System and method for whiteboard scanning to obtain a high resolution image
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsZhengyou Zhang, Li-Wei He
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This invention is directed toward a system and method for scanning a scene or object such as a whiteboard, paper document or similar item. More specifically, the invention is directed toward a system and method for obtaining a high-resolution image of a whiteboard or other object with a low-resolution camera. The system and method of the invention captures either a set of snapshots with overlap or a continuous video sequence, and then stitches them automatically into a single high-resolution image. The stitched image can finally be exported to other image processing systems and methods for further enhancement.
Claims29
A computer-implemented process for converting the contents of a planar object into a high-resolution image, comprising the process actions of:
- acquiring a sequence of images of [[a]] portions of a planar object which have been captured in a prescribed pattern and wherein each subsequent image overlaps a previous image in said pattern;
- extracting points of interest in each image;
- matching said points of said interest between each pair of successive images;
- computing a projective mapping between each pair of successive images in order to determine corresponding pixel locations in the images;
- and
- generating a composite image from said sequence of images using said projective mapping.
8-12. (canceled)
14-15. (canceled)
A system for converting markings on a planar object into a high resolution image, the system comprising:
- a general purpose computing device;
- and
- a computer program comprising program modules executable by the computing device, wherein the computing device is directed by the program modules of the computer program to, acquire a sequence of images of portions of a planar object having been captured in a prescribed pattern, each subsequent image overlapping a previous image in said pattern;
- extract points of interest in each image in said sequence;
- match said points of said interest between two successive images in said sequence;
- compute a projective mapping between each set of two successive images in said sequence of images in order to determine corresponding pixel locations in the images of each set;
- and
- generate a composite image from said images using said projective mapping.
22-25. (canceled)
A computer-readable medium having computer- executable instructions for converting a series of low resolution images of portions of a planar object into a high resolution image of said object, said computer executable instructions comprising:
- acquiring a series of images of the depicting portions of the same scene;
- extracting points of interest in each image of said series of images;
- matching said points of interest in each image of said series of images with the image preceding said image in said series of images;
- calculating a homography between each image of said series of images with the image preceding said image in said series of images;
- and
- stitching each image in said series of images together using said homographies to create a composite image.
(canceled)
31-35. (canceled)
41-43. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.