Fish Size Calculation with Tail Beat Compensation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional methods for calculating fish length using stereo cameras often result in errors exceeding 2% due to tail-beat motion and deviation errors, leading to inaccurate measurements.

Innovation Solution

A device that uses a stereo camera system to capture multiple pictures at specific intervals, detects the fish and extracts frames where the fish is not bending by measuring camera-tail distance, and selects a frame with an intermediate camera-tail distance for accurate size calculation, adjusting frame rate based on tail beat frequency to reduce system load.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If conventional stereo camera methods are used to measure fish length, then the measurement process is simple, but the measurement precision exceeds 2% error due to tail-beat motion

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefork length measurement accuracyVSAvoidmeasurement system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by capturing multiple pictures at different time points before final measurement, specifically capturing images at the extreme positions of tail beat motion to establish reference points for accurate length calculation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The invention transitions from single-dimension conventional measurement to multi-dimensional analysis by capturing spatial-temporal information across multiple frames, using the vertical dimension of tail motion extremes to compensate for horizontal measurement errors

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Measurement precision

If oversampling is used to capture fish motion, then measurement accuracy improves, but the processing load on the system increases heavily

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefork length measurement accuracyVSAvoidsystem processing efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the essential information needed for measurement by identifying and using only the extreme position frames of tail beat motion, discarding unnecessary intermediate frames to reduce processing load while maintaining accuracy

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of continuous oversampling, the system applies partial action by capturing pictures at specific critical moments (extreme positions of tail beat), achieving sufficient measurement accuracy with reduced sampling frequency and lower processing requirements

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP3954206A1Fish size calculation with compensation of the tail beat
Publication Date: 2022.02.16 FURUNO ELECTRIC CO LTD
  • EP3954206A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3954206A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3954206A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The disclosure relates to a fish size calculating device, including a camera system (105), a fish detection module (110), a body part detection module (120), a tracking module (130) and a size calculation module (160). The camera system takes a plurality of pictures in time. The fish detection module detects a fish on the plurality of pictures. The body part detection module detects a body part of the detected fish on the plurality of pictures. The tracking module tracks an identical fish among the detected fish on the plurality of pictures. The size calculation module calculates a size of the tracked identical fish.