Television – Special applications – Object or scene measurement
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-01
2001-03-06
Britton, Howard (Department: 2713)
Television
Special applications
Object or scene measurement
C348S139000, C348S211130
Reexamination Certificate
active
06198501
ABSTRACT:
COPYRIGHTS
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document and of the provisional patent application to which it claims priority, contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to scoring systems for military ranges.
2. Background Art
The armed services are required to continuously train and test the capability of troops to accurately and effectively deliver various types of ordinance to targets under battlefield conditions. Current methods used by the various services are limited in scope and capability. The shift to more extensive use of nighttime engagements has heretofore required the use in training of low level explosives (spotting charges) to determine points of impact. These charges are expensive and present both safety and environmental hazards. Many types of munitions cannot at present be scored in training scenarios.
The prior art in this area includes the following: U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,096, to Thomas et al, relates to laser bore-sighting of sensors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,564, to Alan et al, relates to vibration sensing of impacts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,689, to Goda, relates to simulated firings of sight-guided missiles employing painting of the target with laser light for a period of time. U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,106, to Love, relates solely to airborne targets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,838, to Daniel, relates to laser bore-sighting of sensors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,881, to Knight et al, relates to detection of the pressure wave of a projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,156, to Marshall et al, relates to simulated environments and weapons firings. U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,458, to Boeck et al, relates to a system which determines trajectories of objects employing a plurality of mobile data acquisition systems connected to a central station. U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,581, to Goda, relates to simulation of firings of ballistic ammunition using lasers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,993, to Brown, relates to a system requiring a vertical projection screen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,016, to Eichweber, relates only to simulations of firearms. U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,256, to Eichweber, relates only to firearms simulations requiring a retro-reflector. U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,329, to Ward et al, relates to a system requiring radar. U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,812, to Hill, relates only to firearms simulations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,424, to Rohrbaugh, relates to sensing of shockwaves. U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,854, to Eldridge, relates to a pure simulation system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,920, to Muirhead, relates to detection of radio frequencies generated by impacts. U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,546, to Cargill, relates to a sensor attached to the projectile itself. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,634, to McGary, relates to an algorithm for compressing image data in a target sensing system.
The present invention provides a scoring system capable of detecting and reporting delivery of a wide variety of ordinance in real time under daytime and nighttime conditions. Once calibrated, the system is straightforward to set up and use, including automatic selection of targets.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION (DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION)
The present invention is of a military range scoring apparatus comprising: a plurality of imagers capable of viewing a plurality of reference points and impact points for ordinance aimed at the reference points; a remote imager controller and a processor for processing and viewing data received from the imagers; and control information and data communicating devices for interchange between the imagers and the remote imager controller. In the preferred embodiment, the controller and processor comprises a video monitor and the data comprise video images calibrated for angular displacement across a horizontal axis. A device to measure the calibrated angular displacement between the reference point and the impact point without a requirement for detailed survey data is preferably employed, as is a device for calculating the displacement (X and Y and/or azimuth and distance) between the reference point and the impact point. The data communicating devices may including microwave, radio, fiber optic line, and wire line. The controller preferably comprises a positioner used to aim an imager at a reference point by changing azimuth and elevation of the imager. A database of reference points and imager locations allows rapid and accurate calculation of impact points. The imagers are preferably sensitive to infrared radiation, and preferably are capable of sensing laser radiation used to target and guide smart weapons. The imagers may include flux gate compasses used to sense imager horizontal pointing angle, to allow accurate horizontal positioning and status information provided to the controller, as well as inclinometers used to sense imager vertical pointing angle, to allow accurate vertical positioning and status information provided to the controller. The controller preferably includes a computer storing imager pointing, setup, and calibration data for multiple reference points, and means for setting imager parameters including field of view, zoom, focus, sensitivity, and contrast. The system preferably employs a computer for automatically scoring proximities of impact points to reference points and a device causing the controller to direct imagers to point at a reference point, reading back calibration data from the imagers, and entering the calibration data into scoring calculations so that manual calibration is not required. The processor includes a video image digitizer and a digital signal processor for determining angular offsets and scoring an impact point from the digitized video image, which can detect multiple impacts and score impact points without user intervention, as well as storage and retrieval mechanisms for the digitized video images.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a scoring system capable of detecting and accurately reporting delivery of a wide variety of ordinance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a scoring system capable of functioning under both daytime and nighttime conditions.
A primary advantage of the present invention is that it provides for automatic selection of targets.
Other objects, advantages and novel features, and further scope of applicability of the present invention will be set forth in part in the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
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Hutson, III Henry R.
McGoohan Kevin P.
Nemiroff Robert V.
Siebold Pete A.
Britton Howard
Myers Jeffrey D.
Proteus Corporation
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