Determining a surface characteristic of a roadway using an imaging device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11859966-B2
Application number	US-202117240253-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2021
Priority date	Jun 17, 2003
Publication date	Jan 2, 2024
Grant date	Jan 2, 2024

Abstract

A method for determining a characteristic of a construction material is provided. The method includes imaging the construction material and determining a characteristic of the construction material based off of the imaging.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
at least one material interacting device configured to optically interact with a void excavated in a construction material for determining one or more measurements thereof including a surface characteristic of the construction material,
wherein the at least one material interacting device comprises at least one of an optical projector or receiver configured to determine a dimensional characteristic of the void using at least one of: structured light, range finder, confocal scanning, stereo-vision, 3D profiling, scanners, cameras, photographic methodology, point cloud, stereo triangulation, light sheet triangulation, time of flight, lidar, and coded aperture,
wherein the surface characteristic includes at least one of a dimension, a texture, and a roughness;
computer hardware configured to:
determine a dimensional characteristic of the void based on the one or more measurements; and
determine a volume of the construction material prior to excavation of the void based on the dimensional characteristic of the void; and

a mass measuring device in communication therewith for determining a wet density of the construction material while in situ.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further configured to interact with the construction material for determining the one or more measurements thereof.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the material interacting device is configured:
to be placed in the void;
to interact with a surface of the void without being placed in the void; or
both.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the material interacting device obtains images and is translatable between a first position and a second position spaced-apart from the void.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the material interacting device is configured to determine a characteristic of the void by manipulating a plurality of the measurements, wherein the measurements are captured when the material interacting device is at more than one relative position.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein determining the material volume of the construction material is accomplished using software and image processing procedures executed on a computer device associated with a sample interacting device.

7. An apparatus comprising:
at least one material interacting device configured to optically interact with a void excavated in a construction material for determining one or more measurements thereof including a surface characteristic of the construction material,
wherein the at least one material interacting device comprises at least one of an optical projector or receiver configured to determine a dimensional characteristic of the void using at least one of: structured light, range finder, confocal scanning, stereo-vision, 3D profiling, scanners, cameras, photographic methodology, point cloud, stereo triangulation, light sheet triangulation, time of flight, lidar, and coded aperture,
wherein the surface characteristic includes at least one of a dimension, a texture, and a roughness;
computer hardware configured to:
determine a dimensional characteristic of the void based on the one or more measurements;
determine a volume of the construction material prior to excavation of the void based on the dimensional characteristic of the void;
a mass measuring device in communication therewith for determining a wet density of the excavated construction material while in situ; and

a template for engaging with the construction material for guiding the excavation and referencing an imaging of the void.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the measurements are captured when the material interacting device is at more than one relative position with respect to the void.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the material interacting device obtains images translatable between a first position and a second position spaced-apart from the void.

10. An apparatus comprising:
at least one material interacting device configured to optically interact with a void excavated in a construction material for determining one or more measurements thereof including a surface characteristic of the construction material,
wherein the at least one material interacting device comprises at least one of an optical projector or receiver configured to determine a dimensional characteristic of the void using at least one of: structured light, range finder, confocal scanning, stereo-vision, 3D profiling, scanners, cameras, photographic methodology, point cloud, stereo triangulation, light sheet triangulation, time of flight, lidar, and coded aperture,
wherein the surface characteristic includes at least one of a dimension, a texture, and a roughness;
computer hardware configured to:
determine a dimensional characteristic of the void based on the one or more measurements; and
determine a volume of the construction material prior to excavation of the void based on the dimensional characteristic of the void; and

a non-nuclear moisture measuring device in communication therewith for determining a moisture content of the construction material while in situ.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , whereby the non-nuclear moisture measuring device and the material interacting device are in communication with a computer device for determining a dry density of the construction material.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the non-nuclear moisture measuring device is configured to determine a moisture characteristic of the construction material using infrared (IR) measurements, time-domain reflectometry (TDR), capacitance, impedance, electromagnetic, magnetic resonance, direct heating, microwave heating, volumetric and gravimetric techniques.

13. An apparatus comprising:
at least one material interacting device configured to optically interact with a void excavated in a construction material for determining one or more measurements thereof including a surface characteristic of the construction material,
wherein the at least one material interacting device comprises at least one of an optical projector or receiver configured to determine a dimensional characteristic of the void using at least one of: structured light, range finder, confocal scanning, stereo-vision, 3D profiling, scanners, cameras, photographic methodology, point cloud, stereo triangulation, light sheet triangulation, time of flight, lidar, and coded aperture,
wherein the surface characteristic includes at least one of a dimension, a texture, and a roughness;
computer hardware configured to:
determine a dimensional characteristic of the void based on the one or more measurements;
determine a volume of the construction material prior to excavation of the void based on the dimensional characteristic of the void;

a non-nuclear moisture measuring device in communication therewith for determining a moisture content of the construction material while in situ; and
a template for engaging with the construction material for guiding the excavation and referencing an imaging of the void.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the non-nuclear moisture measuring device and the material interacting device are in communication with a computer device for determining a dry density of the construction material.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the non-nuclear moisture measuring device is configured to determine a moisture characteristic of the excavated construction material using infrared (IR) measurements, time-domain reflectometry (TDR), capacitance, impedance, electromagnetic, magnetic resonance, direct heating, microwave heating, volumetric and gravimetric technique

Assignees

• Troxler Electronic Lab Inc

Inventors

• Troxler Robert Ernest

Classifications

• G01B21/02 Primary

  for measuring length, width, or thickness (G01B21/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01B21/20

  for measuring contours or curvatures, e.g. determining profile · CPC title

• G01N9/02 Primary

  by measuring weight of a known volume · CPC title

• G01N21/6456

  Spatial resolved fluorescence measurements; Imaging · CPC title

• G01N33/42

  Road-making materials (G01N33/38 takes precedence) · CPC title