Abstract: The invention relates to a method and apparatus for characterizing the imperfections of the skin. The apparatus comprises: a) a digital camera allowing the taking of at least one digital image of at least one determined skin zone, the said image being defined by a multiplicity of pixels, that is transmitted to a digital image processing device; b) means of splitting the digital image into three color planes: red, green, blue, termed R, G, B, with the aid of the said image processing device; c) means of extracting a single of these planes; d) means of calculating at least one of the following parameters on the basis of this plane: the mean grey level of the image; the surface area of the imperfections of the skin of the said image, some of which are related to aging, such as wrinkles, lines, spots, dark circles, pigmentary imperfections, slackening or loosening zones; the variance of the grey levels over the set of pixels of the image as parameter representative of the homogeneity of the skin.

Abstract: A method for identifying vehicles, including capturing a first image of a first vehicle using a first camera at a first position and a second image of the first vehicle using a second camera at a second position different from the first position. The method further includes determining a transformation between the first image and the second image. A third image of a second vehicle using the first camera is captured, and the transformation is applied to the third image to generate a fourth image of the second vehicle. The fourth image is analyzed, using a database of identified vehicles, to determine an identity of the second vehicle.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for providing automatic threat detection using passive millimeter wave detection and image processing analysis.

Abstract: A measurement apparatus for enumeration of particles or white blood cells in a sample comprises: a holder, which is arranged to receive a sample acquiring device that holds a sample, an imaging system, comprising a magnifying means and at least one digital image acquiring means, said imaging system being arranged to acquire at least one digital image of the sample, and an image analyser, which is arranged to analyse the digital image for identifying particles or white blood cells and determining the number of particles or white blood cells and which is arranged to analyse the digital image for identifying particles or white blood cells that are imaged in focus, determining types of these particles or white blood cells, the types being distinguished by physical features and determining the ratio of different types of particles or white blood cells.

Abstract: A method of tracking an object such as a face in a video stream comprises running an object detector at a plurality of locations on a first frame, defining a coarse grid. This is repeated for second and subsequent frames, with the grid slightly offset each time so that, ultimately, all of the points on a fine grid are covered but in several passes. When an object such as a face is located on one frame, positional and/or scale information is propagated to the next frame to assist in the tracking of that object onto the next frame.

Abstract: A method for changing the depth at which an image is focused is provided in a portable imaging device that includes an image recording arrangement that has a lens system, an image sensor for recording images, and a display arrangement for presentation of the recorded images. The method includes moving a movable focusing frame covering a part of a recorded image presented on the display to identify an area of interest in the presented image. The method also includes analyzing the image within the frame to obtain a setting required to focus the image within the frame and applying the obtained setting to the full presented image to focus the presented image at the depth defined by the current position of the movable focusing frame.

Abstract: A method and system is provided for segmenting scanned image data in accordance with mixed raster content processing for more efficient processing of non-uniform color touching objects. The scanned data is segmented to background and foreground layers wherein the foreground layer is comprised of a plurality of objects such as text characters. At least one of the plurality of objects is identified as being non-uniform in color. The non-uniform color object is partitioned into a plurality of sub-objects of predetermined size pixel blocks. The sub-objects are then clustered by uniform color and coded with a binary compression algorithm as a foreground layer segment. Non-uniform color sub-objects are alternatively discarded for compression with the background layer algorithm, or processed for determination of a particular color based upon the color of a plurality of pixels within the sub-object.

Abstract: In a system for detecting a target object, a similarity determining unit sets a block in a picked-up image, and compares a part of the picked-up image contained in the block with a pattern image data while changes a location of the block in the picked-up image to determine a similarity of each part of the picked-up image contained in a corresponding one of the different-located blocks with respect to the pattern image data. A specifying unit extracts some different-located blocks from all of the different-located blocks. The determined similarity of the part of the picked-up image contained in each of some different-located blocks is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold similarity. The specifying unit specifies, in the picked-up image, a target area based on a frequency distribution of some different-located blocks therein.

Abstract: An aligning method and apparatus for aligning images having different imaged regions with improved alignment accuracy. Aligning the imaged region of each of a plurality of partial images with an overall reference image. Then, two images having an overlapping area are aligned with each other based on the amount of shift when one of the two images is aligned with the overall reference image, and the amount of shift when the other of the two images is aligned with the overall reference image.

Abstract: A system and method, which enables precise identification of characters contained in vehicle license plates, container LD, chassis I.D, aircraft serial number and other such identification markings. The system can process these identified characters and operate devices, such as access control (126) operations, traffic systems and vehicle (20) and container tracking and management (170) systems, and provide records of all markings together with their images.

Abstract: Facilitating analysis of one or more mammography images on a review workstation is described. A point or region of interest is identified in a first mammography image of a human breast. The distance between the point or region of interest and a point of reference, preferably the breast nipple, on the first mammography image is determined. A locus of points in a second mammography image of the breast is calculated, the locus of points representing potential locations corresponding to the point or region of interest in the first mammography image, and the calculation being based at least in part on the distance between the point or region of interest and the point of reference. The locus of points is then highlighted a user so as to facilitate a determination by the user of one or more locations in the second mammography image corresponding to the point or region of interest in the first mammography image.

Abstract: An object detection system is disclosed in at least one embodiment. The system includes a far IR sensor operable to sense thermal radiation of objects and surroundings in a field of view and to generate a far IR image in response thereto, and an image processing device operable to receive and process the far IR image to detect the presence of one or more objects in the field of view. The image processing device can be configured to process the far IR image by generating an initial threshold image based on the far IR image and an initial threshold value, iteratively obtaining a number of successive threshold images based on the far IR image and a number of successively increased threshold values, and determining the presence of one or more objects in the field of view based on the threshold images and threshold values.

Abstract: Detectors capable of accurately detecting and tracking moving features of such as faces within a video stream are sometimes too slow to be run in real-time. The present invention rapidly scans video footage in real-time and generates a series of preattemptive triggers indicating the frames and locations within the frames at our deserving of further investigation by a sub real-time detector. The triggers are generated by looking for peaks in a time variant measure such as the amount of symmetry within a frame or portion of a frame.

Abstract: A system and method, which enables precise identification of characters contained in vehicle license plates, container I.D, chassis I.D, aircraft serial number and other such identification markings. The system can process these identified characters and operate devices, such as access control operations, traffic systems and vehicle and container tracking and management systems, and provide records of all markings together with their images.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an image processing apparatus for recognizing, from a taken image, an object corresponding to a registered image registered in advance, including, an image taker configured to take an image of a subject to obtain the taken image of the subject, a recognizer configured to recognize, from the taken image, an object corresponding to the registered image, a first specified area tracker configured to execute first specified area tracking processing for tracking, in the taken image, a first tracking area specified on the basis of a result of recognition by the recognizer, and a second specified area tracker configured to execute second specified area tracking processing for tracking a second specified area specified on the basis of a result of the first specified area tracking processing.

Abstract: It is the object of a method and apparatus for retinal vessel analysis based on digital images to enhance the ability to discriminate between healthy vessel states and at-risk vessel states while reducing manual effort and saving time in order to allow individual vascular risk, particularly stroke risk, to be determined in a more reliable manner and with fewer subjective systematic and random errors. The vessel segment diameter, type of vessel and the image coordinates are determined for a series of adjoining vessel segments along vessel portions in a measurement zone surrounding the papilla and are stored by vessel segment with reference to the evaluated image, to a reference image recorded with a time offset, and to a displacement vector that is determined for the vessel segment between the reference image and an evaluated comparison image. Comparison measurements are carried out only on identical vessel segments already measured in the reference image.

Abstract: A method of adjusting selected window size of an image object is applicable for tracking a target object in a video. The video includes a plurality of frames, and the target object has a display range changing with the playback of each frame. According to a variation trend of the display range of the target object, whether a variation times corresponding to the variation trend reaches a threshold value or not is recorded, and then the selected window size is reset, such that the target object is enclosed with a selected window having a size closer to the target object.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method, which assists a doctor for instance in orientation in 2D fluoroscopy images. The present invention relates here to a method for displaying co-registered 2D-3D images in medical imaging, comprising the following steps: determine a 3D or 2D projection which is congruent with a 2D image from a 3D image data set, and overlaid display of the 2D image with the 3D or 2D projection on a monitor, characterized in that the two image parts of the two overlaid images can be adjusted and a shift in the two overlaid images which can be adjusted in at least one direction is enabled.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for reconstructing a three-dimensional target volume, particularly within the human body, in realtime and displaying it, with a three-dimensional reconstruction volume being determined from a basic set comprising a minimum number of two-dimensional images obtained from an image recording device located within the target volume, wherein, when a new image is included in the basic set, locally limited updating at least of the reconstruction volume's partial areas covered by the new image will under a predefined condition be performed and the updated reconstruction volume will be displayed.

Abstract: The present invention is a computer-aided pathological diagnosis method for the classification of cancer cells in a tissue specimen based on a digital cellular image of the tissue specimen. The method of the present invention includes the steps of, extracting the histological characteristic features of the cellular image using preprocessing algorithms having adaptive strategies to enhance the cellular image, declustering the extracted histological characteristic features of the cellular image to isolate the individual cells and the nuclei inside the cells, segmenting the declustered cellular image, labeling the segmented cellular image and classifying the cells in the labeled cellular image as cancer cells or non-cancer cells.