Method and system for optimizing an image for improved analysis of material and illumination image features
View Patent ↗In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a camera is provided. The camera comprises a lens and a sensor to record an image focused by the lens in N color bands, wherein N equals a number of color bands, with the number and respective locations and widths of the N color bands being selected to optimize the image for processing.
1. A camera comprising a lens and a sensor to record an image focused by the lens, the sensor being configured to record the image in N color bands, wherein N equals a number of color bands, with the number and respective locations and widths of the N color bands being selected as a function of experimentation with preselected material spectra, varying band number, band location and bandwidth to determine optimum conditions of a preselected criteria, to optimize the image for processing of the image for separation of illumination and material components of the image.
2. The camera of claim 1 wherein N is selected to minimize a number of spectral mimics in the image.
3. The camera of claim 1 wherein the preselected criteria comprises a count of spectral mimics.
4. The camera of claim 1 wherein the sensor is a hyperspectral sensor having M bands, and wherein N is a subset of M, selected to optimize the image for processing.
5. A method for optimizing a camera design, comprising the steps of:
selecting as a function of experimentation, N color bands, wherein the experimentation comprises the steps of preselecting material spectra, and varying band number, band location and bandwidth to determine optimum conditions of a preselected criteria such that N equals a number of color bands, with the number and respective locations and widths of the N color bands being selected to optimize an image for processing of the image for separation of illumination and material components of the image;
providing a camera sensor arranged and configured to record images in the N color bands.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the preselected criteria comprises a count of spectral mimics.
7. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of providing a camera sensor arranged and configured to record images in the N color bands is carried out by providing a hyperspectral sensor having M bands, and wherein N is a subset of M, selected to optimize the image for processing.