Polygon Contour Generation for Complex Shape Identification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image processing techniques struggle to efficiently analyze and identify complex shapes in images, particularly when dealing with ambiguous pixel cases and large numbers of branches and intersections.
Innovation Solution
The system processes an input polygon by performing a series of operations to generate a final polygon with a contour that represents the input polygon, including identifying the final polygon by matching its contour with a reference polygon in a library, and rendering an indication of its identity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If existing image processing techniques are used to analyze complex shapes, then processing can be performed, but processing time is excessive and accuracy is reduced due to ambiguous pixel cases and large numbers of branches and intersections
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing task into distinct phases: generating a skeleton representation of the input image, identifying branch points and endpoints, creating a graph structure from these elements, and finally matching against reference graphs. This segmentation allows each phase to be optimized independently, significantly improving processing speed while maintaining accuracy through systematic handling of complex shapes with multiple branches and intersections.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediate skeleton representation and graph structure as mediators between the raw input image and the final shape identification. The skeleton reduces complex shapes to their essential structural elements (branch points, endpoints, and connecting segments), while the graph structure provides a standardized format for comparison with reference shapes, thereby improving both processing efficiency and identification accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If detailed processing is performed on ambiguous pixel cases and complex branches, then identification accuracy improves, but processing time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by generating the skeleton representation and identifying structural elements (branch points, endpoints) before attempting shape identification. This preliminary structuring of the data allows subsequent matching operations to work with simplified representations rather than raw pixel data, reducing processing time while maintaining the accuracy needed to handle ambiguous cases and complex branches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical pixel-by-pixel analysis with a structural graph-based approach. Instead of examining each pixel individually to resolve ambiguous cases, the system uses the skeleton and graph representations to capture essential shape characteristics, substituting complex mechanical processing with more efficient graph theory-based methods that achieve the same identification accuracy with reduced time.
Data Source
AI summary
A device comprises processing circuitry to receive an input polygon comprised of a plurality of segments connected by a plurality of points, some of the plurality of segments extending in a first direction and remaining ones of the plurality of segments extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The processing circuitry performs a first set of operations on the input polygon to generate an intermediate polygon having a plurality of vertices, a number of the plurality of vertices being fewer than a number of the plurality of points. The processing circuitry performs a second set of operations on the intermediate polygon based on traits of the plurality of vertices to generate a final polygon with a contour that represents the input polygon, the contour including at least one section that extends in a third direction different than the first direction and the second direction.