Patent ID: 6473524
Filing Date: 2002-10-29
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
An optical object recognition method applying a post-processing method to blobs parsed within a region of interest in an array of data and remaining after an initial pass of a recognition routine, the method including the steps of:(a). dividing the region of interest into unknown regions by: (i). locating and defining a first end point of a dimension of each unknown region as a beginning of an unrecognized blob including a portion of the array of data from the region of interest analyzed by an optical object recognition routine that yielded no recognized objects; (ii). locating and defining a second end point of the dimension of each respective unknown region as a point at which unrecognized data stops; and (iii). defining each unknown region as extending between respective first and second end points; (b). analyzing each unknown region with a modified optical object recognition method by: (i). placing an analysis window over a portion of the unknown region; (ii). performing a correlation between a contents of the analysis window and a reference set of objects to determine whether the analysis window contains a recognizable object; (iii). removing the contents of the analysis window from the unknown region if the analysis window contains a recognizable object and recording a recognized object; (iv). moving the analysis window over a new portion of the unknown region if a remaining portion of the unknown region is larger than a predetermined size; and (v). repeating steps (ii)-(iv) until the remaining portion of the unknown region is smaller than the predetermined size; and (c). repeating steps (a) and (b) until all unknown regions have been analyzed.