34993677
Automatic text location in images and video frames
Abstract Textual data is very important in a number of applications such as image database indexing and document understanding. The goal of automatic text location without character recognition capabilities is to extract image regions that contain only text. These regions can then be either fed to an optical character recognition module or highlighted for a user. Text location is a very difficult problem because the characters in text can vary in font, size, spacing, alignment, orientation, color and texture. Further, characters are often embedded in a complex background in the image. We propose a new text location algorithm that is suitable in a number of applications, including conversion of newspaper advertisements from paper documents to their electronic versions, World Wide Web search, color image indexing and video indexing. In many of these applications, it is not necessary to extract all the text, so we emphasize on extracting important text with large size and high contrast. Our algorithm is very fast and has been shown to be successful in extracting important text in a large number of test images.
40810024
Page segmentation using document model
Transforming a paper document to its electronic version in a form suitable for efficient storage, retrieval and interpretation continues to be a challenging problem. An efficient document model is necessary to solve this problem. Document modeling involves techniques of thresholding, skew detection, geometric layout analysis and logical layout analysis. The derived model can then be used in document storage and retrieval. We use the traditional bottom-up approach based on the connected component extraction to efficiently implement page segmentation and region identification. A new document model which preserves top-down generation information is proposed based on which a document is logically represented for interactive editing, storage, retrieval, transfer and logical analysis.
39489918
An economical contour extraction algorithm for understanding large-size engineering drawings
An algorithm is described which produces the extraction of an object's contours in a binary image while storing only two raster lines at a time during processing. The major data structure used is a block adjacency graph which occupies much less space (typically one hundredth) than the original image. Because this algorithm has very low costs of memory space and processing time, it is a powerful tool for processing large-size engineering drawings. Applications of the method to the recognition of some loop-structure logical symbols are described.<<ETX>>
37838547
Automatic understanding of symbol-connected diagrams
A symbol-connected diagram is mainly composed of symbols and their connections. All symbols can be categorized into two groups: shape symbols and structure symbols. This paper proposes a system for automatic understanding of symbol-connected diagrams based on a graph, called the consistent attributed graph (CAG), which represents the diagram in a bottom-up fashion. The shape symbol processing is carried out by means of shape processing, followed by shape symbol identification with the use of two symbol windows in the CAG. Some experimental results for understanding logic circuit diagrams are given.
31557244
Isothetic polygon representation for contours
Abstract An isothetic polygon, which has all its edges oriented in two orthogonal directions, is one of the simplest representations for a contour of binary images. This paper introduces an efficient, onepass algorithm for generating the isothetic polygons for the contours in binary images.
34993492
Microarray image compression: SLOCO and the effect of information loss
Microarray image technology is a powerful tool for monitoring the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. Each microarray experiment produces immense amounts of image data, and efficient storage and transmission require compression that takes advantage of microarray image structure. In this paper we develop a compression scheme for microarray images which can be either lossless or lossy with successive refinements. Existing measures of distortion such as mean squared pixel-wise error and visual fidelity are not appropriate for microarray images. We introduce a new measure of distortion for lossy compression: the sensitivity of microarray information extraction to compression loss. Furthermore, our scheme has a coded data structure that allows fast decoding and reprocessing of image sub-blocks, and includes summary statistics and image segmentation information. The average lossless compression ratio is 1.83:1 for our cDNA test images and 2.43:1 for our inkjet test images, comparable or better than state-of-the-art lossless schemas, yet with additional structure and information. At an average lossy compression ratio of 8:1 for cDNA microarrays, we find that our scheme minimizes the effects of compression loss compared to other algorithms. We show that the variability in differential gene expression levels extracted from lossily vs. losslessly compressed microarray images is less than both the variability between different arrays and the variability between different extraction algorithms. In fact, lossy compression can improve the estimation of gene expression levels for cDNA images.
33926670
Semantic Matching of Web Services for Collaborative Business Processes
It is a prerequisite for automating business processes integration to dynamically discover usable web services. A formal approach to semantic matching of web services based on choreographies is presented to support it. First, an extended deterministic finite automaton (EDFA) is proposed by labeling state transitions with binary-tuples (input, output) rather than letters. EDFAs represent services more accurately: the nodes represent the states maintained by the service; the state transitions represent the communication activities of the service. Thus, the automata depicts the temporal sequences of communication activities that describe the behavior of services. Second, the semantics-based intersection of EDFAs is presented and the compatibility of services is evaluated by testing the emptiness of the languages accepted by EDFAs. Finally, component structures are introduced to describe services with two roles: invoking another service and/or being invoked by another service. The compatibility of services can be employed to discover usable services, moreover, to validate collaborative business processes.
35252339
Hybrid Control of Hopf Bifurcation for an Internet Congestion Model
In this paper, the problem of Hopf bifurcation control for an Internet congestion model with time delays is considered by using a new hybrid control strategy, in which state feedback and parameter perturbation are used. It is well known that for the system without control, as the positive gain parameter of the system passes a critical point, Hopf bifurcation occurs. To control the Hopf bifurcation, a hybrid control strategy is proposed and the onset of an inherent bifurcation is delayed (advanced) when such bifurcation is undesired (desired). Furthermore, the dynamic behaviors of the controlled system can also be changed by choosing appropriate control parameters. Numerical simulation results confirm that the new control strategy is efficient in controlling Hopf bifurcation.
30182996
Requirements Engineering Processes Improvement: A Systematic View
Requirement is the foundation for both software development and project management activities, so an effective requirements process which has a potential influence on the quality of the final software product must be committed by all stakeholders. However current process improvement maturity models pay little attention to requirements engineering process and they are “black-box test” for organizations’ competence. It is the precondition for our research to understand the fundamental issues and to identify the characteristic that requirement process possessed. We suggest a systematic view for requirement process improvement that includes measurement-based improvement for activities, methods, peoples as “white-box test”, emphasizing the people factor, such as communication and collaboration, etc. Our future work will involve structuring the platform or tools which integrate methods, technologies, checklists, templates, lessons-learned, and providing basic supporting for requirements process improvement and distributed requirements development and management.
33099797
Compression of cDNA and inkjet microarray images
Microarray image technology is a powerful tool for monitoring the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. Each microarray experiment produces immense amounts of image data, and efficient storage and transmission requires compression that utilizes the microarray image's structure and unique analysis goals. We have developed a progressive compression scheme for microarray images which can be either lossy or lossless. Our scheme has a coded data structure that allows fast decoding and reprocessing of image subsets, and includes summary statistics and image segmentation information. Since visual fidelity is not the end goal for microarray images, we introduce a new measure of distortion for lossy compression: the sensitivity of microarray information extraction to compression loss. We find that a lossy compression ratio of 8:1 for cDNA microarrays minimally affects downstream processing. The average lossless compression ratio is 1.83:1 for cDNA images and 2.43:1 for inkjet images, comparable to state-of-the-art lossless schemas, yet with added flexibility and information.