Rapid development of computer hardware has enabled usage of automatic
object recognition in an increasing number of applications, ranging from
industrial image processing to medical applications, as well as tasks
triggered by the widespread use of the internet. Each area of
application has its specific requirements, and consequently these cannot
all be tackled appropriately by a single, general-purpose algorithm.
This easy-to-read text/reference provides a comprehensive introduction
to the field of object recognition (OR). The book presents an overview
of the diverse applications for OR and highlights important algorithm
classes, presenting representative example algorithms for each class.
The presentation of each algorithm describes the basic algorithm flow in
detail, complete with graphical illustrations. Pseudocode
implementations are also included for many of the methods, and
definitions are supplied for terms which may be unfamiliar to the novice
reader. Supporting a clear and intuitive tutorial style, the usage of
mathematics is kept to a minimum. Topics and features: presents example
algorithms covering global approaches, transformation-search-based
methods, geometrical model driven methods, 3D object recognition
schemes, flexible contour fitting algorithms, and descriptor-based
methods; explores each method in its entirety, rather than focusing on
individual steps in isolation, with a detailed description of the flow
of each algorithm, including graphical illustrations; explains the
important concepts at length in a simple-to-understand style, with a
minimum usage of mathematics; discusses a broad spectrum of
applications, including some examples from commercial products; contains
appendices discussing topics related to OR and widely used in the
algorithms, (but not at the core of the methods described in the
chapters). Practitioners of industrial image processing will find this
simple introduction and overview to OR a valuable reference, as will
graduate students in computer vision courses. Marco Treiber is a
software developer at Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems, Munich,
Germany, where he is Technical Lead in Image Processing for the Vision
System of SiPlace placement machines, used in SMT assembly.
