Patent ID: 6272240
Filing Date: 2001-08-07
Classification: G06K,H04N

Abstract:
An apparatus that classifies image data within each of a plurality of windows of the image data, comprising:an input device that receives the image data;an evaluation device that determines a video average within each window of the image data and outputs at least a signal corresponding to the video average for each window, wherein each window includes a plurality of subwindows, comprising:an image value device that determines an image value for each pixel in each windowa summation device that determines a summation of image values within each of the subwindows of each window,a counting device that counts a total number of pixels in each subwindow,an average image value device that determines an average image value in each subwindow based on the summation of the image values and the total number of pixels for that subwindow,a maximum average image value device that finds, for each window, a maximum average image value of all the subwindows of that window, anda minimum average image value device the finds, for each window, a minimum average image value of all the subwindows of that window,a local roughness device that determines, for each window, a local roughness of the input image data based on a difference between an absolute value of the maximum average image value and an absolute value of the minimum image average value for that window;a peak/valley counter device that counts one of peaks and valleys within the window of the input image data; anda processor that receives the signal output from the evaluation device for each window and limits peak detection by the peak valley counter device to those windows within the image data where the video average of the window is below a first threshold; anda data device that classifies the input image data, for each window, based on the count of the peak/valley counter device and the local roughness of the local roughness device for that window, the data device outputting a classification signal for that window.