Patent Document ID: 9126700
Application ID: 13320924
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A decision making apparatus mounted on a craft sailing along an orbit to determine image acquisition priority of target areas approaching the craft, said apparatus comprising: a control imaging system including one or more control imaging devices separate from a main imaging instrument of the craft, at least one control imaging device looking at an angle forward toward a direction of flight of the craft, and at an angle sideways from the direction of flight, to cover an area at a nadir angle greater than 15 degrees but less than 45 degrees sideways from the direction of flight, to capture images that provide a preview of cloud coverage over target areas approaching the craft due to flight of the craft, before a target area is within imaging range of the main imaging instrument of the craft, the control imaging system stabilized to look at the angle forward and at the angle sideways from the direction of flight independent of any yaw, roll and pitch action of the craft used to direct the main imaging instrument of the craft; a data processing section to extract cloud cover information over the target areas from the images coming from the control imaging system; and a decision making section that processes data coming from the data processing section together with data reflecting current status of the craft, shape and location of the target areas, preferences of a client about the target areas, an acquisition attempt history of the target areas, and decision making rules, to determine the image acquisition priority of target areas.