Automated tattoo recognition techniques

A system comprising:

• one or more computers;
• and
• one or more storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
• obtaining, by the one or more processors, an image that likely includes a tattoo;
• determining, by the one or more processors, a set of one or more segmentation parameters for the image;
• identifying, by the one or more processors, a plurality of blocks associated with the tattoo based on the determined set of one or more segmentation parameters for the image, wherein each block corresponds a particular region of the image that (i) likely includes the tattoo and (ii) comprises an overlapping portion included in one or more adjacent blocks;
• computing, by the one or more processors, a set of feature statistics for each block included in the plurality of blocks;
• generating, by the one or more processors, a segmentation mask for the image based on the set of feature statistics computed for the plurality of blocks;
• and
• providing, by the one or more processors, the segmentation mask for output.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage device encoded with computer program instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining, by the one or more processors, an image that likely includes a tattoo;
• determining, by the one or more processors, a set of one or more segmentation parameters for the image;
• identifying, by the one or more processors, a plurality of blocks associated with the tattoo based on the determined set of one or more segmentation parameters for the image, wherein each block corresponds a particular region of the image that (i) likely includes the tattoo and (ii) comprises an overlapping portion included in one or more adjacent blocks;
• computing, by the one or more processors, a set of feature statistics for each block included in the plurality of blocks;
• generating, by the one or more processors, a segmentation mask for the image based on the set of feature statistics computed for the plurality of blocks;
• and
• providing, by the one or more processors, the segmentation mask for output.