Method and apparatus for obtaining symmetry information of objects

1. A method of obtaining symmetry information of objects, the method comprising:

obtaining an ultrasound image of the objects, the ultrasound image containing at least one first feature point;

acquiring at least one second feature point in a mirror image obtained by reversing the ultrasound image based on an arbitrary axis, the at least one second feature point in the mirror image matching the at least one first feature point in the ultrasound image under a predetermined algorithm;

acquiring a third feature point in the ultrasound image, the third feature point corresponding to a location of the second feature point in the mirror image;

determining a symmetry axis of the objects by using a center point between the first feature point and the third feature point; and

acquiring symmetry information indicating whether the objects are symmetrical about the determined symmetry axis.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acquiring the at least one second feature point comprises acquiring the at least one second feature point having second orientation information corresponding to first orientation information of the at least one first feature point.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acquiring the symmetry information comprises acquiring the symmetry information by using at least one of brightness, an edge shape, and a gradient of each first and second area divided based on the symmetry axis of the objects.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising displaying an asymmetrical part of the first and second areas based on the acquired symmetry information.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting the at least one first feature point from the ultrasound image and the at least one second feature point from the mirror image by using at least one of a block matching algorithm, a Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), and Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the symmetry axis of the objects comprises determining the symmetry axis of the objects by using at least one of a Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC), a Hough transform, a BIG-M method, and a least squares method.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computer-readable program for executing the method of claim 1 .

8. A method of obtaining symmetry information of objects, the method comprising:

obtaining an ultrasound image of the objects, the ultrasound image containing at least one first feature point;

acquiring second orientation information by reversing, based on an arbitrary axis, first orientation information of the first feature point among feature points of the objects in the ultrasound image;

acquiring a second feature point having orientation information corresponding to the second orientation information from among the feature points;

determining a symmetry axis of the objects by using a center point between the first feature point and the second feature point; and

acquiring symmetry information indicating whether the objects are symmetrical about the determined symmetry axis.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first orientation information and the second orientation information include an orientation histogram.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computer-readable program for executing the method of claim 8 .

11. An apparatus for obtaining symmetry information of objects, the apparatus comprising:

a feature point acquiring unit for:

obtaining an ultrasound image of the objects, the ultrasound image containing at least one first feature point,

acquiring at least one second feature point in a mirror image obtained by reversing the ultrasound image based on an arbitrary axis, the at least one second feature point in the mirror image matching the at least one first feature point in the ultrasound image under a predetermined algorithm, and

acquiring a third feature point in the ultrasound image, the third feature point corresponding to a location of the second feature point in the mirror image;

a symmetry axis determiner for determining a symmetry axis of the objects by using a center point between the first feature point and the third feature point; and

a controller for acquiring symmetry information indicating whether the objects are symmetrical about the determined symmetry axis.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the first feature point acquiring unit acquires the at least one second feature point having second orientation information corresponding to first orientation information of the at least one first feature point.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein he controller acquires the symmetry information by using at least one of brightness, an edge shape, and a gradient of each first and second area divided based on the symmetry axis of the objects.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising a display unit for displaying an asymmetrical part of the first and second areas based on the acquired symmetry information.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a feature point extractor for extracting the at least one first feature point from the ultrasound image and the at least one second feature point from the mirror image by using at least one of a block matching algorithm, a Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), and Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF).

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the symmetry axis determiner determines the symmetry axis of the objects by using at least one of a Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC), a Hough transform, a BIG-M method, and a least squares method.

17. An apparatus for obtaining symmetry information of objects, the apparatus comprising:

a controller for:

obtaining an ultrasound image of the objects, the ultrasound image containing at least one first feature point, and

acquiring second orientation information by reversing, based on an arbitrary axis, first orientation information of the first feature point among feature points of the objects;

a feature point acquiring unit for acquiring a second feature point having orientation information corresponding to the second orientation information from among the feature points; and

a symmetry axis determiner for determining a symmetry axis of the objects by using a center point between the first feature point and the second feature point,

wherein the controller acquires symmetry information indicating whether the objects are symmetrical about the determined symmetry axis.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the first orientation information and the second orientation information include an orientation histogram.