Patent · US Expired

Methods and apparatus for machine vision template matching of images predominantly having generally diagonal and elongate features

US5495537A · kind A · utility

116Cited by
5References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 1, 1994
Grant dateFeb 27, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 1, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06V10/7515
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A machine vision apparatus of the type having a match-scoring functionality for generating a metric as a function, e.g., a correlation, of applied image signals features an improvement for estimating a location of a template in a candidate image. The improvement is characterized by a segment peak finding element that applies to the match-scoring element a plurality of pairs of image signals along a "segment." Each such pair includes a signal representing the template and a signal representing a respective portion of the candidate image taken along a first axis. Thus, ignoring their template components, plural pairs of signals can represent successive adjacent portions of the candidate image that are "in line" along a first axis. Functionality within the segment peak finder determines a peak value of the metric generated by the match-scoring element in response to application of the pairs within the segment. A hill climbing element invokes the segment peak finder means to determine an image peak from among a plurality of segment peaks. To this end, the hill climber invokes the segment peak finder, e.g., with successive adjacent segments along the y-axis, where each segment itself is…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.