Patent Application
20110064263
A modern cellular telephone is equipped with significant functionality that extends well beyond telephonic communication. For example, an iPhone brand cellular telephone (cell phone) includes connectivity to the Internet, and the capability to record and store digital images. Advantage is taken of the multiple functions, in unique ways, to enhance the desirability of cell phone use. For example, a service is provided whereby a user can utilize a cell phone to record the image of an object of interest to the user, and send the digital image, for example, via the Internet, to a remote service that proceeds to identify the object, and return information regarding the object to the user. A problem associated with such a service is that varying conditions that may exist at the time the digital image was taken can interfere with an accurate performance of an object recognition task. For example, varying illumination conditions existing at the time an image is recorded, can result in shadows cast across an object depicted in the image. Such shadows can prevent a computer system from performing an accurate analysis of object features depicted in the image, and thus, cause a failure to properly identify the object.
Other services available today involve, for example, a scanning of paper documents such as credit card receipts and other invoices received for expenses incurred, and either the transmission of the scanned documents to a central service that implements an optical character recognition algorithm, or downloading to a laptop or desk top computer by the user, for optical character recognition, to obtain a machine readable and editable version of the information of the original document, and to record and process that information from the scanned documents. These services also encounter problems such as the inconvenience of traveling with a scanning device, and inaccuracies due to folds, creases or other distortions of the original, scanned paper documents.
The present invention provides a method and system implementing image processing techniques that analyze aspects of a digital image received from a remote source, for example, form a cell phone or remote computer system. The analysis is in respect to information in the image relevant to a logical deduction regarding material and illumination aspects of an image, such as, for example, spatio-spectral information relevant to an image, to perform an image segregation operation on the image received from a remote source, for more accurate further processing, such as, for example, performance of an object recognition or optical character recognition task.
In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an automated, computerized method is provided for processing an image. According to a feature of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of, at a computer system, receiving an image recorded at and transmitted from a remote source, at the computer system, processing the transmitted image, for segregation of the transmitted image into a corresponding intrinsic image and, at the computer system, processing the corresponding intrinsic image to perform a preselected task, for a result. As a further feature of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the remote source comprises a cell phone or remote computer system.
In a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is provided. According to a feature of the present invention, the computer program product is disposed on a computer readable media, and the product includes computer executable process steps operable to control a computer to: receive a recorded image transmitted from a remote source, process the received image, for segregation of the received image into a corresponding intrinsic image and process the corresponding intrinsic image to perform a preselected task, for a result.
In a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is provided. According to a feature of the present invention, the computer program product is disposed on a computer readable media, and the product includes computer executable process steps operable to control a computer to: receive a recorded image of a document containing information, from a remote source, process the received image, for segregation of the received image into a corresponding intrinsic image and process the corresponding intrinsic image to perform an optical character recognition task, for a machine readable and editable form of the information contained on the document. As an additional feature of the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the process steps operable to control a computer include a further step to transmit the machine readable and editable form of the information contained on the document to a remote destination.
In a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is provided. According to a feature of the present invention, the computer program product is disposed on a computer readable media, and the product includes computer executable process steps operable to control a computer to: receive a recorded image of an object, process the received image, for segregation of the received image into a corresponding intrinsic image and process the corresponding intrinsic image to perform an object recognition task, for identification of the object.
In a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is provided. According to a feature of the present invention, the computer program product is disposed on a computer readable media, and the product includes computer executable process steps operable to control a computer to: receive a recorded image, process the received image, for segregation of the received image into a corresponding intrinsic image and process the corresponding intrinsic image to perform a task to modify the corresponding intrinsic image.
In a sixth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is provided. According to a feature of the present invention, the computer program product is disposed on a computer readable media, and the product includes computer executable process steps operable to control a computer to: store an image of a document containing information, in a computer memory, process the stored image, for segregation of the stored image into a corresponding intrinsic material image, as a virtual scan of the document and process the virtual scan of the document in an optical character recognition operation to generate a machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the document, for further processing.
In a seventh exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is provided. According to a feature of the present invention, the computer program product is disposed on a computer readable media, and the product includes computer executable process steps operable to control a computer to: record and store an image of a document containing information, in a computer memory, transmit the stored image to a remote computer system for processing of the stored image, for segregation of the stored image into a corresponding intrinsic material image, as a virtual scan of the document and receive and store the virtual scan of the document from the remote computer system.
In an eighth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is provided. According to a feature of the present invention, the computer program product is disposed on a computer readable media, and the product includes computer executable process steps operable to control a computer to: record and store an image of a document containing information, in a computer memory; transmit the stored image to a remote computer system for processing of the stored image, for segregation of the stored image into a corresponding intrinsic material image, as a virtual scan of the document, and for performance of an optical character recognition operation on the virtual scan, to generate a machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the document; and receive and store the machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the document from the remote computer system, for further processing.
In a ninth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an automated, computerized method is provided for processing an image. According to a feature of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of, at a computer, receiving an image, at the computer, processing the image, for segregation of the image into a corresponding intrinsic image and at the computer, processing the corresponding intrinsic image to perform a preselected task, for a result, the processing being executed to co-relate information obtained from an analysis of an intrinsic image to other information relevant to the subject mater depicted in the intrinsic image.
In a tenth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product is provided. According to a feature of the present invention, the computer program product is disposed on a computer readable media, and the product includes computer executable process steps operable to control a computer to: receive a recorded image, process the received image, for segregation of the received image into a corresponding intrinsic image and process the corresponding intrinsic image to perform a preselected task, for a result, the processing being executed to co-relate information obtained from an analysis of an intrinsic image to other information relevant to the subject mater depicted in the intrinsic image.
In accordance with yet further embodiments of the present invention, computer systems are provided, which include one or more computers configured (e.g., programmed) to perform the methods described above. In accordance with other embodiments of the present invention, computer readable media are provided which have stored thereon computer executable process steps operable to control a computer(s) to implement the embodiments described above. The present invention contemplates a computer readable media as any product that embodies information usable in a computer to execute the methods of the present invention, including instructions implemented as a hardware circuit, for example, as in an integrated circuit chip. The automated, computerized methods can be performed by a digital computer, analog computer, optical sensor, state machine, sequencer, integrated chip or any device or apparatus that can be designed or programmed to carry out the steps of the methods of the present invention.
a is a flow chart for identifying Type C token regions in the image file of
b is an original image used as an example in the identification of Type C tokens.
c shows Type C token regions in the image of
d shows Type B tokens, generated from the Type C tokens of
Referring now to the drawings, and initially to
As shown in
According to a feature of the present invention, in an image process, the CPU 12 operates to analyze and process information, for example, the RGB values of the pixels of a digital image received from a remote source such as, for example, either the cell phone 23 or the remote CPU 25, and stored in an image file 18, to achieve various objectives, such as, for example, an image segregation operation to generate intrinsic images corresponding to the image of the image file 18. The intrinsic images can include, for example, a material image and an illumination image. The intrinsic images can then be subject to further processing, such as object recognition or optical character recognition, for improved and more accurate results. The intrinsic images can also be processed for color manipulation, editing, intensity adjustment, shadow removal or adjustment, adjustment of geometry, or other illumination and/or material manipulation, and so on. Moreover, improved results obtained form intrinsic images, in the performance of object recognition or optical character recognition, can also be used to obtain or formulate information related to the image, and or objects depicted in the image.
Pursuant to a further feature of the present invention, any aspect of the results of image processing, including intrinsic images, processed images and any related information obtained from the performance of such tasks as object recognition or optical character recognition, can also be transmitted by the computer system 10 to any call phone 23 or remote CPU 25 selected by a user, for storage or further processing, as will be described below.
Referring now to
In step 1002, the transmitted image is received by the computer system 10, via the antenna 27 and receiver 14, or via the Internet. The computer system 10 functions as a service bureau to provide processing services to remote cell phone and computer users, for processing of received images, such as, for example, image segregation, object recognition or optical character recognition, color manipulation, editing, intensity adjustment, shadow removal or adjustment, or other illumination manipulation, and so on, and compilation of information related to the image, and/or objects depicted in the image, as described above.
In step 1004, the received image is processed by the computer system 10. According to a feature of the present invention, the processing of the received image can include an image segregation operation performed by the CPU 12 according to a spatio-spectral operator/constraint/solver model feature of the present invention, to identify the illumination and material components of the image.
A spatio-spectral operator/constraint/solver model according to a feature of the present invention is based upon a fundamental observation underlying a basic discovery of the present invention, that is: an image comprises two components, material and illumination. All changes in an image are caused by one or the other of these components. Spatio-spectral information is information relevant to contiguous pixels of an image depicted in an image file 18, such as spectral relationships among contiguous pixels, in terms of color bands, for example RGB values of the pixels, and the spatial extent of the pixel spectral characteristics relevant to a characteristic of the image, such as, for example, a single material depicted in the image or illumination flux effecting the image. When one of material and illumination is known in an image, the other can be readily deduced.
Moreover, the illumination flux includes an incident illuminant and an ambient illuminant. The spectra for the incident illuminant and the ambient illuminant can be different from one another. Thus, a spectral shift is caused by a shadow, i.e., a decrease of the intensity of the incident illuminant. The spectral shift can cause a variance in color of material depicted in the scene, from full shadow, through the shadow penumbra, to fully lit. Pursuant to a feature of the present invention, spectral shift phenomena is captured in spatio-spectral information. The spatio-spectral information includes a spectral ratio: a ratio based upon a difference in color or intensities between two areas of a scene depicted in an image, which may be caused by different materials (an object edge), an illumination change (illumination boundary) or both.
According to a further feature of the present invention, spatio-spectral operators are generated to facilitate the process for the segregation of illumination and material aspects of a scene depicted in the retrieved image file 18. Spatio-spectral operators comprise representations or characteristics of an image that encompass spatio-spectral information usable in the processing of material and illumination aspects of an image. The spatio-spectral operators are subject to constraints that define constraining spatio-spectral relationships between the operators, for input to a solver. The solver includes a mathematical processing engine that operates to obtain an optimized solution for the generation of an intrinsic image, such as a material image and/or an illumination image derived from the original image stored in the retrieved image file 18, as a function of the constraining relationships between the spatio-spectral operators.
Spatio-spectral operators include, for example, tokens, token map information, log chromaticity representation values, X-junctions, BIDR model representations, a boundary representation, and a texton histogram based pixel representation.
Pursuant to a feature of the present invention, a token is a connected region of an image wherein the pixels of the region are related to one another in a manner relevant to identification of image features and characteristics such as identification of materials and illumination. The use of tokens recognizes the fact that a particular set of material/illumination/geometric characteristics of an image extends beyond a single pixel, and therefore, while the image processing described herein can be done on a pixel level, tokens expedite a more efficient processing of image properties. The pixels of a token can be related in terms of either homogeneous factors, such as, for example, close correlation of color values among the pixels, or nonhomogeneous factors, such as, for example, differing color values related geometrically in a color space such as RGB space, commonly referred to as a texture. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems to identify various types of homogeneous or nonhomogeneous tokens for improved processing of image files. The present invention utilizes spatio-spectral information relevant to contiguous pixels of an image depicted in an image file 18 to identify token regions.
According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, homogeneous tokens are each classified as either a Type A token, a Type B token or a Type C token. A Type A token is a connected image region comprising contiguous pixels that represent the largest possible region of the image encompassing a single material in the scene. A Type B token is a connected image region comprising contiguous pixels that represent a region of the image encompassing a single material in the scene, though not necessarily the maximal region corresponding to that material. A Type C token comprises a connected image region of similar image properties among the contiguous pixels of the token, for example, similar color and intensity, where similarity is defined with respect to a noise model for the imaging system used to record the image.
A linear token is a nonhomogeneous token comprising a connected region of the image wherein adjacent pixels of the region have differing color measurement values that fall within a cylinder in RGB space, from a dark end (in shadow) to a bright end (lit end), along a positive slope. The cylinder configuration is predicted by a bi-illuminant dichromatic reflection model (BIDR model), according to a feature of the present invention, when the color change is due to an illumination change forming a shadow (i.e. a decrease in the intensity of the incident illuminant as the interplay between the incident or direct illuminant and the ambient illuminant in the illumination field) over a single material of a scene depicted in the image.
For purposes of describing, identifying and using linear tokens, the BIDR model can be stated as: I(x, y, z, θ, φ, λ)=cb(λ)ld(λ)γb+Ma(λ)cb(λ), where: I(x, y, z, θ, φ, λ) is the radiance of a surface point at (x, y, z) in the direction θ, φ for the wavelength λ, cb(λ) is the geometry independent body reflectance of a surface for the wavelength λ, lb(λ) is the incident illuminant for the wavelength λ. γb is the product of a shadow factor sx, y, z and a geometric factor mb(θi), and Ma(λ) is the integral of the ambient illuminant and geometric body reflectance over a hemisphere, excluding the incident illuminant. For more detailed information on the BIDR model, reference should be made to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/341,751, filed Jan. 27, 2006, entitled: “Bi-illuminant Dichromatic Reflection Model For Image Manipulation,” published as US 2007/0176940 on Aug. 2, 2007.
Token map information indicates locations of tokens within an image, relative to one another. The map information is used to identify neighboring tokens for performing an analysis of token neighbor relationships relevant to constraining spatio-spectral relationships between tokens, for input to the solver.
Log chromaticity representation values provide illumination invariant values for pixels of the image. Logarithmic values of the color band values of the image pixels are plotted on a log-color space graph. The logarithmic values are then projected to a log-chromaticity projection plane oriented as a function of the BIDR model. The chromaticity plane values are substituted for the color band values (for example, RGB values) of each pixel. For more detailed information on log chromaticity representation values, reference should be made to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/403,719, filed Apr. 13, 2006, entitled: “Method And System For Separating Illumination And Reflectance Using a Log Color Space,” published as US 2007/0242878 on Oct. 18, 2007.
An X-junction is an area of an image where a material edge and an illumination boundary cross one another. An X-junction is an optimal location for an accurate analysis of material and illumination aspects of an image.
A boundary representation is an arrangement of pixels, on each side of a boundary, formed by, for example, adjacent Type B tokens. The arrangement is used to facilitate an analysis of the boundary to classify the boundary as a material boundary on a smooth surface (as opposed to another type of boundary, for example, an illumination edge, depth boundary or simultaneous illumination and material change). The pixel representation is configured to provide samples of pixels within each of the Type B tokens forming the boundary. The pixels of the samples are subject to spatio-spectral analysis, and the results are compared to determine the likelihood that the respective boundary corresponds to a material change.
A texton is a homogeneous representation for a region of an image that comprises a texture. Image texture can be defined as a function of spatial variation in pixel intensities. Image texture patterns are frequently the result of physical or reflective properties of the image surface. Commonly, an image texture is associated with spatial homogeneity and typically includes repeated structures, often with some random variation (e.g., random positions, orientations or colors). Image textures are also often characterized by certain visual properties such as regularity, coarseness, contrast and directionality. An example of image texture is the image of a zebra skin surface as it appears to be spatially homogenous and seems to contain variations of color intensities which form certain repeated patterns. Some image textures can be defined by geometric characteristics, such as stripes or spots. A texton based operator transforms patterns of differing reflectance caused by a textured material into a homogeneous representation that captures the spectral and spatial characteristics of the textured region in the image.
Constraints comprise, for example, an anchor constraint, a same illumination constraint, a smooth illumination constraint, a Type B token constraint, a Linear token constraint, a BIDR enforcement constraint, a same texton histogram constraint, a log chromaticity similarity constraint, an X junction constraint, and a boundary representation constraint. Each constraint is configured as a constraint generator software module that defines the spatio-spectral operators utilized by the respective constraint and provides an expression of the constraining relationship imposed upon the constituent operators.
An anchor constraint utilizes a number of brightest/largest Type C tokens in an image. The constraining relationship is that the material of the selected brightest/largest Type C tokens is constrained to be an absolute value for the color/brightness observed in the image. The constraint anchors a material map for the image at an absolute brightness to avoid relative brightness constraints.
A same illumination constraint utilizes Type C tokens and Type B tokens identified in an image and token map information. The constraining relationship is that adjacent Type C tokens, as indicted by the token map information, are at the same illumination, unless the adjacent Type C tokens are part of the same Type B token. The term “same” in connection with the term “illumination” is used to mean an average value with respect to a noise model for the imaging system used to record the image. This constrains any observed differences in appearance between adjacent Type C tokens, that are not part of the same Type B token, to be a material change, as will appear.
A smooth illumination constraint is similar to the same illumination constraint. However, rather than constraining all pixels of adjacent Type C tokens to be of the same illumination, as in the same illumination constraint, in the smooth illumination constraint, the constraint is based upon the average illumination of the pixels near a shared boundary between adjacent Type C tokens. This constrains the illumination field to be somewhat smooth, as opposed to piecewise constant (the same, as defined above) throughout a token.
A Type B token constraint also utilizes Type C tokens and Type B tokens. However, the constraining relationship is that all Type C tokens that are part of the same Type B token are constrained to be of the same material. This constraint enforces the definition of a Type B token, that is, a connected image region comprising contiguous pixels that represent a region of the image encompassing a single material in the scene, though not necessarily the maximal region corresponding to that material. Thus, all Type C tokens that lie within the same Type B token are by the definition imposed upon Type B tokens, of the same material, though not necessarily of the same illumination. The Type C tokens are therefore constrained to correspond to observed differences in appearance that are caused by varying illumination.
Accordingly, the Type B token constraint is complementary to the same and smooth illumination constraints, which, as opposed to illumination change, constrain observed differences to correspond to material change, as described above. This is due to the fact that in each of the same and smooth illumination constraints, Type C tokens that are adjacent and not part of the same Type B token, are constrained to the same illumination. These Type C tokens should comprise different materials, since by the constraint, they are not in the same Type B token and therefore, by the definition of Type B tokens enforced by the constraint, do not encompass a single material, so illumination should be a constant, and any observed difference is considered as attributable to a material change.
To summarize, pursuant to a feature of the present invention, the Type C and Type B token spatio-spectral operators are defined to provide characteristics of an image that enable segregation of illumination and material. Type C tokens each comprise a connected image region of similar image properties, for example similar color, as recorded and stored in an image file 18. Thus, adjacent Type C tokens indicate some form of change in the image or else they would form the same Type C token. Type B tokens encompass a single material. The complementary constraints of the same/smooth illumination constraints and the Type B token constraint enforce relationships between the tokens that indicate either a material change or an illumination change.
If the adjacent Type C tokens are within the same type B token, as in the Type B token constraint, the differences between them should correspond to illumination change due to the same material property of the common Type B token. If the adjacent Type C tokens are not within the same Type B token, as in the same/smooth illumination constraints, the difference between them should then correspond to a material change since they are not both defined by a common, single material Type B token.
A Linear token constraint utilizes Type C tokens and Linear tokens. The constraining relationship is that a difference between two Type C tokens, spaced by a Linear token, approximately equals a characteristic illuminant spectral ratio for the image. As defined, a Linear token follows a cylinder configuration along a positive slope, through color space. The BIDR model predicts that the positive slope equals a characteristic illuminant spectral ratio for the image. Thus, the color difference between two Type C tokens, one at each of the dark end and bright end of a Linear token, should reflect the value of the respective characteristic illuminant spectral ratio for the image.
A BIDR enforcement constraint utilizes Type C tokens and a BIDR model defined normal vector for the log-chromaticity projection plane. The constraining relationship is that the illumination for all Type C tokens in a local patch of the image forms a set of parallel lines in log-color space, the orientation of the parallel lines being defined by the BIDR model defined normal vector. The constraint therefore enforces the illumination field present in the image to explicitly fit the BIDR model prediction for the illumination.
Thus, each of the Linear token constraint and the BIDR enforcement constraint utilize BIDR model predictions as a basis to segregate illumination and material aspects of an image. The BIDR model predicts a color change in an image when the color change is due to an illumination change forming a shadow (i.e. a decrease in the intensity of the incident illuminant as the interplay between the incident or direct illuminant and the ambient illuminant in the illumination field) over a single material of a scene depicted in the image. The color change prediction of the BIDR model accurately constrains all color band variations among Type C tokens to illumination field effects occurring in an image by operating as a function of the interplay between the spectral variations occurring between incident illuminant and ambient illuminant components of the illumination field. Thus, BIDR model based constraints couple all color band variations into one integral constraining relationship.
A same texton histogram constraint utilizes Type C tokens and texton histogram operators identified for texture regions within an image. A texton analysis is utilized wherein each pixel of the image (or pixels of those regions of an image identified as comprising a texture) from the recorded color band representation of the respective image file 18, such as, for example, RGB color band values, is converted to a two band representation wherein the two bands comprise a texton label and a texton histogram label. The two band representations are then used to identify texture tokens, as will be described below. A constraint can be imposed that all Type C tokens within the same texture token are of the same mean material.
A log chromaticity similarity constraint utilizes Type C tokens and log chromaticity representation values. The constraining relationship is that those Type C tokens having pixels with similar log chromaticity representation values are constrained to a same color value, with observed differences being attributed to variations in the illumination field.
An X-junction constraint utilizes Type C tokens and X-junction operators. As noted above, an X-junction is an area of an image where a material edge and an illumination boundary cross one another. X-junctions are typically identified by four Type C tokens, two pairs of same material Type C tokens forming the material edge, with each same material pair including an illumination boundary dividing the respective same material into lit and shadowed pairs of Type C tokens. The constraining relationship: 1) a Type B token constraint is imposed between each same material pair of Type C tokens forming the X-junction (those with an illumination boundary between them), and 2) a same illumination constraint is imposed between each pair of Type C tokens forming the material edge of the X-junction. For a more detailed description of X-junctions and the relationships of constituent tokens, reference should be made to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/341,742, filed Jan. 27, 2006, entitled: “Method And System For Identifying Illumination Flux In An Image,” published as US 2006/0177149 on Aug. 10, 2006.
A boundary representation constraint is defined by a standard ratio constraint. An analysis performed on a boundary representation, when indicating a material change, provides an estimate of the ratio of colors between two adjacent regions defined by the boundary, for example, the adjacent Type B tokens, even when the illumination varies over the regions. The constraint states that the ratio of the colors of two adjacent regions is X. The boundary representation analysis is executed at the level of Type B tokens, to classify a boundary as being caused by a material change, then propagated down to the level of the constituent Type C tokens. For a more detailed description of a boundary analysis, at the Type B token level, reference should be made to U.S. application Ser. No. 12/079,878, filed Mar. 28, 2008, entitled “System and Method For Illumination Invariant Image Segmentation.”
According to a feature of the present invention, the boundary representation constraint states that all adjacent pairs of Type C tokens along the boundary, (one Type C token on each side of the boundary, and all of the Type C tokens being within the Type B tokens forming the respective boundary), have colors that satisfy the ratio X, as indicated by the boundary representation analysis.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the above described constraints can be classified into one of three basic types of constraints, an absolute material color constraint, a same material constraint and a relative reflectance constraint. The absolute material constraint constrains the material at a particular location of an image to be a certain color, as implemented in, for example, the anchor constraint. The same material constraint constrains operators relevant to an image (for example, two pixels or Type C tokens) to be of the same material. The same material type of constraint can be implemented in, for example, Type B, X-junction, log chromaticity similarity, same texton histogram and linear token constraints. The relative reflectance constraint constrains operators relevant to an image (for example, two pixels or Type C tokens) to have a similarity of reflectance characteristics, such as defined by smooth illumination and same illumination constraints, and which can be specified by X-junction, and boundary representation constraints.
An exemplary solver according to a feature of the present invention comprises a mathematical processing engine for executing an optimizing function, for example, optimization of results in an equation expressed by: [A] [x]=[b], where [A] is a matrix of values that are to be satisfied by (and therefore, taken as solved for by) the definitions of the operator(s) and the constraining relationship(s) for the operator(s), as indicated by selected constraint(s), [x] is a matrix of variables for which the equation is finding an optimal solution, for example, one of an illumination or material component of an image component, for example, a pixel or token, and [b] is a matrix of values observed in an image selected for processing, for example, the recorded values for the RGB color bands of each pixel of an image file 18. The optimizing equation can be implemented in a mathematical optimizing function selected from a set of known optimization solvers such as, for example, known convex optimization operations such as a least squares solver, or a preconditioned conjugate gradient solver.
According to a further feature of the present invention, factors including bounds, are introduced in a solver operation, in addition to constraining relationships, as a function of real world illumination and material phenomena, to keep material/illumination values within physically plausible ranges, such as a limit1, limit infinity solver (L1, L∞), a bounded least squares solver, or a bounded L1, L∞ solver, as will be described below.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the CPU 12 executes code to implement both the preprocessing block 33 and the Type C tokenization block 35, as well as a service provider 24, that functions as a central agent and caching structure (configured in the memory 16), to handle an image for processing according to the teachings of the present invention. The service provider 24 receives and stores the pre-processed image and related Type C token information from the Type C tokenization block 35, and is coupled to an operators block 28 (executed by the CPU 12) arranged to generate any other operators for the image required by selected constraints, as will appear. The service provider 24 is also coupled to a global features extraction input 29. The global features extraction input 29 can be used to provide the system with information relevant to an image being processed, such as an indication of light source when the image was taken (sunlight, fluorescent light, incandescent light), time of day, location, domain knowledge, such as information relevant to the nature of the image, such as interior, exterior, buildings, lawns with green grass, trees with leaves in bloom, etc., and any other parameters relevant to image processing. The service provider 24 stores the global features extraction input 29 with a related input image 32.
A constraint builder 26 is coupled to the service provider 24. The constraint builder 26 uses a constraint generator library (configured within the memory 16) that stores the constraint generator software modules for the various constraints described above. The service provider 24 and constraint builder 26 operate to arrange spatio-spectral operators relevant to the pre-processed image, according to selected ones of the constraint generator software modules, in for example, the [A] [x]=[b] matrix equation.
A solver 30 (executed by the CPU 12) is coupled to the constraint builder 26, and implements an optimization operation, as described above, for an optimal solution for the [A] [x]=[b] matrix equation, for use in generating intrinsic images from the pre-processed image. The solver 30 is also coupled to a post-processing block 36 (executed by the CPU 12) for certain post-processing operations. The post-processing operations can include, for example, monotonicity maintenance. In monotonicity maintenance, if two large regions exhibit a linear transition in the input image 32, the transition should remain a linear transition in the output intrinsic image 34. Post-processing can also include illumination propagation, that serves to fill in holes left by the solver 30, illumination-map based white balancing and other filtering, smoothing processes. The post-processing block 36 outputs intrinsic images 34.
Referring now to
A material image derived by operation of the exemplary segregation system from the selected image is output 34 (see
According to a feature of the present invention, the Crop Image selector permits a user to crop a selected image so as to process a portion of the overall image. The Show Parameter selector displays parameters related to the selected image file 18. Parameters for each image file 18 can be stored in a parameter data file associated with a corresponding image file 18, and include any parameters relevant to the processing of the image depicted in the associated image file 18, for example the global features extraction input 29. Parameters can include any data relevant to image processing such as, for example, any variable for pixel analysis by the CPU 12, as for example, in the generation of spatio-spectral operators, and domain knowledge, such as information relevant to the nature of the image, such as interior, exterior, buildings, lawns with green grass, trees with leaves in bloom, etc.
Below the selection indicators is a list of each of the optimizing functions that can be used as the solver 30, and a further list of each of the constraint generators contained in the constraint generator library of the constraint builder 26. A user selects a desired mathematical operation and one or more of the constraints to be imposed upon the selected image. After selection of the image to be processed, the constraints to be imposed and the mathematical operation to be executed, the user can click on the Segregate indicator to commence image segregation processing.
Upon commencement of the image segregation processing, the service provider 24 retrieves the constraint generator software modules for the selected constraints to identify the spatio-spectral operators utilized by the selected constraints. Any spatio-spectral operators not already stored by the service provider 24 are generated by the operators block 28, for the image being segregated, and the service provider 24 caches the results. The cached results can be reused in any subsequent operation for a selected image, with the same set of associated parameters.
For example, if the selected constraint is a same illumination constraint, the service provider 24 identifies Type C tokens, Type B tokens and a token map for the selected image. The Type C tokens were generated by the Type C tokenization block 35. The service provider 24 operates the operators block 28 to generate the remaining operators specified by the same illumination constraint.
Referring now to
Prior to execution of the routine of
A 1st order uniform, homogeneous Type C token comprises a single robust color measurement among contiguous pixels of the image. At the start of the identification routine of
At step 102, a seed test is begun. The CPU 12 selects a first pixel, i=(1, 1) for example (see
If the pixel value is at imax, a value selected as a threshold for deciding to reduce the seed size for improved results, the seed size, N, is reduced (step 110), for example, from N=15 to N=12. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, imax can be set at i=(n, m). In this manner, the routine of
After reduction of the seed size, the routine returns to step 102, and continues to test for token seeds. An Nstop value (for example, N=2) is also checked in step 110 to determine if the analysis is complete. If the value of N is at Nstop, the CPU 12 has completed a survey of the image pixel arrays and exits the routine.
If the value of i is less than imax, and N is greater than Nstop, the routine returns to step 102, and continues to test for token seeds.
When a good seed (an N×N array with approximately equal pixel values) is found (block 104), the token is grown from the seed. In step 112, the CPU 12 pushes the pixels from the seed onto a queue. All of the pixels in the queue are marked with the current region ID in the region map. The CPU 12 then inquires as to whether the queue is empty (decision block 114). If the queue is not empty, the routine proceeds to step 116.
In step 116, the CPU 12 pops the front pixel off the queue and proceeds to step 118. In step 118, the CPU 12 marks “good” neighbors around the subject pixel, that is neighbors approximately equal in color value to the subject pixel, with the current region ID. All of the marked good neighbors are placed in the region map and also pushed onto the queue. The CPU 12 then returns to the decision block 114. The routine of steps 114, 116, 118 is repeated until the queue is empty. At that time, all of the pixels forming a token in the current region will have been identified and marked in the region map as a Type C token. In the event the pixels comprise intensity histogram representations, the token can be marked as Type CT.
When the queue is empty, the CPU 12 proceeds to step 120. At step 120, the CPU 12 increments the region ID for use with identification of a next token. The CPU 12 then returns to step 106 to repeat the routine in respect of the new current token region.
Upon arrival at N=Nstop, step 110 of the flow chart of
Upon completion of the routine of
Typically, different materials connect together in one Type C token via a neck region often located on shadow boundaries or in areas with varying illumination crossing different materials with similar hue but different intensities. A neck pixel can be identified by examining characteristics of adjacent pixels. When a pixel has two contiguous pixels on opposite sides that are not within the corresponding token, and two contiguous pixels on opposite sides that are within the corresponding token, the pixel is defined as a neck pixel.
If no, the CPU 12 exits the routine of
If yes, the CPU 12 proceeds to step 128 and operates to regrow the token from a seed location selected from among the unmarked pixels of the current token, as per the routine of
Subsequent to the regrowth of the token without the previously marked pixels, the CPU 12 returns to step 122 to test the newly regrown token.
Neck testing identifies Type C tokens that cross material boundaries, and regrows the identified tokens to provide single material Type C tokens suitable for use in creating Type B tokens.
In step 204, the CPU 12 grows a new Type C token, utilizing the routines of
In step 206, the CPU 12 operates to merge the newly generated tokens rcl to rcn of each token tc, respectively. The result is a new token Rt corresponding to each original token tc in the set Tc. Each new token Rt encompasses all of the regions of the respective overlapping tokens rcl to rcn generated from the corresponding original token tc. The unions of the regions comprising the respective merged new tokens Rt are each a more extensive token than the original Type C tokens of the set. The resulting merged new tokens Rt result in regions of the image file 18, each of a much broader range of variation between the pixels of the respective token Rt than the original Type C token, yet the range of variation among the constituent pixels will still be relatively smooth. Rt is defined as a limited form of Type B token, Type Bab1, to indicate a token generated by the first stage (steps 200-206) of the arbitrary boundary removal technique according to a feature of the present invention.
In step 208, the CPU 12 stores each of the Type Bab1 tokens generated in steps 202-206 from the set of tokens Tc, and proceeds to step 210. Type Bab1 tokens generated via execution of steps 202-206 may overlap significantly. In step 210, the CPU 12 operates to merge the Rt tokens stored in step 208 that overlap each other by a certain percentage of their respective sizes. For example, a 30% overlap is generally sufficient to provide few, if any, false positive merges that combine regions containing different materials. The new set of merged tokens still may have overlapping tokens, for example, previously overlapping tokens that had a less than 30% overlap. After all merges are complete, the CPU 12 proceeds to step 212.
In step 212, the CPU 12 identifies all pixels that are in more than one token (that is in an overlapping portion of two or more tokens). Each identified pixel is assigned to the token occupying the largest region of the image. Thus, all overlapping tokens are modified to eliminate all overlaps.
In step 214, the CPU 12 (as the Type C tokenization block 35 or the operators block 28) stores the final set of merged and modified tokens, now designated as Type Bab2 tokens, and then exits the routine. As noted above, the Type Bab2 tokens were generated from Type C tokens whether the Type C tokens were generated using N color band values (RGB in our example) of the pixel or the filter output representation of the pixel, in the event the image was filtered.
A second exemplary technique according to the present invention, for using Type C tokens to create Type B tokens, is adjacent planar token merging. The adjacent planar token merging can be implemented when an image depicts areas of uniform color, that is for non-textured regions of an image. Initially, a token graph is used to identify tokens that are near to one another.
In step 300, the CPU 12 selects a Type C token tc in the set of Type C tokens Tc, and identifies the pixels of the selected token tc forming the perimeter of the token. In a decision block 302, the CPU 12 determines whether the number of perimeter pixels is less than Pmin, for example 10 pixels.
If yes, the CPU 12 proceeds to decision block 304 to determine whether there are any remaining tokens tc in the set of Type C tokens Tc. If yes, the CPU 12 returns to step 300, if no, the CPU 12 exits the routine 306.
If no, the CPU 12 proceeds to step 308. In step 308, the CPU 12 generates a bounding box used as a mask to surround the selected token tc. The bounding box is dimensioned to be at least Dmax larger than the selected token tc in all directions. A known distance transform (for example, as described in P. Felzenszwalb and D. Huttenlocher, Distance Transforms of Sampled Functions, Cornell Computing and Information Science Technical Report TR2004-1963, September 2004), is executed to find the distance from each perimeter pixel of the selected token tc to all the pixels in the surrounding bounding box. The output of the distance transform comprises two maps, each of the same size as the bounding box, a distance map and a closest pixel map. The distance map includes the Euclidean distance from each pixel of the bounding box to the nearest perimeter pixel of the selected token tc. The closest pixel map identifies, for each pixel in the distance map, which perimeter pixel is the closest to it.
In step 310, the CPU 12 scans the distance map generated in step 308 to identify tokens corresponding to pixels of the bounding box (from the region map generated via the routine of
In step 312, the CPU 12 checks to determine whether a reciprocal link Lcn is also marked active, and when it is marked active, the CPU 12 marks and stores in the token graph, an indication that the token pair tc, tn is a neighboring token pair. The reciprocal link refers to the link status in the evaluation of the token designated as tn in the current evaluation. If that token has yet to be evaluated, the pair is not designated as a neighboring token pair until the link Lcn is verified as active in the subsequent evaluation of the token tn. The CPU 12 then returns to decision block 304 to determine whether there are any further tokens in the set Tc.
Upon completion of the token graph, the CPU 12 utilizes token pair information stored in the graph in the execution of the routine of
In step 320, the CPU 12 selects a token pair tc, tn from the token graph. In decision block 322, the CPU 12 determines whether the mean color in token tc is significantly different from the mean color in the token tc. The difference can be a function of a z-score, a known statistical measurement (see, for example, Abdi, H. (2007), Z-scores, in N. J. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage), for example, a z-score greater than 3.0.
If the mean colors of the token pair are different, the CPU 12 proceeds to decision block 324 to determine whether there are any additional token pairs in the token graph. If yes, the CPU 12 returns to step 320. If no, the CPU 12 exits the routine (step 326).
If the mean colors are within the z-score parameter, the CPU 12 proceeds to step 328. In step 328, the CPU 12 performs a mathematical operation such as, for example, a least median of squares regression (see, for example, Peter J. Rousseeuw, Least Median of Squares Regression, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 79, No. 388 (December, 1984), pp. 871-880) to fit a plane to each color channel of the pixels (in our example RGB) of the token pair tc, tn, as a function of row n and column m (see
R=X
Rn
+Y
Rm
+Z
R
G=X
Gn
+Y
Gm
+Z
G
B=X
Bn
+Y
Bm
+Z
B
wherein parameter values X, Y and C are determined by the least median of squares regression operation of the CPU 12.
Upon completion of the plane fitting operation, the CPU 12 proceeds to step 330. In step 330, the CPU 12 examines each pixel of each of the tokens of the token pair tc, tn to calculate the z-score between each pixel of the tokens and the planar fit expressed by the equation of the least median of squares regression operation. When at least a threshold percentage of the pixels of each token of the pair (for example, 80%), are within a maximum z-score (for example, 0.75), then the neighboring token pair is marked in the token graph as indicating the same material in the image. After completion of step 330, the CPU 12 returns to decision block 324.
Upon exiting the routine of
A third exemplary technique according to the present invention, for using Type C tokens to create Type B tokens, is a local token analysis. A local token approach generates Type C tokens using a window analysis of a scene depicted in an image file 18. Such tokens are designated as Type Cw tokens.
In step 400, the CPU 12 places a window of fixed size, for example, a 33×33 pixel array mask, over a preselected series of scan positions over the image. The window can be a shape other than a square. The scan positions are offset from one another by a fixed amount, for example ½ window size, and are arranged, in total, to fully cover the image. The window area of pixels at each scan position generates a Type Cw token, though not every pixel within the window at the respective scan position is in the Type Cw token generated at the respective scan position.
At each scan position (step 402), the CPU 12 operates, as a function of the pixels within the window, to fit each of a set of planes, one corresponding to the intensity of each color channel (for example, RGB), and an RGB line in RGB space, characterized by a start point I0 and an end point I1 of the colors within the window. The planar fit provides a spatial representation of the pixel intensity within the window, and the line fit provides a spectral representation of the pixels within the window.
For the planar fit, the planes are defined by the equations:
R=X
Rn
+Y
Rm
+Z
R
G=X
Gn
Y
Gm
+Z
G
B=X
Bn
+Y
Bm
+Z
B
wherein parameter values X, Y and C are determined by CPU 12 by executing a mathematical operation such as the least median of squares regression discussed above, a least-squares estimator, such as singular value decomposition, or a robust estimator such as RANSAC (see, for example, M. A. Fischler, R. C. Bolles. Random Sample Consensus: A Paradigm for Model Fitting with Applications to Image Analysis and Automated Cartography. Comm. of the ACM, Vol 24, pp 381-395, 1981).
For the RGB line fit, the line is defined by:
I(r,g,b)=I0(r,g,b)+t(I1(r,g,b)−I0(r,g,b))
wherein the parameter t has a value between 0 and 1, and can be determined by the CPU 12 utilizing any of the mathematical techniques used to find the planar fit.
At each scan position, after completion of step 402, the CPU 12 operates in step 404 to examine each pixel in the window in respect of each of the planar fit representation and RGB line representation corresponding to the respective window scan position. For each pixel, the CPU 12 determines an error factor for the pixel relative to each of the established planes and RGB line. The error factor is related to the absolute distance of the pixel to its projection on either from either the planar fit or the RGB line fit. The error factor can be a function of the noise present in the recording equipment or be a percentage of the maximum RGB value within the window, for example 1%. Any pixel distance within the error factor relative to either the spatial planar fit or the spectral line fit is labeled an inlier for the Type Cw token being generated at the respective scan position. The CPU 12 also records for the Type Cw token being generated at the respective scan position, a list of all inlier pixels.
At each scan position, after completion of step 404, the CPU 12 operates in step 406 to assign a membership value to each inlier pixel in the window. The membership value can be based upon the distance of the inlier pixel from either the planar fit or the RGB line fit. In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the membership value is the inverse of the distance used to determine inlier status for the pixel. In a second exemplary embodiment, a zero-centered Gaussian distribution with a standard deviation is executed to calculate membership values for the inlier pixels.
After all of the scan positions are processed to generate the Type Cw tokens, one per scan position, the CPU 12 operates to compile and store a token data list (step 408). The token data list contains two lists. A first list lists all of the pixels in the image file 18, and for each pixel, an indication of each Type Cw token to which it labeled as an inlier pixel, and the corresponding membership value. A second list lists all of the generated Type Cw tokens, and for each token an indication of the inlier pixels of the respective token, and the corresponding membership value. After compiling and storing the token data list, the CPU 12 exits the routine (step 410).
In step 422, the CPU 12 sorts the list of overlapping or adjacent Type Cw token pairs having a calculated similarity within the similarity threshold, in the order of most similar to least similar pairs. In step 424, the CPU 12 merges similar token pairs, in the order of the sort, and labeling pairs as per degree of similarity. Each merged token pair will be considered a Type B token. In step 426, the CPU 12 stores the list of Type B tokens, and exits the routine.
In a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the CPU 12 (executing as the operators block 28) compiles lists of Type B tokens separately generated through each of and/or a combination of one or more of the arbitrary boundary removal, adjacent planar token merging, and local token analysis techniques. The determination of the combination of techniques used depends in part on whether a particular region of the image was filtered because of texturing of the image. Since each Type B token generated through the described techniques likely represents a single material under varying illumination conditions, merging sufficiently overlapping Type B tokens generated through the use of varying and different techniques, provides a resulting, merged Type B token that represents a more extensive area of the image comprising a single material, and approaches the extent of a Type A token.
Sufficiently overlapping can be defined by satisfaction of certain pixel characteristic criteria, such as, for example:
A) The two Type B tokens have at least n of the original Type C tokens in common, for example, n=1
B) The two Type B tokens have at least n pixels in common, for example, n=20
C) The two Type B tokens have at least n % overlap, that is at least n % of the pixels in a first one of the two Type B tokens are also found in the second one of the two Type B tokens or vice versa, wherein, for example n %=10%.
D) The percentage of pixels in a smaller one of the two Type B tokens, also found in the larger one of the two Type B tokens is above a preselected threshold, for example 15%.
E) A preselected combination of criteria A-D.
Merging of two sufficiently overlapping Type B tokens can be accomplished via a mathematical operation such as execution of the union find algorithm discussed above. In the case of two overlapping Type B tokens that do not satisfy the above discussed criteria, the overlapping pixels of the two tokens can be assigned to the larger one of the two Type B tokens.
As a result of execution by the Type C tokenization block 35 and/or the operators block 28 (via the CPU 12) of the token generation and merging techniques according to features of the present invention, an image can be accurately segmented into tokens representing discrete materials depicted in the scene (Type B tokens) and tokens representing regions of robust similar color (Type C tokens), thus providing a basis for computational efficiencies, as the token representations capture spatio-spectral information of a significant number of constituent pixels. The service provider 24 stores all of the Type C and Type B tokens generated through execution of the above described token generation techniques, along with the relevant token map information, for example, as determined during execution of the adjacent planar token merging technique, and cross-references the stored operator results to the associated selected image file 18, for use in any segregation processing of the selected image.
In our example of a same illumination constraint, the service provider 24 identifies Type C and Type B tokens as the operators required by the selected constraint. The Type C tokenization block 35 generated the Type C tokens. The service provider 24 operates the operators block 28 to execute the above described techniques, to generate the relevant Type B tokens for the image 32, as well as a token map. The constraint builder 26 organizes the generated token operators according to the exemplary matrix equation, [A] [x]=[b], for input to the solver 30. In the same illumination constraint, the constraining relationship of the relevant constraint generator software module is that adjacent Type C tokens, as indicated by the token map information, are lit by the same illumination, unless the adjacent Type C tokens are part of the same Type B token.
Each Type C token stored by the service provider 24 is identified by a region ID, and includes a listing of each constituent pixel by row and column number. Each pixel of a Type C token will be of approximately the same color value, for example, in terms of RGB values, as all the other constituent pixels of the same Type C token, within the noise level of the equipment used to record the image. An average of the color values for the constituent pixels of each particular Type C token can be used to represent the color value for the respective Type C token. Each Type B token is identified by constituent Type C tokens, and thus can be processed to identify all of its constituent pixels via the respective constituent Type C tokens.
Pursuant to a feature of the present invention, a model for image formation reflects the basic concept of an image as comprising two components, material and illumination. This relationship can be expressed as: I=ML, where I is the image color, as recorded and stored in the respective image file 18, M the material component of the recorded image color and L the illumination component of the recorded image color. The I value for each Type C token is therefore the average color value for the recorded color values of the constituent pixels of the token.
Thus: log(I)=log(ML)=log(M)+log(L). This can be restated as i=m+l, where i represents log(I), m represents log(M) and l represents log(L). In the constraining relationship of the same illumination constraint, in an example where three Type C tokens, a, b and c, (see
Accordingly, the matrix equation of
For example, in a standard least squares solver, the matrix equation is restated as \underset{x} {min}(Ax−b)2. The solver 30 then executes the least squares operation to determine optimized values for each of ma, mb and mc. The solver 30 can then proceed to generate and display a material image based upon the optimal ma, mb and mc values. In the material image, the ma, mb and mc values are substituted for the originally recorded RGB values, for each pixel of the respective tokens. The solver 30 can proceed to also generate an illumination image from the known recorded image values ia, ib, ic, and the determined ma, mb and mc values, utilizing the model expressed by i=m+l.
Each of the material and illumination images are displayed on the monitor 20, via, for example, the GUI (see
Referring once again to
To that end, in one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an optical character recognition operation is performed by the CPU 12 on a material image corresponding to a received image of a document, such as a credit card receipt, to provide an accurate machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the original document, for further processing in an accounting or record keeping program. In a further feature of the present invention, a material image corresponding to an image of a document stored in an image file 18, is treated as a virtual scan of the document. The CPU 12 operates to perform an optical character recognition operation on the virtual scan to generate a machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the original document, for further processing in an accounting or record keeping program.
In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention wherein an optical character recognition operation is performed on a material image corresponding to an image of a document, the constraints selected for input to the solver 30, for example, either by a user via the GUI, or automatically, by the constraint builder 26, are the smooth illumination and Type B token constraints. Moreover, post processing includes white balancing. To advantage, the segregation operation provides a material image that inherently displays the document without any creases, folds or other distortions that may exist in the original document at the time the image of the document was recorded, for an improved optical character recognition operation.
In another embodiment of the present invention, an object recognition operation is performed on a material image of the object, by the CPU 12, to identify the object. Once the object is identified, the object is co-related to information relevant to the identified object, such as a description of the object, price information, and the location of a store where the object can be purchased. In yet another embodiment, the intrinsic images are modified or adjusted, then merged, for a modified output image. For example, color in a material image can be changed, and intensity of illumination in an illumination image adjusted.
In step 1006, the processed image, corresponding intrinsic images, and/or information obtained from the processing of the image file 18, as described above, is selectively transmitted by the computer system 10, to a predetermined remote destination, for example, a selected cell phone 23 or remote CPU 25. The transmission can be in the form of an e mail. Moreover, the selected cell phone 23 or remote computer 25 can be the devices that recorded the image of the processed image file 18, in the first instance, and transmitted the image to the computer system 10 for processing, as described above. In step 1008, the transmitted images and/or information is received at the selected cell phone 23 or remote CPU 25. Software can be implemented at the selected cell phone 23 or remote CPU 25, to receive the transmitted images and/or information, and store or otherwise further process the received images and/or information, as will appear.
Thus, as another aspect of the present invention, the remote device, either cell phone 23 or remote computer 25, is implemented as a device operable to record and store an image of a document containing information or object, in a computer memory, and then either processes the stored image, or transmit the stored image to the computer system 10, for processing of the transmitted image. For example, as described above, the computer system 10 performs a segregation of the stored image into a corresponding intrinsic material image, as a virtual scan of a document, and, optionally, performs an optical character recognition operation on the virtual scan, to generate a machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the document. The cell phone 23 or remote computer 25 is also implemented to receive and store either the virtual scan of the document from the computer system 10 or the machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the document.
In the event the remote device processes the stored image, and/or receives a virtual scan of a document, the remote device is implemented to perform an optical character recognition operation on the virtual scan, to generate a machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the document, for further processing. In the event the remote device receives a machine readable and editable version of the information contained on the document, the remote device is implemented to further process the information.
In any case, the further processing, either at the cell phone 23, remote computer 25, or computer system 10 (CPU 12), as the case may be, can include, for example, an accounting package that processes the information contained on the scanned document into a statement containing a spreadsheet of all charge information incurred by the individual user. Other information can also be co-related to the information contained on the document of the processed image. For example, the cell phone 23 can insert the location and time the image was recorded, or a memo indicating facts relevant to the expenses of a credit card receipt, in response to prompts and/or questions submitted to the user.
In General, the present invention contemplates any further processing that co-relates information obtained from an analysis of an intrinsic image to other information relevant to the subject mater depicted in the intrinsic image. For example:
A menu is photographed and, after processing the menu to provide an intrinsic material image of the menu, an order form program is automatically generated to make ordering takeout easier. For instance, the menu could be made interactive so that a group of people could select what they want for lunch, for example, via a web interface, and the selections sent, for instance via email.
An ingredients list on a package is photographed, and the further processing includes an analysis of an intrinsic image to check for allergens or other undesirable ingredients such as meat byproducts for vegetarians.
A store flier or advertisement (e.g. a Sunday newspaper insert of sale items) is photographed, and the further processing includes an operation to select out the items in which a user has an interest, based upon a learned profile of user tastes and preferences.
A street sign or other geographic location is photographed and the further processing includes a determination of details of location, for example, when GPS is unavailable.
An advertisement is photographed, and the further processing provides a link to a web site relevant to the subject matter of the advertisement such as a site for an online store selling the advertised subject matter.
A landmark is photographed (e.g. Big Ben, the Empire State Building, etc.) and the further processing includes a link to a database relevant to the landmark, the database containing, for example, other photographs of the same site, information regarding the landmark and other relevant materials regarding the landmark.
A product or logo is photographed, and the further processing provides a stock report on the related company.
Photograph an item with a phone number listed on it, and the further processing is an optical character recognition operation. Then that number can be dialed by the cell phone 23.
Photograph a report and have the contents of the report automatically entered into a database, to, for example, track performance over time.
Photograph an events flier, such as a concert announcement, and have the time and date details automatically entered in a calendar.
Photograph a face and receive an identification of the person.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the solver 30 can be configured to introduce factors including bounds that capture the limits of real world illumination and material phenomena, to keep material/illumination values determined by the optimization procedures as solutions, [x], to within physically plausible ranges. This can be implemented, for example, in an iterative technique to introduce additional inequality constraints on out-of-bounds values in [x], at each iteration, and executed to resolve towards values within the defined bounds. Thus, the above described least squares technique can be augmented to include minimum and maximum bounds on individual material estimates (as expressed by the entries of [x]). Moreover, the entries of [x] can be regularized such that the material estimates are consistent with a priori knowledge of material properties.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the matrices used in the least squares solver to specify the selected constraints, [A] and [b] are subject to the following bounds, expressed by the problem:
a linear least squares formulation:
minx′: Σi(AiTx′−ti)2
subject to: x′≧αm1
In the linear least squares formulation, the unique minimum solution for x′ is the material map that minimizes, in a linear system expressed by ATAx′=ATt, the average squared difference between the target material differences ti and the estimated differences AiTx′. For example, if the “ith” constraint Ai dictates that two tokens a & b are the same material, ATAx′ takes the difference between the values of tokens a & b in x′ and computes the distortion from the target value ti=0.
The inequalities expressed by the “subject to” bounds set forth above, form a feasible set of material solutions x′ which satisfy the real world constraints of possible maximum and minimum material color values. This differs from the standard, known least squares solution in that x′, if not further constraint by the “subject to” bounds, could take on a value at a given location of an image (for example, at a particular pixel or token) that violates the real world observations of reflectance, yet achieves a more optimal solution for the min x′ formulation.
In the optimization process executed by the solver 30, whenever any tokens have material color values that violate the “subject to” inequalities, at a particular iteration of the process, additional temporary constraints are added that pin the material values in violation, to values that satisfy the bounding conditions. Thus, the original matrices [A] and [b] are augmented with new matrices specifying the new bounding constraints Abounds and bbounds (as an expression of the “subject to” bounds) to define a new augmented system of matrix equations [A; Abounds][x]=[b, bbounds]. The augmented system of equations can be solved analogously to the original system, for example, using the known least squares procedure.
In accordance with the above described bounded feature of the present invention, additional, temporary constraints are added whenever color values violate real world phenomena. A re-solving of the augmented equations can be repeated, as necessary, starting with the original system ATAx′=ATt, each time (i.e. the temporary bounding constraints need not be carried over between iterations), and iteratively solving augmented systems A′TA′x′=A′Tt′ until the “subject to” bounds are satisfied.
In accordance with yet another feature of the present invention, an L1, L∞ objective function provides a regularization of the optimized solution by encoding a preference for a small number of material changes. In effect, the L1, L∞ solver includes the a priori belief that material maps should contain a small number of materials in a figure-of-merit. In the solver of the system, there is a distinction between the objective function, a formula that assigns a figure-of-merit to every possible solution, and the algorithm used to find a solution, an optimal value according to a given objective function. As the problem in our exemplary embodiment is stated as a minimization, minx′: Σi(AiTx′−ti)2, the value an objective function assigns can be characterized as a “cost.”
In our problem, let x′ be a matrix of a number of rows of tokens and a number of columns of color bands, where x″ denotes the cth column associated with the cth color band. The least squares objective function, in formula, is augmented, as follows:
minx′:ΣcΣi(AiTx′c−tci)2+γΣk|tkmaxc|AkTx′c|
where γ|γ>0 governs the trade-off between the cost associated with the least squares term and the L1, L∞ penalty. The expression Σk|tkmaxc|AkTx′c| accumulates the maximum per-channel absolute difference over all the same material constraints in [A].
For example, given a same material constraint between tokens a & b, the L1, L∞ function will only include a term for a color channel with the largest difference in between xca and xcb, over color channel c. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the optimization procedure, for example as expressed by the objective function minx′:ΣcΣi(AiTx′C−tci)2γΣk|tkmaxc|AkTx′c|, is a shrinkage technique. That is, a sequence of least squares problems is solved in a manner wherein, at each round, constraint targets determined to violate the same material constraint are shrunk. At the end of the sequence, constraints with a value below a given threshold are culled from the constraint system, and a new least squares solution is computed. It should be noted that bounds such as the “subject to” bounds discussed above, can be added to the objective function to provide a bounded L1, L∞ solver.
Likewise, a set of operators 1-M, generated by the Type C tokenization block 35 or the operators block 28, includes all operators defined in the constraint generator modules 1-N. As shown in
Upon completion of the construction of the system of equations [A], [x]=[b]i, for each of the selected constraint generators, i={1, 2, . . . N}, the constraint assembly 39 concatenates the constituent matrices [A]i, [b]i, from each constraint generator. Since each of the concatenated equations may contain a different subset of the unknowns, [x], the assembly is performed such that corresponding columns of individual matrices [A]i, that constrain particular unknowns in [x], are aligned. The concatenated matrices, [A] [x]=[b], are then input to the solver 30, for solution of the unknowns in the complete [x] vector, pursuant to the selected optimization procedure, for output of intrinsic images 34. The individual constraints within the concatenated matrices, [A] [x]=[b], can be weighted relative to one another as a function of factors such as perceived importance of the respective constraint, strength or empirically determined confidence level.
The above described example of a same illumination constraint utilizes Type C token and Type B token spatio-spectral operators. These token operators provide an excellent representation of images that include large surface areas of a single material, such as are often depicted in images including man-made objects. However, in many natural scenes there are often large areas of highly textured regions, such as sand, grass, stones, foliage, and so on. As noted above, identification of Type B tokens using Type C tokens, can be difficult in an image texture. According to a further feature of the present invention, a texton histogram operator provides a mechanism for capturing statistically uniform spatial variations of textured regions in a manner that is useful in a constraint based optimization, for example, as expressed by the [A] [x]=[b] matrix equation.
Thus, according to this feature of the present invention, rather than generating Type C tokens in textured regions of an image, from intensity histograms, for use in identifying Type B tokens, as described above, texture tokens are generated as a species of Type B tokens, for use in a constraint. In an exemplary embodiment of the texton histogram operator, the operators block 28 converts each pixel of the image (or pixels of those regions of an image identified as comprising a texture) from the recorded color band representation of the respective image file 18, such as, for example, RGB color band values, to a two band representation wherein the two bands comprise a texton label and a texton histogram label. The two band representations for the pixels are then used to identify texture tokens, as will appear.
A texton label for each pixel is generated through execution of a clustering process. A texture can be characterized by a texture primitive (for example, in a grass texture, a single blade of grass), and the spatial distribution of the primitive. A texton analysis is an analytical method for characterizing a texture primitive, for example via a clustering algorithm. Clustering is a process for locating centers of natural groups or clusters in data. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the data comprises pixel patches selected from among the pixels of an image being segregated into material and illumination components. For example, 3×3 pixel patches are clustered into K different groups, with each group being assigned a designating number (1, 2, 3, . . . K). The texton label for each pixel of the 3×3 array is the group number of the group to which the respective patch was assigned during the clustering process.
To expedite execution of a clustering algorithm, random samples of 3×3 patches can be selected throughout the image, or region of the image identified as comprising a texture, for processing in a clustering algorithm. After execution of the clustering algorithm by the CPU 12 (operating as the operators block 28), each 3×3 patch of the image is assigned the texton label of the closest one of the K group centers identified in the clustering process, as executed in respect of the selected random samples.
To advantage, prior to execution of a clustering algorithm, the pixels of the image are subject to an image intensity normalization. In a clustering process utilizing an intensity-based distance matrix, dark areas of an image may be placed in a single group, resulting in an under representation of groups for shadowed areas of a textured region of an image. A normalization of the image provides a more accurate texton representation for texture regions under varying illumination. A normalized intensity for a pixel can be expressed by:
i
norm(n,m)=log(i(n,m)/ib(n,m)),
where inorm(n,m) is the normalized intensity for a pixel p(n,m), i(n,m) is the intensity for the pixel p(n,m), as recorded in the image file 18, and ib(n,m) is a blurred or low passed filtered version of the pixel p(n,m). For example, a 10 pixel blur radius can be used in any standard blurring function.
Clustering can be executed according to any known clustering algorithm, such as, for example, K means clustering where there are K clusters or groups Si, i=1, 2, . . . K, and μi is the mean point or center point of all the data points xjεSi. In our example, each xj comprises a selected 3×3 pixel patch arranged as a 9×1 vector of the nine pixels in the patch (27 elements total, including the RGB values of each of the nine pixels of the vector). As noted above, each mean point μi is assigned a texton label, 1, 2, 3 . . . K, that becomes the texton label for any pixel of a 3×3 patch clustered into the group for which the respective mean point is the center.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the CPU 12 executes the algorithm by initially partitioning the selected 9×1 vectors, representing 3×3 pixel patches of the image, into K initial groups S. The CPU 12 then calculates a center point μi, for each group Si, utilizing an intensity-based distance matrix. After determining a center point μi, for each group Si the CPU 12 associates each 9×1 vector to the closest center point μi, changing groups if necessary. Then the CPU 12 recalculates the center points μi. The CPU 12 executes iterations of the steps of associating each 9×1 vector to the closest center point μ8, and recalculating the center points μi, until convergence. Convergence is when there is no need to change the group for any of the 9×1 vectors. At that point, the CPU 12 assigns the group number for the respective center point μi, as the texton label for the pixels of each vector in that group.
As noted above, pixels of 3×3 patches not selected as samples for clustering are assigned the texton label of the closest one of the K group centers μi, identified in the clustering process, as executed in respect of the selected random samples. A texton label map is stored by the service provider 24, and is coextensive with the pixel array of
Upon completion of the texton label assignment for pixels of the image, the CPU 12 operates to generate a texton histogram for each pixel to provide a representation of the spatial variation of texton representations within a textured region of the image. To that end, the CPU 12 accesses the texton label map. At each pixel location within the texton label map, a pixel patch of, for example, 21×21 pixels, is set up around the current location. The 21×21 patch size is far greater than the 3×3 patch sized used to generate the texton representations, so as to capture the spatial variations of the texture. A texton histogram is then generated for the pixel location at the center of the 21×21 patch, in a similar manner as the intensity histogram described above. However, rather than bins based upon color band values, in the texton histogram, there is a bin for each texton label value, 1, 2, 3 . . . K. The count for each bin corresponds to the number of pixels in the 21×21 patch having the texton label value for the respective bin.
When a texton histogram is generated for each pixel of the texton label map, the CPU 12 executes a second clustering step. In the second clustering step, the texton histograms are clustered using spectral clustering. Spectral clustering techniques use a spectrum of a similarity matrix of data of interest, (in our example, the texton histograms) to reduce the dimensionality for clustering in fewer dimensions. A similarity matrix for a given set of data points A can be defined as a matrix S where S1 represents a measure of the similarity between points i, jεA. In our example, eigenvectors of the Laplacian are clustered using a mean shift. The distance metric is a chi-squared distance of the histograms.
A texton histogram label (1, 2 . . . ) is assigned to each cluster group defined by the clustering procedure. For each pixel of the texton label map, the texton histogram label for the cluster group corresponding to a texton histogram that is nearest the texton histogram for the respective pixel, is assigned to that pixel. Distance is defined as the chi-squared histogram distance. Upon completion of the assignment of a texton histogram label to each pixel, each pixel is now represented by a two band, texton label, texton histogram label representation.
According to a feature of the present invention, the two band, texton label, texton histogram label representations for pixels of an image file 18 can be utilized in a constraint for construction of an [A]i[x]=[b]i constituent within the concatenated matrices, [A] [x]=[b]. For example, it can be assumed that a region of an image wherein contiguous pixels within the region all have the same two band, texton label, texton histogram label representation, comprises a region of the same mean material of a texture depicted in the image. Such a region can be referred to as a texture token, a species of a Type B token. Thus, a constraint can be imposed that all Type C tokens within the same texture token are of the same mean material. In this constraint, the Type C tokens are the Type C tokens generated from the color band values of the constituent pixels by the Type C tokenization block 35.
While the above exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described with a user selecting constraint generators and mathematical operations via a GUI, the image segregation processing can be done in other operating modes, such as automatically, with images, constraint generators and mathematical operations being automatically selected, for example, as a function of image parameters.
In the preceding specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments and examples thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner rather than a restrictive sense.
