Three-Dimensional Recognition Via Two-Stage Associative Memory

摘要

We describe a method of 3-D object recognition based on two stage use of ageneral purpose associative memory and a principal views representation. The basic idea is to make use of semi-invariant objects called keys. A key is any robustly extractable feature that has sufficient information content to specify a 2-D configuration of an associated object (location, scale, orientation) plus sufficient additional parameters to provide efficient indexing and meaningful verification. The recognition system utilizes an associative memory organized so that access via a key feature evokes associated hypotheses for the identity and configuration of all objects that could have produced it. These hypothesis are fed into a second stage associative memory, which maintains a probabilistic estimate of the likelihood of each hypothesis based on statistics about the occurrence of the keys in the primary database. Because it is based on a merged percept of local features rather than global properties, the method is robust to occlusion and background clutter, and does not require prior segmentation. Entry of objects into the memory is an active, automatic procedure. We have implemented a version of the system that allows arbitrary definitions for key features. Experiments using keys based on perceptual groups of line segments are reported. Good results were obtained on a database derived from of approximately 150 images representing different views of 7 polyhedral objects.