Enrollment apparatus, system, and method

Abstract

An apparatus for enrolling a package is disclosed including: a receiving surface for receiving the package; at least one weight sensor in communication with the receiving surface which generates a weight signal indicative of the weight of the package; at least one video camera which generates a video signal indicative of an image of the package on the receiving surface; and a processor in communication with the at least one weight sensor and the at least one video camera. The processor includes: a weight module which produces, in response to the weight signal, weight data indicative of the weight of the package; and a dimension capture module which produces, in response to the video signal, dimension data indicative of the size of the package. In some embodiments, the processor further includes a recognition module which produces, in response to the video signal, character data indicative of one or more characters present on the package.

1 - 40 . (canceled) 
     
     
         41 . Non-transitory computer readable media storing computer executable instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out a method comprising:
 receiving a video signal of an image of a package on a receiving surface, the video signal including a stream of two dimensional image frames;   generating from the received video signal tracking data indicative of a presence and a location of the package on the receiving surface, wherein the tracking information comprises length and width dimension data indicative of the size of the package along two axes lying in a plane parallel to the receiving surface; and   producing dimension data indicative of a size of the package based on the tracking data.   
     
     
         42 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises generating weight data indicative of the weight of the package. 
     
     
         43 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises generating character data indicative of one or more characters present on the package. 
     
     
         44 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the tracking data further comprises height dimension data indicative of the size of the package along an axis transverse to the plane parallel to the receiving surface. 
     
     
         45 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises generating height dimension data in response to receiving a stereoscopic video signal. 
     
     
         46 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises generating edge data indicative of the location of one or more edges of the package. 
     
     
         47 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises:
 generating two dimensional difference images from two or more two dimensional images of the video signal; and   generating information indicative of the presence or location of the package based on color information from the video signal.   
     
     
         48 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises:
 applying a Hough transformation to one or more images from the video signal; and   analyzing the transformed images to determine information indicative of the size of location of edges on the package.   
     
     
         49 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprise:
 processing one or more two dimensional images from the video signal; and   analyzing the one or more processed images to produce character data indicative of one or more characters present on the package.   
     
     
         50 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises:
 modifying the color of the one or more images;   applying a linear image filter to the one or more images; and   applying one or more morphological operation to the one or more images.   
     
     
         51 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises segmenting the one or more images into one or more regions of interest based on the content of the images. 
     
     
         52 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises rotating at least a portion of the one or more images. 
     
     
         53 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises combining overlapping two dimensional images from at least two cameras to produce a single image of a combined field of view of the cameras. 
     
     
         54 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 41 , wherein the processor is communicatively coupled to at least a weight sensor and a video camera unit. 
     
     
         55 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 54 , wherein the weight sensor generates a weight signal indicative of a weight of the package. 
     
     
         56 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 55 , wherein the weight sensor comprises at least one of: a load cell, a MEMs device, a piezoelectric device, a spring scale, and a balance scale. 
     
     
         57 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 54 , wherein the video camera unit generates the video signal indicative of the image of the package on the receiving surface, wherein the video signal comprises a stream of two dimensional image frames. 
     
     
         58 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 57 , wherein the video camera unit comprises a stereoscopic imager. 
     
     
         59 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 57 , wherein the video camera unit comprises at least two cameras, each camera unit generating a respective video signal, and wherein the cameras have at least partially overlapping fields of view. 
     
     
         60 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 57 , wherein the video camera unit comprises an infrared camera.