Model-Driven Vision Using Procedure Description: Motivation And Application To Photointerpretation And Medical Diagnosis

We present a general scheme for the representation and use of procedural knowledge in an image understanding system. Each procedure has associated with it a procedure descriptor, which characterizes the procedure's capabilities in terms of its input/output behavior and its performance characteristics. A general control paradigm, based on descriptor-directed invocation of procedures, is presented and shown to allow for: intelligent, goal-directed invocation; dynamic planning using local context; modular addition and change of procedural knowledge; and flexible allocation of computing resources. The representation scheme and control paradigm are being applied in the domains Of medical imagery (ultrasonograms and radiographs) and aerial imagery (of industrial sites).