Image processing system and method for image segmentation using intensity contrast and depth contrast values
Patent 7050646 Issued on May 23, 2006. Estimated Expiration Date: December 8, 2020. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
A method and system for processing an image recorded by an imaging device may include: a) providing an image having an array of adjacent elements each corresponding to a respective part of the image and having a respective intensity value associated therewith; b) processing the intensity values to determine an intensity contrast value for each respective element according to differences in intensity values between respective adjacent elements; c) determining a depth value for each element corresponding to the distance between the imaging device and at least part of an image forming object represented in the image by the respective element; d) processing the depth values to determine a depth contrast value for each respective element according to differences in depth values between respective adjacent elements; and, processing the intensity contrast values and depth contrast values to identify at least one area of the image corresponding to one or more respective objects in the image being processed. The last noted process step can be a non-linear diffusion process whereby variations in grey level values are diffused in regions corresponding to objects or background and enhanced in regions corresponding to object boundaries.
Other References
Ebroul, IEEE 1999, “Disparity/Segmentation Analysis:Matching with an adaptive window and depth driven segmentation”. (pp. 589-607).
Ghanbari et al., IEEE 1999, “Motion-driven object segmentation in scale-space”. (pp. 3473-3476).
December 8, 2020. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
