Patent · US Expired

Ring dilation and erosion techniques for digital image processing

US6148114A · kind A · utility

11Cited by
126References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateNov 27, 1996
Grant dateNov 14, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 27, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T5/30
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Dilation and erosion operations are performed on imaged objects that are represented using a number of object pixels; the object pixels are a subset of a larger number of image pixels. A ring-shaped structuring element is specified by a radius and an origin. In the ring dilation operation, the boundary of the structuring element includes two concentric circles, one having a radius that is one pixel greater than the other so that the boundary is two-pixels wide. The origin of a copy of the structuring element is then overlaid onto each object pixel such that the boundaries of the copies intersect to form a dilated image feature. The image feature includes a feature boundary defined by the outermost portions of the boundaries of the overlapping copies of the structuring element. This feature boundary is identified and described using conventional chain-coding techniques. The dilation is then completed by filling an area defined within the feature boundary. To erode objects, a second ring-shaped structuring element is specified by a second origin and by a second radius. The origin of a copy of the second structuring element is overlaid onto each pixel within the object. A pixel within…

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