Image processing method and apparatus
First Claim
1. An image processing apparatus comprising:
- display means for displaying first and second images;
designating means for designating a first point on the first image and a second on the second image, the second point corresponding to the first point;
acquiring means for acquiring a peripheral image of the first point in the first image, which has a first predetermined size;
determination means for determining a search zone in the second image, which includes the second point and has a second predetermined size;
searching means for searching an area having a maximum degree of coincidence with the peripheral image from the search zone;
correcting means for correcting a position of the second point based on the searched area; and
merging means for merging the first and second images on the basis of the first point and the second point corrected by said correcting means.
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Abstract
In an image processing apparatus, a plurality of substantially corresponding points are designated on a reference image and a peripheral image. The degree of coincidence is detected between a window in the peripheral image with a corresponding point as the center, and windows successively cut from the reference image, whose center is a corresponding point. The corresponding point at the center of the window having the highest degree of coincidence in the reference image is moved and an offset between this corresponding point and the corresponding point on the peripheral image is detected. When a corresponding point whose offset is greater than a threshold exists, the peripheral image is subjected to an affine transformation using a corresponding point on the reference image whose offset is less than the threshold. The processing is repeated by using the corresponding point on the transformed peripheral image. The two images are merged by an affine transformation when the offsets of all corresponding points become smaller than the threshold.
47 Citations
38 Claims
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1. An image processing apparatus comprising:
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display means for displaying first and second images; designating means for designating a first point on the first image and a second on the second image, the second point corresponding to the first point; acquiring means for acquiring a peripheral image of the first point in the first image, which has a first predetermined size; determination means for determining a search zone in the second image, which includes the second point and has a second predetermined size; searching means for searching an area having a maximum degree of coincidence with the peripheral image from the search zone; correcting means for correcting a position of the second point based on the searched area; and merging means for merging the first and second images on the basis of the first point and the second point corrected by said correcting means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An image processing apparatus comprising:
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display means for displaying first and second images; designating means for designating a plurality of pairs of corresponding points, each of the plurality of pairs of corresponding points consisting of a first point on the first image and a second point on the second image; acquiring means for acquiring, regarding each of the first points, a peripheral image which has a first predetermined size; determination means for determining, regarding each of the second points, a search zone which includes the second point and having a second predetermined size; searching means for searching an area having a maximum degree of coincidence with the peripheral image from the search zone; correcting means for correcting a position of the second point based on the searched area; and merging means for merging the first and second image based on the first points and the second points corrected by said correction means. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An image processing method comprising:
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a display step of displaying first and second images; a designating step of designating a first point on the first image and a second point on the second image, the second point corresponding to the first point; an acquiring step of acquiring a peripheral image of the first point in the first image, which has a first predetermined size; a determination step of determining a search zone in the second image, which includes the second point and has a second predetermined size; a searching step of searching an area having a maximum degree of coincidence with the peripheral image from the search zone; a correcting step of correcting a position of the second point based on said searched area; and a merging step of merging the first and second images on the basis of the first point and the second point corrected by said correcting means. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An image processing method comprising:
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a display step of displaying first and second images; a designating step of designating a plurality of pairs of corresponding points, each of the plurality of pairs of corresponding points consisting of a first point on the first image and a second point on the second image; an acquiring step of acquiring, regarding each of the first points, a peripheral image which has a first predetermined size; a determination step of determining, regarding each of the second points, a search zone which includes the second point and has a second predetermined size; a searching step of searching an area having a maximum degree of coincidence with the peripheral image from the search zone; a correcting step of correcting a position of the second point based on the searched area; and a merging step of merging the first and second image based on the first points and the second points corrected by said correction means. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. An image processing apparatus comprising:
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display means for displaying first and second images; designating means for designating a plurality of pairs of corresponding points indicating substantially corresponding positions on the first and second images; transforming means for obtaining a transformed image by subjecting the second image to an affine transformation on the basis of the plurality of pairs of corresponding points designated by said designating means; moving means for moving the corresponding points of the pairs located on the first image based upon peripheral images of respective corresponding points, which are located on the transformed image, forming the pairs with the corresponding points located on the first image, and with regard to each of the corresponding points, said moving means acquires a peripheral image of the corresponding point located on the transformed image, acquires a plurality of partial images, which have a size identical with that of the peripheral image, within a prescribed range of the corresponding point, which is located on the first image, forming the pair with the corresponding point located on the transformed image, extracts a partial image having a maximum degree of coincidence with the peripheral image from among the plurality of partial images, and moves the corresponding point, which is located on the first image, inside the partial image extracted, wherein the degree of coincidence in said moving means is acquired on the basis of a degree of correlation between the peripheral image and each of the partial images; acquisition means for acquiring distances between the corresponding points located on the first image moved by said moving means and the corresponding points, which are located on the transformed image, forming the pairs with the corresponding points located on the first image; and merging means for merging the first and second image by the affine transformation, which is performed by said transformation means, in a case where all distances acquired by said acquisition means are smaller than a predetermined value, wherein the first and second images are color images and the degree of coincidence between the partial image and a peripheral image is an average of degrees of coincidence acquired for each color component of the color image.
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36. An image processing apparatus comprising:
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display means for displaying first and second images; designating means for designating a plurality of pairs of corresponding points indicating substantially corresponding positions on the first and second images; transforming means for obtaining a transformed image by subjecting the second image to an affine transformation on the basis of the plurality of pairs of corresponding points designated by said designating means; moving means for moving the corresponding points of the pairs located on the first image based upon peripheral images of respective corresponding points, which are located on the transformed image, forming the pairs with the corresponding points located on the first image; acquisition means for acquiring distances between the corresponding points located on the first image moved by said moving means and the corresponding points, which are located on the transformed image, forming the pairs with the corresponding points located on the first image; merging means for merging the first and second image by the affine transformation, which is performed by said transformation means, in a case where all distances acquired by said acquisition means are smaller than a predetermined value; and correcting means which, in a case where the plurality of pairs of corresponding points includes a pair for which the distance acquired by said acquisition means is greater than the predetermined value, is for correcting the position of the corresponding point, which is located on the first image, in such a manner that the distance becomes smaller than the predetermined value, wherein operations performed by said moving means, said acquisition means and said merging means are re-executed using the corresponding point, which is located on the first image, corrected by said correcting means and the corresponding point designated on the second image.
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37. An image processing method comprising:
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a display step of displaying first and second images; a designating step of designating a plurality of pairs of corresponding points indicating substantially corresponding positions on the first and second images; a transforming step of obtaining a transformed image by subjecting the second image to an affine transformation on the basis of the plurality of pairs of corresponding points designated at said designating step; a moving step of moving the corresponding points of the pairs located on the first image based upon peripheral images of respective corresponding points, which are located on the transformed image, forming the pairs with the corresponding points located on the first image, and with regard to each of the corresponding points, said moving step acquiring a peripheral image of the corresponding point located on the transformed image, acquiring a plurality of partial images, which have a size identical with that of the peripheral image, within a prescribed range of the corresponding point, which is located on the first image, forming the pair with the corresponding point located on the transformed image, extracting a partial image having a maximum degree of coincidence with the peripheral image from among the plurality of partial images, and moving the corresponding point, which is located on the first image, inside the partial image extracted, wherein the degree of coincidence at said moving step is acquired on the basis of degree of correlation between the peripheral image and each of the partial images; an acquisition step of acquiring distances between the corresponding points located on the first image moved at said moving step and the corresponding points, which are located on the transformed image, forming the pairs with the corresponding points located on the first image; and a merging step of merging the first and second image by the affine transformation, which is performed at said transformation step, in a case where all distances acquired by said acquisition means are smaller than a predetermined value, wherein the first and second images are color images and the degree of coincidence between the partial image and a peripheral image is an average of degrees of coincidence acquired for each color component of the color image.
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38. An image processing method comprising:
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a display step of displaying first and second images; a designating step of designating a plurality of pairs of corresponding points indicating substantially corresponding positions on the first and a second images; a transforming step of obtaining a transformed image by subjecting the second image to an affine transformation on the basis of the plurality of pairs of corresponding points designated at said designating step; a moving step of moving the corresponding points of the pairs located on the first image based upon peripheral images of respective corresponding points, which are located on the transformed image, forming the pairs with the corresponding points located on the first image; an acquisition step of acquiring distances between the corresponding points located on the first image moved at said moving step and the corresponding points, which are located on the transformed image, forming the pairs with the corresponding points located on the first image; a merging step of merging the first and second image by the affine transformation, which is performed at said transformation step, in a case where all distances acquired by said acquisition means are smaller than a predetermined value; and a correcting step which, in a case where the plurality of pairs of corresponding points includes a pair for which the distance acquired at said acquisition step is greater than the predetermined value, is for correcting the position of the corresponding point, which is located on the first image, in such a manner that the distance becomes smaller than the predetermined value, wherein said moving step, said acquisition step and said merging step are re-executed using the corresponding point, which is located on the first image, corrected at said correcting step and the corresponding point designated on the second image.
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Specification