1. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit, in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end and the other end thereof as a far end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a radio-wave reception unit configured to receive the radio wave, in a cable form, placed approximately in parallel with said radio-wave radiation unit;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of said radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate the amplitude of the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a malfunction distinguishing unit configured to determine that a malfunction is present in either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit, when, comparing the reception signal with the transmission signal for the range bins corresponding to the far end, a level of amplitude reduction in the reception signal exceeds a predetermined ratio.
2. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit, in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a radio-wave reception unit configured to receive the radio wave, in a cable form, placed approximately in parallel with said radio-wave radiation unit;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of said radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate the amplitude of the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a malfunction-range measurement unit configured to determine, by determining, with respect to each of the range bins, a level of amplitude reduction in the reception signal compared with the transmission signal, and by detecting, out of the range bins in which the level of amplitude reduction exceeds a predetermined ratio, a range bin that corresponds to the nearest position to the feed end, that a malfunction is present in a position corresponding to said range bin related to either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit.
3. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit, in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a radio-wave reception unit configured to receive the radio wave, in a cable form, placed approximately in parallel with said radio-wave radiation unit;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of said radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate the amplitude of the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a breakage detection unit configured to determine, when there exists a range bin among the range bins in which the amplitude of the reception signal is increased in comparison to the transmission signal, that breakage is present in a position corresponding to said range bin related to either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit.
4. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit, in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of a radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate a quadrature-detection result by performing quadrature detection on the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a crack detection unit configured to determine, in a case in which a time-series distribution of the reception signal in a plane coordinated by I-components and Q-components of the quadrature-detection result of the reception signal is classified, when the distribution is classified into a plurality of classes and there exists a range bin among the range bins in which the location of the reception signal moves astride the plurality of classes as time passes, that a crack is present in a position corresponding to said range bin related to either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit.
5. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit, in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of a radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate a quadrature-detection result by performing quadrature detection on the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a crack immediate-report unit configured to determine, when there exists a range bin in which a larger eigenvalue in eigenvalues of a covariance matrix of I-components and Q-components of the quadrature-detection result of the reception signal is greater than a first predetermined value, and a smaller eigenvalue in the eigenvalues, less than a second predetermined value, that a crack is present in a position corresponding to said range bin related to either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit.
6. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit, in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of a radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate a quadrature-detection result by performing quadrature detection on the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
an intrusion-object immediate-report unit configured to determine, when there exists range bin in which a larger eigenvalue in eigenvalues of a covariance matrix of I-components and Q-components of the quadrature-detection result of the reception signal is greater than a first predetermined value, and a smaller eigenvalue in the eigenvalues, greater than a second predetermined value, that an intrusion-object is present in a position corresponding to said range bin related to either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit.
7. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit, in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end and the other end thereof as a far end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a radio-wave reception unit configured to receive the radio wave, in a cable form, placed approximately in parallel with said radio-wave radiation unit;
a terminator configured to absorb the radio wave, connected to the far end of either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit;
a reflector configured to reflect the radio wave connected to the far end of either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit to which said terminator is not connected;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of said radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate the amplitude of the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a malfunction-information detection unit configured to determine that a malfunction is present in the unit to which said terminator is connected, out of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, when the amplitude of the reception signal is larger than a predetermined value in the range bin corresponding to the far-end position.
8. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end and the other end thereof as a far end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a radio-wave reception unit configured to receive the radio wave, in a cable form, placed approximately in parallel with said radio-wave radiation unit;
a terminator configured to absorb the radio wave, connected to the far end of either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit;
a reflector configured to reflect the radio wave connected to the far end of either said radio-wave radiation unit or said radio-wave reception unit to which said terminator is not connected;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of said radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate the amplitude of the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a malfunction-position detection unit configured to detect, when there exists a range bin, corresponding to a position on the opposite side of the feed end with respect to the far end, in which the amplitude of the reception signal is larger than a predetermined value, by obtaining the distance X from the position corresponding to said range bin to the far end, that a malfunction is present in the unit to which said terminator is connected, out of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, and for defining a position of the malfunction based on the distance X and the length of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit.
9. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end and the other end thereof as a far end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a radio-wave reception unit configured to receive the radio wave, in a cable form, placed approximately in parallel with said radio-wave radiation unit;
a terminator configured to absorb the radio wave, provided for each of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit;
a reflector configured to reflect the radio wave, provided for each of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit;
a changeover unit provided for each of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, configured to select either said terminator or said reflector, to connect the same to said corresponding radio-wave radiation unit and radio-wave reception unit each;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of said radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate the amplitude of the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a malfunction-information detection unit configured to determine that a malfunction is present in the unit to which said terminator is connected, out of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, when the amplitude of the reception signal is larger than a predetermined value in the range bin corresponding to the far-end position.
10. An intrusion-object detection system, comprising:
a radio-wave radiation unit in a cable form with one end thereof as a feed end and the other end thereof as a far end, configured to radiate as a radio wave, a transmission signal on which a spread spectrum signal is superimposed being fed into said radio-wave radiation unit from the feed end;
a radio-wave reception unit configured to receive the radio wave, in a cable form, placed approximately in parallel with said radio-wave radiation unit;
a terminator configured to absorb the radio wave, provided for each of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit;
a reflector configured to reflect the radio wave, provided for each of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit;
a changeover unit provided for each of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, configured to select either said terminator or said reflector, to connect the same to said corresponding radio-wave radiation unit and radio-wave reception unit each;
a signal reception unit configured to receive the transmission signal as a reception signal, connected to an end, on the feed-end side, of said radio-wave reception unit;
a signal demodulation unit configured to define the reception signal so as to calculate the amplitude of the reception signal with respect to range bins each correlated with a distance from a position of the feed end, on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, based on a correlation between a time-delay from transmission time of the transmission signal until reception time of the reception signal and the distance along a transmission path according to route’s positions on said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit in the transmission path through which the transmission signal passes after its transmission until reception as the reception signal, by comparing a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal extracted from the reception signal with a code sequence of a spread spectrum signal in the transmission signal; and
a malfunction-position detection unit configured to determine, when there exists a range bin, corresponding to a position on the opposite side of the feed end with respect to the far end, in which the amplitude of the reception signal is larger than a predetermined value, by obtaining the distance X from the position corresponding to said range bin to the far end, that a malfunction is present in the unit to which said terminator is connected, out of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit, and for defining a position of the malfunction based on the distance X and the length of said radio-wave radiation unit and said radio-wave reception unit.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for segmenting an image by path extraction using minimization of at least a potential, said potential being calculated from a feature of the image using a cost assignment function by way of the following steps:
initializing the cost assignment function;
defining two groups of points in a neighborhood of a drawn contour: the ones that are considered to be relevant to a boundary, called positive points, and the ones that are not considered to be relevant to said boundary, called negative points;
wherein positive points comprise points that lie on the drawn contour and points that are less than a first distance away from the drawn contour, and negative points comprise all other points present in a rectangular area defined around the drawn contour;
defining a characterization of positive points from the feature,
defining a characterization of negative points from the feature,
constructing a refined characterization of positive points by combining characterizations of positive and negative points,
using this refined characterization to modify the cost assignment function.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the neighborhood of the drawn contour is chosen among the group comprising a rectangular area defined around the drawn contour, an area following the shape of the contour around this contour, several translated paths having a shape similar to the drawn contour and translated parallel to the drawn contour.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the characterization of negative andor positive points is defined using a weighting of said points according to their distance to the drawn contour.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the steps of:
constructing a function of potentials by summing and weighting several potentials corresponding to several features, said weights being calculated using the characterizations of positive and negative points present on the different features,
minimizing the function of potentials so as to find the path.
5. An imaging apparatus comprising:
image display means,
drawing means allowing a drawn contour to be defined on an image,
segmenting means for implementing the method for segmenting an image as claimed in claim 1.
6. An imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that drawing means enable the drawn contour to be drawn by a user.