In-Q-Tel, the Arlington-based venture fund backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), recently signed an investment and technology development deal with ImageTree, a Morgantown, W.Va.-based developer of software and technology used for forest management.
Deal terms were not disclosed but the U.S. intelligence community will gain access to the company's technology. ImageTree's technology platform, known as ForestSense, combines ground-based data with remote sensing imagery. While the resulting information most often is used in land management, ImageTree's IP can have a range of uses for governments.
It appears that their algorithms could help show patterns in imagery that document such ground characteristics as forests and vegetation, as well as man-made objects and roads, helping analysts gain insight into an area's activities.
ImageTree has 1 patent and 1 patent application today in the USA, see them here (short URL is http://cli.gs/ImageTreeIP).
Their patent is Method of Feature Identification and Analysis, U.S. Patent 7,212,670 from 5/1/2007:
A method for efficiently and accurately inventorying image features such as timber, including steps of segmenting digital images into tree stands, segmenting tree stands into tree crowns, each tree crown having a tree crown area, classifying tree crowns based on species, and analyzing the tree crown classification to determine information about the individual tree crowns and aggregate tree stands. The tree crown area is used to determine physical information such as tree diameter breast height, tree stem volume and tree height. The tree crown area is also used to determine the value of timber in tree stands and parcels of land using tree stem volume and market price of timber per species.
The five inventors behind this patent are--
- Rousselle, Adam (Doylestown, PA)
- Leppanen, Vesa (Chalfont, PA)
- Mccrystal, David (Chalfont, PA)
- Kelle, Olavi (Doylestown, PA)
- Pliszka, Robert (Sellersville, PA) .
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