Patents Examined by Nathan Bloom
  • Patent number: 9953411
    Abstract: To analyze a tire surface, a 3D elevational image is captured, which is formed of pixels representing points on the surface. Each point is assigned a grey-level value proportional to its elevation relative to a surface level. Based on the elevations in the elevational image, an orientational image is formed showing elevation gradients of the surface. In the orientational image, which is formed of pixels representing points on the surface, each point is assigned a grey-level value proportional to an angle formed with a direction given by a projection in an image plane of a non-zero norm vector substantially corresponding, at this point, to a gradient vector tangent to the surface and oriented in a direction of greatest slope. A filtered image is determined by transforming the orientational image using a filter to select areas that include structures similar to those in a reference orientational image of a blow hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN
    Inventors: Steve Bourgeois, Régis Vinciguerra, Alexandre Joly
  • Patent number: 9947111
    Abstract: A method to position multiple camera using camera ordering is described herein. Based on two known camera positions, a third camera position is able to be determined using acquired information and calculations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Cheng-Yi Liu, Alexander Berestov
  • Patent number: 9934430
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer-readable media related to a technique for providing handwriting input functionality on a user device. A handwriting recognition module is trained to have a repertoire comprising multiple non-overlapping scripts and capable of recognizing tens of thousands of characters using a single handwriting recognition model. The handwriting input module provides real-time, stroke-order and stroke-direction independent handwriting recognition. User interfaces for providing the handwriting input functionality are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Jannes G. A. Dolfing, Karl M. Groethe, Ryan S. Dixon, Jerome R. Bellegarda
  • Patent number: 9918008
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method and device for assisting a user for capturing an image. In an embodiment, an image is focused by a user of an image capturing device. The image capturing device extracts one or more features from the image being focused. The extracted features are classified into significant features and background features. The image capturing device also extracts one or more line segments in the image. Upon extracting the features and the line segments, the image capturing device determines relation between the features and the line segments. The image capturing device provides assistance to the user for capturing the image based on the relation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: WIPRO LIMITED
    Inventors: Tomson Ganapathiplackal George, Sudheesh Joseph
  • Patent number: 9911195
    Abstract: The method comprises the steps of, successively for each image following a preceding image based on a map of motion vectors that corresponds to the motion from said preceding image toward said following image, building a pixel mask for said following image, applying said pixel mask to the corresponding following image in order to obtain a corresponding masked image that samples the pixels of said following image. The application of this method to color clustering allows the iterative update of the colors clusters with limited computer resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: THOMSON LICENSING
    Inventors: Corinne Poree, Jonathan Kervec, Emmanuel Jolly
  • Patent number: 9904843
    Abstract: An information processing device and method can detect facial feature point positions with high accuracy. The information processing device includes: a facial image input unit receiving a facial image; a facial feature point reliability generation unit generating, based on a plurality of classifiers for computing the suitability of feature points of a face, a reliability image indicating the suitability for each feature point from the facial image; a facial feature point candidate position computation unit obtaining a candidate position of the feature point in the facial image based on the reliability image; and a facial shape model conformity computation unit determining a feature point that satisfies conditions based on a position corresponding to each of the feature points of one facial shape model selected from a plurality of statistically generated facial shape models and the candidate position of the feature point, and calculating a conformity to the facial shape model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yusuke Morishita
  • Patent number: 9805462
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods for inspecting a specimen are disclosed. An inspection tool is used at one or more operating modes to obtain images of a plurality of training regions of a specimen, and the training regions are identified as defect-free. Three or more basis training images are derived from the images of the training regions. A classifier is formed based on the three or more basis training images. The inspection system is used at the one or more operating modes to obtain images of a plurality of test regions of a specimen. Three or more basis test images are derived from to the test regions. The classifier is applied to the three or more basis test images to find defects in the test regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
    Inventors: Abdurrahman Sezginer, Gang Pan, Bing Li
  • Patent number: 9805461
    Abstract: A reference density profile is generated in an outer circumference direction of a pipe having a reference welded portion on the basis of a reference fluoroscopic image generated from a radiation detection medium when a radiation source is disposed on a central axis of the pipe. A weld inspection density profile is generated in an outer circumference direction of a pipe having an inspection target welded portion on the basis of a weld inspection fluoroscopic image. On the basis of the reference density profile and the weld inspection density profile, density correction information is calculated. The density correction information is for correcting density irregularities in the weld inspection fluoroscopic image in the outer circumference direction of the pipe. On the basis of the density correction information, the density irregularities in the weld inspection fluoroscopic image arc corrected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Makiko Nagashima, Yasunori Narukawa
  • Patent number: 9799110
    Abstract: An abnormality detection method of detecting abnormality of a blast furnace from tuyere images shot by cameras installed in vicinities of a plurality of tuyeres of the blast furnace includes: collecting, in a time-series manner, representative brightness vectors defined by representative brightnesses determined based on brightness values of respective pixels for each of the tuyeres image previously shot by the cameras at a same time; extracting a principal component vector by performing principal component analysis on the representative brightness vectors collected in the time-series manner; calculating, as an evaluation value, a length of a normal line drawn in a direction of the principal component vector from the representative brightness vector collected from the tuyere images shot by the cameras at the same time during an operation; and detecting the abnormality of the blast furnace by comparing the evaluation value with a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuro Tsuda, Takehide Hirata, Naoshi Yamahira, Hidekazu Abe
  • Patent number: 9792695
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a position information obtaining unit and a region detection unit. The position information obtaining unit obtains position information indicating a representative position of one or more designated regions in an image. The region detection unit detects the one or more designated regions from the position information. The region detection unit cancels a setting of the one or more designated regions for pixels within a predetermined portion of the image, and detects the one or more designated regions again for the pixels within the predetermined portion, based on a reference pixel selected from among pixels on the image for which the setting of the one or more designated regions has not been canceled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Makoto Sasaki
  • Patent number: 9792701
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system (200) and method for determining a relation between a first scene and a second scene. The method comprises the steps of generating at least one sensor image of a first scene with at least one sensor; accessing information related to at least one second scene, said second scene encompassing said first scene, and matching the sensor image with the second scene to map the sensor image onto the second scene. The step of accessing information related to the at least one second scene comprises accessing a 3D map comprising geocoded 3D coordinate data. The mapping involves associating geocoding information to a plurality of positions in the sensor image based on the coordinate data of the second scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: SAAB AB
    Inventors: Michael Olofsson, Folke Isaksson, Magnus Brege, Ingmar Andersson, Per Carlbom, Johan Borg, Leif Haglund, Fredrik Rosenqvist
  • Patent number: 9785867
    Abstract: According to an embodiment, a device includes a detector, first and second recognizers, an estimator, a second recognizer, and an output unit. The detector is configured to detect a visible text area including a visible character from an image. The first recognizer is configured to perform character pattern recognition on the visible text area, and calculate a recognition cost according to a likelihood of a character pattern. The estimator is configured to estimate a partially-hidden text area into which a hidden text area estimated to have a hidden character and the visible text area are integrated. The second recognizer is configured to calculate an integrated cost into which the calculated cost and a linguistic cost corresponding to a linguistic likelihood of a text that fits in the entire partially-hidden text area are integrated. The output unit is configured to output a text selected or ranked based on the integrated cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichiro Hamada, Kunio Osada
  • Patent number: 9767363
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described for identifying the video content as spherical video or non-spherical video in response to determining that frame scores and video scores satisfy a threshold level. For example, a plurality of image frames can be extracted from video content, classified in a dual stage process, and scored according to particular classification and scoring mechanisms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Neil Aylon Charles Birkbeck, Ka-kit Lam, Damien Kelly, Andrew Joseph Crawford, Anil Christopher Kokaram
  • Patent number: 9767570
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for background modeling in a computer vision system for enabling foreground object detection. A video acquisition model receives video data from a sequence of frames. A fit test module identifies a foreground object from the video data and defines a foreground mask representative of the identified foreground object. A foreground-aware background estimation module defines a first background model from the video data and then further defines an updated background model from an association of a current frame of the video data, the first background model and the foreground mask.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Conduent Business Services LLC
    Inventors: Qun Li, Edgar A Bernal, Robert P Loce
  • Patent number: 9754352
    Abstract: A reconfigurable image scaling circuit includes a horizontal scalar, a bufferer, and a vertical scalar. The horizontal scalar is configured to generate a horizontally scaled image data by scaling an input image data horizontally. The bufferer includes a mapper and a plurality of buffers. The plurality of the buffers are configured to store the horizontally scaled image data. The vertical scalar is configured to generate an output image data by scaling the horizontally scaled image vertically using a vertical scaling method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sung-Chul Yoon, Min-soo Kim, Jae-Sop Kong
  • Patent number: 9729865
    Abstract: Various embodiments enable a primary user to be identified and tracked using stereo association and multiple tracking algorithms. For example, a face detection algorithm can be run on each image captured by a respective camera independently. Stereo association can be performed to match faces between cameras. If the faces are matched and a primary user is determined, a face pair is created and used as the first data point in memory for initializing object tracking. Further, features of a user's face can be extracted and the change in position of these features between images can determine what tracking method will be used for that particular frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Cheng-Hao Kuo, Jim Oommen Thomas, Tianyang Ma, Stephen Vincent Mangiat, Sisil Sanjeev Mehta, Ambrish Tyagi, Amit Kumar Agrawal, Kah Kuen Fu, Sharadh Ramaswamy
  • Patent number: 9715616
    Abstract: A sequence of biometric data images is received, such as, for example, a sequence of fingerprint images, and a set of biometric data images is selected from the sequence of images. The set of images can include one or more segments of at least one image in the sequence of images. One or more portions of at least one image of biometric data in the set of images can be selected to be included in the unified image of biometric data. The unified image of biometric data can be constructed using the one or more portions of the at least one image of biometric data. If the unified image of biometric data is not complete, a user can be prompted for one or more additional images of biometric data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Byron B. Han, Craig A. Marciniak, Wayne C. Westerman
  • Patent number: 9704237
    Abstract: A measuring unit (301) acquires measurement data for a plurality of lines by repeatedly executing, on a reference tire, a measurement process to acquire measurement data for one line. A first acquisition unit (311) generates height data for one line for each of the plurality of sets of measurement data measured by the measuring unit (301), arranges the generated plurality of values of one-dimensional height data into a matrix form, generates two-dimensional height data for the measured face, and generates reference shape data. A second acquisition unit (314) acquires object one-dimensional height data from one-line shape data measured by the measuring unit (301) for the object tire.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kaname Araki, Eiji Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9694497
    Abstract: A method for controlling a robot, which is designed to be operated in a working mode, in which a part of the robot is moved at a speed at which there is a risk of injury to a person. The working mode is deactivated if a safety device detects that the person has entered an action region of the displaceable part. The aim is to make close cooperation possible between the person and the robot. A sensor unit determines a position and a posture of the person while the person is outside the action region of the part. A prediction unit determines an action region of the person. A collision monitoring unit monitors whether the two action regions overlap. The robot can optionally be switched from the working mode into a safety mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Sören Burmeister, Matthias Dürr
  • Patent number: 9692937
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for: identifying perimeter lines in an image, e.g., document border lines forming a non-rectangular quadrilateral corresponding to a scanned document, determining document corner points, and correcting the input image based on determined corner points are described. Lines are identified in the input image and a line weight is generated for each identified line. The identified lines are classified into two different groups based on direction, e.g., predominately vertical or predominately horizontal. For each group at least two, and sometimes more, candidate perimeter lines are determined to be kept, based on line weight and line length, and other lines in the group are eliminated. Two best candidate perimeter lines are identified from each group, e.g., based on distance between the remaining lines in the group. Four document corner points are determined based on the remaining lines in the two groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: Accusoft Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen A. Martucci, William Douglas Withers