Patent ID: 7379587
Filing Date: 2008-05-27
Classification: G06K,G06T

Abstract:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a first comparator that compares an edge continuity value of a current pixel of each line of pixels to edge continuity values of pixels within a first neighborhood of the current pixel, wherein the first neighborhood comprises at least 3 adjacent pixels to generate compare results; a blob identifier; and an assigner that assigns a blob identification of a blob to the current pixel based on the compare results to associate the current pixel with the blob; wherein the blob identifier includes a top-to-bottom module for analyzing each pixel in turn in raster scan order; a gradient parameter generator that generates a gradient parameter value for the current pixel based on luminance and chroma values of a second neighborhood of the current pixel; a quantizer that quantizes the gradient parameter value to set an edge continuity value of the pixel; the gradient parameter generator is a grayscale selector generator that includes a second comparator that compares luminance values of pixels within the second neighborhood of the current pixel to output a maximum luminance value and a minimum luminance value of the second neighborhood, the second comparator further outputs first chroma values and second chroma values that correspond to a location of the respective maximum luminance and minimum luminance values, wherein a dependent maximum value is a combination of the first chroma values and the maximum luminance value, and a dependent minimum value is a combination of the second chroma values and the minimum luminance value; the grayscale selector generator generating a grayscale selector value based on the dependent maximum value and the dependent minimum value; and the quantizer quantizing the grayscale selector value by comparing the grayscale selector value with one or more threshold values and assigning the grayscale selector value to a finite set of values.