Patents by Inventor Francois-Marie Lefevere

Francois-Marie Lefevere has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8072654
    Abstract: Systems and methods using an orientation/position-sensitive calibration pattern for three-dimensional calibration of an imaging system, such as one used in a process for scanning documents are disclosed. The method generally includes positioning the pattern on a support, capturing images using cameras to be calibrated, each image containing at least a unique orientation and position sensitive sub-area of the pattern, determining a set of coordinate pairs of corresponding points in the image and the pattern for each image utilizing image data and pattern information, and performing optimization utilizing the sets of coordinate pairs to calibrate relative position, orientation, zoom, and/or lens distortion, etc. of each camera so as to construct a three-dimensional camera calibration model. The pattern is generally comprised of overlapping sub-areas of a minimum portion of the pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2011
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Francois-Marie Lefevere
  • Patent number: 7864985
    Abstract: Techniques for scanning a document, such as a book, magazine, or catalog, are described in which artifacts (e.g., a hand or other body part) in the scanned image are automatically detected. When the artifact is determined to be in a critical portion of the image, a signal may be issued to re-scan the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2011
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Francois-Marie Lefevere, Guillaume Raphael Poncin, Siraj Khaliq
  • Publication number: 20100067072
    Abstract: Systems and methods using an orientation/position-sensitive calibration pattern for three-dimensional calibration of an imaging system, such as one used in a process for scanning documents are disclosed. The method generally includes positioning the pattern on a support, capturing images using cameras to be calibrated, each image containing at least a unique orientation and position sensitive sub-area of the pattern, determining a set of coordinate pairs of corresponding points in the image and the pattern for each image utilizing image data and pattern information, and performing optimization utilizing the sets of coordinate pairs to calibrate relative position, orientation, zoom, and/or lens distortion, etc. of each camera so as to construct a three-dimensional camera calibration model. The pattern is generally comprised of overlapping sub-areas of a minimum portion of the pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 23, 2009
    Publication date: March 18, 2010
    Applicant: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Francois-Marie Lefevere
  • Patent number: 7634112
    Abstract: Techniques for scanning a document, such as a book, magazine, or catalog, are described in which artifacts (e.g., a hand or other body part) in the scanned image are automatically detected. When the artifact is determined to be in a critical portion of the image, a signal may be issued to re-scan the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2009
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Francois-Marie Lefevere, Guillaume Raphael Poncin, Siraj Khaliq
  • Patent number: 7623274
    Abstract: Systems and methods using an orientation/position-sensitive calibration pattern for three-dimensional calibration of an imaging system, such as one used in a process for scanning documents are disclosed. The method generally includes positioning the pattern on a support, capturing images using cameras to be calibrated, each image containing at least a unique orientation and position sensitive sub-area of the pattern, determining a set of coordinate pairs of corresponding points in the image and the pattern for each image utilizing image data and pattern information, and performing optimization utilizing the sets of coordinate pairs to calibrate relative position, orientation, zoom, and/or lens distortion, etc. of each camera so as to construct a three-dimensional camera calibration model. The pattern is generally comprised of overlapping sub-areas of a minimum portion of the pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2009
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Francois-Marie Lefevere
  • Patent number: 7508978
    Abstract: A system and method locate a central groove in a document such as a book, magazine, or catalog. In one implementation, scores are generated for points in a three-dimensional image that defines a surface of the document. The scores quantify a likelihood that a particular point is in the groove. The groove is then detected based on the scores. For example, lines may be fitted through the points and a value calculated for the lines based on the scores. The line corresponding to the highest calculated value may be selected as the line that defines the groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Francois-Marie Lefevere, Marin Saric
  • Patent number: 7469059
    Abstract: Systems and methods for reorganizing raw image data captured by a camera for improved image processing are disclosed. The method generally includes separately compressing each color component, e.g., RGB, of raw grayscale image data to generate a reorganized grayscale data output file by a first processor, and performing color decoding to generate a color image output by a second processor. The raw grayscale image data may be that of an image of a target captured by a digital camera in an image capturing system. The second processor is separate from the first processor that records the raw grayscale image data of the image captured and may be physically external to the camera. The raw grayscale image data may be a 2N×2N array and the reorganized grayscale data output includes 4 N×N color-specific arrays where N is a factor of 8.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2008
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Francois-Marie Lefevere, Marin Saric, Dan S. Bloomberg
  • Patent number: 7463772
    Abstract: A system includes a stereoscopic camera to generate images of a document, such as a book, that can be converted to a three-dimensional contour of the document. A second camera take a two-dimensional image of the document. A model is generated that defines a mapping between the three-dimensional contour of the document and a two-dimensional flattened (de-warped) version of the document. The model may be applied to the two-dimensional image taken by the second camera to compensate for warping in the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2008
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Francois-Marie Lefevere, Marin Saric