Information converting system

• US 20020106135A1
• Filed: 02/07/2002
• Published: 08/08/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iwane Laboratories, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Iwane Laboratories, Ltd.
• Inventors: Iwane, Waro
• Granted Patent: US 7,031,554 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/305
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/223 using block-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/55 from multiple images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/74 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/431 Frequency domain transformation; Autocorrelation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

An information converting system includes: a database (300) in which attribute data including three-dimensional shape data of parts modeled on various objects and identification codes are registered; a comparison part generating unit (400) for generating part information for comparison from the attribute data for each of the parts; an input unit (100) for obtaining an input image including an object image; a comparison information generating unit (200) for performing an imaging process on the input image to thereby generate image information for comparison in which information of the object image is not clipped; and a specifying unit (500) for retrieving a part corresponding to the part information for comparison from the image information for comparison, recognizing the corresponding portion in the image information for comparison as an object image, and specifying a part having the part information for comparison as a part corresponding to the object image.

Claims

1. An information converting system comprising:

a database in which attribute data including data indicative of properties of an object and an identification code of each of parts modeled on various objects are registered;

a comparison part generating unit for generating one piece or a plurality of pieces of part information for comparison from said attribute data for each of said parts;

an input unit for obtaining input information including information regarding an object;

a comparison information generating unit for generating information for comparison in which information of said objects is not individually separated from each other, from said input information;

a part specifying unit for specifying a part corresponding to said object by using the part information for comparison and the information for comparison each having the same kind of data; and

an output unit for outputting the identification code and at least a part of the attribute data of the specified part as a result of recognition of said object, and

said part specifying unit comprising;

a retrieving unit for retrieving a corresponding portion, which corresponds to at least a part of said part information for comparison, from said information for comparison sequentially with respect to one or plural piece(s) of part information for comparison of one or plural part(s);

a recognizing unit for recognizing said corresponding portion in said information for comparison as an object; and

a specifying unit for specifying a part having said part information for comparison as a part corresponding to said object.

2. The information converting system according to claim 1, comprising:

a database in which attribute data including three-dimensional shape data and an identification code of each of parts modeled on various objects are registered;

a comparison part generating unit for generating one piece or plural pieces of part information for comparison from said attribute data for each of said parts;

an input unit for obtaining an input image including an object image;

a comparison image generating unit for generating image information for comparison in which information pieces of said objects are not individually clipped, by performing an imaging process on said input image;

a part specifying unit for specifying a part corresponding to said object image by using the part information for comparison and the image information for comparison each having the same kind of data; and

an output unit for outputting the identification code and at least a part of the attribute data of the specified part as a result of recognition of said object image, and

said part specifying unit comprising;

a retrieving unit for retrieving a corresponding portion, which corresponds to at least a part of said part information for comparison, from said image information for comparison sequentially with respect to one or plural piece(s) of part information for comparison of one or plural part(s);

a recognizing unit for recognizing said corresponding portion in said image information for comparison as an object image; and

a specifying unit for specifying a part having said part information for comparison as a part corresponding to said object image.

3. The information converting system according to claim 2, wherein said comparison part generating unit decomposes as said part information for comparison, the attribute data of said part into basic elements of an outline or the like to generate basic elements or a composite element obtained by combining a plurality of basic elements,

said comparison image generating unit extracts the basic elements of an outline or the like and generates a set of basic elements or composite elements as said image information for comparison, and

said retrieving unit retrieves a part corresponding to the basic element or composite element of said part from said image information for comparison.

4. The information converting system according to claim 3, wherein said comparison part generating unit generates basic elements or a composite element of a characteristic portion of the attribute data of a part as said part information for comparison,

said retrieving unit retrieves a part corresponding to the basic element or composite element of said characteristic portion from said image information for comparison, and

said recognizing unit detects, after the portion corresponding to the basic element or composite element of said characteristic portion is retrieved, correspondence between said corresponding portion and a basic element or composite element out of the characteristic portion in the same part, and recognizes the corresponding portion as an object image.

5. The information converting system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said comparison part generating unit generates, as said part information for comparison, an element extracting filter taking the form of a two-dimensional matrix or a three-dimensional matrix in which a high point is given to a pixel coinciding with the shape of said basic element or composite element and a low point is given to a pixel apart from the shape of said element, and

said retrieving unit retrieves, as said corresponding portion, a portion in which the total point of pixels coinciding with the basic element or composite element in said image information for comparison is the highest.

6. The information converting system according to claim 3, 4, or 5, wherein said comparison part generating unit gives information for specifying only a coupling relation of said basic elements to said composite element, and

said part specifying unit retrieves said corresponding portion on condition that at least a part of said coupling relation coincides with said corresponding portion.

7. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the attribute data of each part registered in said database includes self-specifying information for instructing a method of specifying the part,

said comparison part generating unit generates part information for comparison for designating said self-specifying information and outputs said part information for comparison to said part specifying unit in accordance with priority designated by said self-specifying information, and

said part specifying unit specifies a part on the basis of said self specifying information.

8. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein as attribute data of a set of parts, identification codes and a combination condition of a plurality of parts constructing the part set are registered in said database, and

when specified parts satisfy said combination condition, said specifying unit further specifies a part set obtained by combining specified parts.

9. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 8, wherein said database has, as attribute data of a four-dimensional part modeled on a series of operations of an object, a set of three-dimensional shape data in a time-series order of the object.

10. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 9, wherein said database has, as attribute data of general parts modeled commonly on an object group, attribute data common to parts modeled on the objects of the object group.

11. The information converting system according to claim 10, wherein said general parts and parts commonly having the attribute data of the general parts are associated with each other in said database,

said comparison part generating unit generates part information for comparison with respect to said general parts, and

when said general part is specified by said specifying unit, said comparison part generating unit generates part information with respect to a part associated with the general part.

12. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 11, wherein said database captures data obtained from a recognized object image as attribute data of a specified part or replaces the data obtained from a recognized object image with a part of attribute data.

13. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 12, wherein a plurality of parts are grouped for each set situation in said database, and

when said input image corresponds to any of set situations, said comparison part generating unit generates said part information for comparison for a part in the group of the corresponding set situation.

14. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 13, wherein said retrieving unit limits a retrieval range in said image information for comparison in accordance with a scene of an input image.

15. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 14,

wherein a plurality of said input units obtain input images of the same object from known directions which are different from each other,

said comparison image generating unit generates image information for comparison including two-dimensional shape data from each of the input images obtained by the input units,

said comparison part generating unit generates part information for comparison having two-dimensional shape data obtained by projecting three-dimensional shape data of a part into the known directions, and

said part specifying unit specifies a part of each image information for comparison and confirms that the same part is specified about each of the image information for comparison.

16. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 15,

wherein said input unit obtains an input image including an object image photographed from a single direction,

said comparison image generating unit generates image information for comparison including two-dimensional shape data from said input image, and

said comparison part generating unit generates part information for comparison having two-dimensional shape data obtained by projecting the three-dimensional shape data of said part into an arbitrary direction.

17. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 16,

wherein said input unit obtains input images having parallax of the same object photographed from directions which are different from each other,

said comparison image generating unit generates image information for comparison including three-dimensional shape data from each of the input images, and

said comparison part generating unit generates part information for comparison having three-dimensional shape data of a part.

18. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 17,

wherein said part specifying unit has a settling unit for determining a three-dimensional shape of a specified part and three-dimensional coordinates indicative of an arrangement relation.

19. The information converting system according to claim 18, wherein when the same part is specified with respect to a plurality of different object images by said part specifying unit, said settling unit adds identifiers which are different from each other to identification codes of the specified parts.

20. The information converting system according to claim 18 or 19, wherein when said input image is a moving image constructed by a plurality of frames, said part specifying unit specifies a part with respect to one of the frames and repeatedly performs only said settling process with respect to the part once specified for the other frames.

21. The information converting system according to claim 18, 19, or 20, wherein said output unit reconstructs a plurality of parts subjected to the settling process in said part specifying unit and three-dimensional space arrangement of the parts as an image seen from a viewpoint in an arbitrary position and displays the resultant.

22. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 21, wherein said input unit obtains an overlapped portion of three-dimensional spaces in image capturing ranges of input images on the basis of an object image in each of input images of an object whose three-dimensional shape and position are known, photographed from directions which are different from each other, aligns the overlapped portions so as to coincide with each other on a three-dimensional coordinate system, thereby coupling the images, and obtains a viewpoint position and an angle of view of each of the input units.

23. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 22, further comprising:

a transmitting unit for transmitting an identification code output from said output unit to a communication line;

a receiving unit for receiving said identification code;

a reception-side database in which said identification code and attribute data are associated with each other and registered; and

a reconstructing unit for searching attribute data of a part corresponding to said identification code from said reception-side database and outputting the attribute data corresponding to said identification code.

24. The information converting system according to claim 23, wherein three-dimensional shape data of parts of the same identification code in said database on a transmission side and in said reception-side database are different from each other.

25. The information converting system according to any one of claims 2 to 23, further comprising an analysis information generating unit for combining attribute data of a plurality of parts specified by said part specifying unit to thereby generate analysis information regarding a group of the parts.