Methods and systems for processing an image

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11769022-B2
Application number	US-201917283508-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2019
Priority date	Oct 15, 2018
Publication date	Sep 26, 2023
Grant date	Sep 26, 2023

Abstract

A system performs a method for processing an image of a machine-readable code. The method includes receiving an image of a machine-readable code comprising coded information, where the machine-readable code is at least partially obscured by a substance that has a predominant color; generating an adjusted image by adjusting a color space of the image based on the predominant color; binarizing at least a machine-readable code region of the image, wherein the machine-readable code region of the image depicts the machine-readable code; and decoding the binarized machine-readable code region to determine the coded information. Other apparatus and methods are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
accessing, by one or more processors of a machine, an image that depicts a machine-readable code being at least partially obscured by a substance that has a predominant color in the image;
generating, by the one or more processors of the machine, an adjusted version of the image by adjusting a color space of the image based on the predominant color of the substance that at least partially obscures the machine-readable code; and
binarizing, by the one or more processors of the machine, at least a region of the adjusted version of the image, the region depicting the machine-readable code.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
capturing, by an optical sensor, the image that depicts the machine-readable code being at least partially obscured by the substance that has the predominant color.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predominant color of the substance that at least partially obscures the machine-readable code is substantially red.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the image is a color image; and
the adjusting of the color space of the image includes converting the color space of the color image to a grayscale representation based on the predominant color of the substance.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the binarizing of at least the region of the image includes color thresholding a histogram of at least the region of the image.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
locating the region that depicts the machine-readable code in the adjusted version of the image.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the locating of the region that depicts the machine-readable code in the adjusted version of the image includes performing at least one of corner detection on the adjusted version of the image or edge detection on the adjusted version of the image.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image depicts the machine-readable code attached to a surgical textile soiled by the substance that has the predominant color.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable code represents coded information that includes at least one of a type of a surgical textile or an identifier of the surgical textile.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining coded information represented by the machine-readable code by decoding the binarized region that depicts the machine-readable code.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
incrementing a textile counter index in response to the determining of the coded information represented by the machine-readable code.

12. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
accessing an image that depicts a machine-readable code being at least partially obscured by a substance that has a predominant color in the image;
generating an adjusted version of the image by adjusting a color space of the image based on the predominant color of the substance that at least partially obscures the machine-readable code; and
binarizing at least a region of the adjusted version of the image, the region depicting the machine-readable code.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising an optical sensor configured to capture the image that depicts the machine-readable code being at least partially obscured by the substance that has the predominant color.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the predominant color of the substance that at least partially obscures the machine-readable code is substantially red.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein:
the image is a color image; and
the adjusting of the color space of the image includes converting the color space of the color image to a grayscale representation based on the predominant color of the substance.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the binarizing of at least the region of the image includes color thresholding a histogram of at least the region of the image.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
locating the region that depicts the machine-readable code in the adjusted version of the image.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the locating of the region that depicts the machine-readable code in the adjusted version of the image includes performing at least one of corner detection on the adjusted version of the image or edge detection on the adjusted version of the image.

19. The system of claim 12 , wherein the image depicts the machine-readable code attached to a surgical textile soiled by the substance that has the predominant color.

20. The system of claim 12 , wherein the machine-readable code represents coded information that includes at least one of a type of a surgical textile or an identifier of the surgical textile.

21. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining coded information represented by the machine-readable code by decoding the binarized region that depicts the machine-readable code.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise:
incrementing a textile counter index in response to the determining of the coded information represented by the machine-readable code.

23. A machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
accessing an image that depicts a machine-readable code being at least partially obscured by a substance that has a predominant color in the image;
generating an adjusted version of the image by adjusting a color space of the image based on the predominant color of the substance that at least partially obscures the machine-readable code; and
binarizing at least a region of the adjusted version of the image, the region depicting the machine-readable code.

Assignees

• Gauss Surgical Inc

Inventors

• Satish Siddarth
• Miller Kevin J

Classifications

• G06K7/146 Primary

  the method including quality enhancement steps · CPC title

• G06K7/1452

  detecting bar code edges · CPC title

• G06K19/027

  the material being suitable for use as a textile, e.g. woven-based RFID-like labels designed for attachment to laundry items (markings attached to laundry items in general D06F93/00) · CPC title

• G06K19/0614

  the marking being selective to wavelength, e.g. color barcode or barcodes only visible under UV or IR (methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers using a selected wavelength, see G06K7/12) · CPC title

• G06K19/06037

  multi-dimensional coding · CPC title