Patent ID: 7016531
Filing Date: 2006-03-21
Classification: G06K,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of extracting regions of homogenous color in a digital picture comprising the steps of: dividing the digital picture into blocks wherein each block comprises a plurality of pixels; and merging together spatially adjacent blocks that have similar color properties to extract the regions of homogenous color, wherein the merging step comprises the additional steps of: extracting a feature vector for each block; estimate a scalar gradient value for each block as a function of the feature vector, the set of gradient values defining a color gradient field; digitizing the color gradient field; preprocessing the digitized color gradient field to produce a smoothed color gradient field; and segmenting the smoothed color gradient field with a watershed algorithm that divides the smoothed color gradient field into a set of spatially connected regions of homogenous color; wherein