The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 14, 2012
Filed:
Jan. 20, 2009
Santosh Kumar, Endwell, NY (US);
Mark D. Goodwin, Apalachin, NY (US);
Thomas Musa, Endicott, NY (US);
James Howard, Owego, NY (US);
Santosh Kumar, Endwell, NY (US);
Mark D. Goodwin, Apalachin, NY (US);
Thomas Musa, Endicott, NY (US);
James Howard, Owego, NY (US);
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for detecting a blockage in the field-of-view of a camera in an image capture system by monitoring changes in the quality of images captured by the camera. As an image is acquired by the camera, intensity values for pixels in the acquired image are determined and stored in a data structure in memory of the camera. Image statistics are calculated based in part on the intensity values for pixels in the currently acquired image and at least some previous images acquired by the camera. If the image statistics satisfy at least one predetermined alert criterion, an alert is triggered. In response to triggering an alert, an alert sensor included as part of the camera is activated to indicate to a user of the image capture system that a possible blockage in the field-of-view of the camera has been detected.