Patent ID: 6925403

Claim:
A method of calibrating a field of view of a sensor within an observable area, comprising the steps of: defining a reference image of a first observable area having at least one distinctive feature, said reference image defined by a first sensor placed at a base location; establishing a set of reference points relative to said first sensor that represent a location within said reference image of said at least one distinctive feature; placing a second sensor in a second observable area that is similar to said first observable area, said second sensor being placed in a location that generally corresponds in position to said base location; obtaining a test image of said second observable area, said test image obtained by said second sensor and depicting at least one distinctive feature present in said second observable area; comparing said set of reference points to said at least one distinctive feature depicted in said test image in order to assess a relative accuracy in placement of said second sensor; and transforming said test image into distance image by assigning a location value to every pixel making up said test image, said location value representing a distance between said pixel and said distinctive feature depicted in said test image that lies closest to said pixel; mapping said set of reference points onto said distance image for at least one possible orientation of said second sensor, said at least one orientation residing in a defined region of space; and calculating an average distance between said at least one distinctive feature depicted in said test image and said set of mapped reference points, said calculated average distance representing a relative level of accuracy between a presumed orientation of said second sensor and an actual orientation of said second sensor.