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US 9,177,223 B2Granted
Edge detection in images
AssigneeWelch Allyn, Inc.
InventorMiguel C. Mudge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An edge detection engine operates to scan an image to identify edges within the image. An annular aperture is used to locate the edges in the image. An output image is generated by the edge detection engine that identifies the locations of the edges found in the image.
Claims17
A method of detecting edges within a digital image, the method comprising:
- processing at least a portion of the digital image, using a computing device, in a pixel-by-pixel manner including at an analysis point in the digital image, by:
- identifying pixels surrounding the analysis point;
- identifying a location of a bisection that divides the pixels surrounding the analysis point into two halves;
- determining an angle of the bisection that maximizes a difference in intensities of the pixels between the two halves;
- determining that an edge is present in the digital image at the angle of the bisection;
- and
- moving the analysis point sequentially across the pixels of at least a portion of the digital image and repeating the processing.
4 more elements
An edge detection system comprising:
- a computing device comprising:
- a processing device;
- and
- a computer readable storage device storing data instructions that, when executed by the processing device generates an edge detection engine comprising:
- an annular aperture generator that operates to generate an annular aperture using a circle drawing algorithm;
- a line generator that generates lines representative of a set of bisectors of the annular aperture, wherein the line generator generates lines representative of the set of all possible bisectors of the annular aperture;
- an image scanning engine that utilizes the annular aperture as a mask to scan a digital image and identify edges within the digital image;
- and
- an output data generator that utilizes the lines to represent the edges in the output image.
6 more elements
A medical instrument comprising:
- an image capture device operable to capture an input image;
- and
- a computing device including an edge detection engine, the edge detection engine operable to process the input image to detect edges within the input image by processing the image using an annular aperture mask, the edge detection engine being further operable to:
- identify pixels surrounding an analysis point;
- identify a location of a bisection that divides the pixels surrounding the analysis point into two halves:
- determine an angle of the bisection that maximizes a difference in intensities of the pixels between the two halves;
- and
- determine that an edge is present in the digital image at the angle of the bisection.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.