Abstract: A method and apparatus for comparing reference planes during a vehicle wheel alignment procedure using a machine vision vehicle wheel alignment system. The machine vision vehicle wheel alignment system is configured to acquire position and orientation data associated with at least one optical target disposed in a field of view, to establish a first reference plane associated with a surface on which a vehicle undergoing an alignment procedure is disposed. Positional information associated with each wheel of the vehicle is then acquired by the machine vision vehicle wheel alignment system, and utilized to establish a second reference plane associated with each wheel of the vehicle. Differences between an orientation of the first reference plane and an orientation of the second reference plane are determined and identified to an operator or utilized to characterize components of the vehicle or vehicle support surface.

Abstract: An image scanner might capture an image corresponding to scan region 263 which might be somewhat larger than original 262. Image processing circuitry might then enlarge an image corresponding to scan region 263 (arrow 279), converting it into enlarged image 271. Within enlarged image 271, the image of original 262 might have been enlarged so as to become image 273, which might be somewhat larger than printing paper 274. This enlarged original image 273 which would be present within enlarged image 271 might then be printed by a printer. Four-sided borderless copying is possible.

Abstract: In accordance with an image processing method, a data region is detected from input image data. The input image data is rotated in accordance with inclination of an image. Determination is made whether the data region of rotated image data protrudes from an image area of the input image data. When detection is made of protruding, the smallest area including the data region is extracted from the rotated image data. When the data region of the rotated image data protrudes from the image area of the image data previous to rotation, the smallest region including the data region of the rotated image data is extracted from the rotated image data. Therefore, loosing information from image data subjected to rotational correction can be prevented. Also, the amount of image data subjected to rotational correction can be minimized.

Abstract: A method for determining an offset vector. The method includes obtaining an image of a first feature. An image of a second feature is also obtained. Also, a combination image of the first feature and the second feature is obtained. A plurality of composite images is utilized to determine an accurate offset vector between the first feature and the second feature in the combination image. The plurality of composite images is based on the image of the first feature and the image of the second feature.

Abstract: A method for extracting a subset of data from an ordered set of bi-dimensional matrices (data arrays) such as a sequence of pictures or a multi-dimensional matrix, for instance, is implemented by dedicated hardware that may be used each time it is necessary to extract a subset of data from a data array. For each matrix of data, the method calculates very quickly row and column indices of border data of the portion to be extracted, which are obtained by arithmetical operations among row and column indices of vertices of a closed area of interest. The method is implemented in a device for selectively transferring a data stream sampled at a certain bit-rate to a microprocessor unit or to a memory receiving the data stream at a different rate.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a method for replacing the face of an actor in a video clip, with the one of a user (U) of an entertainment video system (4), consisting in: a preparation phase, taking one first fixed picture of the face of the user; building a 3D-model of that face; replacing a first video picture of the actor with a reproduction of the face of the user; and while the clip is going on, replacing the face of the actor in the successive pictures of the video clip with successive pictures reproducing the face of the user, the transitions of the face of the actor being followed by applying at least orientation, size and displacement vectors to the 3D-model of face of the user on the basis of orientation, size and displacement vectors calculated for the face of the actor in the clip.

Abstract: An image display device (1) of the present invention is an image display device having a function of rotating a display image, the image display device including: a size comparison section (17) for making a comparison (i) between a vertical length of an outer edge of a display region in which the display image is displayed and a vertical length of the display image and (ii) between a horizontal length of the outer edge of the display region in which the display image is displayed and a horizontal length of the display image; and a center-point-of-rotation determination section (18) for determining a center point of rotation of the display image in accordance with a result of the comparison made by the size comparison section (17).

Abstract: Methods and apparatus to measure small shifts and rotations of video images captured in short succession after a first reference video image is captured, and to add the sequence of captures while shifting or rotating back the shifted or rotated images, in order to improve the SNR in low light conditions.

Abstract: A method for calculating a skew angle of an original image, executed at least in part on a computer system stores image data for the original image in an electronic memory, then forms an energy-normalized image according to the relative contrast amplitude of image features over each of a plurality of local image regions within the stored image data. A partitioned image is formed by partitioning the energy-normalized image into a number of sub-regions. A summed region is formed as a combination of image pixel data from the sub-regions. A Fourier magnitude spectrum is obtained by performing a Fourier transform on the summed region. The skew angle is calculated according to the peak value of a radial line integration function that is formed by integrating the Fourier magnitude spectrum along each of a plurality of lines of constant radial angles. An output signal indicates the calculated skew angle.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus is provided with an orientation setting part for setting a readable orientation of a document that enables an operator of the image forming apparatus to readily read and understand an image on the document when carrying out an image forming process to form the image on a recording medium, a folding direction setting part for setting a folding direction in which a Z-fold of the recording medium is to be made after the image forming process, and a Z-fold part for forming the Z-fold on the recording medium, based on the readable orientation and the folding direction.

Abstract: A method and system of deskewing an image. The method and system includes capturing a first image, forming a number of regions within the first image, generating a bounding rectangles for each region, calculating an area for each bounding rectangle, rotating each region by an angle within a predefined range, finding the angle that minimizes the area of each bounding rectangle, and rotating each region by the angle found.

Abstract: Column misalignment between a character string recognized by a MICR and a character string recognized by optical character recognition is corrected to improve character recognition reliability. A magnetic data reading unit detects the magnetism of a character string printed in magnetic ink and outputs the detected magnetic data. An image reading unit optically reads the same character string printed in magnetic ink and outputs the image data. A magnetic data recognition unit applies a character recognition process to the magnetic data output by the magnetic data reading unit and outputs magnetic data recognition result. An image data recognition unit applies character recognition to the image data output by the image reading unit and outputs image data recognition result.

Abstract: A method of reconstructing an original image from a printed and scanned image includes determining a plurality of transformation parameters including a rotation a of the scanning grid relative to the printing grid and a plurality of translation parameters which give a position of a node on the printing grid in a coordinate system of the scanning grid, generating a system of non-linear equations which represent the printed and scanned image as a function of: (i) the original image, (ii) a print/scan resolution ratio, and (iii) the transformation parameters, computing coefficients for the system using the resolution ratio, the transformation parameters and the given print model, generating a linear approximation of the system of non-linear equations, solving the linear approximation for an approximation of the original image, and creating a reconstructed original image from the approximation of the original image.

Abstract: Methods, systems and apparatus, including computer program products, for processing electronic images. An electronic image is transformed to generate a transformed image according to a first coordinate transformation. The transformed image is filtered, and a second coordinate transformation is applied to the filtered image to align the filtered image with an accumulation array that includes multiple accumulation elements. Each accumulation element is updated based on a respective value in the aligned image. The operations of generating a transformed image according to a first transformation, filtering the transformed image, applying a second transformation and updating each accumulation element are iterated for one or more further first coordinate transformations. These techniques can be implemented to detect features in the image using a graphics processing unit.

Abstract: System and method for estimating a rotational shift between a first discrete curve and a second discrete curve, where the second discrete curve is a rotationally shifted version of the first discrete curve. First and second discrete curves are received. A rotational shift between the first discrete curve and the second discrete curve is estimated based on the first discrete curve and the second discrete curve. A cumulative rotational shift is updated based on the estimated rotational shift. A rotationally shifted version of the second discrete curve is generated based on the cumulative rotational shift. The estimating, updating, and generating are performed in an iterative manner using the respective rotationally shifted discrete curve for each iteration until a stopping condition occurs, thereby determining a final estimate of the rotational shift between the first discrete curve and the second discrete curve. The final estimate may be used to perform curve matching.

Abstract: A color image forming apparatus of a so-called tandem type which has image forming units in correspondence with colors is provided. In the color image forming apparatus, a color discrepancy amount storage unit stores information of a color discrepancy amount of each of the image forming units, which is measured in advance. A first color discrepancy correcting unit performs color discrepancy correction in a pixel unit by performing coordinate conversion of bitmap data to be printed based on the information of the color discrepancy amount stored in the color discrepancy amount storage unit. A second color discrepancy correcting unit performs color discrepancy correction in less than a pixel unit by performing tone correction of the bitmap data corrected by the first color discrepancy correcting unit based on the information of the color discrepancy amount stored in the color discrepancy amount storage unit.

Abstract: A method and device for displaying content using an integral or remote controller for navigating the content based on dynamic image analysis of the motion of the controller, for example, by tilting. The controller is equipped with wide-angle optics and with a radiation sensor detecting either visible light or infrared radiation. The wide-angle optics may be directed towards the user, whereupon the radiation sensor receives useful images through the wide-angle optics. The images include contrast or thermal differences which it make possible to determine in which way the user has moved the controller. In more detail, a tilt angle or a corresponding change can be calculated and then, on the basis of the change, the content shown on a display is altered. The content is, for example, a menu, game scene or a web page.

Abstract: An apparatus and a concomitant method for detecting and recognizing text information in a captured imagery. The present method transforms the image of the text to a normalized coordinate system before performing OCR, thereby yielding more robust recognition performance. The present invention also combines OCR results from multiple frames, in a manner that takes the best recognition results from each frame and forms a single result that can be more accurate than the results from any of the individual frames.

Abstract: A digital camera acquires the image of an original including an original from a shot image acquired by shooting. The digital camera reduces the image of the original and corrects distortion of the reduced image which is originated from the characteristic of a lens. As the digital camera performs distortion correction on the reduced image, the number of arithmetic operations in distortion correction is reduced, making distortion correction simpler. The digital camera acquires a rectangle defined by the contour of the original, extracts the image of the original to acquire an original image before reduction, and acquires an associated projection-transformed image by affine transformation. The digital camera acquires pixel positions of the original image using an affine parameter, and acquires pixel positions of the image before distortion correction using a relational expression of distortion correction performed on the reduced image.

Abstract: A reproducing apparatus, an image data reproducing method, a program, and a storage medium each detects an attitude state of the reproducing apparatus, extracts a part of an area of image data obtained by an image pickup device, and reproduces the part of the area of the extracted image data. According to the detection result, the part of the area of the image data is changed to another part of the area and rotation processing of another part of the area is performed, thereby reproducing the another part of the area which was subjected to the rotation processing.

Abstract: The orientation of an image such as a radiographic image is deduced from the digital representation of the image. In one embodiment the curvature is calculated and a decision on the orientation of the image is obtained on the basis of the value of the calculated curvature.

Abstract: A system and method for character recognition with document orientation determination is shown. The method is a detection of simple page orientation based on a limited version of character recognition. The method includes binairizing an input image which has a plurality of alphanumeric characters with a first orientation. The method continues with extracting the connected components and determining a second orientation where the second orientation is based on a 90° turn clockwise or counterclockwise or, in the alternative, no turn from the first orientation. The second orientation will result in a 180° variance from the proper orientation or it will be the proper orientation. The method continues with implementing a limited version of optical character recognition for an analysis of a character and determining if that second orientation is upside down, based at least in part on the analysis. This method generally uses the character “i” for analysis.

Abstract: Described is a system for automatic digital photo orientation detection. We leverage online public photos with great content variation to extract effective features with layout information. Classification proceeds using an approximate nearest neighbors approach which scales well to massive training sets, hardly compromising efficiency. We have tested the method successfully on the largest data set to date of nearly 30,000 Flickr photos as well as both difficult and typical consumer usage scenarios. Though limited data are available for comparison across different systems, the proposed system significantly outperforms a state of the art system on a common data set.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for detecting skew in a document image, such as a check image, to produce a de-skewed image are described. One example method includes detecting one or more lines in the image and determining whether the one or more lines are reliable. Reliability of a line may be based on at least one of line length, straightness, and the presence of holes in the line. If one or more lines are reliable, the method may calculate a skew angle of the image based on the one or more reliable lines' orientations with respect to an orientation of the image. A comparison may also be made between lines detected in different regions of the check to determine if a difference between skew angles corresponding to each of the compared lines is lower than an error threshold.

Abstract: In accordance with embodiments of the invention, embedded interaction code (EIC) symbols are recognized. EIC dots are generated based on effective EIC symbols, which have been generated by processing an image containing the EIC symbols, by obtaining graylevels of selected positions of the EIC-symbols. Rotated EIC dots are generated based on the EIC dots by determining which grid cells correspond to the EIC symbols and by determining which direction is a correct orientation of the EIC symbols. A homography matrix is updated with orientation information based on the EIC dots. EIC bits are extracted from the rotated EIC dots based on graylevels of selected positions of the rotated EIC dots.

Abstract: Markers are laid out to express a predetermined code string by a plurality of continuous markers. The markers which form a marker string include at least two types of markers having different features which can be identified by image processing. Markers detected in the captured image are converted into numerical information, and are collated based on the numerical information and the predetermined code string. Using information associated with the markers, the coordinate information of each collated marker is calculated. The position and orientation of an image capturing device are calculated using the coordinate information. With a simple arrangement, the position and orientation of an image capturing device can be calculated.

Abstract: An original image obtained by imaging and a rotated image obtained by rotating the original image are made to be evaluation images. For each of the evaluation images, an inclination of the evaluation image with respect to an axis parallel to a plumb line in the image is evaluated. According to the evaluation result, the original image is rotated/corrected so as to reduce the inclination. More specifically, the horizontal edge components of the evaluation image are calculated in a matrix state and the magnitudes of the horizontal edge components are projected in a vertical direction so as to calculate a vertically projected value QV[n]. The original image is rotated/corrected in the direction to increase the magnitude of the horizontal-direction high-hand component of the vertical projection value QV[n]. The same applies when a horizontally projected value QH[m] corresponding to vertical edge components is used.

Abstract: Computer software for and method of determining livestock ownership comprising inputting an image of a livestock brand whose ownership is to be determined, automatically determining one or more computed closest fits to the image from a database of livestock brands, and outputting owner information from the database of livestock brands concerning one or more of the one or more computed closest fits.

Abstract: A method and system for detecting faces at different views within images that allocates the computational effort based on a prior probability associated with a view is provided. A face detection system determines whether an image contains a face using detectors that are adapted to detect faces at various views and a filter that filters out windows of the image that are provided to a detector based on a prior probability associated with the view of the detector. Each view has an associated prior probability that a face from a collection of real-life home photographs will be at that view. The face detection system allocates increasing computational effort to a detector as the prior probability of its view increases.

Abstract: When composition of a first captured image having a tilted subject image is corrected, the first image is rotated such that the subject image stands in an erect position, according to the attitude of the camera achieved during capture of the first image. Images corresponding to missing portions, which arise in the image area for recording due to rotation, are extracted from a second captured image as compensation images. The second image is obtained by capturing an image of the same subject as that captured by the first image, at the different angle of view and attitude of the camera. An image obtained by enlarging the compensation images extracted from the second image according to the angle of view employed for capturing the first image is synthesized with the rotated first image, to thus make the subject image stand in an erect position and to obtain a corrected image without involving a decreased number of pixels.

Abstract: A method of determining component misalignment in a multi-modality imaging system includes imaging a plurality of target objects with a first modality unit to generate a tomographic image data set and imaging the plurality of targets with a second modality unit to generate an emission image data set. The method also includes determining a location of the target objects in the emission image data set to produce emission target object location coordinates, calculating a positional alignment vector for each target object based on the emission target object location coordinates, and aligning the multi-modality imaging system based on the positional alignment vectors.

Abstract: A method and device for estimating an orientation of an object, such as a face, within an image. One example method includes estimating an orientation of the image. The image is then analyzed using first and second candidate object orientations to generate respective first and second confidence values. The first candidate object orientation is equal to the estimated image orientation and the second candidate object orientation differs from the first candidate object orientation by a first predetermined angle, such as 180°. The method further includes estimating the orientation of the object based at least in part on the first and second confidence values.

Abstract: After binarization is performed, the adjacency relationship of connection fields is analyzed from a labeled input image on the basis of the characteristics of the structure of a barcode, thereby extracting a barcode field. A unit width, which is to be used as the module width of the barcode, is determined in accordance with the widths of the connection fields of black pixels in the extracted barcode field. Based on the arrangement of the magnification of the unit width, the barcode is recognized by collating a prescribed barcode pattern with the input width pattern. In the aforementioned collation, the influence of noises, for example, can be reduced by setting an allowable range for the collation of the widths in each magnification, and the barcode can be recognized in an improved precision even in a low-resolution image photographed using a small image sensor built in a mobile terminal.

Abstract: The present application discloses a system for determining document boundaries inc1uding an image sensor, a backing opposed to the sensor, and an image processor. The image processor analyzes candidate edges imaged from a document between the sensor and the backing. The image processor determines which candidate edges are document boundaries.

Abstract: Embodiments of a scanning method utilizing a virtual frame holder are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes using a computer drive scan program to perform a scanning preview, determining whether to utilize a frame holder specification parameter data source. In this embodiment, the frame holder specification is selected from the frame holder specification parameters data source. In an additional embodiment, a frame holder specification parameter is created from the frame holder specification.

Abstract: A method and system for correcting the inclination of a scanned document in which two integers “a” and “b” are input to perform a rotation process. Each time an x-coordinate of a target pixel of a rotated image is changed by one pixel, “a” is added to a factor “kwy”. When “kwy” becomes more than or equal to “b”, “b” is subtracted from “kwy”, and a y-coordinate of a corresponding target pixel of an original image is changed by one pixel. Each time a y-coordinate of the target pixel is changed by one pixel, “a” is added to a factor “kwx”. When “kwx” becomes more than or equal to “b”, “b” is subtracted from “kwx”, and an x-coordinate of the corresponding target pixel of the original image is changed by one pixel. Four pixels including the corresponding target pixel are used to acquire a pixel value of the target pixel by two-dimensional interpolation by ratios acquired by dividing “kwx” and “kwy” respectively by “b”.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for aligning the two images (528) of a binocular eyewear display (500, 600) with respect to their vertical and horizontal alignment, and magnification. The method for aligning images comprise generating a signal from a display modification system (718) based on stored values indicative of misalignment of the binocular eyewear display (500, 600); and adjusting, in accordance with the signal, an image (528, 1052, 1152, 1252) to be displayed. The reflection angle of one or more electrowetting devices (708, 1000, 1300) is modified to move the image in an X and/or Y direction, or to focus the image.

Abstract: Disclosed methods and systems perform electronic registration of digitally captured images in real-time and performs accurate and robust digital image processing by analyzing the entire digitally captured image.

Abstract: When first and second images are input, a partial image feature calculating unit calculates feature values of partial images of the two images. A maximum matching score position searching unit searches for a position of the second image that attains to the highest matching score with each of the partial images of the first image. A movement-vector-based similarity score calculating unit calculates similarity between the first and second images, using information related to that partial image whose movement vector has direction and length within a prescribed range, which movement vector representing positional relation between a reference position for measuring, for each of the partial images, the position of the partial image in the first image and the position of the maximum matching score corresponding to the partial image searched out by the maximum matching score position searching unit. The images as the object of collation may belong to the same category classified based on the feature values.

Abstract: The present invention relates to scanning multi-sided documents. The scanner device scans the multi-sided document one side at a time. The image of each side is tiled vertically or horizontally to form a composite image, which is transferred from the source to the application based on the TWAIN protocol. The source is TWAIN compliant, and it allows any TWAIN application to scan and process multi-sided cards as a single composite image. The source provides a TWAIN user interface which allows the user to select scanning parameters and options. The invention also provides a method of implementing a TWAIN source to use the document sensor on a scanner to efficiently scan single or multi-sided cards based on the TWAIN protocol. The source checks the status of the document sensor when the TWAIN user interface is displayed, and automatically starts scanning when a document is detected by the sensor.

Abstract: According to the present invention, the face of a subject person can be rapidly detected. An image input unit inputs an image to be processed. A photographing-position input unit inputs photographing-position information attached to the processed image. An angle-range information determination unit determines an angle range, where face detection should be performed to the processed image, on the basis of the information obtained by the photographing-position information input unit. On the basis of information indicating the determined angle range, under the control of a process control unit, a face detection unit performs face detection to the processed image input by the image input unit in predetermined angle increments. A face integration unit integrates all of face data detected by a basic-angle-range face detection unit into face information and then outputs the information.

Abstract: The CPU of a face orientation detection apparatus which acquires an image frame photographed by a camera through a cable detects the face region in the horizontal direction of the acquired image frame by executing computer programs stored on a hard disk. Moreover, the CPU detects the eye position in the vertical direction from the image frame, and detects the nose position in the horizontal direction based on the detected eye position. Furthermore, the CPU detects the orientation of the face included in the image frame, based on the detected nose position and face region.

Abstract: Methods and systems for correcting skew in digital images are disclosed according to embodiments of the invention. Embodiments may include receiving the endpoints of the skew-line, calculating the sine and cosine of the skew-angle from the endpoints and rotating the image using the sine and cosine of the skew-angle. Embodiments of the invention may also include various ways for a user to provide a skew-line and/or endpoints.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus prints images on print sheets, and insets tab-index sheets between the printed print sheets. The image forming apparatus includes an orientation detecting unit which detects an orientation of a print sheet being supplied, a rotation-angle selecting unit which selects a rotation angle of an image such that the image is arranged in an orientation matching the detected orientation of the print sheet and in a predetermined positional relationship with a tab of the tab-index sheets, and a printing unit which prints the image being rotated by the selected rotation angle.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for deskewing a scanned printed document is described. The original printed document is scanned with the scanner to obtain a first digital image, which contains skew (rotation) with respect to the original printed document. The first digital image is digitally flipped around a centerline to obtain a second digital image, which is printed to generate a second printed document. The second printed document is scanned using the same scanner to obtain a third digital image, which contains skew errors with respect to the second printed document. The third digital image is digitally flipped around the centerline to obtain a final digital image, which is substantially free of the skew introduced by the scanner.

Abstract: An image transfer apparatus for transferring an image on a sheet medium having a frame and a reader connected to the frame for reading the image on the sheet medium. The image moves relative to the reader in a process direction when the reader reads the image. A positioning system is connected to the frame for positioning the sheet medium at a predetermined skew angle relative to the process direction.

Abstract: A method for processing wafers includes learning a first pattern at a de-skew site on a first wafer layer, saving the first patterns in a recipe for de-skewing wafers, learning a second pattern at the de-skew site a second wafer layer, and saving the second pattern in the same recipe for de-skewing wafers. Learning the first pattern may include determining a score of uniqueness for the first pattern. The method further includes finding the de-skew site on the second wafer layer using the first pattern before learning the second pattern. Finding the de-skew site includes determining a score of similarity between the first pattern and the second pattern. Learning the second pattern is performed when the score of similarity is less than a threshold value. A recipe for de-skewing wafers includes multiple patterns of a de-skew site of a wafer, wherein the patterns include a first pattern at the de-skew site on a first wafer layer and a second pattern at the de-skew site on a second wafer layer.

Abstract: A technique involves distinguishing between foreground and background regions of a digital image of a scene. First and second images are captured of nominally a same scene. The first image is a relatively high resolution image taken with the foreground more in focus than the background, while the second image is a relatively low resolution reference image taken with the background more in focus than the foreground. Regions of the captured images are assigned as foreground or background. In accordance with the assigning, one or more processed images are rendered based on the first image or the second image, or both.

Abstract: The apparatus and method of the invention provide for assigning coordinates to samples in an array. The method is based on a hierarchical pattern matching to a local lattice structure that is used as a template. Starting from the best local match, the pattern is expanded hierarchically to encompass the entire array.

Abstract: Techniques for printing an image on a print medium. Information regarding the actual size of the medium, or the actual placement of the medium at a print zone, is used to shift the image to properly align the image on the medium. The image can be shifted digitally, or by movement of the medium relative to the printing element.