Patent ID: 6128417
Filing Date: 2000-10-03
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
An image partitioning process comprising the steps of:a) processing an input digital image to obtain an initial seed partition, andb) modeling said partition with a piecewise-polynomial surface of order one, two, or three, andc) transforming said partition by repeating until at least one transformation is performed the steps of:i) determining a proposed partition transformation to be applied to said initial seed partition, andii) obtaining one or more initial moment vectors for the domains affected by the proposed transformation, andiii) performing one or more moment alteration operations on at least one said initial moment vector to form at least one altered moment vector, andiv) arranging the moments comprising each said altered moment vector into a symmetric matrix A and vector b, such that the lowest order natural moments comprise the first row and column of A without replication, the natural moments whose subscripts correspond to the multiplication of the heads of each intersecting row and column comprise the rows and columns of A subsequent to the first, and the forcing moments comprise the elements of b, andv) solving each said system of equations represented by said matrices A and vectors b to yield an altered coefficient vector, andvi) using each altered coefficient vector together with an initial or altered moment vector, performing a forced, natural, or general error computation to yield one or more altered error measurements, andvii) obtaining initial error measurements for the domains affected by the proposed transformation, andviii) using said initial error measurements and said altered error measurements determining the error change produced by the proposed transformation, andix) using said error change determining whether the transformation should be performed, andx) performing said transformation if so determined, andd) generating a representation of said transformed partition suitable for subsequent image processing.