Patent ID: 6094509
Filing Date: 2000-07-25
Classification: G06K,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of finding collinear elements in a graphic image comprising an array of said elements, regardless of the pattern of gray scale intensities of said collinear elements, comprising the steps of:developing a sampling template for plotting data acquisition locations in said image, said template having two sequences of data acquisition points, each sequence spaced along one of two parallel lines spaced apart by a distance shorter than a width of each of said elements measured perpendicular to the parallel lines, the sequences together defining pairs of points having a first point positioned on one of the parallel lines across from a second point of said pair on the other parallel line;positioning said template on said image data;acquiring gray scale intensities at said data acquisition locations indicated by said template;comparing gray scale intensities corresponding to the first points of said pairs to gray scale intensities corresponding to respective second points of said pairs to determine a correlation factor between said sequences of said first points and said second points, representing a measure of the pair-by-pair difference in gray scale value between the two sequences of points;moving said sampling template into varying orientations with respect to said image and determining said correlation factor for each position of said template; andidentifying one or more sets of collinear elements in said image by finding one or more template positions associated with characteristic values of said correlation factor.