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A Machine Vision System As An

Automatic Sorting And Decoding Tool

Jen-Ya Chou, Robert Plice, Donald Mead

Jen-Ya Chou, Robert Plice, Donald Mead, "A Machine Vision System As An
Automatic Sorting And Decoding Tool," Proc. SPIE 0579, Intelligent Robots
and Computer Vision IV, (11 December 1985); doi: 10.1117/12.950839

Event: 1985 Cambridge Symposium, 1985, Cambridge, United States

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 AA Machine Vision System
System As
As An
An Automatic
Automatic Sorting
Sorting And
And Decoding
Decoding Tool
Tool

Jen-Ya
Jen -Ya Chou,
Chou, Robert
Robert Plice,
Plice, Donald Mead

International Robomation
Robomation/Intelligence
/Intelligence
2281 Las
2281 Palmas Dr.,
Las Palmas Dr., Carlsbad,
Carlsbad, California 92008

Abstract

Machine vision
Machine vision is
is an
an emerging technology and
emerging technology and an
an integral
integral element
element of
of aa factory
factory automation
automation
concept embracing robotics,
concept robotics, CAD /CAM, CIM,
CAD/CAM, CIM, FMS
FMS and
and numerous
numerous related capabilities.
capabilities. Although
still in its
still in its infancy -- especially in the
especially in the methodology of performing symbolic
symbolic domain
domain tasks,
tasks,
it surely
it surely plays vital role
plays a vital role inin evolving manufacturing fromfrom today's fixed automation to
today's fixed to
future automation.
flexible future This paper describes
describes the
the elements of
of productivity
productivity andand speed
speed
improvement currently achieved with the
improvement the aid
aid of
of aa machine
machine vision
vision system. The system is is an
an
electro-optical
integrated electro- optical system which automatically readsreads mark
mark sense
sense labels
labels and
and forwards
forwards
the
the encoded data to to sort
sort controllers.
controllers. Also,
Also, through
through the
the description of of this automatic
automatic
sorting system design -- in in both software
software and hardware senses,
senses, it
it will
will bebe recognized
recognized thatthat
complex
complex scene can be carried
scene understanding can carried out
out successfully
successfully under
under elaborate
elaborate useuse of
of aa priori
priori
knowledge about the
the scene
scene to
to be
be recognized.
recognized.

Introduction

We approaching a
We are approaching a global
global economy where information
information processing,
processing, handling,
handling, and
and control
control
revolutionize the
via computer will revolutionize the entire
entire process
process of
of making,
making, distributing and even using
and even
goods
goods and services. can call the
One can the current
current period the
the second
second industrial
industrial revolution
revolution as
as
computers
computers penetrate systems; the
penetrate production systems; the key
key word
word is
is flexible
flexible automation.
automation. It
It addresses
a competitive, efficient enterprise optimizing the use of plant, plant, equipment
equipment and
and labor
labor
control and
through computer control and communication.
communication. An overview on the developmental history of
on the of
the system will be given to assist in in developing
developing more
more valuable, and thorough
valuable, concise and thorough
specification based on
on primitive
primitive guide
guide lines.
lines. System and module
System configuration and module design
design will
be presented afterwards. Finally the limits of the
the limits the system future work are
system and possible future are
discussed.

The Nature
The Nature of Machine Vision
of Machine

Vision
Vision data are thethe most
most complex and most usefuluseful sensory inputinput for
for humans. AA human
vision system performs aa variety of of operations
operations in in image
image analysis
analysis inin order
order to
to carry
carry out
out aa
pre-assigned
pre- task.
assigned task. In completing that
In that task,
task, two dimensional images or or even
even three dimen-
sional senses are analyzed to extract useful information information related to to the
the task.
task. While
the
the human system evolves
human vision system in a self
evolves in self-programming fashion which seems
-programming fashion seems immediate
immediate andand
effortless, computer vision requires individual programming of each particular task. task.
Thus, the first
Thus, the first and foremost requirement
and foremost requirement inin building
building an an image analysis application
image analysis application program
is
is to
to define the task
task to
to be
be performed
performed byby the
the system.
system. goal and
The goal and knowledge
knowledge about
about the
the task
task
performed, which
to be performed, which generally
generally are
are high
high-level capabilities, will guide
-level capabilities, guide the lowlow-level
-level or
visual processes.
iconic visual the low
Usually the low-level
-level oror iconic
iconic processes
processes involve
involve image enhance-
ment, feature
ment, feature segmentation and extraction, etc. The building of a top-down
top -down relation
relation
the received image
between the image to existing models
to the previously existing models of
of the
the world
world (i.e.
(i.e. goals
goals or
or
tasks) which
tasks) explain, describe and abstract
which explain, abstract thethe image
image information
information leaves
leaves aa large
large represent-
represent-
ation gap.
gap. The
The main
main work
work of computer vision then then involves
involves the
the design
design of
of these
these intermediate
intermediate
representation and
representation also the implementation
and also implementation ofof algorithms
algorithms to to construct
construct them
them and them
and relate them
other.
to each other.

As far as. the state of the art is is concerned,

concerned, although the the iconic
iconic domain
domain of
of image
image
analysis has
analysis has reached a well-established
well -established base, the methodology of performing symbolic symbolic
domain
domain tasks isis still in
in the infancy stage.
stage. As aa matter ofof fact,
fact, the
the higher
higher levels
levels of
of
symbolic processing require the flexibility
symbolic flexibility of conventional "Von Neumann"
of aa conventional type computer
type
while the
while the iconic
iconic stages
stages of image
image analysis
analysis allow for
for the
the use
use of
of aa very
very fast
fast array
array processor-
processor-
. These
These principles led to
principles led to the
the design
design of a vision computer in in which aa conventional
conventional "host
"host
computer" is supported by a number of "co-processors",
"co- processors ", i.e., fast array processors,
i.e., fast
provide the
which provide power needed during the iconic phase of image
the computing power image analysis,
analysis, toto
perform industrial inspection tasks in real time.
real time. Usually,
Usually, inin typical
typical applications
applications of of
industrial
industrial image
image analysis,
analysis, the iconic phase
the iconic of image
phase of image analysis accounts
accounts for 60%60% to 90%
90% of
of
the total
total number of operations to
number of to be
be performed.
performed. It is
It is also
also noted that
that the
the higher one
one gets
gets
in
in the
the processing
processing hierarchy,
hierarchy, the less regularly
the less regularly structured are the the data
data structures
structures oneone has
to
to deal with; however,
deal with; however, the
the degree of data reduction occurring
occurring at
at each
each stage
stage is
is also
also larger.
larger.

494 //SPIE
SPIE Vol
Vol.579
579Intelligent
IntelligentRobots
Robotsand
andComputer
Computer Vision
Vision (1985)

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 System Specifications
System Sorting
Specifications - Package Sorting

Current Operation
Current

current package sort,

In the current
In sort, multiple automatic sortsort belts
belts (A.S. belts) are
(A.S. belts) for
are used for
sorting the packages. Each
sorting Each A/S is manned by four people (2
belt is
A/S belt (2 facers, 11 keyer,
keyer, and
and 11
label applier). A package is placed on an automatic sort belt (A /S belt)
(A/S belt) from anan
accumulated slide by one
slide by of the
one of "facers".
the "facers ". The package
The is placed
package is on the belt in
placed on in a position
that
that allows the "keyer"
allows the "keyer" to enter the sort
enter the data on
sort data the package
on the computer by
into aa computer
package into by means of aa
means of
keypad.
numeric keypad. A printer controlled by the sort computer (one for every 22 lines) lines)
generates aa two
two digit label (discussed
label below) to
(discussed below) applied by
to be applied "labeler".
the "labeler
by the ". The sort
The
controller tracks the
then tracks
controller then the package as as the belt moves and diverts the package at at the
proper location.
location. The two digit
The label is
digit label is placed the package
on the
placed on to save keystrokes by
package to the
by the
labeler in
labeler in aa similar
similar operation
operation in the automated package secondaries.
package secondaries.

Required change
Required in operation
change in

vision system will eliminate the

The vision
The thereby double throughput.
the keying and thereby Accuracy
will improve threefold. The system is an over- designed to
scanner designed
the -beltscanner
over-the-belt the
to read the
service and
service destination information on aa specially
and destination label.
developed label.
specially developed

General system specification

General system specification

The machine vision system

The system will operate approximately six six hours per day. The system
The
and decode labels
locate and
shall locate
shall labels according to
to the
the equipment
equipment specification
specification and such
transmit such
and transmit
information to the
information to the sort
sort system controller in with these
accordance with
in accordance specifications.
these specifications.

Label
Label performance
1. Label
1. shall be located and decoded at up to
Label shall 300 feet per minute start,
under start,
accelerating,
accelerating, decelerating,
decelerating, and
and stop conditions.
stop conditions.

2. Label shall
2. Label be located
shall be located and decoded at rotations of
at rotations 360 degree
of 360 in the
degree in plane.
horizontal plane.
the horizontal

3.
3. Label shall be
Label shall at depth
be located and decoded at field of
of field
depth of inches.
30 inches.
of 30

4.
4. Label shall be located and
Label shall with aa skew
decoded with
and decoded horizontal of
from horizontal
skew from degrees.
15 degrees.
of 15

shall
5. Label shall
5. be located and decoded over
be 30 inch
over a 30 belt width
inch belt width to the plane
to the plane and motion of
and motion of
the belt.

6. Labels
6. Labels that
that are
are readable shall be located
readable shall decoded at
and decoded
located and greater
combined accuracy of greater
at aa combined
than 99% for
than designated fields
for all designated fields in the label
in the of the
label of remaining 1%,
the remaining no more
1%, no than 0.5%
more than 0.5%
shall be misreads.
overall shall
overall
7.
7. Label shall be
Label shall be located
located and decoded and
and decoded and information transmitted to
information transmitted the sort
to the controller in
sort controller in
750 milliseconds after
under 750 after full
full exposure of the
exposure of label to
the label scanner.
the scanner.
to the In events,
In all events,
the scanner cycle
the scanner cycle time shall not
not exceed 750750 milliseconds. The vision system must be
locate and
able to locate
able and decode
decode the
the label in a
label in a maximum cycle
cycle time
time of 750 milliseconds. This
cycle
cycle time begins when aa label
time begins label enters the field
enters the of view of the vision system and ends
field of
upon transmission of information to
sort information
of the sort special purpose
the special
to the computers.
purpose computers. not
While not
decoding
decoding the
the label
label information, the system
information, the be able
must be
system must to search
able to presence
search for a label presence
at
at a maximum cycle time
time of
of 150 milliseconds.
150 milliseconds.

definition
task definition
Computer vision task

As
As required by the
the 'system specification and
system specification guided by
and guided important points
by several important discussed
points discussed
under the
under the nature of machine vision are ready for
heading, we are
vision heading, intelligence
for this machine intelligence
system definition.
system task definition.

SPIE Vol.579
SPIE Vol. 579 Intelligent
Intelligent Robots
Robots and
and Computer
Computer Vision
Vision(1985)
(1985)// 495
495

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 General
General specifications
Defining the task in
the task in machine vision usually is the most crucial
is the of the
part of
crucial part problem.
the problem. AA
precise
precise formulation of the task at
of the at hand is first step
is the first step in system.
in using the vision system.
Whereas humans cancan readily view the e.g.,
image, e.g.,
the image, aa television picture,
picture, and immediately
and immediately
point out
point out the
the features
features on
on the image
image that
that are related to
are related to the does not
task, aa machine does
the task, not have
such an innate capability.
such capability. Since, computer vision,
in computer
Since, in vision, there isis no "little man"
no "little the
inside the
man" inside
box viewing a monitor, intelligence must be
monitor, machine intelligence instead,
be provided instead, by the application
by the
software. Consequently, the task definition becomes aa responsiblity of
the of the
the application
programmer. On
On the other hand,
hand, it
it is quite useful for the programmer to use his own
is quite own
"vision to evaluate
system" to
"vision system" the steps
evaluate the in the
steps in image analysis
the image procedures he
analysis procedures developing.
is developing.
he is

Using the package sort system as example,

an example,
as an we are required to identify the
to identify number
the number
92008 on
92008 on the
the label
label placed arbitrarily
arbitrarily on
on top of aa package whose size might vary from
top of 1/4
from 1/4
ft. (see
to 33 ft.
ft. to
ft. Figure 1)
(see Figure 1) and
and catch the signal at up to
signal at 300 feet
to 300 minute.
per minute.
feet per

1. -the -label "signal"

Find-the~label
1. Find "signal" amidst
amidst the "clutter 1 of conveyor belt,
the "clutter" belt, printing
printing on
on the package,
the package,
noise.
and other optical noise.
and

the label
2. Determine the
2. orientation.
label orientation.

3.
3. Identify
Identify the
the numbers
numbers through dot for
through aa marked dot the set
for the of possible
set of values
integer values
possible integer from 00
on each row
to 99 on
to column.
or column.
row or

O 00000000
DDDDDDDDa

D O

O
O DCICI
00000000
naananoDa
PPPPQPPPP
O 00000000
nnnapnppp
QPDPPPPDD
0 0 D0 D0 0 0 0 0
annanapap
D CI

O00000000
aappppppp
D O 0
0000 00
Dpppanapn
O
DPDPPDPDD
O 00000000
DPDPOPDPD
000000000

1.
Figure 1. Label Layout
Representative Package Label Layout

The steps of
The of the hierarchical image analysis
hierarchical image require considerable
procedure require
analysis procedure real-time
considerable real -time
processing capabilities.
capabilities. Referring back to label performance item
to label 7, the
item 7, 750 milliseconds
the 750
maximum scanner cycle time time puts aa lot of pressure
lot of the design of
on the
pressure on label and
of label application
and application
software. Design of of the
the label
label thus
thus becomes an classical
almost classical
an almost "signal problem:
"signal design" problem:
design
design the
the label
label so as to to optimize
optimize its
its signal
signal to
to noise the processing
and the
noise and speed required
processing speed to
required to
it with
read it -- determined computer.
pre--determined
with a a pre computer.

Constraints
Constraints That
That Help To Save
Save Computation
Computation Time And Increase
Time And Robustness
Increase Robustness

As
As discussed inin the previous section, the image to be acquired and and subsequently
processed is related to the task definition. Therefore, the
the image must contain the
contain the
appropriate scene
appropriate scene assumed inin the task definition.
task definition. The features related to the
The image features the task
called "signal" are
called are generally cluttered by
generally cluttered information - - "the
unuseful information
by unuseful clutter".
"theclutter ". image
The image
will
will contain also random features not
random features very well
not very defined, such
well defined, as printing
such as logos on
and logos
printing and on the
boxes which are
boxes "noise".
are classified as "noise ". The task information we
task information will be the marked
we have will
sort data.
sort data. After normal pre-feature-enhancements,
normal pre- image segmentation which separates
feature -enhancements, the image
features of
the features of interest from thethe "clutter" might still
"clutter" might still not
not be appropriate and efficient
and efficient
more time
(using more
(using time than available).
than available).

Even
Even under
under static conditions,
conditions, random
random clutter
clutter slows down the
slows down processing.
the processing. The main reason
The
for this is the global characteristics of such gray level
of such level distribution of of the spatial
the spatial
may be
frequency distribution may quite similar and difficult to
be quite to distinguish. Consequently,
differences
differences may be found here only
only by looking for
by looking relationships between
specific relationships
for specific individual
between individual
pixels (i.e.
pixels using a
(i.e. using a priori
priori knowledge about the task
about the scene).
task scene). if one is
example, if
For example, trying
is trying
to find the
to the edges, the signal property now
the now is connectedness of a chain
is the connectedness adjacent
chain of adjacent
pixels. lines,
for straight lines,
is looking for
If one is the connected pixels, moreover,
pixels, moreover, must be
colinear. Our
Our problem
problem here,
here, however,
however, is
is to create aa property
to create of the
property of itself.
label itself.
the label

496 //SPIE
SPIEVol.
Vol. 579
579 Intelligent
IntelligentRobots
Robots and Vision (1985)
and Computer Vision (1985)

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 For example, let
let us assume
assume we
we have
have aa "label
"label scene"
scene" in
in which
which we
we expect
expect to
to find
find aa marked
marked
pattern
pattern enclosed
enclosed by pattern which has unique
by a registration pattern unique characteristic such as as three
three
concentric rings in
concentric rings in the
the plane.
plane. Once the registration
Once the registration pattern has been uniquely
uniquely identified,
identified,
the signal can be located and decoded through the geometric relationship in in three
dimensional space.
space. This is
is what we call
call "a priori
priori knowledge" the scene.
knowledge" about the scene. The
The new
task shall
task shall be
be to three registration
to find the three registration rings
rings in
in order to
to determine the location of of
the
the marked label.
label.
Controlled image acquisition
Controlled image
The previous section has explored some kind of filtering concept bothboth in
in the
the hardware
hardware
(label design)
(label design) and programming) making much more effective use
and software (application programming) use of
general
general connectivity analysis. However, the more blobs -- including signal,
signal, clutter
clutter and
and
noise -
noise - we are faced
faced with, the more computation time the connectivity analysis will
require. Through the the registration ring design, we
ring design, we cut
cut the processing time
time by
by aa factor
factor of
of
3; that
3; that is,
is, approximately 900 milliseconds actual
actual cycle
cycle time. It is
is still not
not enough toto
the design
meet the design specification -- 750 milliseconds. That led led us to get
us to get help through
through some
some
optical methods
optical - to
methods - to change the
the image
image acquisition
acquisition process.
process.
The procedure
The procedure isis similar to
to the previous registration label design. task
The new task
now includes
definition now image acquisition
includes controlled image acquisition in
in order
order to
to simplify
simplify the
the overall
overall goal
goal
even further.
further. This
This includes
includes the control
control of
of environmental
environmental conditions
conditions under which thethe image
image
is acquired.
is acquired. an optical
We employed an optical filter
filter so
so that
that the
the vision system can more efficiently
efficiently
locate the
locate the label
label without any ambiguity. Now we achieve the
the 750
750 milliseconds processing
processing
goal.
cycle design goal.
Geometrical modeling and
Geometrical and information
information decoding
decoding
The
The inclusion
inclusion of
of the
the registration
registration ring
ring patterns
patterns not
not only
only simplify
simplify the
the task
task goal
goal for
for easy
easy
detection of the
detection of the body of
of the label itself, but also provide a mathematical tool tool to
precisely pinpoint each
precisely pinpoint eachmark
mark-fill-in-circle.
-fill -in- circle. As three points
As three in space uniquely
points in uniquely determine
determine aa
plane, the
plane, label plan
the label plan geometrically compensates skewing
geometrically compensates skewing error
error up to 15
up to 15 degrees
degrees (this number
(this number
can be
can be even
even bigger as long as
bigger as as the
the image
image acquisition
acquisition does
does not
not exceed
exceed the
the distortion
distortion limit
limit of
of
the optics). The
the lens optics). The decoding of information is is done by scanning the the confined squared
squared
marking region
region cell
cell by cell
cell for the
the marked dot. Automatic
Automatic thresholding andand aa high
high pass
pass
filter
filter have
have been employed toto ensure
ensure robustness.
robustness.
and operation
System configuration and operation
We
We will give level description for
give a top level for this
this computer vision system,
system, to
to provide aa
better
better understanding concept.
understanding of the physical concept.
The scanner is
The is an
an integrated
integrated electro-
electro-optical
optical system
system which automatically
automatically reads
reads mark
mark sense
sense
labels and
labels forwards the encoded information
and forwards information to
to aa sort
sort controller.
controller.
Labels: There are two major parts
There parts in
in the
the label
label
Registration bars.
bars. Both sides ofof the
the label
label contain
contain registration
registration bars. These are used
by the vision
by the to find
vision computer to find the
the label
label and
and determine
determine its
its orientation
orientation in
in space.
space.
The mark sense
The sense information.
information.
The
The information is marked on
information is on the
the label
label with
with aa writing
writing
instrument. When the package subsequently passes
When the passes through
through the
the scanner,
scanner, the
the only
only requirement
requirement
is that
is that the label
label has
has to
to be
be up.
up.
Operation
Optics. Four solid state cameras
Four cameras are
are utilized
utilized toto provide thethe requisite combination
combination ofof
area
area coverage and resolution.
resolution. Each camera processes an an image
image which contains 240 240 xx 256
256
picture elements.
elements. The
The camera footprint
footprint or coverage
coverage pattern
pattern atat a plane 30 inches
plane 30 inches above the
conveyor belt is is shown inin Figure 2.2. The wide
wide field camera
camera (camera #1)#1) covers
covers the
the full
full
width of the
the belt. This
This field of view is is offset by one one inch
inch from that of of three narrow
field cameras. The narrow field cameras each each cover a a 15
15 inch by 15
15 inch
inch field
field of
of view.
view.
The field
The field of
of view are overlapping
view of the cameras are overlapping asas shown
shown inin Figure 2.2. cameras are
These cameras are
organized such that if the label diagonal is is less
less than
than 7.5 inches, the label
7.5 inches, label will be
contained solely within the field
contained solely field of
of view
view of
of the
the single
single camera.
camera. These cameras areare located
located
approximately 14.5
approximately 14.5 feet
feet from
from the
the surface
surface of
of the
the conveyor
conveyor belt.
belt. The wide field
field camera
camera has
has aa
40mm
40mm focal
focal length
length lens
lens and
and each
each of
of the
the narrow
narrow field
field camera
camera has
has aa 75
75 mm
mm focal
focal length
length lens
lens to
to
the total
cover the total range
range ofof depth ofof field 3030 inches.
inches. In front
In front of each lens
lens is
is an
an optical
optical
filter whose
filter whose function has been described
function has described above.
above.

SPIE
SPIE Vol.
Vol 579 Intelligent Robots
Robots and
and Computer
Computer Vision
Vision(1985)
(1985)// 497

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 30"
F 1° ' 36'
1
1

0-----tts"
15"
15'
I5"-=
IS
I5, I

I
I
I
I

2.
Figure 2. ZODIAC
ZODIAC Scanner
Scanner Camera
Camera Footprint
The
The strobe. The
The strobe is
is required to provide
required to images for
provide crisp images for the
the vision
vision computer
computer inin
spite
spite of
of the
the motion
motion of the label
label beneath the camera. The strobe
strobe is
is designed toto have
have aa
number of unique features:
features:
1.
1. 10
10 pulse
pulse per
per second
second repetition
repetition rate
2.
2. 44 different
different amplitude selects
3.
3. charge control
strobe charge control
4.
4. current feedback indicator
current indicator to
to ensure
ensure strobing
strobing took
took place.
place.
computer.
Vision computer. vision computer is
The vision is a standard P256I
P256I vision
vision computer
computer in
in aa NEMA
NEMA 12
12
box
box with air conditioner.
conditioner. The
The only exception to this
only exception this is
is that
that the
the disc
disc controller
controller board
board has
has
additional
additional electronics to to process the
the input photocell
photocell and provide the
the 20
20 ma
ma current
current loop
loop
drive sort controllers.
drive required by sort controllers.
AA feature
feature of the disc controller is it has
is that it has provision for
for EEPROM
EEPROM memory circuits
memory circuits
which
which serve asas a nonvolatile program store. This disc
disc controller board also has
also has aa 6803
6803
microprocessor which is
is used to
to advantage in
in outputing the data to to the
the sort controller
sort controller
without consuming significant computer
without computer processing
processing time.
time.
Software. The software is
is comprised of
of two
two major parts:
parts: wide field
field processing and
narrow field processing.
processing. The
The wide field processing determines which
wide field which camera
camera to
to use
use for the
the
narrow determines the
narrow field processing and also determines the height
height of
of the
the label.
label.
Within the
the narrow field
field processing, three major segments.
processing, there are three segments. Table 11 shows
shows
these major functions
these functions and
and the
the time
time required forfor each function.
function. These are:
These are: automatic
automatic
threshold, label find,
threshold, label read.
find, and label read. As shown in
As in Table
Table 1,
1, these
these take
take approximately
approximately
ms. The
200 ms. The narrow field processing isis thus approximately 600 ms. ms. The wide field
wide field
is approximately 150
processing is 150 as
ms for
for aa total
total processing
processing time
time of
of 750
750 ms.
ms.
Table 1. Processing Time for Label Locating
Table I. Locating and
and Decoding
Decoding
Federal
Federal Express
Express Timing Analysis
Auto
Auto Thresh ms)
(212 ms)

Centroid 39
Dark 17
5x5
5x5 Convol 160
Convoi 160 x 160 60
Hist
Rist 17
WFill 42
45 Psmooth
45Psmooth 20.
20
195
Label
Label Find (192 - darker
(192 darker label)
label)
(162 ms)
binary 17
canal 100
centroid 10
centroid 10.
10
137
Read Zip (175 to 200
(175 200 ms)
ms)

498 //SP
SPIE Vol. 579
/E Vol 579 Intelligent
IntelligentRobots
Robots and
and Computer Vision
Vision (1985)
(1985)

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 Conclusions

The
The capabilities
capabilities of a machine to
of a to see
see are
are far
far less
less than
than human
human capabilities,
capabilities, the
the fantasies
fantasies
the science
of the science fiction
fiction writers notwithstanding, and
writers notwithstanding, and many
many fundamental issues
issues of of processing
and
and representation areare unresolved. However, known
However, are adequate for
known techniques are for building
machines with
machines with limited,
limited, but
but useful,
useful, abilities
abilities to
to see
see for
for applications
applications to
to real
real problems. As
can see,
we can see, potential application areas
areas of aa general
general purpose machine vision
vision system
system are
are
vast. OnOn the
the other hand,
hand, current
current application
application tasks
tasks must
must be
be carefully chosen to match the the
current capabilities
current capabilities ofof machine techniques. successful applications tend to
The successful to be
be for
for
specific and well
specific and well defined
defined tasks,
tasks, within aa limited
limited domain of of objects,
objects, and
and with adequate
adequate aa
priori knowledge. Utilization of signal design in in the
the image formation process
process is
is one
one
technique that
technique that can
can frequently be utilized toto enhance
enhance system
system performance
performance and
and robustness.
robustness.

SPIE Vol.
SPIE Vol 579 Intelligent
Intelligent Robots and Computer
Computer Vision
Vision(1985)
(1985)// 499

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