Patent Document ID: 6094507
Application ID: 09039940
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A figure location detecting method which detects a location of a first figure within a second figure in order to compare characteristic points of the first figure with characteristic points of the second figure, said figure location detecting method comprising the steps of: sequentially designating one of the characteristic points of the first figure as a first characteristic point while sequentially designating one of the characteristic points of the second figure as a second characteristic point, so that pairs of the first and second characteristic points are sequentially provided; calculating an amount of relative characteristics for each of proximity characteristic points which exist in proximity to the first characteristic point on the basis of a relationship between the first characteristic point and each of the proximity characteristic points, while calculating an amount of relative characteristics for each of proximity characteristic points which exist in proximity to the second characteristic point on the basis of a relationship between the second characteristic point and each of the proximity characteristic points; making a decision as to whether the amount of relative characteristics calculated for each of the proximity characteristic points of the first characteristic point meets an allowable error range based on the amount of relative characteristics calculated for each of the proximity characteristic points of the second characteristic point; sequentially detecting pairs of the first and second characteristic points each having the proximity characteristic points, amounts of relative characteristics of which meet the allowable error range and a number of which is greater than a threshold number, so that the detected pairs of the first and second characteristic points are used as matching characteristic point pair candidates; narrowing down the matching characteristic point pair candidates to narrowed matching characteristic point pair candidates each consisting of the first and second characteristic points, wherein a number of pairs of proximity characteristic points, which exist in proximity to the first and second characteristic points respectively and differences of relative characteristics of which meet the allowable error range, is greater than a prescribed rate of a total number of the pairs of the proximity characteristic points included in the narrowed matching characteristic point pair candidate, so that the narrowed matching characteristic point pair candidates are used as matching characteristic point pairs; sequentially producing coordinate matching parameters to match the characteristic points of the first figure with the characteristic points of the second figure with respect to each of the matching characteristic point pairs; and outputting most concentrated coordinate matching parameters which values of the coordinate matching parameters sequentially produced concentrate in most frequently.