Patent ID: 7085416

Claim:
A process for determining at least one candidate spectral endmember within an image composed of multiple pixels of spectral data comprising: unmixing the spectral data within each of the multiple pixels into matched spectral data and unmatched spectral data, the matched spectral data being determined based on spectral data that matches at least a first criteria determined by a first criteria threshold; defining a metric value range, wherein the unmatched spectral data having first metric values within the metric value range are defined as candidate spectra; ordering the candidate spectra from highest first metric value to lowest first metric value; comparing each of the candidate spectra, beginning with the candidate spectra having the highest first metric value, to the unmatched spectral data, to determine the frequency with which each of the candidate spectra occurs within the unmatched spectral data; and calculating a second metric value for each of the candidate spectra, wherein the second metric value combines the frequency of occurrence of each of the candidate spectra within the unmatched spectral data with a first metric value for each of the candidate spectra, wherein the candidate spectra having the largest second metric value is the at least one candidate endmember.