Image processing methods and systems
First Claim
10. A computer-readable medium containing a program that performs the steps of:
- determining, for each of a plurality of different color channels, a channel gradient and a weighting factor associated with each color channel in an image;
setting, for each pixel, a color gradient equal to one of said channel gradients having a maximum weighted magnitude based on said weighting factors;
preliminarily identifying edges in said image by using said color gradients; and
confirming said edges using at least one threshold.
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Abstract
Systems and methods according to the present invention provide techniques to reliably detect edges, lines and quadrilaterals, especially those with low local contrast, in color images. Edges can be detected using a color gradient operator is based on color distance with a non-linear weight determined by the consistency of local gradient orientations, thereby significantly improving the signal/noise ratio. In detecting lines, a variant of the Gradient Weighted Hough Transform can be used employing both the edge strength and orientation. Multiple non-overlapping quadrilaterals can be detected using a process which includes quality metrics (for both individual quadrilaterals and for a set of non-overlapping quadrilaterals) and a graph-searching method.
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Citations
37 Claims
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10. A computer-readable medium containing a program that performs the steps of:
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determining, for each of a plurality of different color channels, a channel gradient and a weighting factor associated with each color channel in an image;
setting, for each pixel, a color gradient equal to one of said channel gradients having a maximum weighted magnitude based on said weighting factors;
preliminarily identifying edges in said image by using said color gradients; and
confirming said edges using at least one threshold. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. An image processing system comprising:
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an image capture device for capturing an image; and
a processor, connected to said image capture device, for determining, for each of a plurality of different color channels, a channel gradient and a weighting factor associated with each color channel in an image;
setting, for each pixel, a color gradient equal to one of said channel gradients having a maximum weighted magnitude based on said weighting factors;
preliminarily identifying edges in said image by using said color gradients; and
confirming said edges using at least one threshold. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. An image processing system comprising:
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means for capturing an image; and
means, connected to said image capture device, for determining, for each of a plurality of different color channels, a channel gradient and a weighting factor associated with each color channel in an image;
setting, for each pixel, a color gradient equal to one of said channel gradients having a maximum weighted magnitude based on said weighting factors;
preliminarily identifying edges in said image by using said color gradients; and
confirming said edges using at least one threshold.
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19. A method for image processing comprising the steps of:
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identifying a first plurality of candidate shapes in an image based on line data;
screening said first plurality of candidate shapes against predetermined criteria to generate a second plurality of candidate shapes;
determining at least one confidence level for each of said second plurality of candidate shapes and;
eliminating those of said second plurality of candidate shapes wherein said at least one confidence level is less than a predetermined value to generate a set of confirmed shapes. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer-readable medium containing a program that performs the steps of:
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identifying a first plurality of candidate shapes in an image based on line data;
screening said first plurality of candidate shapes against predetermined criteria to generate a second plurality of candidate shapes;
determining at least one confidence level for each of said second plurality of candidate shapes and;
eliminating those of said second plurality of candidate shapes wherein said at least one confidence level is less than a predetermined value to generate a set of confirmed shapes. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. An image processing system comprising:
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an image capture device for capturing an image; and
a processor for identifying a first plurality of candidate shapes in said image based on line data;
screening said first plurality of candidate shapes against predetermined criteria to generate a second plurality of candidate shapes;
determining at least one confidence level for each of said second plurality of candidate shapes and;
eliminating those of said second plurality of candidate shapes wherein said at least one confidence level is less than a predetermined value to generate a set of confirmed shapes. - View Dependent Claims (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 32, 33, 35, 36)
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32-1. The system of claim 31, wherein said predetermined criteria include at least one of:
- minimum vertex angle values, maximum vertex angle values, maximum distance of a vertext outside image boundaries, minimum side length, minimum shape area, and minimum overlap between a detected line segment and a corresponding side of a shape.
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37. A system for image processing comprising:
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means for identifying a first plurality of candidate shapes in an image based on line data;
means for screening said first plurality of candidate shapes against predetermined criteria to generate a second plurality of candidate shapes;
means for determining at least one confidence level for each of said second plurality of candidate shapes and;
means for eliminating those of said second plurality of candidate shapes wherein said at least one confidence level is less than a predetermined value.
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Specification