Exploratory Research in Scene Analysis and Object Recognition

摘要在这份SGER提案中，PI建议开发新的工具，允许从2D图像和视频序列获得定性的3D视觉。今天的大多数视觉对象识别方法基本上将这个问题简化为模式分类，其中矩形图像块被独立地与存储的模板进行比较以产生孤立的对象标签。该研究为从单幅图像中恢复场景的3D布局以及使用3D布局来帮助识别场景中的对象类别的任务探索了新的研究方向。为探索而提出的每个研究方向都有可能开辟一套全新的方法和算法，并有可能定义计算机视觉的一个全新领域，与传统的定量方法相反，这种方法被称为“定性几何推理”，后者假定从立体声或SFM获得精确的深度和密集的测量。通过倡导使用定性几何推理，这项工作有望从根本上改变计算机视觉领域解决图像解释和场景分析问题的方式。拟议的研究有望在场景分析的几何推理的一般领域产生新的方向，这是一项关键的使能技术，可用于广泛的应用，包括国防、医疗保健、人机交互、图像检索和数据挖掘、工业和个人机器人、制造、科学图像分析、空间探索、监视和安全以及交通运输。

AbstractIn this SGER proposal, the PIs propose to develop novel tools that allow qualitative 3D vision from 2D images and video sequences. Most of today's approaches to visual object recognition essentially reduce this problem to one of pattern classification, where rectangular image patches are independently compared to stored templates to produce isolated object labels. The proposed research explores new research directions for the task of recovering the 3D layout of a scene from a single image and for using the 3D layout to help in recognizing object categories in a scene. Each of the research directions proposed for exploration has the potential of opening up an entire new set of approaches and algorithms and has the potential of defining an entire new field of Computer Vision, which the PIs call "qualitative geometric reasoning", as opposed to the traditional quantitative approaches which assume precise depth and dense measurements from stereo or SFM. By advocating the use of qualitative geometric reasoning, this body of work is expected to contribute to a radical change in the way the image interpretation and scene analysis problems are tackled in the computer vision community.The proposed research is anticipated to result in new directions in the general area of geometric reasoning for scene analysis, which is a critical enabling technology for a wide range of applications including defense, health care, human-computer interaction, image retrieval and data mining, industrial and personal robotics, manufacturing, scientific image analysis, space exploration, surveillance and security, and transportation.