IMAGE RECOGNITION APPARATUS

• US 20180032833A1
• Filed: 10/12/2017
• Published: 02/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: YASUNAGA, Masaaki
• Granted Patent: US 10,095,943 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10722 Photodetector array or CCD scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/44 Local feature extraction by analysis of parts of the pattern, e.g. by detecting edges, contours, loops, corners, strokes or intersections; Connectivity analysis, e.g. of connected components
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/751 Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/2247 Characters composed of bars, e.g. CMC-7
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0045 with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader

Abstract

An image recognition apparatus includes a memory, an interface and a processor. The memory stores identification information obtained from code information attached to the objects and image information on the objects used for object recognition, the storage storing the identification information and the image information for each of objects to be recognized. The processor which controls to: extract a target object region including an object therein from a photographed image; extract code information in the target object region and recognize the identification information based on extracted code information; and recognize the object based on an image of the target object region and image information on each object, if the processor fails to recognize the object based on the code information.

Claims

1. An image recognition apparatus which recognizes objects, comprising:

a memory which stores identification information obtained from code information attached to the objects and image information on the objects used for object recognition, the storage storing the identification information and the image information for each of objects to be recognized;

an interface which acquires a photographed image; and

a processor which controls to;

extract a target object region including an object therein from the image,

extract code information attached to the object in the target object region and recognize the identification information based on extracted code information, and

recognize the object based on an image of the target object region and image information on each object stored in the memory, if the processor fails to recognize the object based on the code information.

2. The image recognition apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a camera which photographs a placement surface on which the objects are placed,

wherein the interface acquires the image photographed by the camera.

3. The image recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the placement surface is formed to have a predetermined color, and

the processor extracts the target object region from the photographed image, based on the predetermined color.

4. The image recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the memory stores an edge or local feature amount of an object as object image information used for object recognition, and

the processor extracts an edge or local feature amount from the target object region and searches the memory for an object including an edge or local feature amount that matches, at least in part, the edge or local feature amount extracted from the object.

5. The image recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the processor extracts the target object region based on heights of portions of the photographed image.

6. The image recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the code information is a bar code.

7. The image recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the processor recognizes the object based on the image of the target object region and image information on each object stored in the memory, if the processor fails to extract the code information or decode the code information.

8. An image recognition method of recognizing objects, comprising:

acquiring a photographed image;

extracting a target object region including an object therein from the image;

extracting code information attached to the object in the target object region and recognizing identification information based on extracted code information; and

recognizing the object based on an image of the target object region and image information on each object, if failing to recognize the object based on the code information.

9. The image recognition method according to claim 8, wherein a placement surface on which the objects are placed is formed to have a predetermined color,

the method further comprising:

extracting the target object region from the photographed image, based on the predetermined color.

10. The image recognition method according to claim 8, further comprising:

extracting an edge or local feature amount from the target object region and searching image information including an edge or local feature amount that matches, at least in part, the extracted edge or local feature amount.

11. The image recognition method according to claim 8, further comprising:

extracting the target object region based on heights of portions of the photographed image.

12. The image recognition method according to claim 8, wherein

the code information is a bar code.

13. The image recognition method according to claim 8, further comprising:

recognizing the object based on an image of the target object region and image information on each object, if failing to extract the code information or decode the code information.