Pattern matching using multiple techniques

• US 7,233,699 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2002
• Issued: 06/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Nair, Dinesh, Vazquez, Nicolas, Wenzel, Lothar, Schultz, Kevin L.
• Primary Examiner(s): DESIRE, GREGORY M
• Application Number:
  US10/100,418
• Publication Number:
  US 20030174891A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,919 Days
• Field of Search: 382/209, 382/217, 382/218, 382/103, 382/141, 382/203
• US Class Current: 382/209
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/2504 Coarse or fine approaches, e.g. resolution of ambiguities or multiscale approaches

Abstract

A system and method for performing pattern matching to locate zero or more instances of a template image in a target image. An image is received by a computer from an image source, e.g., a camera. First pattern matching is performed on the image using a first pattern matching technique to determine a plurality of candidate areas. Second pattern matching is performed on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique to generate final pattern match results. An output is generated indicating the final pattern match results. The second pattern matching may determine a second plurality of candidate areas which may be analyzed to determine the final pattern match results. The first pattern matching may use a plurality of pattern matching techniques, the results of which may be used to select a best technique from the plurality of techniques to use for the second pattern match.

Claims

1. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein at least a portion of said first pattern matching and at least a portion of said second pattern matching are performed concurrently.

2. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein the first pattern matching technique is a geometric pattern matching technique.

3. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein the first pattern matching technique is a correlation-based pattern matching technique.

4. The method of claim 3,

wherein the second pattern matching technique is a geometric pattern matching technique.

5. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein the first pattern matching technique is a color matching technique; and

wherein the second pattern matching technique is a geometric pattern matching technique.

6. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein the first pattern matching technique is a color matching technique; and

wherein the second pattern matching technique is a hue plane pattern matching technique.

7. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein the first pattern matching technique is a hue plane pattern matching technique; and

wherein the second pattern matching technique is a color matching technique.

8. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein said performing first pattern matching comprises generating a first pattern matching score for each of the plurality of candidate areas, and wherein said determining a plurality of candidate areas is based on said first pattern matching scores; and

wherein said performing second pattern matching comprises generating a second pattern matching score for each of the plurality of candidate areas, and wherein said generating final pattern match results is based on said second pattern matching scores.

9. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein the first pattern matching technique is one of a hue plane pattern matching technique, a color matching technique, a correlation-based pattern matching technique, a geometric pattern matching technique, and a luminance pattern matching technique;

wherein the second pattern matching technique is one of a color matching technique, a correlation-based pattern matching technique, a geometric pattern matching technique, and a luminance pattern matching technique; and

wherein said first pattern matching technique is a different technique from said second pattern matching technique.

10. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of the candidate areas using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein said first pattern matching technique is a coarse pattern matching technique; and

wherein said second pattern matching technique is a fine pattern matching technique.

11. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein said analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results comprises;

determining one or more final candidate areas which are common to said first plurality of candidate areas and said second plurality of candidate areas; and

wherein said final pattern match results comprise said one or more final candidate areas.

12. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein said analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas comprises generating a third plurality of candidate areas, the method further comprising;

performing third pattern matching on each of said third plurality of candidate areas using a third different pattern matching technique to determine final pattern match results.

13. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results;

wherein at least a portion of said second pattern matching is performed concurrently with said performing first pattern matching.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein said performing at least a portion of second pattern matching concurrently with said first pattern matching comprises performing said second pattern matching concurrently with said first pattern matching using a multiprocessor computer system.

15. The method of claim 13,

wherein said performing second pattern matching concurrently with said first pattern matching comprises performing said second pattern matching concurrently with said first pattern matching using a plurality of programmable hardware elements.

16. The method of claim 13,

wherein said performing second pattern matching concurrently with said first pattern matching comprises performing said second pattern matching concurrently with said first pattern matching using one or more processors and one or more programmable hardware elements.

17. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas;

generating a pattern matching score for each of the first plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas;

generating a pattern matching score for each of the second plurality of candidate areas;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results, wherein said analyzing comprises analyzing the pattern matching scores for each of the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

18. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas, wherein the first pattern matching technique is one of a hue plane pattern matching technique, a color matching technique, a correlation-based pattern matching technique, a geometric pattern matching technique, and a luminance pattern matching technique;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas, wherein the second pattern matching technique is one of a color matching technique, a correlation-based pattern matching technique, a geometric pattern matching technique, and a luminance pattern matching technique, and wherein said first pattern matching technique is a different technique from said second pattern matching technique;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

19. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas;

performing third pattern matching on the image using a third different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a third plurality of candidate areas;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas, the second plurality of candidate areas, and the third plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

20. The method of claim 19,

wherein said first pattern matching technique, said second pattern matching technique, and said third pattern matching technique are each one of a hue plane pattern matching technique, a color matching technique, a correlation-based pattern matching technique, a geometric pattern matching technique, and a luminance pattern matching technique;

and

wherein said first pattern matching technique, said second pattern matching technique, and said third pattern matching technique are different.

21. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas, wherein said first pattern matching technique is a coarse pattern matching technique;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas, wherein said second pattern matching technique is a fine pattern matching technique;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

22. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas, wherein at least one of said first pattern matching technique and said second pattern matching technique uses a hill-climbing technique;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

23. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing first pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques comprises calculating a matching score for each of the plurality of candidate areas;

analyzing the plurality of candidate areas produced by each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques to determine pattern match results, wherein said analyzing comprises analyzing said matching scores to determine said pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the pattern match results.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said analyzing matching scores comprises:

weighting each of said matching scores according to the pattern matching technique used; and

analyzing said weighted matching scores to determine said pattern match results.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein said calculating a matching score for each of the plurality of candidate areas comprises:

for each respective candidate area of the plurality of candidate areas;

calculating a raw score corresponding to each pattern matching technique;

weighting each raw score according to the corresponding pattern matching technique to generate a set of weighted scores for the respective candidate area; and

generating a matching score based on the set of weighted scores.

26. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques;

analyzing the plurality of candidate areas produced by each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques to determine pattern match results, wherein said analyzing the plurality of candidate areas comprises generating a plurality of intermediate candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on each of said plurality of intermediate candidate areas using a high-resolution pattern matching technique to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the pattern match results.

27. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein the first pattern matching comprises coarse pattern matching, and wherein the plurality of candidate areas comprises a plurality of coarse candidate areas;

analyzing the plurality of candidate areas produced by each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques to determine pattern match results, wherein the analyzing comprises determining a subset of the plurality of pattern matching techniques based on a metric;

generating an output indicating the pattern match results;

performing second pattern matching on each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas using the subset of pattern matching techniques, wherein the performing second pattern matching determines one or more fine candidate areas for each of the subset of pattern matching techniques;

analyzing the one or more fine candidate areas produced by each of the subset of pattern matching techniques to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

28. The method of claim 27,

wherein said metric indicates a desired characteristic of the subset of pattern matching techniques.

29. The method of claim 27,

wherein said metric indicates a desired degree of accuracy or speed for the subset of pattern matching techniques.

30. The method of claim 27,

wherein said metric indicates a desired degree of one or more of accuracy and speed for the subset of pattern matching techniques, wherein said accuracy and said speed are inversely related.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

a user specifying said metric, wherein said metric indicates a desired characteristic of the subset of pattern matching techniques.

32. The method of claim 31,

wherein the user specifying said metric comprises the user specifying said metric using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) control.

33. The method of claim 32,

wherein said Graphical User Interface (GUI) control comprises a slider control;

wherein said slider control is operable by the user to select a value indicating a degree of said desired characteristic.

34. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a plurality of candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein at least a portion of said plurality of pattern matching techniques are performed concurrently;

analyzing the plurality of candidate areas produced by each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques to determine pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the pattern match results.

35. A method for detecting a pattern in an image, the method comprising:

a Graphical User Interface (GUI) receiving user input specifying a desired characteristic of a pattern matching task;

performing coarse pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing coarse pattern matching determines a plurality of coarse candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques;

analyzing the plurality of coarse candidate areas produced by each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques to select one or more of the pattern matching techniques in accordance with said desired characteristic;

performing fine pattern matching on each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas using said selected one or more pattern matching techniques to determine one or more final match candidate areas; and

generating an output indicating the final match candidate areas, wherein the final match candidate areas each includes the detected pattern.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the GUI includes a graphical control, and wherein the user specifying said desired characteristic comprises the user specifying said characteristic using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) control.

37. The method of claim 36,

wherein said control comprises a slider control;

and

wherein said slider control is operable by the user to select a value indicating a degree of said desired characteristic.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein said generating an output comprises:

displaying said output in said GUI.

39. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

generating a match score for each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas; and

calculating a metric for each of the plurality of different pattern matching techniques indicating a degree of said desired characteristic with respect to said coarse pattern matching.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said generating a match score for each of the plurality of candidate areas comprises:

for each respective candidate area of the plurality of candidate areas;

calculating a raw score corresponding to each pattern matching technique;

weighting each raw score according to the corresponding pattern matching technique to generate a set of weighted scores for the respective candidate area; and

generating a match score based on the set of weighted scores.

41. The method of claim 39,

wherein said metric indicates a desired degree of accuracy or speed for the one or more selected pattern matching techniques, wherein said accuracy and said speed are inversely related.

42. The method of claim 35,

wherein the plurality of pattern matching techniques comprises two or more of a hue plane pattern matching technique, a color matching technique, a correlation-based pattern matching technique, a geometric pattern matching technique, and a luminance pattern matching technique.

43. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine a third plurality of candidate areas;

performing third pattern matching on each of the third plurality of candidate areas using a third different pattern matching technique, wherein said performing third pattern matching generates final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

44. The method of claim 43,

wherein said third plurality of candidate areas comprises candidate areas common to both the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas.

45. The method of claim 43,

wherein said first and second pattern matching comprise coarse pattern matching, and wherein said third pattern matching comprises fine pattern matching.

46. The method of claim 43,

wherein at least a portion of said first pattern matching and at least a portion of said second pattern matching are performed concurrently.

47. The method of claim 43,

wherein at least a portion of said first pattern matching, at least a portion of said second pattern matching, and at least a portion of said third pattern matching are performed concurrently.

48. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing first pattern matching determines a first plurality of candidate areas;

performing second pattern matching on the image using a second pattern matching technique, wherein the second pattern matching technique is different than the first pattern matching technique, wherein said performing second pattern matching determines a second plurality of candidate areas;

performing third pattern matching on the first plurality of candidate areas using the second pattern matching technique to generate first pattern match results;

performing fourth pattern matching on the second plurality of candidate areas using the first pattern matching technique to generate second pattern match results;

analyzing the first match results and the second match results to determine final pattern match results; and

generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein said first pattern matching technique and said second pattern matching technique are each one of a hue plane pattern matching technique, a color matching technique, a correlation-based pattern matching technique, a geometric pattern matching technique, and a luminance pattern matching technique;

and

wherein said first pattern matching technique and said second pattern matching technique are different.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein said first pattern matching technique is based on normalized correlation, and wherein said second pattern matching technique is based on geometric pattern matching.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein said normalized correlation is performed with one or more of complete sampling, over-sampling, and under-sampling.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein under-sampling comprises sampling using a low discrepancy sequence.

53. The method of claim 50, wherein said geometric pattern matching comprises luminance pattern matching.

54. The method of claim 50, wherein said geometric pattern matching comprises hue plane pattern matching.

55. The method of claim 48, wherein said first pattern matching technique is based on geometric pattern matching, and wherein said second pattern matching technique is based on normalized correlation.

56. The method of claim 48, wherein said performing first pattern matching and performing second pattern matching each comprises performing coarse pattern matching on the image;

and

wherein said performing third pattern matching and performing fourth pattern matching each comprises performing fine pattern matching on the image.

57. A method for detecting patterns in an image, the method comprising:

performing coarse pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing coarse pattern matching determines one or more coarse candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques, and wherein said performing coarse pattern matching generates a match score associated with each pattern matching technique for each coarse candidate area;

determining a best score from said match scores, wherein said best score indicates a best pattern match;

selecting a pattern matching technique from said plurality of different pattern matching techniques based on said best score;

performing fine pattern matching on each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas using said selected pattern matching technique to determine one or more final match candidate areas; and

generating an output indicating the final match candidate areas, wherein the final match candidate areas each include the detected pattern.

58. The method of claim 57,

wherein the plurality of pattern matching techniques includes two or more of a hue plane pattern matching technique, a color matching technique, a correlation-based pattern matching technique, a geometric pattern matching technique, and a luminance pattern matching technique.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein at least one of said plurality of pattern matching techniques uses a sub-sampling technique.

60. The method of claim 57, wherein at least one of said plurality of pattern matching techniques uses a sampling technique based on low discrepancy sequences.

61. The method of claim 57, wherein at least one of said plurality of pattern matching techniques uses a hill climbing technique.

62. The method of claim 57,

wherein at least a portion of said plurality of pattern matching techniques are performed concurrently.

63. The method of claim 57,

wherein the image comprises a test image with one or more known matching patterns;

wherein said determining a best score from said match scores further comprises determining two or more best scores, wherein said two or more best scores indicate best pattern matches;

wherein said selecting a pattern matching technique from said plurality of different pattern matching techniques further comprises selecting two or more pattern matching techniques from said plurality of different pattern matching techniques based on said two or more best scores; and

wherein said performing fine pattern matching on each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas comprises using said selected two or more pattern matching techniques to determine one or more final match candidate areas.

64. A system for detecting a pattern in an image, the system comprising:

a camera which is operable to generate an image;

a processor; and

a memory medium coupled to the processor, wherein the memory medium stores one or more pattern matching programs for detecting patterns in the image, and wherein the memory medium further stores a Graphical User Interface (GUI) program;

wherein the processor is operable to execute the GUI program to implement;

receiving user input specifying a desired characteristic of a pattern matching task;

wherein the processor is further operable to execute the one or more pattern matching programs to implement;

performing a coarse pattern matching search on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing a coarse pattern matching search determines one or more coarse candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques;

analyzing the one or more coarse candidate areas produced by each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques to select one or more of the pattern matching techniques in accordance with said desired characteristic;

performing a fine pattern matching search on each of the coarse candidate areas using said selected one or more pattern matching techniques to determine one or more final match candidate areas; and

generating an output indicating the one or more final match candidate areas, wherein the one or more final match candidate areas each include the detected pattern.

65. A system for detecting patterns in an image, the system comprising:

a camera which is operable to generate an image;

a processor; and

a memory medium coupled to the processor, wherein the memory medium stores one or more pattern matching programs for detecting patterns in the image;

wherein the processor is operable to execute the one or more pattern matching programs to implement;

applying a first pattern matching technique to the image to determine a first plurality of candidate areas;

applying a second pattern matching technique to the image to determine a second plurality of candidate areas;

analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine a third plurality of candidate areas;

generating output indicating the final match candidate areas, wherein the final match candidate areas each includes the detected pattern.

applying a third different pattern matching technique to each of the third plurality of candidate areas, thereby generating final pattern match results; and

generating output indicating the final pattern match results.

66. A system for detecting patterns in an image, the system comprising:

a camera which is operable to generate an image;

a processor; and

a memory medium coupled to the processor, wherein the memory medium stores one or more pattern matching programs for detecting patterns in the image;

wherein the processor is operable to execute the one or more pattern matching programs to implement;

performing a coarse pattern matching search on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing a coarse pattern matching search determines one or more coarse candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques, and wherein said performing a coarse pattern matching search generates a match score associated with each pattern matching technique for each coarse candidate area;

determining a best score from said match scores, wherein said best score indicates a best pattern match;

selecting a pattern matching technique from said plurality of different pattern matching techniques based on said best score;

performing a fine pattern matching search on each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas using said selected pattern matching technique to determine one or more final match candidate areas; and

generating output indicating the final match candidate areas, wherein the final match candidate areas each includes the detected pattern.

67. A system for detecting a pattern in an image, the system comprising:

means for receiving user input specifying a desired characteristic of a pattern matching task;

means for performing coarse pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques, thereby generating a plurality of coarse candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques;

means for analyzing the plurality of coarse candidate areas generated by each of the plurality of different pattern matching techniques to select one or more of the pattern matching techniques in accordance with said desired characteristic;

means for performing fine pattern matching on each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas using the selected one or more pattern matching techniques, thereby generating one or more final match candidate areas; and

means for producing an output indicating the final match candidate areas, wherein each of the final match candidate areas includes the detected pattern.

68. A system for detecting patterns in an image, the system comprising:

means for performing first pattern matching on the image using a first pattern matching technique to generate a first plurality of candidate areas in the image;

means for performing second pattern matching on the image using a second different pattern matching technique to generate a second plurality of candidate areas in the image;

means for analyzing the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine a third plurality of candidate areas;

means for performing third pattern matching on each of the third plurality of candidate areas using a third different pattern matching technique to generate final pattern match results; and

means for generating an output indicating the final pattern match results.

69. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for detecting a pattern in an image, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to implement:

a Graphical User Interface (GUI) receiving user input specifying a desired characteristic of a pattern matching task;

performing coarse pattern matching on the image using two or more different pattern matching techniques, thereby generating a plurality of coarse candidate areas for each of the plurality of different pattern matching techniques;

performing an analysis of the plurality of coarse candidate areas generated by each of the two or more different pattern matching techniques to select one or more of the pattern matching techniques in accordance with said desired characteristic;

performing fine pattern matching on each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas using said selected one or more pattern matching techniques to determine one or more final match candidate areas; and

producing an output indicating the one or more final match candidate areas, wherein the final match candidate areas each includes the detected pattern.

70. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for detecting a pattern in an image, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to implement:

performing a first pattern matching search on the image using a first pattern matching technique to generate a first plurality of candidate areas;

performing a second pattern matching search on the image using a second different pattern matching technique to generate a second plurality of candidate areas;

performing an analysis of the first plurality of candidate areas and the second plurality of candidate areas to determine a third plurality of candidate areas;

performing a third pattern matching search on each of the third plurality of candidate areas using a third different pattern matching technique, thereby producing final pattern match results; and

output the final pattern match results.

71. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for detecting a pattern in an image, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to implement:

performing coarse pattern matching on the image using a plurality of different pattern matching techniques to determine one or more coarse candidate areas for each of said plurality of different pattern matching techniques, wherein said performing coarse pattern matching generates a match score for each coarse candidate area associated with each pattern matching technique;

determining a best score from said match scores, wherein said best score indicates a best pattern match;

selecting a pattern matching technique from said plurality of different pattern matching techniques corresponding to said best score;

performing fine pattern matching on each of the plurality of coarse candidate areas using said selected pattern matching technique to determine one or more final match candidate areas; and

generating an output indicating the one or more final match candidate areas, wherein the one or more final match candidate areas each includes the detected pattern.