Method and apparatus for generating special-purpose image analysis algorithms

Abstract

One embodiment of the invention provides a process and related apparatus for obtaining quantitative data about a 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional image, or other dimensional image. For example, the invention is capable of classifying and counting the number of entities an image contains. Each entity comprises an entity, structure, or some other type of identifiable portion of the image having definable characteristics. The entities located within an image may have a different shape, color, texture, or other definable characteristic, but still belong to the same classification. In other instances, entities comprising a similar color, and texture may be classified as one type while entities comprising a different color, and texture may be classified as another type. An image may contain multiple entities and each entity may belong to a different class. Thus, the system embodying the invention may quantify image data according to a set of changing criteria and derive one or more classifications for the entities in the image. Once the image data is classified, the total number of entities in the image is calculated and presented to the user. Put simply, embodiments of the invention provides a way for a computer to determine what kind of entities (e.g., entities) are in an image and counts the total number of entities that can be visually identified in the image. Another aspect of the invention is that the information utilized during a training process may be stored and applied across different images.