Patent ID: 8358855

Claim:
A method of recognizing particular objects of interest in a captured image, the method comprising the steps of: detecting one or more salient features within a captured image, wherein a salient feature is a feature in the captured image that is correlative to an object of interest; segmenting the captured image into one or more regions of interest, each region of interest including a detected salient feature; generating a covariance appearance model for each of the one or more regions of interest; conducting first comparisons, each first comparison comprising comparing each of the generated covariance appearance models to a plurality of stored covariance appearance models to determine which of the one or more regions of interest at least potentially include a known object of interest; conducting second comparisons, each second comparison comprising comparing each of the generated covariance appearance models to each of the other generated covariance appearance models; determining a first probability that each of the one or more detected salient features is a particular object of interest, the first probability determined from the detection of the one or more salient features within the captured image; determining a second probability that each of the one or more detected salient features is a particular object of interest, the second probability determined from the first comparisons and the second comparisons; and determining, based on the first probability and the second probability, whether each of the one or more detected salient features is a particular object of interest.