Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Measurement system – Speed
Utility Patent
1997-12-24
2001-01-02
Hoff, Marc S. (Department: 2857)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Measurement system
Speed
C702S152000
Utility Patent
active
06169966
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a moving pattern determining apparatus provided with a tracking device capable of tracking a moving object and of providing signals indicating positions of the object, and capable of accurately determining the moving pattern of the object.
RELATED ART
Tracking of a moving object flying or floating in a three-dimensional space and determining the moving pattern of the object are very important for the social and the productive activities of human beings. A previously proposed moving pattern determining apparatus for tracking an object and determining the moving pattern of the object confines the object in a limited space, such as a space defined by a drum, disposes a plurality of sets each of a light projector and a light receiver at positions on the front and the back side, of the space, and senses the movement of the object by sensing the interception of a light beam projected by each light projector by the moving object moving across a light passage between the same light projector and the corresponding light receiver.
Another previously developed moving pattern determining apparatus finds the position, moving direction, velocity and moving pattern of an object by photographing the object moving in a three-dimensional space by an ITV camera or the like, and analyzing luminance information about pictures taken by the ITV camera by an image processing device.
The movement of an object in a limited three-dimensional space can be very quickly found by the moving pattern determining apparatus provided with the plurality of sets each of the light projector and the light receiver. However, this moving pattern determining apparatus needs a very large number of sets each of a light projector and a light receiver, and an electric circuit of a very complicated configuration to measure the moving pattern accurately, and much time and labor is required for aligning the respective optical axes of the light projectors and the corresponding light receivers.
The moving pattern determining apparatus using the ITV camera needs an expensive, complicated image processing system. When determining the moving pattern of an object, digital signals obtained by converting video signals generated by the ITV camera and representing luminance information about the object by an A/D converter or the like must be given to a computer, image data abut a two-dimensional image represented by the digital signals must be stored in an image storage device, and the image data read from the image storage device must be subjected to many image processing processes including a binary coding process, a ternary coding process, a calculation of the moving velocity of the center of gravity and such. The computer needs much time for writing image data to and reading image data from the image storage device, and carrying out the image processing processes. Accordingly, it is difficult to find the minute movement of the object accurately. Thus, the moving pattern of the detected object cannot be accurately determined in a short time by the conventional techniques. Therefore, determining the moving pattern of an object needs a long time because image data and data obtained by analyzing images must be accumulated and those data must be analyzed by a statistical method.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a moving mode determining apparatus for determining the moving pattern of a moving object, capable of accurately specifying the movement of the object in a short time.
A moving pattern determining apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an object tracking means which tracks a moving object and provides position signals indicating positions of the object; a positional time-variation calculating means for calculating positional time-variations of the object, a moving characteristic calculating means for calculating the moving characteristic of the object on the basis of signals provided by the positional time-variation calculating means; and a moving pattern calculating means for calculating the moving pattern of the object on the basis of signals provided by the moving characteristic calculating means.
According to the present invention, the moving velocity (x′, y′) or [r′]={x′ (t)
2
+y′(t)
2
}
½
of the object is determined from a position signal (x, y) provided by the object tracking means, and then the acceleration (x″, y″) or [r″] of the object, i.e., a rate of change of the position of the object with respect to time. The moving characteristic of the object is determined by using the positional time-variations of the object, and a mathematical model expressing the sum of the weighted velocity and acceleration, a dynamic model of the object for explaining positional time-variations of the object from changes of components of the object relative to each other, a two-dimensional pattern formed by eliminating the time elements of two predetermined positional time-variations, a predictive expression obtained by the regression analysis of predetermined time of positional time-variations, a predictive expression obtained by the learning of the variation of predetermined time with time or errors between frequency components determined through the harmonic analysis of positional time-variations of a predetermined time. The moving pattern of the object is decided on the basis of the thus determined characteristic values representing the movement of the object.
A moving pattern determining apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a plurality of water tanks sequentially arranged along a flowing direction and connected to each other; an object tracking means which follows the movements of objects in the water tanks at an upstream position and a downstream position, and provides signals indicating positions of the objects; a positional time-variation calculating means which calculates positional time-variations of the objects in the water tanks at the upstream and the downstream position on the basis of signals provided by the object tracking means; a characteristic value calculating means which calculates characteristic values representing the movements of the objects in the water tanks at the upstream and the downstream position on the basis of signals provided by positional time-variation calculating means; and a moving pattern determining means which determines moving patterns of the objects from the characteristic values representing the movements of the objects in the water tanks at the upstream and the downstream position on the basis of signals provided by the characteristic value calculating means.
According to the present invention, the positions of the objects in the water tanks at the upstream and the downstream position are determined by the object tracking means, and the positional time-variations of the object in the water tanks at the upstream and the downstream position are determined by the positional time-variation calculating means. The characteristic values representing the movements of the objects in the water tanks at the upstream and the downstream position are calculated by the characteristic value calculating means, and moving patterns of the objects is determined by the moving pattern determining means.
A moving pattern determining apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a stage means which is capable of optionally changing its attitude relative to an object and of receiving a wave generated by the object; a wave receiving means which is storing a plurality of pieces of position information about the positions of the object and is capable of sequentially providing position information signals in response to the reception of a signal representing the wave generated by the object from the stage means; a stage control means which is storing values of a manipulated variable for the attitude control
Masukata Tadashi
Miura Ryosuke
Shimamura Taro
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Hoff Marc S.
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Miller Craig Steven
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