Patent ID: 7400350
Filing Date: 2008-07-15
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
1. A system for collecting images of a monitored device, the system comprising: an image acquisition unit positioned to acquire digital images of the monitored device, the image acquisition unit comprising: an image sensor configured to electronically capture a digital image of the monitored device, a processor operatively coupled to the image sensor, the processor being configured: (1) to select respective ones of the acquired digital images, as reference digital images based on capture times of the acquired digital images such that each reference digital image and the remaining acquired digital images captured prior to a subsequent reference digital image form an image set, (2) to convert the remaining acquired digital images into difference digital images by processing, for each image set, the remaining acquired digital images of the respective image set with the reference digital image of the respective image set, the difference digital images having pixel values derived from differences between corresponding pixel values of the remaining acquired digital images and the corresponding reference digital image, and a data storage device operatively coupled to the processor to store the reference digital images and the corresponding difference digital image; and a data transfer device configured to receive the difference digital images and the corresponding reference digital images from the image acquisition unit and to transmit the difference digital images and corresponding reference digital images.