Patent ID: 8660367

Claim:
A method of generating an alignment measure, comprising: generating a plurality of sets of matcher-specific feature values of at least one template image and an image to be searched at a first alignment shift, wherein each of said plurality of sets of matcher-specific feature values is a plurality of feature value measurements generated by template matching said image to be searched and a corresponding of said at least one template image at a first alignment shift using one of a plurality of template matchers, and wherein each of said plurality of sets of matcher-specific feature values is generated using a different of said plurality of template matchers than each other template matcher of said plurality of template matchers used to generate each of the other of said plurality of sets of matcher-specific feature values; generating a plurality of sets of feature membership indicators at said first alignment shift by normalizing all of said plurality of sets of matcher-specific feature values at said first alignment shift; generating a plurality of weighted feature membership indicators at said first alignment shift by weighting each feature membership indicator of said plurality of sets of feature membership indicators a weighting amount corresponding to how well a feature value measurement normalized to generate its corresponding feature membership indicator characterizes its data; and generating a normalized accumulated feature membership indicator at said first alignment shift by summing each of said plurality of weighted feature membership indicators across template matcher and template coordinate and dividing by a sum of each of said plurality of weighted feature membership indicators' weighting amount; wherein the method is performed using an electronic processor.