A system for 3D texture-based probabilistic object recognition and its applications

This article presents a system for texture-based probabilistic classification and localisation of three-dimensional objects in two-dimensional digital images and discusses selected applications. In contrast to shape-based approaches, our texture-based method does not rely on object features extracted using image segmentation techniques. Rather, the objects are described by local feature vectors computed directly from image pixel values using the wavelet transform. Both gray level and colour images can be processed. In the training phase, object features are statistically modelled as normal density functions. In the recognition phase, the system classifies and localises objects in scenes with real heterogeneous backgrounds. Feature vectors are calculated and a maximisation algorithm compares the learned density functions with the extracted feature vectors and yields the classes and poses of objects found in the scene. Experiments carried out on a real dataset of over 40,000 images demonstrate the robustness of the system in terms of classification and localisation accuracy. Finally, two important real application scenarios are discussed, namely recognising museum exhibits from visitors’ own photographs and classification of metallography images.