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:
Jun. 27, 2017
Filed:
Mar. 31, 2016
The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US);
Juha-Pekka J. Laine, Boston, MA (US);
Benjamin F. Lane, Sherborn, MA (US);
William W. Whitacre, Boston, MA (US);
Robin Mark Adrian Dawson, Watertown, MA (US);
Charles A. McPherson, Jr., Somerville, MA (US);
Stephen P. Smith, Acton, MA (US);
Matthew A. Sinclair, Stoneham, MA (US);
The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
Scattered light in the sky (sky glow) from light sources at one or more known geographic locations is used as reference point(s), from which geographic location of a system observing the sky glow is automatically ascertained. The light is scattered by particulates in the atmosphere. An upward looking camera captures an image of the sky, including the sky glow. A search engine automatically searches a catalog of modeled or pre-stored sky glows for a model that matches the image. Each model is associated with a geographic location. The models characterize each sky glow, such as in terms of color, intensity, etc., as the sky glow would appear from the associated geographic location. If a matching model is found, within a predetermined match criterion, the system outputs the geographic location associated with the matching model. Optionally, the geographic location is used to select and display a map of the geographic location.