System and method for pose-angle estimation
First Claim
1. A system for determining a pose angle of an object in an input image in at least one dimension, comprising:
- a first neural network trained in an unsupervised mode using a first plurality of training images to develop a plurality of weight vectors, each weight vector representing a plurality of the training images;
a projector adapted to receive an input image and generate a projection vector comprising a plurality of calculated distances representing distances between the input image and the weight vectors;
a second neural network trained in a supervised mode with a second plurality of training images, the second plurality of training images comprising objects at known pose angles, the second neural network comprising a plurality of neurons, each neuron tuned to a particular pose angle and adapted to receive the projection vector and output a value in accordance with a function that is even and monotonically decreasing for changes in the pose angle of the objects from the pose angle to which each neuron is tuned;
a curve fitter adapted to receive the values output by the neurons and estimate the pose angle of the object in at least one dimension; and
an error calculator that generates a value representative of the error between the values output by the neurons and the calculated values for the function using the estimated pose angle.
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Abstract
A system and method are disclosed for determining the pose angle of an object in an input image. In a preferred embodiment, the present system comprises a pose estimator having a prototype projector, a regression estimator, and an angle calculator. The prototype projector is preferably adapted to reduce the input image dimensionality for faster further processing by projecting the input pixels of the image onto a Self-Organizing Map (SOM) neural network. The regression estimator is preferably implemented as a neural network and adapted to map the projections to a pattern unique to each pose. The angle calculator preferably includes a curve fitter and an error analyzer. The curve fitter is preferably adapted to estimate the pose angle from the mapping pattern. The error analyzer is preferably adapted to produce a confidence signal representing the likelihood of the input image being a face at the calculated pose. The system also preferably includes two network trainers responsible for synthesizing the neural networks.
129 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A system for determining a pose angle of an object in an input image in at least one dimension, comprising:
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a first neural network trained in an unsupervised mode using a first plurality of training images to develop a plurality of weight vectors, each weight vector representing a plurality of the training images;
a projector adapted to receive an input image and generate a projection vector comprising a plurality of calculated distances representing distances between the input image and the weight vectors;
a second neural network trained in a supervised mode with a second plurality of training images, the second plurality of training images comprising objects at known pose angles, the second neural network comprising a plurality of neurons, each neuron tuned to a particular pose angle and adapted to receive the projection vector and output a value in accordance with a function that is even and monotonically decreasing for changes in the pose angle of the objects from the pose angle to which each neuron is tuned;
a curve fitter adapted to receive the values output by the neurons and estimate the pose angle of the object in at least one dimension; and
an error calculator that generates a value representative of the error between the values output by the neurons and the calculated values for the function using the estimated pose angle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for determining a pose angle of an object in an input image in at least one dimension, comprising:
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training a first neural network in an unsupervised mode using a first plurality of training images to develop a plurality of weight vectors, each weight vector representing a plurality of the training images;
projecting the input image onto the first neural network to generate a projection vector comprising a plurality of calculated distances representing distances between the input image and the weight vectors;
training a second neural network in a supervised mode with a second plurality of training images, the second plurality of training images comprising objects at known pose angles, the second neural network comprising a plurality of neurons, each neuron tuned to a particular pose angle;
processing the projection vector in the second neural network in accordance with a function that is even and monotonically decreasing for changes in the pose angle of the object from the pose angle to which each neuron is tuned to generate a plurality of output values;
fitting the output values to a curve to estimate the pose angle of the object in at least one dimension; and
calculating a value representative of the error between the output values and the calculated values for the function using the estimated pose angle. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A system for determining a pose angle of an object in an input image in at least one dimension, comprising:
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a first neural network using a first plurality of training images to develop a plurality of weight vectors, each weight vector representing a plurality of the training images;
a projector adapted to receive an input image and generate a projection vector comprising a plurality of calculated distances representing distances between the input image and the weight vectors;
a second neural network trained in a supervised mode with a second plurality of training images, the second plurality of training images comprising objects at known pose angles, the second neural network comprising a plurality of neurons, each neuron tuned to a particular pose angle and adapted to receive the projection vector and output a value in accordance with a function that is even and monotonically decreasing for changes in the pose angle of the object from the pose angle to which each neuron is tuned;
a curve fitter adapted to receive the values output by the neurons and estimate the pose angle of the object in at least one dimension; and
an error calculator that generates a value representative of the error between the values output by the neurons and the calculated values for the function using the estimated pose angle. - View Dependent Claims (47)
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48. A method for determining a pose angle of an object in an input image in at least one dimension, comprising:
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training a first neural network using a first plurality of training images to develop a plurality of weight vectors, each weight vector representing a plurality of the training images;
projecting the input image onto the first neural network to generate a projection vector comprising a plurality of calculated distances representing distances between the input image and the weight vectors;
training a second neural network in a supervised mode with a second plurality of training images, the second plurality of training images comprising objects at known pose angles, the second neural network comprising a plurality of neurons, each neuron tuned to a particular pose angle;
processing the projection vector in the second neural network in accordance with a function that is even and monotonically decreasing for changes in the pose angle of the object from the pose angle to which each neuron is tuned to generate a plurality of output values;
fitting the output values to a curve to estimate the pose angle of the object in at least one dimension; and
calculating a value representative of the error between the output values and the calculated values for the function using the estimated pose angle. - View Dependent Claims (49)
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Specification