Patent ID: 8422744

Claim:
A computer based method for determining a characteristic of a material, comprising: accepting as input to a specially programmed portable computer, and using a processor for the specially programmed portable computer, image data, for a surface of a material, wherein the image data is accepted from a device including a light source and a magnifying element and wherein the image data includes a plurality of pixels; creating, using the processor, a binary image from the image data such that each pixel in the plurality of pixels has one of two possible values; segmenting, using the processor, the binary image such that an object occupying an area of the surface is located in the binary image and boundaries surrounding the object are located in the binary image; and, generating, using the processor and the segmented binary image: one or more parameters regarding features of the material selected from the group consisting of size, shape, packing, orientation in space, and porosity; or, at least one statistical parameter regarding at least one feature in the image data, wherein: creating the binary image includes performing, using the processor, discriminant function analysis (DFA) on the image data by: defining a mathematical function with a dependent variable and at least one independent variable; and, predicting, for each pixel in the plurality of pixels, the dependent variable as related to said each pixel by the at least one independent variable and, performing DFA includes: selecting, using the processor, first and second features from the features for the material; generating, using the processor, a linear equation that separates first pixels from the plurality of pixels associated with the first feature from second pixels from the plurality of pixels associated with the second feature; assigning, using the processor and the linear equation, a respective discriminant score for said each pixel; and, assigning, using the processor, said each pixel to one of a first or second discriminant category related to the first or second feature, respectively, according to the respective discriminant score and a first discriminant threshold, with a first value, defining a first boundary between the first and second discriminant categories.