Methods for determining the exterior points of an object in a background

Claim 1

A method for determining the exterior points of an object in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for the object; (c) determining the perimeter points of the object, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value and a column-position coordinate value; (d) creating a perimeter buffer, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points; (e) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer first by row and then by column to create a row-column sorted perimeter buffer; and (f) designating as the exterior points of the object all the points on each row which are a first predetermined number of pixels before the perimeter point having the lowest column-position coordinate value and a second predetermined number of pixels beyond the perimeter point having the highest column-position coordinate value for each respective row.

Claim 2

A method for determining the exterior points of an object in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for the object; (c) determining the perimeter points of the object, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value and a column-position coordinate value; (d) creating a perimeter buffer, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points; (e) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer first by row and then by column to create a row-column sorted perimeter buffer; and (f) designating as the exterior points of the object all the points on each row which are a first predetermined number of pixels before the perimeter point having the lowest column-position coordinate value and a second predetermined number of pixels beyond the perimeter point having the highest column-position coordinate value for each respective row.

Claim 3

A method for determining the exterior points of an object in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for the object; (c) determining the perimeter points of the object, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value and a column-position coordinate value; (d) creating a perimeter buffer, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points; (e) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer first by column and then by row to create a column-row sorted perimeter buffer; and (f) designating as the exterior points of the object all the points on each column which are a first predetermined number of pixels before the perimeter point having the lowest row-position coordinate value and a second predetermined number of pixels beyond the perimeter point having the highest row-position coordinate value for each respective column.

Claim 4

A method for determining the exterior points of an object in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for the object; (c) determining the perimeter points of the object, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value and a column-position coordinate value; (d) creating a perimeter buffer, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points; (e) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer first by column and then by row to create a column-row sorted perimeter buffer; and (f) designating as the exterior points of the object all the points on each column which are a first predetermined number of pixels before the perimeter point having the lowest row-position coordinate value and a second predetermined number of pixels beyond the perimeter point having the highest row-position coordinate value for each respective column.

Claim 7

A method for determining the exterior point of an object in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for the object; (c) determining the perimeter points of the object; (d) determining the interior points of the object; (e) labeling the interior points of the object with a predetermined gray level value; and (f) defining an exterior contour region for each object by: (i) creating a perimeter buffer for the object, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value and a column-position coordinate value, (ii) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer first by row and then by column to create a row-column sorted perimeter buffer for the object, and (iii) designating as the exterior points of the object all the points in each row which are a predetermined number of pixels from the perimeter point having the lowest column-position coordinate value and the highest column-position coordinate value for each respective row, wherein each designated exterior points has a value other than the predetermined gray level value.

Claim 8

A method for determining the exterior point of an object in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for the object; (c) determining the perimeter points of the object; (d) determining the interior points of the object; (e) labeling the interior points of the object with a predetermined gray level value; and (f) defining an exterior contour region for each object by: (i) creating a perimeter buffer for the object, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value and a column-position coordinate value, (ii) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer first by row and then by column to create a row-column sorted perimeter buffer for the object, and (iii) designating as the exterior points of the object all the points in each row which are a predetermined number of pixels from the perimeter point having the lowest column-position coordinate value and the highest column-position coordinate value for each respective row, wherein each designated exterior points has a value other than the predetermined gray level value.

Claim 9

A method for determining the exterior points of an object in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for the object; (c) determining the perimeter points of the object; (d) determining the interior points of the object; (e) labeling the interior points of the object with a predetermined gray level valve; and (f) defining an exterior contour region for the object by: (i) determining the perimeter points of the contour region, (ii) creating a contour region perimeter buffer, the contour perimeter buffer comprising the contour region perimeter points, each contour region perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value, a column-position coordinate value and a direction code vector, the direction code vector comprising a first and a second direction code value for each contour region perimeter point, the first direction code value describing the relationship of each respective contour region perimeter point to the next contour region perimeter point and the second direction code value describing the relationship of each respective contour region perimeter point to the previous contour region perimeter point, (iii) sorting the contour region perimeter points in the contour region perimeter buffer in a predetermined order to create a sorted contour region perimeter buffer, (iv) assigning to each contour region perimeter point in the sorted contour region perimeter buffer a status variable having one of a first and a second value, the value of the first status variable being determined by the first and second direction code values, and (v) designating as the exterior points of the object each point on the same line segment as the contour region perimeter point being examined and lying between the examined contour point and the next contour perimeter point in the sorted contour region perimeter buffer, the examined contour region perimeter point being assigned the first value of the status variable, where each designated exterior point has a value other than the predetermined gray level value.

Claim 10

A method for determining the exterior points of an object in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for the object; (c) determining the perimeter points of the object; (d) determining the interior points of the object; (e) labeling the interior points of the object with a predetermined gray level valve; and (f) defining an exterior contour region for the object by: (i) determining the perimeter points of the contour region, (ii) creating a contour region perimeter buffer, the contour perimeter buffer comprising the contour region perimeter points, each contour region perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value, a column-position coordinate value and a direction code vector, the direction code vector comprising a first and a second direction code value for each contour region perimeter point, the first direction code value describing the relationship of each respective contour region perimeter point to the next contour region perimeter point and the second direction code value describing the relationship of each respective contour region perimeter point to the previous contour region perimeter point, (iii) sorting the contour region perimeter points in the contour region perimeter buffer in a predetermined order to create a sorted contour region perimeter buffer, (iv) assigning to each contour region perimeter point in the sorted contour region perimeter buffer a status variable having one of a first and a second value, the value of the first status variable being determined by the first and second direction code values, and (v) designating as the exterior points of the object each point on the same line segment as the contour region perimeter point being examined and lying between the examined contour point and the next contour perimeter point in the sorted contour region perimeter buffer, the examined contour region perimeter point being assigned the first value of the status variable, where each designated exterior point has a value other than the predetermined gray level value.

Claim 17

A method of identifying at least one valid object having at least one valid object predetermined attribute value in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for at least one candidate object, wherein the candidate object has at least one candidate object attribute value; (c) determining the perimeter points of the candidate object, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value and a column-position coordinate value; (d) creating a perimeter buffer, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points; (e) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer first by row and then by column to create a row-column sorted perimeter buffer; (f) designating as the exterior points of the object all the points on each row which are a predetermined number of pixels before the perimeter point having the lowest column-position coordinate value and a predetermined number of pixels beyond the perimeter point having the highest column-position coordinate value for each respective row; (g) characterizing the candidate object by the candidate object attribute value; and (h) validating the candidate object having the valid object predetermined attribute value to identify the valid object.

Claim 18

A method of identifying at least one valid object having at least one valid object predetermined attribute value in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for at least one candidate object, wherein the candidate object has at least one candidate object attribute value; (c) determining the perimeter points of the candidate object, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value and a column-position coordinate value; (d) creating a perimeter buffer, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points; (e) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer first by row and then by column to create a row-column sorted perimeter buffer; (f) designating as the exterior points of the object all the points on each row which are a predetermined number of pixels before the perimeter point having the lowest column-position coordinate value and a predetermined number of pixels beyond the perimeter point having the highest column-position coordinate value for each respective row; (g) characterizing the candidate object by the candidate object attribute value; and (h) validating the candidate object having the valid object predetermined attribute value to identify the valid object.

Claim 23

A method of identifying at least one valid object having at least one valid object predetermined attribute value in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for at least one candidate object using at least one automatically calculated threshold, wherein the candidate object has at least one candidate object attribute value; (c) determining the perimeter points of the candidate object; (d) determining the interior points of the candidate object; (e) labeling the interior points of the candidate object with a predetermined gray level value; (f) defining an exterior contour region of the candidate object by: (i) determining the perimeter points of the contour region; (ii) creating a contour region perimeter buffer, the contour region perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points of the contour region, each contour region perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value, a column-position coordinate value and a direction code vector, the direction code vector comprising a first and a second direction code value for each contour perimeter point, the first direction code value describing the relationship of each respective contour region perimeter point to the next contour region perimeter point and the second direction code value describing the relationship of each respective contour region perimeter point to the previous contour region perimeter point; (iii) sorting the perimeter points in the contour region perimeter buffer in a predetermined order to create a sorted contour region perimeter buffer; (iv) assigning to each contour region perimeter point in the sorted contour region perimeter buffer a status variable having one of a first and a second value, the value of the first status variable being determined by the first and second direction code values; (v) designating as the exterior points of the candidate object each point on the same line segment as the contour region perimeter point being examined and lying between the examined contour region perimeter point and the next perimeter point in the sorted contour region perimeter buffer, the examined contour region perimeter point being assigned the first value of the status variable, wherein the designated points have a value other than the predetermined gray level value; (l) characterizing the candidate object by the candidate object attribute value; and (m) validating the candidate object having the valid object predetermined attribute value to identify the valid object.

Claim 24

A method of identifying at least one valid object having at least one valid object predetermined attribute value in a background, comprising the steps of: (a) generating an image of the object and the background; (b) searching the image for at least one candidate object using at least one automatically calculated threshold, wherein the candidate object has at least one candidate object attribute value; (c) determining the perimeter points of the candidate object; (d) determining the interior points of the candidate object; (e) labeling the interior points of the candidate object with a predetermined gray level value; (f) defining an exterior contour region of the candidate object by: (i) determining the perimeter points of the contour region; (ii) creating a contour region perimeter buffer, the contour region perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points of the contour region, each contour region perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value, a column-position coordinate value and a direction code vector, the direction code vector comprising a first and a second direction code value for each contour perimeter point, the first direction code value describing the relationship of each respective contour region perimeter point to the next contour region perimeter point and the second direction code value describing the relationship of each respective contour region perimeter point to the previous contour region perimeter point; (iii) sorting the perimeter points in the contour region perimeter buffer in a predetermined order to create a sorted contour region perimeter buffer; (iv) assigning to each contour region perimeter point in the sorted contour region perimeter buffer a status variable having one of a first and a second value, the value of the first status variable being determined by the first and second direction code values; (v) designating as the exterior points of the candidate object each point on the same line segment as the contour region perimeter point being examined and lying between the examined contour region perimeter point and the next perimeter point in the sorted contour region perimeter buffer, the examined contour region perimeter point being assigned the first value of the status variable, wherein the designated points have a value other than the predetermined gray level value; (l) characterizing the candidate object by the candidate object attribute value; and (m) validating the candidate object having the valid object predetermined attribute value to identify the valid object.

Claim 27

The method of one of claims 1, 5, 6, 15, 17, 18, 19 or 20, wherein the step of searching the image includes the sub-steps of: (i) generating a gray level histogram of the image, the gray level histogram having an entropy function, (ii) entropically selecting a threshold gray level value such that the entropy function of the histogram is maximized, (iii) scanning the image for at least one object using the entropically selected threshodl gray level value, and (iv) tracing the candidate object having boundary gray level values determined by the entropically selected threshold gray level value.

Claim 28

The method of one of claims 5, 6 or 18, wherein the step of determining the interior points of the object comprises the sub-steps of: (i) creating a perimeter buffer, the perimeter buffer comprising the perimeter points of the object, each perimeter point having a row-position coordinate value, a column-position coordinate value and a direction code vector, the direction code vector comprising a first and a second direction code value for each perimeter point, the first direction code value describing the relationship of each respective perimeter point to the next perimeter point and the second direction code value describing the relationship of each respective perimeter point to the previous perimeter point, (ii) sorting the perimeter points in the perimeter buffer in a predetermined order to create a sorted perimeter buffer, (iii) assigning to each perimeter point in the sorted buffer a status variable having one of a first and a second value, the value of the status variable being determined by the first and second direction code values, and (iv) designating as the interior points of the object each point on the same line segement as the perimeter point being examined and lying between the examined perimeter point and the next perimeter point in the sorted perimeter buffer, the examined perimeter point being assigned the first value of the status variable.