Patent ID: 7453456

Claim:
A method for identifying a silhouette contour of an object that is depicted within an a first image, the first image comprised of a plurality of pixels with each pixel containing a light intensity value that describes either the object or a background, the silhouette contour of the object comprised of a group of pixels which describe one contour of the object's shape, the method comprising the steps of: a. identifying within the first image a set of pixels which describe the object by comparing the light intensity value of the pixels of the first image against the light intensity values of a second image, separate from the first image, which depicts the background but not the object; b. locating one pixel which does not describe the object; c. moving sequentially through the light intensity values of the pixels of the first image to locate a first pixel which describes the object, that pixel being a first pixel in a cluster of pixels which describe the object; and d. identifying from the point of said first pixel those other pixels of the cluster which lie on the perimeter of the cluster.