Structural matching by discrete relaxation

This paper describes a Bayesian framework for performing relational graph matching by discrete relaxation. Our basic aim is to draw on this framework to provide a comparative evaluation of a number of contrasting approaches to relational matching. Broadly speaking there are two main aspects to this study. Firstly we locus on the issue of how relational inexactness may be quantified. We illustrate that several popular relational distance measures can be recovered as specific limiting cases of the Bayesian consistency measure. The second aspect of our comparison concerns the way in which structural inexactness is controlled. We investigate three different realizations ai the matching process which draw on contrasting control models. The main conclusion of our study is that the active process of graph-editing outperforms the alternatives in terms of its ability to effectively control a large population of contaminating clutter

A survey of visual preprocessing and shape representation techniques

Many recent theories and methods proposed for visual preprocessing and shape representation are summarized. The survey brings together research from the fields of biology, psychology, computer science, electrical engineering, and most recently, neural networks. It was motivated by the need to preprocess images for a sparse distributed memory (SDM), but the techniques presented may also prove useful for applying other associative memories to visual pattern recognition. The material of this survey is divided into three sections: an overview of biological visual processing; methods of preprocessing (extracting parts of shape, texture, motion, and depth); and shape representation and recognition (form invariance, primitives and structural descriptions, and theories of attention)

Computer vision

The field of computer vision is surveyed and assessed, key research issues are identified, and possibilities for a future vision system are discussed. The problems of descriptions of two and three dimensional worlds are discussed. The representation of such features as texture, edges, curves, and corners are detailed. Recognition methods are described in which cross correlation coefficients are maximized or numerical values for a set of features are measured. Object tracking is discussed in terms of the robust matching algorithms that must be devised. Stereo vision, camera control and calibration, and the hardware and systems architecture are discussed

Automatic visual recognition using parallel machines

Invariant features and quick matching algorithms are two major concerns in the area of automatic visual recognition. The former reduces the size of an established model database, and the latter shortens the computation time. This dissertation, will discussed both line invariants under perspective projection and parallel implementation of a dynamic programming technique for shape recognition. The feasibility of using parallel machines can be demonstrated through the dramatically reduced time complexity. In this dissertation, our algorithms are implemented on the AP1000 MIMD parallel machines. For processing an object with a features, the time complexity of the proposed parallel algorithm is O(n), while that of a uniprocessor is O(n2). The two applications, one for shape matching and the other for chain-code extraction, are used in order to demonstrate the usefulness of our methods. Invariants from four general lines under perspective projection are also discussed in here. In contrast to the approach which uses the epipolar geometry, we investigate the invariants under isotropy subgroups. Theoretically speaking, two independent invariants can be found for four general lines in 3D space. In practice, we show how to obtain these two invariants from the projective images of four general lines without the need of camera calibration. A projective invariant recognition system based on a hypothesis-generation-testing scheme is run on the hypercube parallel architecture. Object recognition is achieved by matching the scene projective invariants to the model projective invariants, called transfer. Then a hypothesis-generation-testing scheme is implemented on the hypercube parallel architecture

A stereo vision technique based on the multi-positioned camera criterion

A modified feature based stereo vision [sic] technique is described in this thesis. The technique uses the curve-segments as the feature primitives in the matching process. The local characteristics of the curve-segments are extracted by the, Generalized Hough Transform. A set of images of a scene, which are taken by a multi-positioned camera satisfying the parallelism criterion, are first filtered by the Laplacian of a Gaussian operator in different widths, i.e. coarse to fine channels. At each channel, the Generalized Hough Transform is applied to the curve-segments in each image. The curve position, the curve-length, the curve centroid, the average gradient of the curve-segment and the R-table are, used as the local features in representing the distinctive characteristics of the curve-segment. These features of all the curve-segments, in an image are used as the constraints to find the corresponding curve-segments in the different images. The epipolar constraint oil the centroid of the curve-segment is used to limit the search window ill the images. Since the multi-images of one view are used, there exist more information about the scene than the two relational images criterion. Its performance compares to the other matching techniques, for example, the point, matching or twin image matching that the mismatching and the calculation are greatly reduced. Although the algorithm is not feasible for the realization of the real-time implementation of stereo vision [sic], it is a more economic way of finding the depth of all object or a view

Robust Cooperative Strategy for Contour Matching Using Epipolar Geometry

Feature matching in images plays an important role in computer vision such as for 3D reconstruction, motion analysis, object recognition, target tracking and dynamic scene analysis. In this paper, we present a robust cooperative strategy to establish the correspondence of the contours between two uncalibrated images based on the recovered epipolar geometry. We take into account two representations of contours in image as contour points and contour chains. The method proposed in the paper is composed of the following two consecutive steps: (1) The first step uses the LMedS method to estimate the fundamental matrix based on Hartley’s 8-point algorithm, (2) The second step uses a new robust cooperative strategy to match contours. The presented approach has been tested with various real images and experimental results show that our method can produce more accurate contour correspondences.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Vergence control system for stereo depth recovery

This paper describes a vergence control algorithm for a 3D stereo recovery system. This work has been developed within framework of the project ROBTET. This project has the purpose of designing a Teleoperated Robotic System for live power lines maintenance. The tasks involved suppose the automatic calculation of path for standard tasks, collision detection to avoid electrical shocks, force feedback and accurate visual data, and the generation of collision free real paths. To accomplish these tasks the system needs an exact model of the environment that is acquired through an active stereoscopic head. A cooperative algorithm using vergence and stereo correlation is shown. The proposed system is carried out through an algorithm based on the phase correlation, trying to keep the vergence on the interest object. The sharp vergence changes produced by the variation of the interest objects are controlled through an estimation of the depth distance generated by a stereo correspondence system. In some elements of the scene, those aligned with the epipolar plane, large errors in the depth estimation as well as in the phase correlation, are produced. To minimize these errors a laser lighting system is used to help fixation, assuring an adequate vergence and depth extraction .The work presented in this paper has been supported by electric utility IBERDROLA, S.A. under project PIE No. 132.198

On Computer Stereo Vision with Wire Frame Models

Coordinated Science Laboratory changed its name from Control Systems LaboratoryShould have been numbered UILU-ENG 77-2252, and that number may have been distributed on some copies.Joint Services Electronics Program / DAAB-07-72-C-0259Ope

Contribution towards a fast stereo dense matching.

Stereo matching is important in the area of computer vision as it is the basis of the reconstruction process. Many applications require 3D reconstruction such as view synthesis, robotics... The main task of matching uncalibrated images is to determine the corresponding pixels and other features where the motion between these images and the camera parameters is unknown. Although some methods have been carried out over the past two decades on the matching problem, most of these methods are not practical and difficult to implement. Our approach considers a reliable image edge features in order to develop a fast and practical method. Therefore, we propose a fast stereo matching algorithm combining two different approaches for matching as the image is segmented into two sets of regions: edge regions and non-edge regions. We have used an algebraic method that preserves disparity continuity at the object continuous surfaces. Our results demonstrate that we gain a speed dense matching while the implementation is kept simple and straightforward.Dept. of Computer Science. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .Z42. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, page: 1420. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005