Abstract: A method and system for recognizing hand signs that include overlapping or adjoining hands from a depth image. A linked structure comprising multiple segments is generated from the depth image including overlapping or adjoining hands. The hand pose of the overlapping or adjoining hands is determined using either (i) a constrained optimization process in which a cost function and constraint conditions are used to classify segments of the linked graph to two hands or (ii) a tree search process in which a tree structure including a plurality of nodes is used to obtain the most-likely hand pose represented by the depth image. After determining the hand pose, the segments of the linked structure are matched with stored shapes to determine the sign represented by the depth image.

Abstract: A method and system for recognizing hand signs that include overlapping or adjoining hands from a depth image. A linked structure comprising multiple segments is generated from the depth image including overlapping or adjoining hands. The hand pose of the overlapping or adjoining hands is determined using either (i) a constrained optimization process in which a cost function and constraint conditions are used to classify segments of the linked graph to two hands or (ii) a tree search process in which a tree structure including a plurality of nodes is used to obtain the most-likely hand pose represented by the depth image. After determining the hand pose, the segments of the linked structure are matched with stored shapes to determine the sign represented by the depth image.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method of processing a source image of at least one seedling may include: a) segmenting the source image into at least a foreground portion and a background portion to form a segmented image, b) skeletonizing the segmented image to form a skeletonized image, the skeletonized image including a skeleton, c) dividing the skeleton into a plurality of segments, d) identifying alternate separations of the skeleton, each alternate separation including at least two groups, each group including at least one segment and potentially relating to a individual seedling, and e) evaluating a plurality of the alternate separations as a function of at least one of: 1) individual angles defined by connecting segments of corresponding groups, 2) combined angles defined by connecting segments of corresponding groups, 3) length defined by connecting segments of corresponding groups, and 4) unused segments.