Patents Examined by Gandhi Thirugnanam
  • Method and control unit for recognizing a weather condition in the surroundings of a vehicle
    Patent number: 9946937
    Abstract: A method for recognizing a weather condition in the surroundings of a vehicle. The method includes a step of ascertaining at least one imaging feature in image information. The image information represents a depiction of at least a portion of the surroundings, and the imaging feature represents a light effect on a reflective or luminescent object in the portion of the surroundings. In addition, the method includes a step of determining weather information for characterizing the weather condition based on a comparison between the imaging feature and at least one expected value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Petko Faber, Gregor Schwarzenberg
  • Color reduction in images of an interior of a human body
    Patent number: 9936858
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods are described including apparatus (21) for capturing and processing a color video of an interior of a body of a human subject (20). The apparatus (21) includes a medical scope imaging device (22) configured to capture the video, and a medical image processing system (24), which includes a memory (26) and a processor (28). The memory (24) stores a color-reduction table (30), which specifies a plurality of low-occurrence-rate colors. The processor (28) is configured to use the color-reduction table (30) to identify for replacement one or more of the low-occurrence-rate colors in at least one of the frames of the video, and to replace one or more instances of each of the identified low-occurrence-rate colors with a replacement color. Other applications are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: ORPHEUS MEDICAL LTD
    Inventor: David Rainis
  • Unsupervised asymmetry detection
    Patent number: 9940731
    Abstract: Asymmetries are detected in one or more images by partitioning each image to create a set of patches. Salient patches are identified, and an independent displacement for each patch is identified. The techniques used to identify the salient patches and the displacement for each patch are combined in a function to generate a score for each patch. The scores can be used to identify possible asymmetries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sharon Alpert, Miri Erihov, Pavel Kisilev
  • Ultrasound imaging method/technique for speckle reduction/suppression in an improved ultra sound imaging system
    Patent number: 9934554
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an improved ultrasound imaging method/technique for speckle reduction/suppression in an ultra sound imaging system in which scan conversion and speckle reduction is performed simultaneously in the scan conversion stage avoiding any kind of conventional interpolation. An improved method for speckle reduction in an ultrasound imaging system and an improved ultra sound imaging system for speckle reduction is provided in the present invention. The method comprises steps of receiving in a processor means raw data samples as an input comprising image signals with noises from a logarithmic amplifier, processing the received image signals for scan conversion and speckle reduction in the processor means so as to get pixel value from the raw data samples and to perform speckle reduction so as to provide speckle filtered output image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Debashis Nandi, Sudipta Mukhopadhyay
  • Object detecting apparatus and method
    Patent number: 9934446
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus acquires an image including an object and divides the image into a plurality of superpixels based on similarity of adjacent pixels. There is an acquisition, from the superpixels, of a plurality of candidate areas acting as candidates of an area of the object. A feature quantity is extracted from each of the plurality of candidate areas and checked against registered information concerning a feature quantity of object area. The area of the object in the image is output, based on a checked result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kotaro Yano, Ichiro Umeda
  • Method, system and computer program for identification and sharing of digital images with face signatures
    Patent number: 9928407
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for sharing a digital image depicting one or more faces. The method may include linking a plurality of computer terminals to a computer network, each computer terminal associated with an individual; receiving a digital image at at least one of the computer terminals; executing a face recognition routine on the digital image, the face recognition routine detecting at least one face in the digital image, each detected face corresponding to a person, the face recognition routine recognizing at least one of the persons as being one of the individuals; and for each individual recognized in the digital image by the face recognition routine, initiating dissemination of the digital image to the computer terminal associated with respective individual whose face is recognized in the digital image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: APPLIED RECOGNITION INC.
    Inventors: Ray Ganong, Donald Craig Waugh, Chris Studholme, Kostas Plataniotis, Yong Man Ro
  • Denoising method and apparatus for multi-contrast MRI
    Patent number: 9928576
    Abstract: A denoising method and apparatus for multi-contrast MRI's are disclosed. An aspect of the invention provides a denoising method for an MRI that includes: acquiring multiple MRI's having different contrast levels for the same site; determining pixels corresponding to the same tissue by using the MRI's; and calculating a new luminance value for the pixels by using luminance values of the pixels that are determined to be belonging to the same tissue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION, YONSEI UNIVERSITY
    Inventor: Do Sik Hwang
  • Conversational analytics
    Patent number: 9922666
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes determining a meeting has initialized between a first user and a second user, wherein vocal and video recordings are produced for at least the first user. The method receives the vocal and video recordings for the first user. The method analyzes the vocal and video recordings for the first user according to one or more parameters for speech and one or more parameters for gestures. The method determines one or more emotions and a role in the meeting for the first user based at least on the analyzed vocal and video recordings. The method sends an output of analysis to at least one of the first user and the second user, wherein the output of analysis includes at least the determined one or more emotions and the role in the meeting for the first user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eli M. Dow, Thomas D. Fitzsimmons, Tynan J. Garrett, Emily M. Metruck
  • Apparatus and method for detecting object using multi-directional integral image
    Patent number: 9898681
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for detecting an object using a multi-directional integral image are disclosed. The apparatus includes an area segmentation unit, an integral image calculation unit, and an object detection unit. The area segmentation unit places windows having a size of x*y on a full image having w*h pixels so that they overlap each other at their edges, thereby segmenting the full image into a single area, a double area and a quadruple area. The integral image calculation unit calculates a single directional integral image for the single area, and calculates multi-directional integral images for the double and quadruple areas. The object detection unit detects an object for the full image using the single directional integral image and the multi-directional integral images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
    Inventors: Dae-Ha Lee, Cheon-Shu Park, Min-Su Jang, Jae-Hong Kim, Jong-Hyun Park
  • Method and system for motion vector-based video monitoring and event categorization
    Patent number: 9886161
    Abstract: A computer system processes a video stream to detect a start of a first motion event candidate in the video stream, and in response to detecting the start of the first motion event candidate in the video stream, initiates event recognition processing on a first video segment associated with the start of the first motion event candidate. Initiating the event recognition processing further includes: determining a motion track of a first object identified in the first video segment; generating a representative motion vector for the first motion event candidate based on the motion track of the first object; and sending the representative motion vector for the first motion event candidate to an event categorizer, where the event categorizer assigns a respective motion event category to the first motion event candidate based on the representative motion vector of the first motion event candidate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
    Inventors: Jason N. Laska, Gregory R. Nelson, Greg Duffy
  • Method and system for classifying painted road markings in an automotive driver-vehicle-asistance device
    Patent number: 9875415
    Abstract: An automated, computerized method is provided for processing an image. The method includes the steps of arranging a digital camera on a vehicle body, operating the digital camera to provide an image file depicting an image of a scene related to vehicle operation on a road, in a computer memory, receiving from the memory the image file depicting pixels of an image of the scene related to vehicle operation on a road, and using an analysis of the pixels to generate an illumination invariant image of the scene. The illumination-invariant image is converted to a grayscale image and the grayscale image is then converted to an illumination-invariant color image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Tandent Vision Science, Inc.
    Inventor: Casey Arthur Smith
  • Electronic device and method for synthesizing continuously taken images
    Patent number: 9870619
    Abstract: An operation method of an electronic device is provided. The method includes detecting motion objects in each of two or more continuously captured images, determining whether the detected motion objects are synthesizable for use as wallpaper, and providing feedback according to whether the detected motion objects are synthesizable for use as wallpaper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jae-Sik Sohn, Ki-Huk Lee, Young-Kwon Yoon, Woo-Yong Lee
  • Conversational analytics
    Patent number: 9865281
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes determining a meeting has initialized between a first user and a second user, wherein vocal and video recordings are produced for at least the first user. The method receives the vocal and video recordings for the first user. The method analyzes the vocal and video recordings for the first user according to one or more parameters for speech and one or more parameters for gestures. The method determines one or more emotions and a role in the meeting for the first user based at least on the analyzed vocal and video recordings. The method sends an output of analysis to at least one of the first user and the second user, wherein the output of analysis includes at least the determined one or more emotions and the role in the meeting for the first user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eli M. Dow, Thomas D. Fitzsimmons, Tynan J. Garrett, Emily M. Metruck
  • Information processing apparatus and information processing method to modify an image based on audio data
    Patent number: 9841665
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus is provided that includes a playback unit to play back music data, an analysis unit to analyze a feature of a relevant image of the music data, an image correction unit to perform image correction with use of any of a plurality of correction types, a storage unit to store one or more than one image, a selection unit to select a correction type corresponding to the feature of the relevant image analyzed by the analysis unit from the plurality of correction types, a correction control unit to cause the image correction unit to perform image correction of an image stored in the storage unit with use of the correction type selected by the selection unit, and an output unit to output the image corrected by the image correction unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisuke Mochizuki, Kazuto Nishizawa, Mitsuo Okumura, Takaomi Kimura, Tomohiko Gotoh
  • Image analysis device and X-ray diagnostic apparatus
    Patent number: 9833211
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, an image analysis device (24) includes a parameter value acquisition unit (24b), a color allocation unit (24c) and a time phase image generation unit (24d). The parameter value acquisition unit acquires a parameter value per pixel, on the basis of time variation of pixel values per pixel corresponding to the same region of an object in image data of a plurality of sequential DSA images. The color allocation unit generates a color map in which a (chromatic) color in accordance with the parameter value is allocated per pixel corresponding to the same region of the object. The time phase image generation unit generates color image data of time phase images respectively corresponding to a plurality of time phases, by reflecting information in accordance with pixel values of the DSA images to each pixel of the color map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Ryoichi Nagae, Yoshinori Shimizu, Nobuo Kobayashi, Keisuke Nakamura, Kunio Shiraishi
  • Dose modulated X-ray scanning
    Patent number: 9836825
    Abstract: A method and a device for dose modulated X-ray scanning, where, according to an example of the method, a theoretical X-ray scanning dose for a scanning region may be calculated according to a target image quality standard set for the scanning region and a reference data level determined for the scanning region. Then, an X-ray attenuation difference between each data level corresponding to the scanning region and the reference data level may be calculated according to the theoretical X-ray scanning dose. In this way, a data level where the X-ray attenuation difference with the reference data level is higher than a threshold may be selected out from the data levels corresponding to the scanning region as a target to be de-noised, and a noise reduction may be performed for the target to be de-noised.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: SHENYANG NEUSOFT MEDICAL SYSTEMS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shanshan Lou, Ling Pang
  • Object detection in images using distance maps
    Patent number: 9830532
    Abstract: There is described herein a method and system for detecting, in a segmented image, the presence and position of objects with a dimension greater than or equal to a minimum dimension. The objects exhibit a property whereby a distance map of the object at a first scale and a distance map of the object at a second scale greater than the first scale differ by a constant value over a domain of the distance map of the object at the first scale. A distance map of a model object is compared to a distance map of a target object using a similarity score that is invariant to an offset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: MATROX ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS LTD.
    Inventor: Arnaud Lina
  • Apparatus, method, and program product for tracking items
    Patent number: 9813605
    Abstract: Apparatuses, methods, systems, and program products are disclosed for tracking items. An identification module identifies an item using one or more sensors of an information handling device. A location module receives location data for the item in response to identifying the item. A communication module shares the location data with one or more different information handling devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) PTE. LTD.
    Inventors: Nathan J. Peterson, John Carl Mese, Russell Speight VanBlon, Rod D. Waltermann, Arnold S. Weksler
  • Fast iterative algorithm for superresolving computed tomography with missing data
    Patent number: 9801591
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method, program product, and computer system that provides iterative computed tomography (CT) image reconstruction. The approach produces an image whose resolving power exceeds that of conventional algorithms, and utilizes an inner and out iterative loop, configured by ordered subsets criteria, to perform: projecting a reconstructed image; resampling a resulting calculated projection, thereby enabling super-resolution; calculating a comparison quantity with the collected projection array (e.g., sinogram); backprojecting onto a correction array a function that utilizes the comparison quantity; and generating a new reconstructed image with an operation involving the correction array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Lickenbrock Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Timothy J. Holmes, Sean M. Larkin
  • System and method for tracking and recognizing people
    Patent number: 9798923
    Abstract: A tracking and recognition system is provided. The system includes a computer vision-based identity recognition system configured to recognize one or more persons, without a priori knowledge of the respective persons, via an online discriminative learning of appearance signature models of the respective persons. The computer vision-based identity recognition system includes a memory physically encoding one or more routines, which when executed, cause the performance of constructing pairwise constraints between the unlabeled tracking samples. The computer vision-based identity recognition system also includes a processor configured to receive unlabeled tracking samples collected from one or more person trackers and to execute the routines stored in the memory via one or more algorithms to construct the pairwise constraints between the unlabeled tracking samples.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ting Yu, Peter Henry Tu, Dashan Gao, Kunter Seref Akbay, Yi Yao