David Caballero DeceasedTucumcari, NM

8532328, Sep 10, 2013

Aug 16, 2007

11/893619

David L. Caballero - Huntington Beach CA,
Thomas Paul Weismuller - Orange CA,

The Boeing Company - Chicago IL

G06K 9/00

382100, 382103, 382104, 382199, 382209, 382218, 382279, 382281, 382283, 382325, 701 13, 244 318

A method of navigating a space vehicle. An image of a planet surface is received. The received image is processed to identify edge pixels and angle data. The edge pixels and angle data are used to identify planetary features by shape, size, and spacing relative to other planetary features. At least some of the planetary features are compared with a predefined planet surface description including sizes and locations of planet landmarks. One or more matches are determined between the planetary feature(s) and the planet surface description. Based on the match(es), a location of the space vehicle relative to the planet is determined.

2008028, Nov 20, 2008

May 18, 2007

11/750735

Thomas P. Weismuller - Orange CA,
David L. Caballero - Huntington Beach CA,

G06K 9/62

382215

A method and system for increasing the certainty of a silhouette matching process, where the process is being used for attitude determination of an object of interest, for example an aircraft. The method involves using one or more mask images that include structure or features that may or may not always be associated with the object of interest, and overlaying the mask image(s) onto a library image of the aircraft. Each pixel of the library image is compared against corresponding pixels of the mask image(s) to determine which pixels represent ambiguous areas of the library image. Those pixels are eliminated from consideration in determining a Fit score, where the Fit score represents a percentage value indicative of a certainty of the matching process in identifying the attitude of the aircraft. The method and system is applicable to a wide ranging variety of object detection applications.

2008031, Dec 18, 2008

Jun 18, 2007

11/764396

Thomas P. Weismuller - Orange CA,
David L. Caballero - Huntington Beach CA,

G06K 9/00

382103

A method and system for optically detecting an object within a field of view where detection is difficult because of background clutter within the field of view that obscures the object. A camera is panned with movement of the object to motion stabilize the object against the background clutter while taking a plurality of image frames of the object. A frame-by-frame analysis is performed to determine variances in the intensity of each pixel, over time, from the collected frames. From this analysis a variance image is constructed that includes an intensity variance value for each pixel. Pixels representing background clutter will typically vary considerably in intensity from frame to frame, while pixels making up the object will vary little or not at all. A binary threshold test is then applied to each variance value and the results are used to construct a final image. The final image may be a black and white image that clearly shows the object as a silhouette.