Patent · US Expired

Boundary identification and characterization through density differencing

US6697497B1 · kind B1 · utility

37Cited by
30References
34Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 6, 1999
Grant dateFeb 24, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 6, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T7/12
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for identifying and characterizing boundaries in digital images and other digital data sets. At least two points within a digital image are selected. Clusters of sample points around the points are chosen. A pixel value histogram is generated for each sample point cluster. These histograms define frequency functions. The distance between the frequency functions, called a “density distance” is calculated and analyzed. The nature of the density distance is then used to determine if the two areas are relatively uniform, or if they indicate a presence of a boundary. To further refine the procedure, the method may be applied iteratively by modifying cluster variances, sizes, and distributions, and then reanalyzing the frequency functions generated.

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