Label reuse method and system for connected component labeling

• US 8,249,348 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eyep, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Eyep, Inc.
• Inventors: Sullender, Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): Fitzpatrick, Atiba O
• Application Number:
  US12/028,146
• Publication Number:
  US 20090196503A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,656 Days
• Field of Search: 382100-107, 382/173, 382/180, 348169-176, 345582-588
• US Class Current: 382/180
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/60 Memory management
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/267 by performing operations on regions, e.g. growing, shrinking or watersheds

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed include methods and systems for reusing labels for connected component labeling including assigning one or more labels to one or more groups of raw data representing one or more regions by designating one or more data structures as containing information about the one or more regions; connecting the one or more labels determined to be related; choosing a root label for the connected one or more labels, the root label determined by locating an earliest data element from the one or more groups of raw data; altering a label list of the one or more labels, the label list altered by flagging the root label to include a region label index; and overwriting one or more region label indexes according to the root label.

Claims

1. A connected components labeling system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to include;

a label buffer configured to be initialized with a sequential count at the beginning of an operation for each array of input data in a raster order, the label buffer configured to hold current labels in use during an operation, the label buffer independent from the height of a connected region;

a label queue coupled to the label buffer, the label queue configured to contain a plurality of locations for holding one or more region labels for the connected components labeling system, the label queue configured to store one or more inactive, closed and/or not currently in use labels and to dispense one or more new labels to the label buffer and receive one or more closed labels no longer required, the one or more inactive labels; and

a label list coupled to the label buffer and the label queue, the label list configured to receive one or more closed labels no longer required by the label buffer.