Abstract: There is provided a hybrid human/computing arrangement which advantageously involves humans in the process of scrutinizing video image frames and processing said video image frames to detect and characterize objects of interest while ignoring other features of said image frame. The invention overcomes the problems of missed and false detections by humans. Said features of interest may comprise equipment and installations found on or in the vicinity of roads including road signs of the type commonly used for traffic control, warning, and informational display.

Abstract: There is provided an efficient, fast image processing apparatus with low error probability for rapidly scrutinizing a digitized video image frame and processing said image frame to detect and characterize features of interest while ignoring other features of said image frame. There is further provided an efficient fast image processing method with low error probability for rapidly scrutinizing a digitized video image frame and processing said image frame to detect and characterize features of interest while ignoring other features of said image frame. In a first embodiment of the invention an image processing apparatus comprises an imaging device coupled to a digital electronic image processor. Video data from the imaging device is linked to a location data source. Objects of interest in a scene are identified by comparing computed Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSERs) of captured images with MSERs of images of objects contained in a object template database.