Patent Document ID: 7623734
Application ID: 10956225
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for automatically finding a minimum area rectangle to inscribe an object, comprising: using a processor to compute the following: inputting scanned image data containing the object that is a noisy object having a deformed rectangular shape that is not perfectly rectangular and is deformed such that it is no longer perfectly rectangular and lacks well-defined edges and corners; determining a number, N, of points on a perimeter or boundary line of the object that are desired; finding the N perimeter points by generating an orthogonal coordinate system centered at an interior point that is inside the object and sending out a ray outward from the interior point along a direction until reaching the perimeter or boundary line of the object and designating an intersection of the perimeter and ray as one of the N perimeter points and repeating this process N times in N different directions; constructing a convex hull from at least some of the N perimeter points located on a boundary of the object, wherein each side of the convex hull is a straight line segment between two of the perimeter points; constructing an inscribing rectangle at each of side of the convex hull; and calculating an area of each inscribing rectangle to find an inscribing rectangle having a minimum area to obtain the minimum area rectangle.