Creative Lifestyles, Inc.

Vision Interface Technologies, LLC

Medar, Inc.

Creative Lifestyle, Inc.

Frank Meyer

Peter Harmon Smith

Bora Tekkanat

John Frederick Cloyd

A method of finding targets in a color image applies ratio space rich colored filtering to identify a band of pixels that form a transition zone from one rich color to another. This pixel band is reduced to a rich color transition curve. A set of transition curves with simple geometric and color properties for the entire image, can be compared to a database of target properties to identify a target in an image.

Rich color transition curve tracking method

A method for identifying color in a target creates a ratio color space by determining the largest color component value of each pixel in an image and creating a ratio of all of the color component value with the largest component value for each pixel. The ratio for the color component of each pixel undergoes a threshold test to identify each color component as a rich shade or a fade shade. The ratio space color components are converted to a black and white image. Color information of adjacent pixels are clumped together to form blobs of the same color. The blobs are filtered by shape, color, location, or orientation and sorted to find targets that consist of a predefined pattern with the desired characteristics.

Method for identifying color in machine and computer vision applications

An interactive graphical application program combines a graphical command language and a control program to enable a user to graphically select and generate an automation sequence to control an automation application. A computer system stores a first program containing flow sequences and a set of controls representing possible hardware for use in the automation application. Structure is graphically displayed depicting each sequence step and transition to the next step in accordance with user selections. The first program is automatically linked with the controls to enable an application software program to be generated in response to user commands. Any step and transition may be defined as a scripting language step or transition or a mathematical express variable. Each transition may also be defined as an object from an external source outside of the application program.

Method and apparatus for developing application software for automation systems

An interactive graphical application program combines a graphical command language and a control program to enable a user to graphically select and generate an automation sequence to control an automation application. A computer system stores a first program containing flow sequences and a set of controls representing possible hardware for use in the automation application. Structure is graphically displayed depicting each sequence step and transition to the next step in accordance with user selections. The first program is automatically linked with the controls to enable an application software program to be generated in response to user commands.

Method and apparatus for developing application software for home

A method and system are provided for interactively developing a graphical, control-flow structure and associated application software for use in a machine vision system using a computer system without the need for a user to write any code. Preferably, the method and system 'marry' the ActiveX control standard and the Grafcet/IEC 1131 standard. The structure includes a control sequence having a plurality of steps or nodes, transitions, and links or flow lines which interconnect the nodes and transitions. Hardware operating parameters are stored which correspond to possible hardware for use in the machine vision system. The hardware operating parameters define a set of standard controls having properties. Commands are received from the user of the computer system to select a first control program corresponding to a desired component of a user interface, desired hardware operating parameters corresponding to desired hardware and second control programs corresponding to desired machine vision algorithms. Graphical representations or icons are selected which correspond to the desired second control programs and are displayed in the structure as nodes and/or inputs/outputs of the nodes. The first control program is linked with the desired hardware operating parameters to the second control programs to form the application software. The step of linking includes the step of setting the property of one standard control to be equal to one property of another standard control to form the application software in response to the commands without the user writing any of the application software.

Growing community of inventors

Milford, MI, United States of America

Frank Meyer