target;
- instructions for calculating a position of the mobile platform, based at least in part on the determined distance from the mobile platform to the visual target;
- instructions for performing photogrammetric analysis on one or more rail images, captured by a second one or more image capture devices, to identify a rail configuration of the railway, wherein the railway comprises a plurality of rails and the photogrammetric analysis on at least one of the one or more rail images comprises:
- identifying, in the at least one image, a location of a first edge of a first rail;
- identifying a location of a second edge of a second rail;
- and
- calculating a distance between the rails, based on the location of the first edge of the first rail and the location of the second edge of the second rail;
- instructions for associating the rail configuration metric with the location of the mobile platform on the railway;
- and
- instructions for storing, in a data store, a record comprising data about the rail configuration and the associated location of the mobile platform.
9 more elements
A computer system, comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- a non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the one or more processors, the computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by the computer system to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising:
- instructions for identifying, in at least one position reference image captured by a first image capture device mounted on a mobile platform configured for movement along a railway comprising one or more rails, a visual target positioned proximate to the railway;
- instructions for determining a distance from the mobile platform to the visual target;
- instructions for calculating a position of the mobile platform, based at least in part on the determined distance from the mobile platform to the visual target;
- instructions for performing photogrammetric analysis on one or more rail images, captured by a second one or more image capture devices, to identify a rail configuration of the railway, wherein the railway comprises a plurality of rails and the photogrammetric analysis on at least one of the one or more rail images comprises:
- identifying, in the at least one image, a location of a first edge of a first rail;
- identifying a location of a second edge of a second rail;
- and
- calculating a distance between the rails, based on the location of the first edge of the first rail and the location of the second edge of the second rail;
- instructions for associating the rail configuration metric with the location of the mobile platform on the railway;
- and
- instructions for storing, in a data store, a record comprising data about the rail configuration and the associated location of the mobile platform.
11 more elements
A method, comprising:
- determining a location of a mobile platform configured for movement along a railway comprising one or more rails;
- capturing, with a first one or more image capture devices, one or more railway images of the one or more rails;
- performing, at the computer system, photogrammetric analysis on at least one of the one or more rail images to identify a rail configuration of the railway, wherein the railway comprises a plurality of rails and the photogrammetric analysis on at least one of the one or more rail images comprises:
- identifying, in the at least one image, a location of a first edge of a first rail;
- identifying a location of a second edge of a second rail;
- and
- calculating a distance between the rails, based on the location of the first edge of the first rail and the location of the second edge of the second rail;
- associating the rail configuration with the location of the mobile platform on the railway;
- and
- storing, in a data store, a record comprising data about the rail configuration and the associated location of the mobile platform.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.