Patent ID: 7006694

Claim:
A method for locating a pattern, comprising: providing a pattern image corresponding to the pattern to be located; extracting at least one pattern contour from the pattern image; wherein the step of extracting at least one pattern contour from a pattern image comprises: extracting at least one pattern contour from the pattern image; identifying undetected edge points; and modifying the at least one pattern contour to add any undetected edge points; generating vector information for each of said at least one pattern contours, relative to a reference point; creating at least one reference table for storing the vector information, each of said at least one reference tables corresponding to said at least one pattern contour; providing a scene image, which will be searched for the pattern; extracting at least one scene contour from the scene image; generating vector information for each of said at least one scene contours; and determining whether the pattern has been located within the scene image using the at least one reference tables and the vector information for the at least one scene contours, and if so, identifying a location of the pattern within the scene image and an angle of rotation of the pattern within the scene image.