# US 2008/0187177 A1 · Method and apparatus for representing and searching for an object in an image

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 2008/0187177 A1
- Document ID: US20080187177A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 12/062,371
- Filed: 2008-04-03
- Published: 2008-08-07
- Earliest claimed: 2000-07-07
- Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Miroslaw Bober; James Cooper
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20080187177A1

## CPC

- G06F 16/5854: {using shape and object relationship}
- G06V 10/46: Descriptors for shape, contour or point-related descriptors, e.g. scale invariant feature transform [SIFT] or bags of words [BoW]; Salient regional features (colour feature extraction G06V10/56)
- G06V 10/752: {Contour matching}
- Y10S 707/99931: Database or file accessing
- Y10S 707/99943: Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

## Abstract

A method representing an object appearing in still or video image for use in searching, wherein the object appears in the image with a first two-dimensional outline, by processing signals corresponding to the image, comprises deriving a view descriptor of the first outline of the object and deriving at least one additional view descriptor of the outline of the object in a different view, and associating the two or more view descriptors to form an object descriptor.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of representing an object appearing in an image, the method comprising deriving a plurality of view descriptors of the object, each view descriptor corresponding to a different view of the object, and associating the view descriptors to form an object descriptor, wherein at least one view descriptor comprises a representation of the shape or colour or texture of the object in the respective view.

### Claim 2

A method of representing an object appearing in a group of images, the method comprising deriving a plurality of view descriptors of the object, each view descriptor corresponding to a different view of the object, and associating the view descriptors to form an object descriptor, wherein at least one view descriptor comprises a representation of the shape or colour or texture of the object in the respective view.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the group of images is a sequence of images.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the sequence of images is from a video or film.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the shape view descriptors are derived using a curvature scale space representation.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1 which is for indexing the image or collection of images for searching purposes.

### Claim 7

A method of indexing images or groups of images stored in a database for searching purposes, the method comprising identifying an object appearing in an image or group of images, deriving representations of a plurality of different views of the object, and associating the view descriptors to form an object descriptor, wherein at least one view descriptor comprises a representation of the shape or colour or texture of the object in the respective view.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

A method of searching for a query object in stored images and groups of images, the method comprising inputting a query, matching the query with representations of the stored images derived using a method as claimed in claim 1, and retrieving the closest matches.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the query input includes indicating whether or not the search should be limited to images or groups of images which show the query object in the same view as the query view.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

An apparatus adapted to implement a method as claimed in claim 1.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable process steps, for implementing a method as claimed in claim 1.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

A computer system programmed to operate according to a method as claimed in claim 1.