3D soft-tissue tracking using spatial-color joint probability distribution and thin-plate spline model

Visual tracking techniques based on stereo endoscope are developed to measure tissue motion in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. However, accurate 3D tracking of tissue surfaces remains challenging due to complicated deformation, poor imaging conditions, specular reflections and other dynamic effects during surgery. This study employs a robust and efficient 3D tracking scheme with two independent recursive processes, namely kernel-based inter-frame motion estimation and model-based intra-frame 3D matching. In the first process, target region is represented in joint spatial-color space for robust estimation. By defining a probabilistic similarity measure, a mean-shift-based iterative algorithm is derived for location of the target region in a new image. In the second process, the thin-plate spline model is used to fit the 3D shape of tissue surfaces around the target region. An iterative algorithm based on an efficient second-order minimization technique is derived to compute optimal model parameters. The two processes can be computed in parallel. Their outputs are combined to recover 3D information about the target region. The performance of the proposed method is validated using phantom heart videos and in vivo videos acquired by the daVinci^®${\mathrm{daVinci}}^{\circledR }$ surgical robotic platform and a synthesized data set with known ground truth.     

Laplacian colormaps: a framework for structure‐preserving color transformations

Mappings between color spaces are ubiquitous in image processing problems such as gamut mapping, decolorization, and image optimization for color‐blind people. Simple color transformations often result in information loss and ambiguities, and one wishes to find an image‐specific transformation that would preserve as much as possible the structure of the original image in the target color space. In this paper, we propose Laplacian colormaps, a generic framework for structure‐preserving color transformations between images. We use the image Laplacian to capture the structural information, and show that if the color transformation between two images preserves the structure, the respective Laplacians have similar eigenvectors, or in other words, are approximately jointly diagonalizable. Employing the relation between joint diagonalizability and commutativity of matrices, we use Laplacians commutativity as a criterion of color mapping quality and minimize it w.r.t. the parameters of a color transformation to achieve optimal structure preservation. We show numerous applications of our approach, including color‐to‐gray conversion, gamut mapping, multispectral image fusion, and image optimization for color deficient viewers.     

Examining the Effects of Conformal Terrain Features in Advanced Head‐Up Displays on Flight Performance and Pilot Situation Awareness

Synthetic vision systems (SVS) render terrain features for pilots through cockpit displays using a GPS database and three‐dimensional graphical models. Enhanced vision systems (EVS) present infrared imagery of terrain using a forward‐looking sensor in the nose of an aircraft. The ultimate goal of SVS and EVS technologies is to support pilots in achieving safety under low‐visibility and night conditions comparable to clear, day conditions. This study assessed pilot performance and situation awareness (SA) effects of SVS and EVS imagery in an advanced head‐up display (HUD) during a simulated landing approach under instrument meteorological conditions. Videos of the landing with various HUD configurations were presented to eight pilots with a superimposed tracking task. The independent variables included four HUD feature configurations (baseline [no terrain imagery], SVS, EVS, and a combination of SVS and EVS), two visibility conditions, and four legs of the flight. Results indicated that SVS increased overall SA but degraded flight path control performance because of visual confusion with other display features. EVS increased flight path control accuracy but decreased system (aircraft) awareness because of visual distractions. The combination of SVS and EVS generated offsetting effects. Display configurations did not affect pilot spatial awareness. Flight performance was not different among phases of the approach, but levels and types of pilot SA did vary from leg to leg. These results are applicable to development of adaptive HUD features to support pilot performance. They support the use of multidimensional measures of SA for insight on pilot information processing with advanced aviation displays. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Evaluation of stereo correspondence algorithms and their implementation on FPGA

The accuracy of stereo vision has been considerably improved in the last decade, but real-time stereo matching is still a challenge for embedded systems where the limited resources do not permit fast operation of sophisticated approaches. This work presents an evaluation of area-based algorithms used for calculating distance in stereoscopic vision systems, their hardware architectures for implementation on FPGA and the cost of their accuracies in terms of FPGA hardware resources. The results show the trade-off between the quality of such maps and the hardware resources which each solution demands, so they serve as a guide for implementing stereo correspondence algorithms in real-time processing systems.     

浅谈电子产品对儿童的影响及对策

在现代社会中,平板电脑、智能手机在人们日常生活的方方面面发挥着巨大的作用。通过分析电子产品在儿童和青少年的视力、身体发育、社交能力和学习能力等方面的负面影响,提出了加强亲子陪伴、合理引导控制等应对措施。     

基于 OpenCV 的双目摄像机标定技术研究

摄像机标定技术作为双目立体视觉领域的一个基础性研究课题,具有很大的理论研究价值和实际应用价值。论文围绕双目立体视觉中的双目摄像机标定技术,分析基于OpenCV的双目摄像机标定的方法。基于OpenCV的双目摄像机标定比传统的定标技术更为灵活,并且具有不错的定标精度。     

基于视觉原理的曲线重构算法研究

曲线和曲面的重构是逆向工程中的重要问题,特别是按照计算机图形学中点线面的发展规律,曲线重构更是其中很重要的一步,为后面的曲面重构奠定了研究基础。论文研究和实现了一种曲线重构算法,该算法将人类的视觉具有的接近性和连续性融入到了曲线重构算法中。实验结果表明了该算法的有效性。     

基于图像反馈的标靶面与光轴垂直调节系统

介绍了摄像机标定的内部参数,阐述了标靶面与光轴垂直可以简化标定的过程.当标靶面与光轴垂直时,利用标靶面上特征圆在CCD成像面上成像也是圆的特点,提出了基于图像反馈的标靶面与光轴垂直的调节方法.一般情况下,标靶面与光轴不垂直,标靶面上特征圆在CCD成像面上成像为椭圆.通过图像处理和最小二乘椭圆拟合法计算出成像椭圆的长短轴及偏角,设计了调整控制策略.实验结果表明,该方法是有效可行的.     

Web信息抽取技术综述*

快速高效地获取网页主题信息的需求使得Web信息抽取技术成为信息技术领域的研究热点。现有的Web信息抽取技术大致可以归纳为基于统计理论的、基于视觉特征的、基于DOM树结构的和基于模板的几类。由于网页文本本身具有树结构并且具有一定的相似性,基于DOM树结构和基于模板的抽取技术发展很快而且已经得到了广泛的应用。分别论述了上述几类技术在近几年来的研究进展,从自动化程度、适用范围和复杂性三个角度分析对比了几类技术的优缺点。