Method of detecting objects
First Claim
1. A method of object recognition by colour comprising:
- receiving, as a plurality of object pixels, a colour object image of the object to be recognised;
allocating the object pixels to a plurality of predetermined hue bands;
allocating the object pixels to at least one of a plurality of intensity bands, a plurality of saturation bands, and a plurality of pseudo saturation bands;
characterised by;
comparing the numbers of object pixels in each said hue band with corresponding numbers for reference pixels representing a reference object to generate a hue correlation;
comparing the numbers of object pixels in each said intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation band with corresponding numbers for reference pixels representing a reference object to generate a respective intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation correlation; and
combining said generated correlations to generate a combined correlation representative of the probability that the object to be recognised matches the reference object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of recognizing and detecting colors is disclosed, to allow recognition and sorting of objects. Pixels of a color image of an object to be recognized are received, the hue, intensity and/or saturation of each pixel is determined, the hue, intensity and/or saturation of each received pixel is allocated to a plurality of predetermined hue, intensity and/or saturation bands respectively to obtain hue, intensity and/or saturation distribution values respectively for the color image, and the distribution values for the color image are compared with the distribution values from one or more reference objects to determine if the object is recognized as a said reference object. This method of object recognition is independent of the image complexity and the number of colors on the object to be recognized. The method operates to compare a hue signature of the object to be recognized with a hue signature of a reference object.
71 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of object recognition by colour comprising:
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receiving, as a plurality of object pixels, a colour object image of the object to be recognised;
allocating the object pixels to a plurality of predetermined hue bands;
allocating the object pixels to at least one of a plurality of intensity bands, a plurality of saturation bands, and a plurality of pseudo saturation bands;
characterised by;
comparing the numbers of object pixels in each said hue band with corresponding numbers for reference pixels representing a reference object to generate a hue correlation;
comparing the numbers of object pixels in each said intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation band with corresponding numbers for reference pixels representing a reference object to generate a respective intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation correlation; and
combining said generated correlations to generate a combined correlation representative of the probability that the object to be recognised matches the reference object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of sorting objects according to their colour, comprising:
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receiving, as a plurality of object pixels, a colour object image of each of a plurality of reference objects of different colours;
allocating the object pixels into a plurality of predetermined hue bands and at least one of a plurality of predetermined intensity bands, saturation bands and pseudo saturation bands to generate a reference hue distribution and a respective reference intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation distribution for each said reference object;
receiving as a plurality of object pixels, a colour object image of each of a plurality of objects to be recognised;
allocating the object pixels to said plurality of predetermined hue bands and at least one of said plurality of predetermined intensity bands, saturation bands and pseudo saturation bands;
characterised by;
comparing the number of object pixels in each said hue band for the objects to be recognised with the number of object pixels in each said hue band for the reference objects to generate a respective hue correlation for each object to be recognised with respect to each reference object;
comparing the number of object pixels in each said intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation band for the objects to be recognised with the number of object pixels in each respective said intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation band for the reference objects to generate a respective intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation correlation for each object to be recognised with respect to each reference object;
combining said generated correlations for each object to be recognised with respect to each reference object to generate combined correlations representative of the probability that the objects to be recognised match the reference objects; and
sorting said objects to be recognised in accordance with the probability that the objects match the reference objects. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus for object recognition by colour, comprising:
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a receiving element for receiving, as a plurality of object pixels, a colour object image of an object to be recognised;
a first allocating element for allocating the object pixels to a plurality of predetermined hue bands;
a second allocating element for allocating the object pixels to at least one of a plurality of intensity bands, a plurality of saturation bands, and a plurality of pseudo saturation bands;
a first comparing element for comparing the numbers of object pixels in each said hue band with corresponding numbers for reference pixels representing a reference object to generate a hue correlation;
a second comparing element for comparing the numbers of object pixels in each said intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation band with corresponding numbers for reference pixels representing a reference object to generate a respective intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation correlation; and
a combining element for combining said generated correlations to generate a combined correlation representative of the probability that the object to be recognised matches the reference object. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An apparatus for sorting objects according to their colour, the apparatus comprising:
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a receiving element for receiving, as a plurality of object pixels, a colour object image of each of a plurality of reference objects of different colours;
a first allocating element for allocating the object pixels into a plurality of predetermined hue bands and at least one of a plurality of predetermined intensity bands, saturation bands and pseudo saturation bands, to generate a reference hue distribution and a respective reference intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation distribution for each said reference object;
means for receiving, as a plurality of object pixels, a colour object image of each of a plurality of objects to be recognised;
second allocating means for allocating the object pixels to said plurality of predetermined hue bands and at least one of said plurality of predetermined intensity bands, saturation bands and pseudo saturation bands;
characterised by;
a first comparing element for comparing the number of object pixels in each said hue band for the objects to be recognised with the number of object pixels in each said hue hand for the reference objects to generate a respective hue correlation for each object to be recognised with respect to each reference object;
a second comparing element for comparing the number of object pixels in each said intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation band for the objects to be recognised with the number of object pixels in each respective said intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation band for the reference objects to generate a respective intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation correlation for each object to be recognised with respect to each reference object;
a combining element for combining said generated correlations for each object to be recognised with respect to each reference object to generate combined correlations representative of the probability that the objects to be recognised match the reference objects; and
a sorting element for sorting said objects to be recognised in accordance with the probability that the objects match the reference objects. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A carrier medium carrying computer code for object recognition by colour, the computer code comprising instructions for:
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receiving, as a plurality of object pixels, a colour object image of the object to be recognised;
allocating the object pixels to a plurality of predetermined hue bands;
allocating the object pixels to at least one of a plurality of intensity bands, a plurality of saturation bands, and a plurality of pseudo saturation bands;
characterised by;
comparing the numbers of object pixels in each said hue band with corresponding numbers for reference pixels representing a reference object to generate a hue correlation;
comparing the numbers of object pixels in each said intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation band with corresponding numbers for reference pixels representing a reference object to generate a respective intensity, saturation and/or pseudo saturation correlation; and
combining said generated correlations to generate a combined correlation representative of the probability that the object to be recognised matches the reference object.
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Specification