Data processing method and apparatus
US6081617A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 23, 1998 |
| Grant date | Jun 27, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 23, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T2207/20016
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In a data processing method and apparatus, an image signal representative of features in a space of two or more dimensions is progressively filtered at monotonically increasing filtering scales, the signal being input to the first filtering scale, and the input to the or each subsequent filtering scale is the output signal from the previous scale. Each input has a number of data samples each of which represents a respective region of the space, and at each filtering scale those samples are sorted into connected-sets, each of which contains a plurality of substantially equal value to data samples or a respective individual data sample not in other sets. The process then selects those connected-sets which contain data samples having values which are local maxima or local minima and which represent a composite region of a size related in a predetermined way to the current filtering scale. Each selected set is then effectively merged with the adjacent connected-set which contains data samples of a value closest to that of the sample(s) in the selected connected-set. This is achieved by changing the latter's value to that of the samples in the adjacent connected set. The output signal f…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.