Target marking for secure logo validation process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9626559-B2
Application number	US-201414322673-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 2, 2014
Priority date	Jul 2, 2013
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

The instant application describes a method for acquiring via a vehicle wheel alignment system an image of a target including a validation logo, the validation logo being used for recognition by the vehicle wheel alignment system and determination of authenticity of the validation logo by the vehicle wheel alignment system; identifying the validation logo within the image of the target; comparing the identified validation logo with a reference validation logo; computing a similarity metric based on a result of a comparison between the identified validation logo and the reference validation logo; and based on the computed similarity metric, enabling or disabling the vehicle wheel alignment system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
acquiring via a vehicle wheel alignment system an image of a wheel alignment target,
wherein the wheel alignment target is mounted in association with a wheel of a vehicle, and includes a validation logo and a plurality of target reference points having known relative positions, the validation logo being used for recognition by the vehicle wheel alignment system and determination of authenticity of the validation logo by the vehicle wheel alignment system, and the plurality of target reference points being used to perform wheel alignment on the basis of observation of the plurality of target reference points having the known relative positions;
determining, on the basis of the positions of the target reference points in the acquired image of the wheel alignment target, a projective transformation relating the image of the wheel alignment target to a known orientation;
performing the determined projective transformation to facilitate comparison of the image of the wheel alignment target and the reference validation logo;
identifying the validation logo within the image of the wheel alignment target based on the performed projective transformation;
comparing the identified validation logo with a reference validation logo;
computing a similarity metric based on a result of a comparison between the identified validation logo and the reference validation logo;
based on the computed similarity metric, enabling or disabling the vehicle wheel alignment system; and
upon enabling the wheel alignment system, computing at least one measurement of the vehicle based on an image of the wheel alignment target including the validation logo acquired via a same image sensor of the vehicle wheel alignment system used to acquire the image used to identify the validation logo.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein acquiring the image of the target includes acquiring the image of the target via a camera of the vehicle wheel alignment system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the projective transformation includes transforming the image of the target to match an orientation of the reference validation logo in a camera image plane.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising cropping the validation logo from the image of the target, wherein the validation logo is a copyrighted mark and distinct within the image of the target.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising resizing the validation logo to be substantially same size as the reference validation logo.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising resizing the validation logo to be same size as the reference validation logo.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein enabling or disabling the vehicle wheel alignment system includes enabling the vehicle wheel alignment system upon determining the similarity metric exceeds a threshold, confirming the validation logo authenticity.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein enabling or disabling the vehicle wheel alignment system includes disabling the vehicle wheel alignment system upon determining the similarity metric does not exceed a threshold, confirming the validation logo unauthenticity.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein computing the similarity metric includes computing a correlation coefficient based on the result of the comparison between the identified validation logo and the reference validation logo.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target is mounted to a wheel of the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image of the wheel alignment target including the validation logo used to identify the validation logo is acquired via the same image sensor that is mounted in association with another wheel of the vehicle.

12. A wheel alignment system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing executable instructions, wherein execution of the executable instructions by the at least one processor causes the at least one processor to perform functions to:
acquire an image of a wheel alignment target, mounted in association with a wheel of a vehicle, including a validation logo and a plurality of target reference points having known relative positions, the validation logo being used for recognition by the vehicle wheel alignment system and determination of authenticity of the validation logo by the vehicle wheel alignment system, and the plurality of target reference points being used to perform wheel alignment on the basis of observation of the plurality of target reference points having the known relative positions;
determine, on the basis of the positions of the target reference points in the acquired image of the wheel alignment target, a projective transformation relating the image of the wheel alignment target to a known orientation;
perform the determined projective transformation to facilitate comparison of the image of the wheel alignment target and the reference validation logo;
identify the validation logo within the image of the wheel alignment target based on the performed projective transformation;
compare the identified validation logo with a reference validation logo;
compute a similarity metric based on a result of a comparison between the identified validation logo and the reference validation logo;
based on the computed similarity metric, enable or disable the vehicle wheel alignment system; and
upon enabling the wheel alignment system, compute at least one measurement of the vehicle based on an image of the wheel alignment target including the validation logo acquired via a same image sensor of the vehicle wheel alignment system used to acquire the image used to identify the validation logo.

13. The wheel alignment system of claim 12 , further comprising at least one camera, wherein to acquire the image of the target the memory further includes instructions for causing the at least one processor to acquire the image of the target via the at least one camera of the vehicle wheel alignment system.

14. The wheel alignment system of claim 12 , wherein the projective transformation includes transforming the image of the target to match an orientation of the reference validation logo in a camera image plane.

15. The wheel alignment system of claim 12 , wherein the memory further includes instructions for causing the at least one processor to crop the validation logo from the image of the target, the validation logo being a copyrighted mark and distinct within the image of the target.

16. The wheel alignment system of claim 15 , wherein the memory further includes instructions for causing the at least one processor to resize the validation logo to be substantially same size as the reference validation logo.

17. The wheel alignment system of claim 12 , wherein to enable or disable the vehicle wheel alignment system the memory further includes instructions for causing the at least one processor to enable the vehicle wheel alignment system upon determining the similarity metric coefficient exceeds a threshold, confirming the validation logo authenticity.

18. The wheel alignment system of claim 12 , wherein to enable or disable the vehicle wheel alignment system the memory further includes instructions for causing the at least one processor to disable the vehicle wheel alignment system upon determining the similarity metric does not exceed a threshold, confirming the validation logo unauthenticity.

19. The wheel alignment system of claim 12 , wherein to compute the similarity metric the memory further includes instruction

Assignees

• Snap On Incorporated

Inventors

• Rogers Steven W
• Walchuk Donald L
• D'Agostino Robert J

Classifications

• G06F2218/12

  Classification; Matching · CPC title

• G01B11/2755 Primary

  using photoelectric detection means · CPC title

• G06K9/00536 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01B2210/30

  Reference markings, reflector, scale or other passive device · CPC title