Patent Document ID: 20050119801
Application ID: 10499799
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for guiding from a remote control center a vehicle ( 10 ) towards a target object, said remote control center communicating with the vehicle by means of a lagged communication channel comprising: At the Vehicle: i) Periodically capturing frame images by a camera ( 101 , 301 ), assinging to each of said captured frames an associated unique time stamp, and saving within a storage ( 103 , 303 ) at the vehicle full frame data or partial frame data of captured frames and their associated time stamps; ii) For a plurality of saved frames, sending to the control center ( 20 ) via the lagged communication channel full frame data, partial frame data or a combination thereof with the corresponding associated time stamp for each sent frame so that approximate or exact version of the sent frames can be reconstructed and displayed at the control center. At the Control Center: iii). Receiving ( 201 , 401 ) said frame data and associated time stamps, sequentially reconstructing frame images from each said sent fill and/or partial frame data, and displaying the reconstructed images on a display; iv) Upon marling by an operator at the control center ( 20 ) a point on a specific displayed frame, sending coordinates indication relating to said marked point as appearing on said specific frame or on a reference frame available at the control center, and the time stamp associated with said specific or reference frame, as is the case, to the At the Vehicle: v) Receiving ( 208 , 408 ) said coordinates indication as marked and the sent frame time stamp; vi) Given the coordinates indication and frame time stamp as received, locating said point or object coordinates on a previously saved corresponding frame having a same time stamp, and using an image processing procedure, tracing ( 209 , 409 ) at a rate higher than said periodical frame capturing said point or object coordinates from the said frame towards the most recently available captured frame, thereby finding the coordinates of the same point or object as appearing in the most recently available captured frame; and vii) Providing the coordinates of the target point or object within the most recently available captured frame, as found, to an inner guidance sub-system ( 210 , 410 ) of the vehicle ( 10 ), for enabling it to track said object.