Patent Document ID: 6097840
Application ID: 08705853
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A profile extracting method for identifying a shape of an object in a two-dimensional image, comprising the steps of: extracting an image of notice from the two-dimensional image in an interactive procedure including manual indication of the image of notice, the image of notice including at least a portion of a profile of the object; and identifying, based on a selected line kind and the image of notice, an image division line that matches the profile, the selected line kind being defined by a predetermined function, the predetermined function including one or more parameters and the image division line is defined by the predetermined function in conjunction with parameter values respectively specified for each of the one or more parameters, the image division line identifying step including: setting a first provisional line by selecting a first value for a setting parameter included in the one or more parameters; setting a second provisional line by selecting a second value for the setting parameter; calculating an index of qualification for the image division line in accordance with the image data of notice and the selected line kind, including calculating a first index of qualification value for the first provisional line and a second index of qualification value for the second provisional line; and determining that the image division line substantially matches the profile when the index of qualification satisfies a predetermined condition, including comparing the first index of qualification value and the second index of qualification value, the predetermined condition including the condition that the index of qualification for the line is as close to an optimum value as the index of qualification for any other line of the selected line kind.