Machine vision methods for determining characteristics of an object using boundary points and bounding regions
First Claim
1. A method of determining a characteristic of an object in an image, comprising the steps ofA. finding, in the image, points on a boundary of the object;
- B. identifying, in the image, plural bounding boxes corresponding to each of plural respective edges of the object;
C. determining a correspondence, if any, between points in the image on the boundary of the object and respective edges of the object, such determination being based on at least (i) locations and orientations in the image of the points on the boundary of the object, and (ii) locations in the image of the plural bounding boxes;
D. determining a characteristic of the object based on those points in the image on the boundary of the object that correspond to edges of the object.
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Abstract
Machine vision methods for determining a characteristic (such as position, orientation, size, center of mass, and boundary) of an object in an image include finding points in the image on the boundary of the object; identifying bounding boxes, or regions, in the image that correspond to edges of the object; and labeling boundary points to denote which respective edges, if any, to which they belong based on (i) the locations and orientations of those points, and (ii) locations of the plural bounding boxes. Points apparently lying on a boundary of the object, but outside a bounding box, can be ignored--and, more particularly, are denoted as not corresponding to an edge. Likewise, apparent boundary points lying within a bounding box, but at an angle not associated with the corresponding to the respective edge of the object, can also be ignored. Characteristics of the imaged object are determined as a function of those boundary points found to correspond to an edge of the object (e.g., points lying within a bounding box, at the expected angle, and not too far from a line connecting similarly situated points). Characteristics of the object, such as position, orientation, size, center of mass, and boundary points, can be determined in the image reference frame.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of determining a characteristic of an object in an image, comprising the steps of
A. finding, in the image, points on a boundary of the object; -
B. identifying, in the image, plural bounding boxes corresponding to each of plural respective edges of the object; C. determining a correspondence, if any, between points in the image on the boundary of the object and respective edges of the object, such determination being based on at least (i) locations and orientations in the image of the points on the boundary of the object, and (ii) locations in the image of the plural bounding boxes; D. determining a characteristic of the object based on those points in the image on the boundary of the object that correspond to edges of the object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of determining a characteristic of a backlit rectangular object in an image, comprising the steps of
A. finding in the image points on a boundary of the object; -
B. determining at least a coarse location of the object in the image, and an estimate of uncertainty of that location; C. identifying as a function of at least the coarse location and the estimate of the uncertainty thereof bounding boxes in the image corresponding to any of a top, bottom and side edges of the object; D. determining the locations and orientations in the image of points on the boundary of the object, and for each of at least selected ones of those points (i) determining which bounding box, if any, in the image the point resides in, (ii) comparing the orientation of the point with an expected orientation of the edge of the object corresponding to that bounding box; E. identifying as corresponding to a respective edge of the object a point that (i) resides in a bounding box corresponding to that edge, (ii) has an orientation that compares favorably with the expected orientation of that edge; F. determining a characteristic of the object based on those points in the image on the boundary of the object that correspond to edges of the object. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of determining a characteristic of an object in an image, comprising the steps of
A. finding, in the image, points on a boundary of the object; -
B. identifying, in the image, plural bounding boxes corresponding to each of plural respective edges of the object; C. determining a correspondence, if any, between points in the image on the boundary the object and respective edges of the object, such determination being based on at least (i) locations in the image of the points on the boundary of the object, and (ii) locations in the image of the plural bounding boxes; D. determining a characteristic of the object based on those points in the image on the boundary of the object that correspond to edges of the object.
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26. A method of determining a characteristic of an object in an image, comprising the steps of
A. finding, in the image, points on a boundary of the object; -
B. determining angular orientations of the points on the boundary of the object; C. determining a correspondence, if any, between points in the image on the boundary of the object and respective edges of the object, such determination being based on at least (i) the angular orientations of the points on the boundary of the object, and (ii) the expected angular orientations of the edges of the object; and D. determining a characteristic of the object based on those points in the image on the boundary of the object that correspond to edges of the object.
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Specification