| 主权项 |
1. A system for managing the transfer of material from a material-transferring vehicle to a material-receiving vehicle, the system comprising:
a material-transferring vehicle comprising a first storage container; an unloading chute extending above or from a side of the first storage container, the unloading chute adapted to transfer material from the first storage container to a material-receiving vehicle alongside the material-transferring vehicle; a location-determining receiver adapted to estimate position data for guiding the material-transferring vehicle; an image sensor mounted on the material-transferring vehicle or the first storage container for providing observed image data to estimate a lateral separation distance, between the first storage container and the material-receiving vehicle for receiving the material, based on the observed image data of a reflective alignment pattern painted, marked or labeled on the receiving vehicle; a discriminator for identifying pixels within the reflective alignment pattern distinct from background pixels associated with the observed image data; and an electronic data processing system for guiding the vehicle and its associated material-transferring vehicle based on the estimated position data and the estimated lateral separation distance, the electronic data processing system comprising a manager to determine whether to use the estimated lateral separation distance, between the vehicles, derived from image data of the image sensor or derived from estimated position data of the location-determining receiver, where the estimated lateral separation distance of the image sensor supersedes or augments the estimated position data for the material-transferring vehicle to maintain at least a minimum target lateral separation distance between the material-transferring vehicle and material-receiving vehicle during the transfer of the material. |
