Abstract: A coal caving system (1) including a plurality of shields (3) with canopies (6) which are selectively operated to allow coal to cave onto a rear conveyor (37). In one aspect, the invention provides a shield control method including controlling the shield (3) to automatically open a door (6) associated with a rear canopy of the shield (3) responsive to a position of a shearer of the system.

Abstract: Methods and systems for detecting a vehicle signal through image differencing and filtering are described. A computing device may be configured to receive a sequence of images of an identified vehicle in a vicinity of a given vehicle. The computing device may be configured to determine, based on a comparison of a first image of a pair of images of the sequence of images to a second image of the pair of images, a portion of image data exhibiting a change in color and a change in brightness between the first image and the second image of the pair of images. The computing device may be configured to determine that the portion indicates a light signal for the identified vehicle; and provide instructions to control the given vehicle based on the light signal of the identified vehicle.

Abstract: According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a method for determining the geographic location of an object, the method comprising retrieving at a vision system a plurality of images from a database, each image related to a respective vantage point, detecting, with the vision system, the object in at least two of the plurality of images, generating a vector in relation to the respective vantage point for each image in which the object was detected, and triangulating, based on the intersection of at least two vectors, the geographic location of the object.

Abstract: Methods and systems for detection of a construction zone sign are described. A computing device, configured to control the vehicle, may be configured to receive, from an image-capture device coupled to the computing device, images of a vicinity of the road on which the vehicle is travelling. Also, the computing device may be configured to determine image portions in the images that may depict sides of the road at a predetermined height range. Further, the computing device may be configured to detect a construction zone sign in the image portions, and determine a type of the construction zone sign. Accordingly, the computing device may be configured to modify a control strategy associated with a driving behavior of the vehicle; and control the vehicle based on the modified control strategy.

Abstract: A coal caving system (1) including a plurality of shields (3) with canopies (6) which are selectively operated to allow coal to cave onto a rear conveyor (37). In one aspect, the invention provides a shield control method including controlling the shield (3) to automatically open a door (6) associated with a rear canopy of the shield (3) responsive to a position of a shearer of the system.

Abstract: A method for processing services can include receiving a request for a service; sending the result of the service in which at least one data item is tagged; in response to a selection of the tagged data item, determining other services associated with the service based on a service template of the service; and providing the other services associated with the service as options, wherein the other services take the at least one data item as inputs to provide outputs thereof.

Abstract: A method for processing services can include receiving a request for a service; sending the result of the service in which at least one data item is tagged; in response to a selection of the tagged data item, determining other services associated with the service based on a service template of the service; and providing the other services associated with the service as options, wherein the other services take the at least one data item as inputs to provide outputs thereof.