Granted Patent B2

US 12,597,222 · App. 18/534,120 · Granted Apr 7, 2026

Inventors: Stefano Marano (Zürich, CH); Bruno Arsenali (Brugg, CH); Deran Maas (Zürich, CH); Kalevi Tervo (Espoo, FI); Jukka Peltola (Espoo, CH)

Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG

G06V10/26G06T7/11G06T7/70G08G3/02

Abstract

Claims (42)

1 . A method for determining a region of water clearance of a water surface, the method comprising:

receiving image data (ID) of an image captured by a camera;

determining water surface pixels of the image from the image data (ID), wherein the water surface pixels show an imaged water surface within the image;

determining image coordinates of at least a first group (GP 1 ) of the determined water surface pixels in an image coordinate system, wherein the first group (GP 1 ) is representative for the imaged water surface;

determining solid object pixels of the image which show an imaged solid object touching the imaged water surface;

determining image coordinates of at least a second group (GP 2 ) of the determined solid object pixels in the image coordinate system, wherein the second group (GP 2 ) is representative for the imaged solid object;

determining whether the solid object, which is represented by the imaged solid object in the image, physically touches the water surface in real world;

determining a position and an orientation of the camera at a time the image has been captured;

determining real-world coordinates (RWC) of the corresponding water surface in the real world by transferring at least the image coordinates of the first group (GPI) to a real-world coordinate system under consideration of the determined position and orientation of the camera;

determining real-world coordinates (RWC) of the corresponding solid object in the real world by transferring at least the image coordinates of the second group (GP 2 ) to the real-world coordinate system under consideration of the determined position and orientation of the camera, when the solid object physically touches the water surface in the real world;

determining a region of the water surface, which is defined by the determined real-world coordinates of the first group (GPI), as the region of water clearance; and

determining a region, which is defined by the determined real-world coordinates (RWC) of the second group (GP 2 ), as not being part of the region of water clearance.

2 . The method in accordance with claim 1 ,

wherein the camera is arranged on an ego vessel;

wherein the position and orientation of the camera depends on a position and an orientation of the ego vessel; and

wherein the position and orientation of the camera is determined depending on the position and orientation of the ego vessel.

3 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein:

the determining of the region of water clearance comprises generating 2D map data (2DM) of a 2D map of the region of water clearance in the real-world coordinate system; and

the method comprises outputting the 2D map.

4 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , the method comprising:

determining a clearance distance over which the region of water clearance extends along a predetermined direction depending on the determined region of water clearance; and

outputting the clearance distance.

5 . The method in accordance with claim 4 ,

wherein the camera is arranged on an ego vessel; and

wherein the predetermined direction is a direction of at least a segment of a swipe area of the ego vessel.

6 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , the method comprising:

determining an object distance over which the region of water clearance extends to the closest solid object on the water surface depending on the determined region of water clearance; and

outputting the object distance.

7 . The method in accordance with claim 1 ,

wherein the camera is arranged on an ego vessel; and

wherein an angular margin to the solid object is determined depending on the determined region of water clearance.

8 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , the method comprising:

determining whether a current route or a swipe area, which extends at least in part through the region of water clearance, of a vessel is safe.

9 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , the method comprising:

determining a safe route or a swipe area for a vessel depending on the region of water clearance.

10 . The method in accordance with claim 1 ,

wherein calibration values (CV) of the camera are determined; and

wherein the real-world coordinates (RWC) of the water surface are determined depending on the calibration values (CV).

11 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , the method comprising:

receiving image data (ID) of another image of at least a part of the water surface captured at the same time as the image; and

determining the region of water clearance depending on the image data (ID) of the other image.

12 . A system for determining a region of water clearance of a water surface, the system comprising a memory configured to store image data (ID) of an image captured by a camera, and a processing unit which is configured to carry out the method in accordance with claim 1 .

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (23)