Vision system for object detection, recognition, classification and tracking and the method thereof
The present invention relates to a method 100 for object detection ( 140 ), recognition, classification and tracking using a distributed networked architecture comprising one or more sensor units ( 20 ) wherein the image acquisition and the initial feature extraction are performed and a gateway processor ( 30 ) for further data processing. The present invention also relates to a vision system ( 10 ) for object detection ( 140 ) wherein the method may be implemented, to the devices of the vision system ( 10 ), and to the algorithms implemented in the vision system ( 10 ) for executing the method acts.
1 . A method of object detection, identification and localization, the method including acts of:
acquiring an image from a camera;
generating a pre-processed image by performing image pre-processing of the said acquired image;
detecting and identifying an object in the pre-processed image using a computer vision detection algorithm;
extracting a feature on the detected and identified object using a computer vision data feature extraction algorithm and generating a reduced dataset that includes extracted data features;
localizing the object; and
approximating a distance of the detected object to the camera from the extracted data features from the reduced data set.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the acts are performed on a single image.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the act of the approximating the distance is performed by:
acquiring a pixel object distance of the detected object from the reduced dataset; and
comparing the pixel object distance with a tabulated physical object height and a tabulated camera parameter.
4 . The method of claim 1 , being performed in a sequence and further comprising an act of motion tracking the localized object.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising an act of approximating an object-camera angle between a feature point in the feature and a center point in a feature plane that is parallel to an image plane of the camera.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the acts are performed on a single image.
7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising an act of combining the approximation of the distance and the approximation of angle to improve the localization of the object.
8 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the angle approximation is used on one object, using two sensors with overlapping fields of view and triangulation, for a more precise object location.
9 . A vision system configured to perform the method of claim 5 , wherein the vision system is self-calibrated based on at least two approximated angles.
10 . The method of claim 1 performed by acquiring images from multiple cameras.
11 . The method of claim 10 further including acts of
approximating a first object-camera-distance to a detected object in a first preprocessed image,
approximating a second object-camera-distance to a detected object in a second pre-processed image, where the first pre-processed image captures a first scene, and the second preprocessed image captures a second scene which completely or partly overlaps the first scene, and
using the first and second object-camera-distances to validate that the detected object in the first and second pre-processed image is the same object.
12 . The method of claim 10 further including an act of estimating an orientation of the object.
13 . A vision system configured to perform the method of claim 10 , wherein the vision system is self-calibrated based on at least two approximated distances.
14 . A vision system configured to perform the method of claim 10 , wherein the vision system is self-calibrated based on at least two approximated angles.
15 . The method of claim 10 , further including an act of time-synchronization of acquiring a plurality of images.
16 . The method of claim 10 , further including an act of spatial coordination of acquiring cameras by deducing relative geometries of the cameras from their pixel correspondence.
17 . A sensor unit configured to perform the acts of claim 1 .
18 . The sensor unit according to claim 17 further comprising sensor communication means arranged for transmitting detected, identified and localized object data.
19 . A vision system comprising one or more sensor units according to claim 17 .