Adaptive Methods for Robust Document Image Understanding

A vast amount of digital document material is continuously being produced as part of major digitization efforts around the world. In this context, generic and efficient automatic solutions for document image understanding represent a stringent necessity. We propose a generic framework for document image understanding systems, usable for practically any document types available in digital form. Following the introduced workflow, we shift our attention to each of the following processing stages in turn: quality assurance, image enhancement, color reduction and binarization, skew and orientation detection, page segmentation and logical layout analysis. We review the state of the art in each area, identify current defficiencies, point out promising directions and give specific guidelines for future investigation. We address some of the identified issues by means of novel algorithmic solutions putting special focus on generality, computational efficiency and the exploitation of all available sources of information. More specifically, we introduce the following original methods: a fully automatic detection of color reference targets in digitized material, accurate foreground extraction from color historical documents, font enhancement for hot metal typesetted prints, a theoretically optimal solution for the document binarization problem from both computational complexity- and threshold selection point of view, a layout-independent skew and orientation detection, a robust and versatile page segmentation method, a semi-automatic front page detection algorithm and a complete framework for article segmentation in periodical publications. The proposed methods are experimentally evaluated on large datasets consisting of real-life heterogeneous document scans. The obtained results show that a document understanding system combining these modules is able to robustly process a wide variety of documents with good overall accuracy

Visual attention and swarm cognition for off-road robots

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Engenharia Informática), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2011Esta tese aborda o problema da modelação de atenção visual no contexto de robôs autónomos todo-o-terreno. O objectivo de utilizar mecanismos de atenção visual é o de focar a percepção nos aspectos do ambiente mais relevantes à tarefa do robô. Esta tese mostra que, na detecção de obstáculos e de trilhos, esta capacidade promove robustez e parcimónia computacional. Estas são características chave para a rapidez e eficiência dos robôs todo-o-terreno. Um dos maiores desafios na modelação de atenção visual advém da necessidade de gerir o compromisso velocidade-precisão na presença de variações de contexto ou de tarefa. Esta tese mostra que este compromisso é resolvido se o processo de atenção visual for modelado como um processo auto-organizado, cuja operação é modulada pelo módulo de selecção de acção, responsável pelo controlo do robô. Ao fechar a malha entre o processo de selecção de acção e o de percepção, o último é capaz de operar apenas onde é necessário, antecipando as acções do robô. Para fornecer atenção visual com propriedades auto-organizadas, este trabalho obtém inspiração da Natureza. Concretamente, os mecanismos responsáveis pela capacidade que as formigas guerreiras têm de procurar alimento de forma auto-organizada, são usados como metáfora na resolução da tarefa de procurar, também de forma auto-organizada, obstáculos e trilhos no campo visual do robô. A solução proposta nesta tese é a de colocar vários focos de atenção encoberta a operar como um enxame, através de interacções baseadas em feromona. Este trabalho representa a primeira realização corporizada de cognição de enxame. Este é um novo campo de investigação que procura descobrir os princípios básicos da cognição, inspeccionando as propriedades auto-organizadas da inteligência colectiva exibida pelos insectos sociais. Logo, esta tese contribui para a robótica como disciplina de engenharia e para a robótica como disciplina de modelação, capaz de suportar o estudo do comportamento adaptável.Esta tese aborda o problema da modelação de atenção visual no contexto de robôs autónomos todo-o-terreno. O objectivo de utilizar mecanismos de atenção visual é o de focar a percepção nos aspectos do ambiente mais relevantes à tarefa do robô. Esta tese mostra que, na detecção de obstáculos e de trilhos, esta capacidade promove robustez e parcimónia computacional. Estas são características chave para a rapidez e eficiência dos robôs todo-o-terreno. Um dos maiores desafios na modelação de atenção visual advém da necessidade de gerir o compromisso velocidade-precisão na presença de variações de contexto ou de tarefa. Esta tese mostra que este compromisso é resolvido se o processo de atenção visual for modelado como um processo auto-organizado, cuja operação é modulada pelo módulo de selecção de acção, responsável pelo controlo do robô. Ao fechar a malha entre o processo de selecção de acção e o de percepção, o último é capaz de operar apenas onde é necessário, antecipando as acções do robô. Para fornecer atenção visual com propriedades auto-organizadas, este trabalho obtém inspi- ração da Natureza. Concretamente, os mecanismos responsáveis pela capacidade que as formi- gas guerreiras têm de procurar alimento de forma auto-organizada, são usados como metáfora na resolução da tarefa de procurar, também de forma auto-organizada, obstáculos e trilhos no campo visual do robô. A solução proposta nesta tese é a de colocar vários focos de atenção encoberta a operar como um enxame, através de interacções baseadas em feromona. Este trabalho representa a primeira realização corporizada de cognição de enxame. Este é um novo campo de investigação que procura descobrir os princípios básicos da cognição, ins- peccionando as propriedades auto-organizadas da inteligência colectiva exibida pelos insectos sociais. Logo, esta tese contribui para a robótica como disciplina de engenharia e para a robótica como disciplina de modelação, capaz de suportar o estudo do comportamento adaptável.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT,SFRH/BD/27305/2006); Laboratory of Agent Modelling (LabMag

Size and Shape Determination of Riprap and Large-sized Aggregates Using Field Imaging

Riprap rock and large-sized aggregates are extensively used in transportation, geotechnical, and hydraulic engineering applications. Traditional methods for assessing riprap categories based on particle weight may involve subjective visual inspection and time-consuming manual measurements. Aggregate imaging and segmentation techniques can efficiently characterize riprap particles for their size and morphological/shape properties to estimate particle weights. Particle size and morphological/shape characterization ensure the reliable and sustainable use of all aggregate skeleton materials at quarry production lines and construction sites. Aggregate imaging systems developed to date for size and shape characterization, however, have primarily focused on measurement of separated or non-overlapping aggregate particles. This research study presents an innovative approach for automated segmentation and morphological analyses of stockpile aggregate images based on deep-learning techniques. As a project outcome, a portable, deployable, and affordable field-imaging system is envisioned to estimate volumes of individual riprap rocks for field evaluation. A state-of-the-art object detection and segmentation framework is used to train an image-segmentation kernel from manually labeled 2D riprap images in order to facilitate automatic and user-independent segmentation of stockpile aggregate images. The segmentation results show good agreement with ground-truth validation, which entailed comparing the manual labeling to the automatically segmented images. A significant improvement to the efficiency of size and morphological analyses conducted on densely stacked and overlapping particle images is achieved. The algorithms are integrated into a software application with a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) for ease of operation. Based on the findings of this study, this stockpile aggregate image analysis program promises to become an efficient and innovative application for field-scale and in-place evaluations of aggregate materials. The innovative imaging-based system is envisioned to provide convenient, reliable, and sustainable solutions for the on-site quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) tasks related to riprap rock and large-sized aggregate material characterization and classification.IDOT-R27-182Ope

Scene Segmentation and Object Classification for Place Recognition

This dissertation tries to solve the place recognition and loop closing problem in a way similar to human visual system. First, a novel image segmentation algorithm is developed. The image segmentation algorithm is based on a Perceptual Organization model, which allows the image segmentation algorithm to ‘perceive’ the special structural relations among the constituent parts of an unknown object and hence to group them together without object-specific knowledge. Then a new object recognition method is developed. Based on the fairly accurate segmentations generated by the image segmentation algorithm, an informative object description that includes not only the appearance (colors and textures), but also the parts layout and shape information is built. Then a novel feature selection algorithm is developed. The feature selection method can select a subset of features that best describes the characteristics of an object class. Classifiers trained with the selected features can classify objects with high accuracy. In next step, a subset of the salient objects in a scene is selected as landmark objects to label the place. The landmark objects are highly distinctive and widely visible. Each landmark object is represented by a list of SIFT descriptors extracted from the object surface. This object representation allows us to reliably recognize an object under certain viewpoint changes. To achieve efficient scene-matching, an indexing structure is developed. Both texture feature and color feature of objects are used as indexing features. The texture feature and the color feature are viewpoint-invariant and hence can be used to effectively find the candidate objects with similar surface characteristics to a query object. Experimental results show that the object-based place recognition and loop detection method can efficiently recognize a place in a large complex outdoor environment

Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies

Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task

Cognitive architecture for an Attention-based and Bidirectional Loop-closing Domain (CABILDO)

This Ph. D. Thesis presents a novel attention-based cognitive architecture for social robots. The architecture aims to join perception and reasoning considering a double and simultaneous imbrication: the ongoing task biases the perceptual process to obtain only useful elements whereas perceived items determine the behaviours to be accomplished. Therefore, the proposed architecture represents a bidirectional solution to the perception-reasoning-action loop closing problem. The basis of the architecture is an Object-Based Visual Attention model. This perception system draws attention over perceptual units of visual information, called proto-objects. In order to highlight relevant elements, not only several intrinsic basic features (such as colour, location or shape) but also the constraints provided by the ongoing behaviour and context are considered. The proposed architecture is divided into two levels of performance. The lower level is concerned with quantitative models of execution, namely tasks that are suitable for the current work conditions, whereas a qualitative framework that describes and defines tasks relationships and coverages is placed at the top level. Perceived items determine the tasks that can be executed in each moment, following a need-based approach. Thereby, the tasks that better fit the perceived environment are more likely to be executed. Finally, the cognitive architecture has been tested using a real and unrestricted scenario that involves a real robot, time-varying tasks and daily life situations, in order to demonstrate that the proposal is able to efficiently address time- and behaviour-varying environments, overcoming the main drawbacks of already existing models

Semantic multimedia analysis using knowledge and context

PhDThe difficulty of semantic multimedia analysis can be attributed to the extended diversity in form and appearance exhibited by the majority of semantic concepts and the difficulty to express them using a finite number of patterns. In meeting this challenge there has been a scientific debate on whether the problem should be addressed from the perspective of using overwhelming amounts of training data to capture all possible instantiations of a concept, or from the perspective of using explicit knowledge about the concepts’ relations to infer their presence. In this thesis we address three problems of pattern recognition and propose solutions that combine the knowledge extracted implicitly from training data with the knowledge provided explicitly in structured form. First, we propose a BNs modeling approach that defines a conceptual space where both domain related evi- dence and evidence derived from content analysis can be jointly considered to support or disprove a hypothesis. The use of this space leads to sig- nificant gains in performance compared to analysis methods that can not handle combined knowledge. Then, we present an unsupervised method that exploits the collective nature of social media to automatically obtain large amounts of annotated image regions. By proving that the quality of the obtained samples can be almost as good as manually annotated images when working with large datasets, we significantly contribute towards scal- able object detection. Finally, we introduce a method that treats images, visual features and tags as the three observable variables of an aspect model and extracts a set of latent topics that incorporates the semantics of both visual and tag information space. By showing that the cross-modal depen- dencies of tagged images can be exploited to increase the semantic capacity of the resulting space, we advocate the use of all existing information facets in the semantic analysis of social media

Character Recognition

Character recognition is one of the pattern recognition technologies that are most widely used in practical applications. This book presents recent advances that are relevant to character recognition, from technical topics such as image processing, feature extraction or classification, to new applications including human-computer interfaces. The goal of this book is to provide a reference source for academic research and for professionals working in the character recognition field

Contributions to the content-based image retrieval using pictorial queries

Descripció del recurs: el 02 de novembre de 2010L'accés massiu a les càmeres digitals, els ordinadors personals i a Internet, ha propiciat la creació de grans volums de dades en format digital. En aquest context, cada vegada adquireixen major rellevància totes aquelles eines dissenyades per organitzar la informació i facilitar la seva cerca. Les imatges són un cas particular de dades que requereixen tècniques específiques de descripció i indexació. L'àrea de la visió per computador encarregada de l'estudi d'aquestes tècniques rep el nom de Recuperació d'Imatges per Contingut, en anglès Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). Els sistemes de CBIR no utilitzen descripcions basades en text sinó que es basen en característiques extretes de les pròpies imatges. En contrast a les més de 6000 llengües parlades en el món, les descripcions basades en característiques visuals representen una via d'expressió universal. La intensa recerca en el camp dels sistemes de CBIR s'ha aplicat en àrees de coneixement molt diverses. Així doncs s'han desenvolupat aplicacions de CBIR relacionades amb la medicina, la protecció de la propietat intel·lectual, el periodisme, el disseny gràfic, la cerca d'informació en Internet, la preservació dels patrimoni cultural, etc. Un dels punts importants d'una aplicació de CBIR resideix en el disseny de les funcions de l'usuari. L'usuari és l'encarregat de formular les consultes a partir de les quals es fa la cerca de les imatges. Nosaltres hem centrat l'atenció en aquells sistemes en què la consulta es formula a partir d'una representació pictòrica. Hem plantejat una taxonomia dels sistemes de consulta en composada per quatre paradigmes diferents: Consulta-segons-Selecció, Consulta-segons-Composició-Icònica, Consulta-segons-Esboç i Consulta-segons-Il·lustració. Cada paradigma incorpora un nivell diferent en el potencial expressiu de l'usuari. Des de la simple selecció d'una imatge, fins a la creació d'una il·lustració en color, l'usuari és qui pren el control de les dades d'entrada del sistema. Al llarg dels capítols d'aquesta tesi hem analitzat la influència que cada paradigma de consulta exerceix en els processos interns d'un sistema de CBIR. D'aquesta manera també hem proposat un conjunt de contribucions que hem exemplificat des d'un punt de vista pràctic mitjançant una aplicació final