Patent Document ID: 6064428
Application ID: 08691189
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A vehicle for automatically inspecting railroad track to detect an anomaly, comprising: a car for travel on a railroad track; and an inspection system comprising a computer enhanced vision system including a camera system having a plurality of cameras arranged beneath the vehicle to create a series of overlapping fields of view that cover the entire track structure by including oblique views, said computer enhanced vision system further including imaging software receiving inputs from said cameras representative of said overlapping fields of view for creating a continuous viewable complete three dimensional image simultaneously of (1) both rails of the track including (2) an entire lateral extent of cross ties extending both between the rails and outward of both rails, (3) rail fastening elements, and (4) ballast materials and (5) at least one anomaly in (1) through (4) if present; and a video system, wherein the image is viewable on the video system to detect the anomaly.