Patent ID: 9511958
Filing Date: 2016-12-06
CPC Classification: A01D,B60P,B60R,B62D,B65B,B65G,G05D,G06K,G06T,H04N

Claim Text:
1. A system for facilitating the transfer of material from a transferring vehicle to a receiving vehicle, the system comprising: a receiving vehicle comprising a propelled portion for propelling the receiving vehicle and a storage portion for storing material; a single imaging device facing towards the storage portion of the receiving vehicle, the imaging device collecting image data; a container identification module for identifying a container perimeter of the storage portion, wherein the container identification module identifies the container perimeter by locating a linear set of pixels associated with the container perimeter in the collected image data; a spout identification module for identifying a spout of the transferring vehicle, wherein the spout identification module identifies the spout by locating pixels associated with the spout in the collected image data; an image data evaluator for determining whether to use the collected image data for alignment of a relative position of the spout and the container perimeter based on evaluation of material variation of intensity of pixel data or material variation in ambient light conditions during a sampling time interval; an alignment module for determining the relative position of the spout and the container perimeter using the image data and for generating command data to the propelled portion to steer the storage portion in cooperative alignment such that the spout is aligned within a target zone of the container perimeter; and a steering controller associated with a steering system of the propelled portion for steering the receiving vehicle in accordance with the cooperative alignment.