Bandwidth reduction of multichannel images for machine vision
First Claim
1. A method of reducing bandwidth of a multichannel image that has multiple channels each representing a respective spectral component of a scene, the method comprising the steps of:
- A. identifying a calibration location in a multichannel training image;
B. determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location;
C. determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within the channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location; and
D. generating, from a multichannel runtime image, a first reduced bandwidth runtime image but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a first function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the weighting factors for the channels of the multichannel training image.
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Abstract
The invention provides methods and apparatus for reducing the bandwidth of a multichannel image. In one aspect, the methods and apparatus call for acquiring a multichannel training image representing a training scene. Weighting factors for the respective channels are determined based on the contrast at corresponding locations in that multichannel training image. A reduced bandwidth runtime image is generated from the multichannel runtime images as a function of (i) the weighting factors determined from the training image and (ii) a multichannel image representing the runtime scene.
182 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method of reducing bandwidth of a multichannel image that has multiple channels each representing a respective spectral component of a scene, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. identifying a calibration location in a multichannel training image; B. determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location; C. determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within the channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location; and D. generating, from a multichannel runtime image, a first reduced bandwidth runtime image but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a first function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the weighting factors for the channels of the multichannel training image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method of reducing bandwidth of a multichannel image that has multiple channels each representing a respective spectral component of a scene, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. identifying a calibration location in a multichannel training image; B. determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location; C. determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within the channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location;
said weighting factors being generated so as to emphasize a contrast at the calibration location in the training image; andD. generating, from a multichannel runtime image, a first reduced bandwidth runtime image but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a first function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the weighting factors for the channels of the multichannel training image, wherein the first function utilized in step (D) is represented by the following relationship;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">I.sub.1 =k.sub.1 C.sub.1 +K.sub.2 C.sub.2 + . . . K.sub.n C.sub.nwhere I1 is the first reduced bandwidth runtime image; C1 -Cn are channels of the multichannel runtime image; and k1 -kn are weighting factors for the channel C1 -Cn. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. A method for reducing bandwidth of a multichannel image that has multiple channels each representing a respective spectral component of a scene, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. identifying a calibration location in a multichannel training image; B. determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location; C. determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within the channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location; and D. generating, from a multichannel runtime image, a first reduced bandwidth runtime image but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a first function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the weighting factors for the channels of the multichannel training image, said first function being a linear function of (i) the channels of the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the weighting factors for each channel of the multichannel training image, wherein step (C) further includes the steps of; generating, from the multichannel training image, a first reduced bandwidth training image, the first reduced bandwidth training image being generated using the first function; generating, from the multichannel training image, a second reduced bandwidth training image, the second reduced training image being generated using a second function that differs from the first function; comparing a contrast at the calibration location in the first reduced bandwidth training image with that at the calibration location in the second reduced bandwidth training image; and utilizing, in step (D) a selected one of the first and second functions, based on a result of the comparing step. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of bandwidth reduction for machine vision image acquisition, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. identifying a calibration location in a multichannel training image that has multiple channels, each representing a respective spectral component of a training scene; B. determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location; C. determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within that channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location; and D. adjusting an optical element to alter a spectral content of a runtime scene and inputting an image of that scene with a second image acquisition device that represents the image with fewer channels than the multichannel training image. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A machine vision method of analyzing, with a gray-scale machine vision tool, a multichannel image that has multiple channels, each representing a respective spectral component of a scene, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. determining, from a multichannel training image representing a training scene, a mapping function; B. generating, from a multichannel runtime image representing a runtime scene, a reduced bandwidth runtime image that represents the runtime scene but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the mapping function; and C. applying the reduced bandwidth runtime image to the gray-scale machine vision tool. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium embodying program code for causing a digital data processor to carry out a method of reducing bandwidth of a multichannel image that has multiple channels each representing a respective spectral component of a scene, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. identifying a calibration location in a multichannel training image representing a training scene; B. determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location; C. determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within the channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location; and D. generating, from a multichannel runtime image representing a runtime scene, a first reduced bandwidth runtime image but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a first function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the weighting factors for the channels of the multichannel training image. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium embodying program code for causing a digital data processor to carry out a method of bandwidth reduction for machine vision image acquisition, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. inputting with a first image acquisition device a multichannel training image representing a training scene and having multiple channels that each represent a respective spectral component of the training scene; B. identifying a calibration location in the multichannel training image; C. determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location; D. determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within that channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location; E. adjusting an optical element to alter a spectral content of a runtime scene and inputting an image with a second image acquisition device that represents that scene with a reduced bandwidth signal having fewer channels than the multichannel training image. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium embodying program code for causing a digital data processor to carry out a method of analyzing with a gray-scale machine vision tool a multichannel image that represents a scene and that has multiple channels each representing a respective spectral component of the scene, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. determining, from a multichannel training image representing a training scene, a mapping function; B. generating, from a multichannel runtime image representing a runtime scene, a reduced bandwidth runtime image but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the mapping function; and C. applying the reduced bandwidth runtime image to the gray-scale machine vision tool. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. An apparatus for reducing bandwidth of a multichannel image that represents a scene and that has multiple channels each representing a respective spectral component of the scene, the apparatus comprising:
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A. means for identifying a calibration location in a multichannel training image representing a training scene; B. means for determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location; C. means for determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within the channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location; and D. means for generating, from a multichannel runtime image representing a runtime scene, a first reduced bandwidth runtime image runtime scene but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a first function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the weighting factors for the channels of the multichannel training image. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30. An apparatus for reducing the bandwidth of a runtime image based on analysis of a training image, the apparatus comprising:
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A. means for identifying a calibration location in a multichannel training image having multiple channels that each represent a respective spectral component of a training scene; B. means for determining a contrast within each channel of the multichannel training image at a location corresponding to the calibration location; C. means for determining a weighting factor for each channel of the multichannel training image as a function of the contrast within that channel at the location corresponding to the calibration location; D. means for adjusting an optical element to alter a spectral content of a runtime scene and inputting that image with a second image acquisition device that represents that scene with a reduced bandwidth image having fewer channels than the multichannel training image. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. A machine vision apparatus for analyzing with a gray-scale machine vision tool a multichannel signal that represents a scene and that has multiple channels each representing a respective spectral component of the scene, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. means for determining, from a multichannel training image representing a training scene, a mapping function; B. means for generating, from a multichannel runtime image representing a runtime scene, a reduced bandwidth runtime that represents the runtime scene but that has fewer channels than the multichannel runtime image, the reduced bandwidth runtime image being generated as a function of (i) the multichannel runtime image, and (ii) the mapping function; and C. means for applying the reduced bandwidth runtime image to the gray-scale machine vision tool. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
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Specification