Patent ID: 7099510

Claim:
A method for detecting certain objects in an image, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: placing a working window at different positions in an input image such that the input image is divided into a plurality of same dimension subwindows; providing a cascade of homogeneous classifiers each represented by a respective homogenous classification function covering a plurality of features, each of the homogenous classification functions in sequence in the cascade respectively having increasing accuracy in identifying features associated with the certain objects such that one classifier identifies the plural features at one level of accuracy and a subsequent classifier in the cascade sequence identifies the same plural features at an increased level of accuracy with respect to the one classifier; and for each subwindow, employing the cascade of homogenous classification functions to quickly detect instances of the certain objects in the image in a manner enabling real-time application, said employing including discarding subwindows that insufficiently show features of the certain objects and continuing to process through the cascade only subwindows having sufficient features that indicate a likelihood of an instance of the certain objects in the subwindows.