Method and System for Edge Detection

A method of operating a computer system for edge detection, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of images, each image of the plurality comprising a plurality of pixels;
• determining a phase congruency value for each pixel of the plurality based upon at least a first phase congruency component;
• producing a list of edge pixels from the determined phase congruency values;
• producing, a list of corner pixels from the determined phase congruency values;
• producing an edge image from the list of edge pixels and list of corner pixels using non-maximal suppression;
• producing an enhanced edge image by processing the edge image using hysteresis;
• and
• applying an object detection algorithm to the enhanced edge image to identify at least one object in the plurality of images.

A method of operating a computer system for edge detection, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of images, each image of the plurality comprising a plurality of pixels;
• determining a phase congruency value for each pixel of the plurality based upon at least a first phase congruency component;
• producing, a list of edge pixels from the determined phase congruency values;
• producing a list of corner pixels from the determined phase congruency values;
• identifying local maxima pixels between identified corner pixels as selected edge pixels;
• producing an edge image from the selected edge pixels;
• comparing an energy of pixels in an edge direction which are not in the edge image to a hysteresis threshold;
• identifying those pixels with energy greater than the hysteresis threshold as new edge pixels;
• producing an enhanced edge image by adding the new edge pixels to the edge image;
• and
• applying an object detection algorithm to the enhanced edge image to identify at least one object in the plurality of images.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for operating a computer system to detect edges, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer system, direct the computer system to:

• receive a plurality of images, each image of the plurality comprising a plurality of pixels;
• determine a phase congruency value for each pixel of the plurality based upon at least a first phase congruency component;
• produce a list of edge pixels from the determined phase congruency values;
• produce a list of corner pixels from the determined phase congruency values;
• produce an edge image from the list of edge pixels and list of corner pixels using non-maximal suppression;
• produce an enhanced edge image by processing the edge image using hysteresis;
• and
• apply an object detection algorithm to the enhanced edge image to identify at least one object in the plurality of images.