Electro-optical system for correlating and integrating image data from frame-to-frame
First Claim
1. An electro-optical system for processing image information of a plurality of frames, sequentially generated from an electro-optical sensor and representative of a field of view thereof, in order to extract and classify candidate object image patterns in said image frames in accordance with a set of reference object image patterns and a signature feature set associated with each reference pattern, said system comprising:
- means operative to extract image patterns belonging to candidate objects from each of the plurality of sequentially generated frames and to derive a set of signature features associated with each image pattern extracted;
first means for correlating said image patterns extracted from frame-to-frame to identify extracted image patterns belonging to common candidate objects;
means for integrating the correlated extracted image patterns belonging to the identified common candidate objects to form a composite image pattern of each candidate object and a composite signature feature set associated therewith;
second means for correlating a formed composite image signature feature set with the signature feature sets of selected reference object image patterns to generate a corresponding set of correlation values;
means for generating a threshold correlation value; and
means operative to classify a candidate object as a reference object based on a comparison between a selected one of said generated correlation values associated with said candidate object and said threshold correlation value.
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Abstract
An electro-optical system which integrates the image pattern information, extracted from a plurality of image frames and identified as belonging to a common candidate object, to form a composite image pattern of the candidate object which may be accurately classified with respect to a reference object image pattern is disclosed. More specifically, the formed composite image pattern of the candidate object is correlated with each image pattern of a set of reference object image patterns to generate a corresponding set of correlation values. Preferably, the largest of the correlation values is selected for a comparison with a threshold correlation value. In the event the generated correlation value exceeds the threshold correlation value, the candidate object represented by the composite image pattern is classified as the referenced object corresponding to the selected correlation value. Another aspect of the electro-optical system permits the threshold correlation value to be adaptively selected in accordance with the number of frames integrated to form the composite image pattern under consideration for classification. In addition, a final classification of the candidate object may include the smoothing of a plurality of classification decisions generated throughout the integration sequence during which a number of composite image patterns are formed.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. An electro-optical system for processing image information of a plurality of frames, sequentially generated from an electro-optical sensor and representative of a field of view thereof, in order to extract and classify candidate object image patterns in said image frames in accordance with a set of reference object image patterns and a signature feature set associated with each reference pattern, said system comprising:
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means operative to extract image patterns belonging to candidate objects from each of the plurality of sequentially generated frames and to derive a set of signature features associated with each image pattern extracted; first means for correlating said image patterns extracted from frame-to-frame to identify extracted image patterns belonging to common candidate objects; means for integrating the correlated extracted image patterns belonging to the identified common candidate objects to form a composite image pattern of each candidate object and a composite signature feature set associated therewith; second means for correlating a formed composite image signature feature set with the signature feature sets of selected reference object image patterns to generate a corresponding set of correlation values; means for generating a threshold correlation value; and means operative to classify a candidate object as a reference object based on a comparison between a selected one of said generated correlation values associated with said candidate object and said threshold correlation value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification