Patents Examined by Xuemei Chen
  • Patent number: 9842409
    Abstract: An image transmission device includes an image input unit that inputs a plurality of continuous images, a data amount reduction unit that reduces an amount of data of the plurality of images that are input to the image input unit, and generates a data amount reduced image, and a transmission unit that transmits the data amount reduced image to an image reception device that performs a recognition/authentication process with respect to the data amount reduced image. The data amount reduction unit reduces the amount of data of the plurality of images by a reduction method corresponding to the recognition/authentication process that is performed in the image reception device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Marie Kuwahara, Jun Ikeda, Manabu Nakamura, Sumio Yokomitsu, Masaya Sato
  • Patent number: 9841482
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging system (1) includes a denoising unit (24), and a reconstruction unit (20). The denoising unit (24) denoises a partial image and provides a spatially localized measure of a denoising effectivity. The reconstruction unit (20) iteratively reconstructs an output image from the received MR data processed with a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), and in subsequent iterations includes the denoised partial image and the spatially localized measure of the denoising effectivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Miha Fuderer, Johannes Martinus Peeters, Adrianus Joseph Willibrordus Duijndam
  • Patent number: 9842266
    Abstract: A system and method for detecting electronic device use by a driver of a vehicle including acquiring an image including a vehicle from an associated image capture device positioned to view oncoming traffic, locating a windshield region of the vehicle in the captured image, processing pixels of the windshield region of the image for computing a feature vector describing the windshield region of the vehicle, applying the feature vector to a classifier for classifying the image into respective classes including at least classes for candidate electronic device use and candidate electronic device non-use, and outputting the classification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC
    Inventors: Orhan Bulan, Yusuf O. Artan, Robert P. Loce, Peter Paul
  • Patent number: 9837013
    Abstract: Aspects of the present invention are related to systems and methods for compressing display non-uniformity correction data and for using compressed display non-uniformity correction data. A correction image may be compressed by fitting a data model to the correction image data and encoding the model parameter values. A correction image may be decomposed into two images: an image containing the vertically and horizontally aligned structures of the correction image and a smoothly varying image. The smoothly varying image may be compressed by fitting a data model to the smoothly varying image data. Multiple correction images may be compressed by determining eigenvectors which describe the distribution of the multiple correction images. Projection coefficients may be determined by projecting each correction image the determined eigenvectors, and an eigen-image associated with an eigenvector may be compressed. Correction data for a display may be reconstructed from parameter values stored on a display system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc.
    Inventors: Yeping Su, Xiao-Fan Feng, Hao Pan, Yasuo Ozawa
  • Patent number: 9836841
    Abstract: A unit-dose medicament inspection system and method provide for the obtainment of an image of a receptacle after a corresponding filling operation in which a predetermined unit-dose medicament was to have been located in the receptacle. The image may be processed to extract image data that may be compared with stored data corresponding with a predetermined unit-dose medicament. Size, configuration and other features of objects located within a receptacle may be included with the extracted image data and compared with corresponding stored data to determine whether a given receptacle includes the intended medicament and/or whether the medicament located within the receptacle is an acceptable condition. Receptacle attributes may also be inspected for compliance with predetermined configuration parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: SWISSLOG ITALIA S.P.A.
    Inventors: Luca Natali, Fabrizio Golinelli, Flavio Este
  • Patent number: 9838598
    Abstract: An image identification system for conducting image identification of a valuable file in an automatic teller machine and a corresponding image storage control method are provided. The system comprises: an image sensor; an image memory; an image identification module; an image storage area controller; and a main control unit, wherein the image storage area controller comprises a storage area index link table which is divided into N nodes, N being a natural number greater than 1, each node corresponding to each of the image storage areas divided by the image storage area controller in a one to one relationship, and each node storing the storage locations of a previous image and a next image which are linked with the node, and being provided with an acquired image write pointer, an identified image read pointer, an unidentifiable image head pointer, and an unidentifiable image tail pointer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: GRG Banking Equipment Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ming Li, Mengtao Liu
  • Patent number: 9836433
    Abstract: The present invention relates to improved systems and methods of image processing and more particularly to improved systems and method of image processing using modified image data to produce enhanced data and images using fewer processing cycles and lower system power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Jaclyn A. Hoke, David W. Jensen
  • Patent number: 9798943
    Abstract: The optical character recognition method applies a first OCR engine to provide an identification of characters of at least a first type of characters and zones of at least a second type of characters in the character string image. A second OCR engine is applied on the zones of the at least second type of characters to provide an identification of characters of a second type of characters. The characters identified by the first OCR engine and by the second OCR engine are in a further step combined to obtain the identification of the characters of the character string image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: I.R.I.S.
    Inventors: Frederic Collet, Jordi Hautot, Michel Dauw, Pierre De Muelenaere, Olivier Dupont, Gunter Hensges
  • Patent number: 9792697
    Abstract: A state estimation apparatus appropriately estimates the internal state of an observation target by calculating a likelihood from observation data, and tracks, for example, multiple objects in a moving image and detects a new object and adds the object as a tracking target in an appropriate manner. A labeling unit detects a closed area from an observation image, and adds a label number to the closed area to generate a label image. A likelihood obtaining unit generates an object-erased image for new object detection by erasing image areas corresponding to all the currently-tracked objects. The apparatus performs the process for detecting a new object using the object-erased image for new object detection based on label numbers. The apparatus is appropriately prevented from erroneously determining that an area of the object-erased image for new object detection corresponding to the currently-tracked object and remaining after the erasure corresponds to a new object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: MegaChips Corporation
    Inventors: Kenta Nagamine, Hiromu Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 9571698
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for compressing a data set, the method comprising receiving a first data block of the data set, selecting automatically by a compression management module a compression module from a plurality of compression modules to apply to the first data block based on projected compression efficacy or resource utilization, and compressing the first data block with the selected compression module to generate a first compressed data block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: EMC IP Holding Company LLC
    Inventors: Grant R. Wallace, Philip N. Shilane, Frederick Douglis, Jianqiang Luo
  • Patent number: 9547799
    Abstract: Aspects of the present invention are related to systems and methods for automatically determining the content boundaries in a digital image. A gradient field may be generated using an edge detector, and the gradient field may be thresholded, by magnitude, to retain strong edges. The resulting localized edge positions may be projected onto a first direction and a second direction to form two projection histograms. The projection histograms may be analyzed to determine the boundaries of the image content. Corners of a cropping rectangle may be computed, and the digital image may be cropped according to the content boundaries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc.
    Inventors: Lawrence Shao-hsien Chen, John E. Dolan
  • Patent number: 9483681
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a contactless 3D biometric feature identification system and the method thereof. The system comprises of a fixed-viewpoint image capturing means, a lighting module capable of producing different illuminations on the object of interest and a microprocessor configured to execute a biometric identification algorithm. The algorithm starts with capturing a plurality of images with different illuminations. The captured images are then utilized to reconstruct a three dimensional surface model. Different features, for instance 2D and 3D coordinates and orientations of the biometric feature, surface curvature of the object and the local surface orientation of the object, are extracted from the captured images and the reconstructed 3D surface model. Different matching scores are also developed based on the aforesaid features to establish the identity of the biometric features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
    Inventors: Ajay Kumar, Cyril Kwong
  • Patent number: 9467709
    Abstract: A data decoding device is provided that can decode, at high speed and with low cost, image data encoded at a high compression rate. Provided are an input unit to be input a first encoded data, a second encoded data, the second encoded data and reference data of the line image data; an acquisition unit to acquire, a first reference data to decode the first encoded data to the higher-end data and a second reference data to decode the second encoded data to the lower-end data; a decoding unit to decode the second encoded data to the lower-end data on the basis of the second reference data while the first encoded data is decoded to the higher-end data on the basis of the first reference data and; and a combining means to combine the higher-end data and the lower-end data that were decoded by the decoding unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shigeru Fujita, Hiroki Horikoshi, Hiroyuki Hosogoshi
  • Patent number: 9466135
    Abstract: A method and system to perform region-of-interest (ROI) reconstruction is provided, even if the original projection data are truncated. The reconstruction is performed on a superset of the ROI, including the ROI as well as other areas which are outside the scan field-of-view of the imaging system but still within the imaging bore.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Thomas Koehler, Claas Bontus
  • Patent number: 9417761
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus writes a virtual space image obtained by imaging a virtual space in which objects are arranged from a virtual camera to an output area. When a pointer image representing a positional relationship between a referential position and an arrangement position of the object is depicted on the virtual space image stored in the output area, the pointer image to be depicted is changed in correspondence with conditions, such as the height of the virtual camera and the attribute of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: NINTENDO CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Yutaka Hiramuki, Ryo Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9418303
    Abstract: A traffic sign recognition method analyzes and classifies image data of a sensor in an information processing unit. The image data is analyzed to select an image portion judged to contain a traffic sign of a particular sign class. A class-specific feature is identified in the image portion. A modified image portion is created, in which the class-specific feature has been shifted to a center of the modified image portion. Then the modified image portion is evaluated by a learning-based algorithm to recognize the traffic sign of the particular sign class.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventor: Matthias Zobel
  • Patent number: 9319698
    Abstract: To provide an image decoding apparatus that suppresses overhead of parallel processing to improve parallelization efficiency and reduce circuit costs, while solving neighboring macroblock dependencies. The image decoding apparatus (100) includes first and second decoding circuits (101, 102) having a transfer unit that transfers right neighborhood information or left neighborhood information, and first and second transfer completion detection units (104, 105) that respectively detect whether or not the left neighborhood information or the right neighborhood information has been transferred to the first and second decoding circuits (101, 102). Each of the first and second decoding circuits (101, 102) decodes a decoding target macroblock positioned at an edge of a region, when the transfer of the left neighborhood information or the right neighborhood information is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Amano, Masayasu Iguchi
  • Patent number: 9317988
    Abstract: The present invention proposes a method for generating a security bi-level image used to form one of the inks of a banknote, said image comprising an original bi-level image and a security pattern, said security pattern being obtained in the spatial domain by the inverse Fourier transform of the combination in the frequency domain between the Fourier transform of an auxiliary image and a two-dimensional sweep, said two-dimensional sweep being a circularly symmetric, two-dimensional pattern created by sweeping a self-similar, one-dimensional function along a 360-degree arc, such as said security pattern being detectable from the maximum value of the cross-correlation of said one-dimensional function with the Fourier transform of one line of said banknote, said method comprising the step of: —determining a distance map of the original bi-level image, —generating a merged image by linearly interpolating at least a part of said distance map with said security pattern, —thresholding the merged image to obtain the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK (ECB)
    Inventors: Nicolas Rudaz, Martin Kutter, Frederic Jordan, Jean-Claude Gilles, Pierre Durant
  • Patent number: 9298983
    Abstract: Systems and methods for grouping documents and/or displaying groupings are described herein. Documents may be grouped by their document character features. Document character features may include distinct character types, character counts, common character counts, character difference counts, missing character counts, and any combination thereof. Document matches may be based on a threshold value compared to a score and/or indicator based on document character features. The computing devices described herein may generate user interfaces for displaying clusters of documents. The clusters of documents may indicate matches between documents based on the document character features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2016
    Assignee: Array Technology, LLC
    Inventors: Peter M. Samwel, III, Nathan B. Lorenz
  • Patent number: 9270846
    Abstract: A content encoder for encoding content into a source image for display on a display device includes inputs for receiving data representing content to be encoded into the source image; a processor arranged to encode the content into a sequence of display frames each including the source image, the content encoded as a time varying two-dimensional pattern of luminosity modulations of portions of the source image to form a sequence of encoded images of the source image; and outputs arranged to output the sequence of encoded images to the display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: John Collomosse, Timothy Paul James Gerard Kindberg