Computer vision and machine learning software for grading and sorting plants
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method to recognize and classify a bare-root plant on a surface, comprising the steps of:
- receiving from an imaging device a continuous output of raw image data of several bare-root plants passing through a field of view of the imaging device,wherein each of the several bare-root plants are arbitrarily disposed on the surface and positioned between the surface and the imaging device;
wherein the surface is horizontal and each of the several bare-root plants is lying flat on the surface; and
wherein an orientation of each of the several bare-root plants on the surface is not uniform;
identifying a single bare-root plant in the raw image data by detecting and extracting a region in the raw image data corresponding to the single plant;
classifying each pixel of the bare-root plant identified in the raw image data to form a classified bare-root image based on trained parameters, comprising;
generating a vector of scores for each pixel of the classified bare-root image; and
identifying a plurality of sub-parts of the bare-root plant based at least on the vector of scores and the trained parameters;
evaluating the classified bare-root image based on trained features to assign the bare-root plant to a configured category; and
sorting the bare-root plant based on the assigned configured category as it moves from the field of view, using a sorting device in communication with a vision system.
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Abstract
The present invention encompasses software that brings together computer vision and machine learning algorithms that can evaluate and sort plants into desired categories. While one embodiment of the present invention is directed toward strawberry plants, the software engine described is not specifically designed for strawberry plants but can be used for many different types of plants that require sophisticated quality sorting. The present invention is a sequence of software operations that can be applied to various crops (or other objects besides plants) in a re-usable fashion.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method to recognize and classify a bare-root plant on a surface, comprising the steps of:
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receiving from an imaging device a continuous output of raw image data of several bare-root plants passing through a field of view of the imaging device, wherein each of the several bare-root plants are arbitrarily disposed on the surface and positioned between the surface and the imaging device; wherein the surface is horizontal and each of the several bare-root plants is lying flat on the surface; and wherein an orientation of each of the several bare-root plants on the surface is not uniform; identifying a single bare-root plant in the raw image data by detecting and extracting a region in the raw image data corresponding to the single plant; classifying each pixel of the bare-root plant identified in the raw image data to form a classified bare-root image based on trained parameters, comprising; generating a vector of scores for each pixel of the classified bare-root image; and identifying a plurality of sub-parts of the bare-root plant based at least on the vector of scores and the trained parameters; evaluating the classified bare-root image based on trained features to assign the bare-root plant to a configured category; and sorting the bare-root plant based on the assigned configured category as it moves from the field of view, using a sorting device in communication with a vision system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28)
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25. A method to recognize and classify a bare-root plant on a surface, comprising the steps of:
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obtaining a raw image with an imaging device; identifying a single bare-root plant in raw image by detecting and extracting a region in the raw image corresponding to the single bare-root plant, wherein the raw image contains several bare-root plants, wherein each of the several bare-root plants arbitrarily disposed on a surface and are positioned between the surface and the imaging device, wherein the surface is horizontal and each of the several bare-root plants is lying flat on the surface; and
wherein an orientation of each of the several bare-root plants on the surface is not uniform;detecting and extracting foreground objects to identify a plurality of sub-parts of the bare-root plant to form a cropped image; calculating features for use in pixel classification based on the cropped image to classify each pixel of the cropped image as one sub-part of the plurality of sub-parts of the bare-root plant; classifying pixels of the plurality of sub-parts of the bare-root plant to generate a vector of scores for each plant image; calculating category features for use in plant classification; and classifying the bare-root plant based on the calculated category features into a configured category, sorting, the bare-root plant based on the configured category as it moves from the field of view, using a sorting device in communication with a vision system.
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26. A method to recognize and classify a bare-root plant on a surface, comprising the steps of:
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identifying a single bare-root plant in a raw image by detecting and extracting a region in the raw image corresponding to the single bare-root plant, wherein the raw image contains several bare-root plants, each of the several bare-root plants arbitrarily disposed on a surface;
wherein the surface is horizontal and each of the several bare-root plants is lying flat on the surface; and
wherein an orientation of each of the several bare-root plants on the surface is not uniform;detecting and extracting foreground objects to identify a plurality of sub-parts of the bare-root plant to form a first cropped image; masking disconnected components of the first cropped image to form a second cropped image, wherein the masking step comprises; joining a first group of foreground pixels with an adjacent group of foreground pixels, and identifying the joined group of foreground pixels as disconnected components if a size of the joined group is less than a minimal value; calculating features for use in pixel classification based on the second cropped image to classify each pixel of the cropped image as one sub-part of the plurality of sub-parts of the bare-root plant; classifying pixels of the plurality of sub-parts of the bare-root plant to generate a vector of scores for each plant image; calculating first category features for use in plant classification; calculating second category features for use in multiple plant detection; detecting a single plant or multiple plants; and classifying the bare-root plant based on the calculated first category features into a configured category, sorting, the bare-root plant based on the configured category as it moves from the field of view, using a sorting device in communication with a vision system.
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Specification