Method and apparatus for automatic object identification
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Abstract
A method and system for processing image data to identify objects in an image. The method and system operate using various resolutions of the image to identify the objects. Information obtained while processing the image at one resolution is employed when processing the image at another resolution.
92 Citations
49 Claims
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10. A method for automatically identifying objects in an image comprising:
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receiving an image;
generating a second image identifying areas of the image which border regions of different intensities;
generating a third image identifying portions of the image for which an average gradient magnitude of the portion is greater than a threshold;
processing the second image to produce a fourth image, the fourth image identifying lines in the image;
segmenting the image into a plurality of regions;
determining which of the plurality of regions is a background region not containing said objects;
merging adjacent regions which are not background regions; and
identifying objects in the merged adjacent regions. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 14, 15, 16)
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22. A method for automatically identifying objects in an image comprising:
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identifying terrain types in the image;
generating a second image identifying areas of the image which border regions of different intensities by identifying a gradient magnitude value for each pixel of the image;
generating a filtered image from the second image, the filtered image identifying potential objects which have a smaller radius than the size of a filter and a different brightness than background pixels surrounding the potential objects;
comparing the second image and the filtered image to identify potential objects as an object, a potential object is identified as an object if the potential object has a gradient magnitude greater than a threshold gradient magnitude, and the threshold gradient magnitude is based on the terrain type identified in the portion of the image where the potential object is located. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for identifying linear objects in an image comprising:
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identifying terrain types in the image;
generating a gradient vector image from the image, the gradient vector image identifying a gradient magnitude value and a gradient direction value for each pixel of the image;
identifying lines in the gradient vector image using the identified terrain types in each portion of the image;
determining whether the identified lines are perpendicular, collinear, or parallel;
eliminating lines which are not perpendicular, collinear, or parallel with another line in the gradient vector image; and
identifying linear objects using the remaining lines. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method for identifying objects in an image comprising:
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generating a gradient vector image from the image, the gradient vector image identifying a gradient magnitude value and a gradient direction for each pixel of the image;
identifying lines in the gradient vector image;
determining whether the identified lines are perpendicular;
determining whether more than a predetermined number of pixels on each of the lines identified as perpendicular have a gradient magnitude greater than a predetermined threshold;
determining whether the individual lines which are identified as perpendicular are within a predetermined distance of each other;
identifying a portion of the image as an object if the identified lines are perpendicular, more than the predetermined number of pixels on each of the lines have a gradient magnitude greater than the predetermined threshold, and are within a predetermined distance of each other. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
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Specification