Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Sungkyunkwan University

Jaewoong Kim

Sukhan Lee

Jianying Shi

Rashid Saleem

Hung Huu Nguyen

The present invention provides a sun position tracking method based on a black sun effect of an image sensor, a computer program including commands for causing a computer system to perform the method, and a solar sensor using the method. The sun position tracking method includes processing a plurality of images captured using a plurality of image sensors installed to capture a plurality of images of the sun irrespective of the position of the sun to estimate the center point of the black sun and track the position of the sun.

Sun position tracking method based on black sun effect of image sensor, computer program stored in medium, and solar sensor using the same

A vision system is configured to dynamically inspect an object in a field of view. This includes capturing, using a camera, three-dimensional (3D) point cloud data of the field of view and transforming each of the points of the 3D point cloud data into a plurality of tangential surface vectors. Surface normal vectors are determined for each of the points of the 3D point cloud data based upon the plurality of tangential surface vectors. Distribution peaks in the surface normal vectors are detected employing a unit sphere mesh. Parallel planes are separated using the distance distribution peaks. A radially bounded nearest neighbor strategy combined with a process of nearest neighbor searching based upon cell division is executed to segment a planar patch. A planar surface is identified based upon the segmented planar patch.

Vision system and analytical method for planar surface segmentation

A machine vision system including a digital camera can be employed to inspect an object in a field of view, including capturing an original digital image including a multiplicity of pixels and associated light intensities for the field of view including the object. A bitmap image file is generated, and a mean value and a standard deviation of the light intensities of the multiplicity of pixels of the bitmap image file for the original digital image are dynamically determined. New image files are generated, each including a portion of the multiplicity of pixels having associated light intensities within a prescribed range of light intensities defined by the mean value and the standard deviation. Line segments are extracted from each of the new image files, and the extracted line segments from the new image files are merged and clustered to generate integral lines based thereon.

Growing community of inventors

Seoul, South Korea

Jaewoong Kim