Patent ID: 8693731

Claim:
An image capture and analysis system for identifying objects of interest in a digitally represented image scene, the system comprising: at least one camera oriented toward a field of view; at least one light source disposed on a same side of the field of view as the camera and oriented to illuminate the field of view; and an image analyzer coupled to the camera and the at least one light source configured to: operate the at least one camera to capture a sequence of images including a first image captured at a time when the at least one light source is illuminating the field of view; identify pixels corresponding to the object rather than to a background; and based on the identified pixels, construct a 3D model of the object, including a position and shape of the object, to geometrically determine whether it corresponds to the object of interest, wherein the image analyzer distinguishes between (i) foreground image components corresponding to objects located within a proximal zone of the field of view, the proximal zone extending from the at least one camera and having a depth relative thereto of at least twice an expected maximum distance between the objects corresponding to the foreground image components and the at least one camera, and (ii) background image components corresponding to objects located within a distal zone of the field of view, the distal zone being located, relative to the at least one camera, beyond the proximal zone.