US5649032A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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System for automatically aligning images to form a mosaic image
Assignee: Sarnoff Corp
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Filing: 1994-11-14
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Granted: 1997-07-15
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Expires: 2014-11-14
Abstract
Abstract A system for automatically generating a mosaic from a plurality of input images. The system sequentially executes an image alignment process, an editing process, and a combining process such that, from a sequence of images, the system automatically produces a seamless mosaic for various applications. Illustrative applications for the mosaic include: (1) a mosaic based display system including an image printing system, (2) a surveillance system and (3) a mosaic based compression system. The mosaic based display system permits a system user to display, manipulate and alter a mosaic. The mosaic based compression system exploits the temporal and spatial redundancy in image sequences and efficiently compresses the image information. The compression system can be used for compressing image information for storage in a storage device or can be used for compressing image information for transmission through a band-limited transmission channel. The surveillance system combines the mosaic construction system, the compression system and the display system into a comprehensive system for remote motion detection.
Inventors
- 👤 Peter J. Burt
- 👤 Michal Irani
- 👤 Stephen Charles Hsu
- 👤 Padmanabhan Anandan
- 👤 Michael W. Hansen
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 09:35
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06V; G06V10/00; G06V10/20; G06T; G06T3/00; G06T3/40; G06T3/4038; G06T11/00; G06V10/24; H; H04; H04N; H04N19/00; H04N19/20; H04N19/23; H04N19/50; H04N19/503; H04N19/60; H04N19/61; H04N19/63; H04N9/00; H04N9/79; H04N9/80; H04N9/804; H04N9/8042; H04N9/8047; G06V10/10; G06V10/16; H04N19/30; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/78; H04N5/781; H04N5/84; H04N5/85
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 33
Claim 1
Independent Claim
61 words
A system for automatically generating a mosaic from a single sequence of images comprising: means for automatically aligning image information in each of said images in said single sequence of images with common image information in at least one other image in said single sequence of images; means, connected to said aligning means, for composing said aligned images into a mosaic.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
61 words
A system for automatically generating a mosaic from a single sequence of images comprising: means for automatically aligning image information in each of said images in said single sequence of images with common image information in at least one other image in said single sequence of images; means, connected to said aligning means, for composing said aligned images into a mosaic.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said aligning means further includes means for selecting a reference coordinate system within which the images are aligned.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system of claim 2 wherein said selected reference coordinate system is the coordinate system of one of the images.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system of claim 2 wherein said selected reference coordinate system is the coordinate system of the mosaic.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
17 words
The system of claim 2 wherein said selected reference coordinate system is a fixed reference coordinate system.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
The system of claim 2 wherein said selected reference coordinate system is an arbitrary reference coordinate system.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
43 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said aligning means further comprises: defining means for defining a transformation for aligning the images to a reference coordinate system; and performing means for performing said transformation whereby the images are aligned with the reference coordinate system.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said composing means further comprises means for masking or cropping at least one of said images.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said aligning means further comprises means for generating an image pyramid for each of said images.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system of claim 9 wherein said aligning means further comprises means for performing a course-to-fine alignment using the image pyramids for each of said images.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
181 words
A method for generating a dynamic mosaic by combining a previously generated mosaic with an input image from a single sequence of input images, comprising the steps of: (a) aligning said input image with said previously generated mosaic, where the alignment is performed with respect to a reference coordinate system and image information contained in said input image is aligned with common image information in said previously generated mosaic, where a portion of said input image containing said common image information overlaps a portion of said previously generated mosaic containing said common image information; (b) selecting said portion of said input image and said portion of said previously generated mosaic to be combined to form an updated mosaic; (c) combining the selected portion of the input image with selected portion of the previously generated mosaic to produce an updated mosaic; and (d) repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) for each input image in said single sequence of input images to continuously update the updated mosaic with at least a portion of each input image in said single sequence of input images.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
181 words
A method for generating a dynamic mosaic by combining a previously generated mosaic with an input image from a single sequence of input images, comprising the steps of: (a) aligning said input image with said previously generated mosaic, where the alignment is performed with respect to a reference coordinate system and image information contained in said input image is aligned with common image information in said previously generated mosaic, where a portion of said input image containing said common image information overlaps a portion of said previously generated mosaic containing said common image information; (b) selecting said portion of said input image and said portion of said previously generated mosaic to be combined to form an updated mosaic; (c) combining the selected portion of the input image with selected portion of the previously generated mosaic to produce an updated mosaic; and (d) repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) for each input image in said single sequence of input images to continuously update the updated mosaic with at least a portion of each input image in said single sequence of input images.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 11 wherein said aligning step further comprises the steps of: defining a transformation for aligning said input image to the reference coordinate system; and performing said transformation whereby said input image is aligned with the reference coordinate system.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 11 wherein said selecting step further comprises the step of masking or cropping said previously generated mosaic.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 11 wherein said selecting step further comprises the step of removing selected images from said previously generated mosaic.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 11 wherein said aligning step further comprises the step of generating an image pyramid for both said input image and said previously generated mosaic.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 15 wherein said aligning step further comprises the step of performing a course-to-fine alignment using the image pyramid for said input image and the image pyramid of said previously generated mosaic.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
96 words
The method of claim 16 wherein said aligning step further comprises the steps of: coarsely aligning said input image and said previously generated mosaic at a selected pyramid resolution level by: tiling said previously generated mosaic to produce a plurality of mosaic tiles; selecting plurality of windows containing landmarks having a highest image energy within the input image; selecting a mosaic tile from said plurality of mosaic tiles; and correlating said input image windows with said selected mosaic tile, where a correlation peak indicates a coarse alignment of said input image and said previously generated mosaic.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 17 wherein said step of selecting a mosaic tile further comprises the step of selecting a tile containing at least a portion of an image that occurred sequentially prior to the input image.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 17 wherein said aligning step further comprises the steps of: finely aligning said input image to said previously generated mosaic by: selecting relatively small patches of the input image having a highest resolution; and correlating said relatively small patches of the input image with said selected tile of said mosaic, where a correlation peak indicates a fine alignment of said input image and said previously generated mosaic.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of displaying said updated mosaic.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of adding ancillary information as an overlay upon a displayed updated mosaic.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 21 wherein said adding step further comprises the steps of highlighting portions of the updated mosaic, color enhancing portions of the updated mosaic, and outlining portions of the updated mosaic.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 20 wherein said displaying step further comprises the step of image processing said updated mosaic.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
68 words
A method for generating a static mosaic from a single sequence of input images comprising the steps of: aligning a plurality of said input images with one another, where the alignment is performed with respect to a reference coordinate system; selecting portions of said input images to be combined to form a static mosaic; and combining the selected portions of the input images to produce a static mosaic.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
68 words
A method for generating a static mosaic from a single sequence of input images comprising the steps of: aligning a plurality of said input images with one another, where the alignment is performed with respect to a reference coordinate system; selecting portions of said input images to be combined to form a static mosaic; and combining the selected portions of the input images to produce a static mosaic.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 24 wherein said aligning step further comprises the steps of: defining a transformation for aligning the selected portions of the input images to the reference coordinate system; and performing said transformation whereby the input images is aligned with the reference coordinate system.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 24 wherein said selecting step further comprises the steps of masking or cropping said input images.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 24 wherein said aligning step further comprises the step of generating an image pyramid for each of said input images.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 27 wherein said aligning step further comprises the steps of performing a course-to-fine alignment using the image pyramid for each of said input images.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
85 words
The method of claim 28 wherein said aligning step further comprises the steps of: coarsely aligning the input images at a selected pyramid resolution level by: tiling each of said images; selecting a plurality of windows within said input images containing landmarks having a highest image energy; selecting a tile from an input image; and correlating said plurality of windows with said selected tile, where a correlation peak indicates a coarse alignment of said selected input image with a second image that contains the landmark.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
80 words
The method of claim 29 wherein said aligning step further comprises steps of: finely aligning said input images by: selecting relatively small patches of a selected input image having a highest available resolution within said image pyramid for said selected input image; and correlating said relatively small patches of the selected input image with a selected tile of a second input image, where a correlation peak indicates a fine alignment of said selected input image with the second input image.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2000-07-14 | 2001-01-13 | 2001-07-15 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2004-07-14 | 2005-01-13 | 2005-07-15 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2008-07-14 | 2009-01-13 | 2009-07-15 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |