ISIS: An Interactive Facility for Scene Analysis Research

Abstract : This paper summarizes initial progress in developing a computer system that can be rapidly programmed to analyze any class of pictorial scenes. Scene analysis programs have been awkward to develop using conventional programming systems because of the difficulty of formulating pictorial descriptions in symbolic terms. Picture processing techniques are inherently ad hoc and must be deduced empirically for each application. We have constructed an interactive system specifically designed for expressing and experimenting with perceptual strategies. The system allows an experimenter to describe basic perceptual concepts to a computer in terms of pictorial examples. The examples are designated graphically by encircling areas of a displayed scene with a cursor. A concept is represented internally by values of primitive feature-extraction operators that distinguish it from examples of previously defined concepts. Concepts so defined constitute a common vocabulary, shared by man and machine, that can be used symbolically in describing objects and specifying scene analysis procedures. The system bas been used to formulate interactively descriptions that distinguish objects in indoor room scenes and programs that locate these objects in images.