Pattern Matching Under Affine Transformations

In the following we consider the action of the group of affine transformations on a class of patterns representable by continuous functions with compact support. It is first shown how to accomplish a reduction of the action of the affine group to that of the orthogonal group. In the two-dimensional case, it is shown how to find the particular orthogonal transformation necessary to complete a pattern match. Finally invariants under the orthogonal group are presented. Examples are given which present typical results obtained by implementing the techniques via a digital-optical scanner and minicomputer software.