Patent ID: 6853751

Claim:
A method for locating and characterizing a generally rectangular-shaped object in an image by creating an abstract rectangular model of the generally-rectangular shaped object, the method comprising: receiving an image; identifying boundary data objects in the image, each boundary data object representing a single point in the image having a quantified location and orientation; selecting, using the boundary data objects, a primary angle that describes a potential orientation of an abstract rectangular model of the generally rectangular shaped object in the image, the abstract rectangular model having four sides; finding a first set of lines defined by groups of boundary data objects that lie generally along the direction of the primary angle; finding a second set of lines defined by groups of boundary data objects that lie generally along a direction orthogonal to the primary angle; and locating pairs of lines from the first set of lines, and pairs of lines from the second set of lines, that together form the four sides of the abstract model of the generally rectangular shaped object in the image.