IMAGE MERGING METHOD AND IMAGE MERGING DEVICE

• US 20170111580A1
• Filed: 12/29/2015
• Published: 04/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: CHANG, CHIN-KUEI, LU, SHANG-CHIEH, CHIU, WEI-YAO, JIANG, BOR-TUNG
• Granted Patent: US 10,516,822 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/027 Test patterns and calibration arrangements for controlling or analysing printing mechanisms of typewriters or selective printing units B41J29/393 takes precedence; colour correction using test pattern analysis in general H04N1/6033
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10141 Special mode during image acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20212 Image combination
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20221 Image fusion; Image merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30204 Marker
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/337 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/40 Analysis of texture depth or shape recovery from texture G06T7/529
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an image merging method. The image merging method includes the following step. First, the calibration unit is provided, wherein a calibration device of the calibration unit includes a plurality of known characteristic information. The calibration device is captured. A conversion relationship is created. A relationship of positions of the images is analysis according to the conversion relationship. The images are formed. In additional, an image merging device is provided.

Claims

1. An image merging method, comprising the steps of:

providing a calibration unit which includes a plurality of calibration devices, being arranged corresponding to different positions of an object to be inspected while enabling each of the plural calibration devices to include a plurality of known characteristic information;

imaging each of the plural calibration devices respectively for obtaining a raw image with the plurality of image characteristic information that are corresponding to the plural known characteristic information of its corresponding calibration device;

establishing a conversion formula according to the plural known characteristic information of each of the plural calibration devices and the plural image characteristic information of the corresponding image;

performing an analysis for obtaining position relationship between the raw plural images according to the conversion formula; and

merging the plural raw images.

2. The image merging method of claim 1, wherein the imaging of each of the plural calibration devices further comprising the step of:

extracting the plural image characteristic information from each raw image.

3. The image merging method of claim 2, wherein the extracting of the plural image characteristic information further comprising the step of:

identifying linear features or corner features in the plural image characteristic information.

4. The image merging method of claim 2, wherein the extracting of the plural image characteristic information further comprising the step of:

establishing position relationships between the plural image characteristic information.

5. The image merging method of claim 4, wherein the establishing of the position relationships between the plural image characteristic information further comprising the step of:

using a character to determine positions of the plural image characteristic information.

6. The image merging method of claim 5, wherein the using of the character to determine positions of the plural image characteristic information further comprising the step of:

using markers or character symbols of a scale gage to determine positions of the plural image characteristic information.

7. The image merging method of claim 4, wherein the establishing of the position relationships between the plural image characteristic information further comprising the step of:

proceeding a texture feature analysis.

8. The image merging method of claim 7, wherein the texture feature analysis is enabled to obtain the position relationships between the plural image characteristic information based upon the relationships of texture features found in the plural image characteristic information.

9. The image merging method of claim 8, wherein the texture feature analysis further comprising the step of:

finding occurrence frequencies of texture for the plural image characteristic information.

10. The image merging method of claim 1, wherein the performing of the analysis for obtaining position relationship between the plural raw images according to the conversion formula further comprising the step of:

establishing a plurality of virtue point characteristic information outside the raw images.

11. The image merging method of claim 10, wherein after establishing the plural virtue characteristic points, the performing of the analysis according to the conversion formula further comprising the step of:

comparing and obtaining position relationships between raw images that are disposed neighboring to one another according to the conversion formula by the use of the plural image characteristic information and the plural virtue point characteristic information.

12. The image merging method of claim 1, wherein the conversion formula is established by the use of an algorithm of collinearity condition equations.

13. The image merging method of claim 1, wherein after the merging of the plural raw images, the method further comprising the step of:

inspecting the object to be inspected.

14. An image merging device, comprising:

a calibration unit, further comprising;

a plurality of calibration devices, being arranged at different positions of an object to be inspected while enabling each of the plural calibration devices to include a plurality of known characteristic information;

a plurality of image capturing units, each being provided for capturing a raw image of its corresponding calibration device; and

a process unit, coupled to the plural image capturing units for receiving the raw images captured by the plural image capturing units;

wherein, each of the raw images includes a plurality of image characteristic information that are corresponding to the plural known characteristic information of its corresponding calibration device, and the process unit is enabled to establish a conversion formula according to the plural known characteristic information of each of the plural calibration devices and the plural image characteristic information of the corresponding image, moreover, the process unit is enabled to perform an analysis for obtaining position relationship between the plural image capturing units and the object according to the conversion formula so as to stitch the plural raw images.

15. The image merging device of claim 14, wherein each of the plural calibration device further comprising:

a scale gage, being disposed at the periphery of the plural known characteristic information.

16. The image merging device of claim 14, wherein the plural known characteristic information are alternatively arranged into an array.

17. The image merging device of claim 14, wherein each of the image capturing units is a device selected from the group consisting of:

a charge-coupled device (CCD), a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS), a pan-tilt-zoom camera, and a digital monitor.

18. The image merging device of claim 14, wherein the process unit uses an image processing algorithm to extract the plural image characteristic information respectively from each of the plural raw images.

19. The image merging device of claim 14, wherein the conversion formula is established by the use of an algorithm of collinearity condition equations.

20. The image merging device of claim 14, wherein each of the plural calibration device is substantially a textured plane with non-specific iteration structures.

21. The image merging device of claim 14, wherein each of the known characteristic information is a shape selected from the group consisting of:

a rectangle, a square, a triangle, and a cross.

22. The image merging device of claim 14, wherein each of the known characteristic information is feature selected from the group consisting of:

a line and a character.

23. The image merging device of claim 15, wherein the scale gage is formed with markers or character symbols, and the markers or the character symbols are provided for a user to determine the coordinates of the plural known characteristic information and also the relative position relationships between the plural known characteristic information.