US20070013698A1

Movatterモバイル変換

Info

Publication number: US20070013698A1
Application number: US11/533,684
Authority: US
Inventors: Richard VAN HALL
Original assignee: Lockheed Martin Corp
Current assignee: Lockheed Martin Corp
Priority date: 2001-12-05
Filing date: 2006-09-20
Publication date: 2007-01-18
Also published as: US7171022B2; US20030106844A1; WO2003050752A1; AU2002353937A1

Abstract

Method for communicating area information in a common framework implemented on hardware, including the steps of providing to the hardware a first set of instructions which generates an area of interest (AOI) defined by a first geometric shape, defining with the hardware the first geometric shape by one or more coordinates, and converting with the hardware the one or more coordinates to a second set of coordinates for use with a second set of instructions different than the first set of instructions, wherein the second set of coordinates is defined by a new AOI which includes information associated with the first set of instructions and which is interpreted by the second set of instructions, and wherein the common framework provides that different recognition AOI systems, each using its own set of conventions for describing area information, are compatible with one another.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of parent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/002,159, filed on Dec. 5, 2001, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a method for communicating area information and, more particularly, to a method for providing a common framework for area of interest (AOI) specification and access.

BACKGROUND DESCRIPTION

The proper sorting of mail such as, for example, envelopes of varying sizes, packages, magazines and the like, is critical to the stream of commerce as well as the dissemination of information, worldwide. To sort mail, several different scenarios are possible ranging from manual sorting to automated systems using optical character recognition software. In any of the scenarios it is important that the mail be sorted based on one of several different criteria, any of which will result in the proper dissemination of the mail. For example, the mail may be sorted via a bar code, address or other similar indicia, or it may be necessary to determine a return address or whether proper postage is placed on the mail. All of this information may be necessary for the efficient sorting and ultimate delivery and/or proper routing of the mail.

Currently, there are many producers and consumers which utilize various recognition systems based on area of interest (AOI). For example, there are producers which develop facing identification mark (FIM), stamp, meter mark bar code, destination address block (DAB) processing, return address block (RAB), cropping and other recognition based programs, to name a few. However, up to now, each of these functional units uses its own set of conventions for describing the area information. This, of course, causes integration difficulties and maintenance issues.

By way of example, an address block finder may describe an area as a four point non-axis aligned polygon. In contrast, an address block reader may require an axis aligned bounded box. This disparity of descriptive methods forces the higher level application to convert between the different methods for each provider/user pair. This is detailed and error prone work.

The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method for communicating area information in a common framework. The method includes the steps of providing a first set of instructions which generates an area of interest (AOI) and which is defined by a first geometric shape. The first geometric shape is defined by one or more coordinates, preferably Cartesian coordinates. The method further includes converting the one or more coordinates associated with the first geometric shape to a second set of coordinates for use with a second set of instructions. The second set of instructions are different than the first set of instructions, and further generates a new AOI which includes information associated with the first set of instructions.

In embodiments, the new AOI associated with second set of instructions defines a second geometric shape which may be the same or different than the first shape. The shapes may be a bounding box, a rectangle, a parallelogram or a polygon, where the bounding box is more constrained than the rectangle, the parallelogram and the polygon. Points are used to define the shapes which may include distinct starting point, fast end point or a slow end point. The second shape may be rotated, scaled, translated, moved or mirrored about an axis in relation to the first shape.

In another aspect of the present invention, the method includes the steps of filling a handle with an initial area of interest (AOI) space associated with a first set of instructions. The initial AOI space can then be converted to a second AOI space associated with a second set of instructions. The second AOI space is accessed with the second set of instructions.

In still another aspect of the present invention, a system for communicating area information in a common framework is contemplated. The system includes a mechanism for:

(i) providing a first set of instructions which generate an area of information (AOI) and which is defined by a first geometric shape;

(ii) defining the first geometric shape by one or more coordinates; and

(iii) converting the one or more coordinates associated with the first geometric shape to a second set of coordinates for use with a second set of instructions.

In this system, the second set of instructions are different than the first set of instructions, and the second set of coordinates further generates the AOI which includes information associated with the first set of instructions capable of being interpreted by the second set of instructions.

A machine readable medium containing code communicating area information in a common framework implementing the steps of the present invention is also contemplated herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a first example implementing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a second example implementing the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a third example implementing the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a fourth example implementing the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing the implementation of a routine of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing the implementation of a second routine of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing the implementation of a third routine of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing the implementation of a fourth routine of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing the implementation of a fifth routine of the present invention; and

FIGS. 10athrough13eshow the bounded areas of geometric shapes as described with reference toFIGS. 5 through 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a common framework for area of interest (AOI) specification and access. That is, the present invention, referred to also as an AOI Manager, provides a common framework so that different recognition AOI systems, each using its own set of conventions for describing area information, can be compatible with one another without the need for having a single convention. This is accomplished by:

- 1. Providing a standard set of AOIs (e.g, bounding box, rectangle, parallelogram, polygon) that is a superset of the AOIs in current use.
- 2. Hiding the actual AOI data behind “handles”; all the conversions will be done by the AOI Manager.
- 3. Allowing users to continue their current AOI access/use assumptions by providing (i) ways for the user to inform the AOI Manager what those assumptions are (i.e., rotation direction) and (ii) various ways to access die data. All example is providing both rotation and orientation queries.
- 4. Completely decoupling the method in which an AOI is specified from the way in which it is accessed.

One example of the latter scenario includes making a CABProcessing function that internally deals with the incoming AOIs only as (rotated) rectangles. This one CABProcessing function can then service both letter based ABL routines which supply bounding boxes and flats based ABL routines which supply polygon representations of (rotated) rectangles. This works because the AOI Manager allows an AOI to be queried out as any of four styles (e.g, bounding box, rectangle, parallelogram, polygon), as discussed in more detail below, no matter which of the four styles originally filled the AOI. In this example, the (rotated) rectangle query of the AOI filled with a bounding box will return a zero degree rotated rectangle that overlays the bounding box. The (rotated) rectangle query of the AOI filled with the polygon returns the (rotated) rectangle that best fits the polygon (best fit is defined as the smallest (rotated) rectangle that contains all the vertices and is parallel with the polygon's Fast Direction). (SeeFIGS. 10athrough13e.)

Routines Implemented by the Present Invention to Fill the AOI Information

Once a handle has been created, it should be filled with all AOI space. To this end, the routines described below provide the user with four different ways to describe the AOI space. At the outset, it is noted that the routine used to fill the handle carries with it an implicit “Style” which is saved by the AOI Manager as both the “SetAsStyle” and “Current Style”. Later routines may allow the user to change the “Current Style”; but the “SetAsStyle” should remain constant (unless the handle is filled again). In other words, in embodiments, the “SetAsStyle” call only be queried and thus cannot be changed except by refilling the AOI; however, the “Current Style” can be set and queried, at will. It is also noted that “GetSetAsStyle” retrieves the Style that the AOI was last filled with; whereas, “GetStyle” retrieves the Style that the AOI has last been explicitly set to by the present invention. If the style has not been explicitly set, the Style that the AOI was last filled with is returned.

The following are four routines contemplated for use with the present invention as the means of inputting an AOI. These routines are not the only routines which may be implemented by the present invention; that is, other routines may equally be used with the present invention, but the following routines are preferable for use with snail sorting systems. Also, the names and/or designations of the routines and functions, provided throughout the present description, are provided for illustrative purposes only and should not be interpreted as limiting the invention in any manner, whatsoever. The names and designations are merely provided for ease of understanding.

AOIManager_SetAsBoundingBox

The AOIManager_SetAsBoundingBox is an axis aligned rectangle and is described by (i) the start point which is, in embodiments, the visual upper left corner of the AOI, (ii) the end point which is, in embodiments, the visual lower right corner of the AOI, and (iii) RealityType, which indicates whether the AOI is in the 1, 3, 6, 8 set (REAL) or the 2, 4, 5, 7 set (IMAGINARY) (as described in table 1 below).

AOIManager_SetAsReciangle

The AOIManager_SetAsRectangle is a rectangle but is no longer constrained to be axis aligned (although, in embodiments, it may still be axis aligned). The start point (visual upper left) and the fast end point (visual; upper right) describe the visual horizontal nature of the AOI while its visual vertical nature uses the RealityType and SlowLength parameters. The reason for the RealityType parameter is that there are two rectangles that share the same horizontal description. The RealityType parameter indicates whether the AOI is in the set of spaces previously described asorientations 1,3,6,8 (REAL) or orientations 2,4,5,7 (IMAGINARY).

AOIManager_SerAsParallelogram

The AOIManager_SetAsParallelogram is one step “looser” or less constrained than the rectangle. The angle between the visual horizontal and visual horizontal and visual vertical directions is no longer 90 degrees. Instead, a parallelogram is specified by three points.

Start Point—The visual upper left;

Fast End Point—The visual upper right; and

Slow End Point—The visual lower left.

AOIManager_SetAsPolygon

The AOIManager_SetAsPolygon has no geometric restrictions other than no crossovers are allowed (i.e., no figure “8's”). Instead of trying to deduce orientation information from the lines, this routine requires the user to specify this data independently of the polygon points. The fast direction (visual horizontal) and slow direction (visual vertical) parameters are supplied for this purpose. Note that on input, these parameters have no constraints (such as having unit length).

In this routine, the NumberofPoints and PointList parameters may be used by the caller to indicate the order in which the points are being presented, the number of vertices of the polygon, and the actual list of vertices, respectively. Note that the last vertex should preferably not be the same as the first vertex, i.e., the code closes the polygon, itself.

By way of illustration only, the following example shows the advantages of using the above routines to overcome the differences between semantic and syntactic expressions of a shape. (FIGS. 10athrough13eshow further examples.) Suppose there is a first code which generates AOIs for use by a second code. The programmer of the first code knows that internally the code is finding rectangles. Yet, the method of storing these areas is by four corners (polygons). When it is time for the first code to save this area to an AOI, it would use the AOIManager_SetAsPolygon routine since it accepts a list of points. But at this point, the concept that this is supposed to be a rectangle has been lost. To correct this, the code could use the AOIManager_SetsStyle routine to change the style to AOIManager_Style EnumRectangle. Now, the users of this AOI will know “what” shape is being represented as opposed to “how” that shape is being represented.

It should be recognized that the AOIManager_GetAsPolygon would not neccssarily return the same set of points as was supplied to the AOIManager_SetAsPolygon. This is because internally there is now a rectangle. If the user requests it as a polygon, the corners are calculated from the rectangle. This is shown graphically inFIGS. 10athrough13e. The original SetAs data is always the base from which the style is changed. Because of this, if one sets the style back to polygon in the above example, a polygon query would then return the original points

Routines Implemented by the Present Invention to Query the Basic AOI Information

The following set of routines allows the user to query the AOI as if it were any of the four AOI types described above.

AOI Manager_GetAsBoundingBox

See the AOIManager_SetAsBoundingBox description above. Except for the handle, this routine is exporting rather than importing data.

AOIManager_GetAsRecrangle

See the AOIManager_SetAsRectangle description above. Except for the handle, this routine is exporting rather than importing data.

AOIManager_GetAsParallelogram

See the AOIManager_SetAsParallelogram description above. Except for the handle, this routine is exporting rather than importing data.

AOIManager_GetAsPolygon

See the AOIManager_SetAsPolygon description above. It is noted that besides the handle, the “ClockwiseRotationFlag” and “StartCorner” parameters are also inputs to this routine. The “ClockwiseRotationFlag” allows the user to specify whether the PointList will be output in clockwise or counterclockwise order. The “StartCorner” allows the user to specify which point on the polygon is the first in the PointList. Also, note that the two direction vectors that are returned should preferably have magnitudes of 1.0.

It should now be understood that by using the present invention, it does not matter how the AOI was originally set since the AOI may be requested in any of the four representations. Of course, the area retrieved may change depending on how the AOI was originally filled (as well as if the style was explicitly set). By way of another example, the AOI may be requested in a more bounded form such as from an originally filled AOI with a polygon to a requested hounded box. In this example, the returned area would become larger as one moved from polygon (least constrained) to bounding box (most constrained). Of course, the AOI may also be requested in a less bound form such as from an originally filled AOI with a bounding box to a requested polygon. In this scenario, the returned area would stay the same as if the bounding box (most constrained) is moved to a polygon (least constrained).FIGS. 10athrough13eshow the bounded areas of the different geometrical shapes utilized and converted by the present invention

Routines Implemented by the Present Invention to Query the Derived AOI Information

All the information returned from the following routines may be calculated from the AOI information by the user. However, these routines provide a simpler and more consistent way for access to this information. In the following examples, the origin (0,0) is assumed to be at the upper left of the image.

In using the present invention, any routine that returns rotation information requires the caller to specify whether they want clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation to be positive. Any absolute rotation is with respect to the positive x-axis. The RealityType concept is required since rotation alone is not capable of describing AOIs when an X or Y mirror has been performed. In one representation, the REAL images have the user looking at a transparent picture from the front while IMAGINARY images have the user looking from the back. Orientations are defined in Table 1.

TABLE 1


Orientation
Number	View	View

1	0^thbuffer row is visual top	0^thbuffer column is visual left
2	0^thbuffer row is visual top	0^thbuffer column is visual
		right
3	0^thbuffer row is visual	0^thbuffer column is visual
	bottom	right
4	0^thbuffer row is visual	0^thbuffer column is visual left
	bottom
5	0^thbuffer row is visual left	0^thbuffer column is visual top
6	0^thbuffer row is visual right	0^thbuffer column is visual top
7	0^thbuffer row is visual right	0^thbuffer column is visual
		bottom
8	0^thbuffer row is visual left	0^thbuffer column is visual
		bottom

The Rotation with respect to Orientation concept is required since orientation by itself carries only 90 degree rotation resolution Some examples include:



Rotation	RotationReality	Orientation	OrientRotation

0	clockwise	REAL (IMAGINARY)	1 (4)	0	cw
	(cw)			0	ccw
0	counter
	clockwise
	(ccw)
10	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	1 (4)	10	cw
350	ccw			−10	ccw
20	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	1 (4)	20	cw
340	ccw			−20	ccw
30	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	1 (4)	30	cw
330	ccw			−30	ccw
40	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	40	cw
320	ccw			−40	ccw
50	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	−40	cw
310	ccw			40	ccw
60	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	−30	cw
300	ccw			30	ccw
70	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	−20	cw
290	ccw			20	ccw
80	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	−10	cw
280	ccw			10	ccw
90	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	0	cw
270	ccw			0	ccw
100	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	10	cw
260	ccw			−10	ccw
110	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	20	cw
250	ccw			−20	ccw
120	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	30	cw
240	ccw			−30	ccw
130	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	8 (5)	40	cw
230	ccw			−40	ccw
140	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	−40	cw
220	ccw			40	ccw
150	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	−30	cw
210	ccw			30	ccw
160	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	20	cw
200	ccw			20	ccw
170	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	−10	cw
190	ccw			10	ccw
180	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	0	cw
180	ccw			0	ccw
190	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	10	cw
170	ccw			−10	ccw
200	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	20	cw
160	ccw			−20	ccw
210	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	30	cw
150	ccw			−30	ccw
220	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	3 (2)	40	cw
140	ccw			−40	ccw
230	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	6 (7)	−40	cw
130	ccw			40	ccw
240	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	6 (7)	−30	cw
120	ccw			30	ccw
250	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	6 (7)	−20	cw
110	ccw			20	ccw
260	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	6 (7)	−10	cw
100	ccw			10	ccw
270	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	6 (7)	0	cw
90	ccw			0	ccw
280	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY	6 (7)	10	cw
80	ccw			−10	ccw
290	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	6 (7)	20	cw
70	ccw			−20	ccw
300	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	6 (7)	30	cw
60	ccw			30	ccw
310	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	6 (7)	40	cw
50	ccw			40	ccw
320	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	1 (4)	40	cw
40	ccw			40	ccw
330	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	1 (4)	−30	cw
30	ccw			30	ccw
340	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	1 (4)	−20	cw
20	ccw			20	ccw
350	cw	REAL (IMAGINARY)	1 (4)	−10	cw
10	ccw			10	ccw

Routines Implemented by the Present Invention to Change the AOIs Direction Information

The following set of routines allows the user to easily re-orient AOIs. The routines do not rotate the AOI shape; instead, the data that represents the content's orientation is changed by the present invention. To understand this better, every AOI, no matter how it was filled or what the style has been set to, is basically represented internally by a starting point (corresponding to the visual upper left), a fast vector (corresponding to visual left to right), and a slow vector (corresponding to visual top to bottom). These are the items that are changed by the following routines in order to convert from one orientation or rotation to another. It should be noted by those of ordinary skill in the art that the names or designations of each of the following routines are merely provided for illustrative purposes and that any other names or designations may equally be used within the spirit of the present invention.

AOIManager_—90Rotate

This routine rotates content by 90 degrees in the user specified direction. An example of 90 cw rotate may be:



	Before: Boundbox -ULeft 0, 0 - LRight 5, 1 - REAL	Orient 1
	After: Boundbox - ULeft 5, 0 -LRight 0, 1 - REAL	Orient 8

An example of 90 ccw rotate may include:



	Before: Boundbox -ULeft 0, 0 - LRight 5, 1 - REAL	Orient 1
	After: Boundbox -ULeft 0, 1 - LRight 5, 0 - REAL	Orient 6

AOIManager_—180Rotate

This routine rotates content by 180 degrees. An example of 180 degree rotation may include:



Before: Boundbox -ULeft 0, 0 - LRight 5, 1 - REAL	Orient 1
After: Boundbox - ULeft 5, 1 -LRight 0, 0 -REAL	Orient	3

AOIManager_—270Rotate

This routine rotates content by 270 degrees in the user specified direction. An example of 270 cw rotate may include:

An example of 270 ccw rotate may include.

AOIManager_MirrorAboutXAxis

This routine reverses (180 degrees) the direction of the slow vector. This operation is relative to the AOI's axes, not the image's axes. An example may include:



Before: Boundbox -ULeft 0, 0 - LRight 5, 1 - REAL	Orient 1
After: Boundbox -ULeft 0, 1 - LRight 5, 0 - IMAGINARY	Orient 4

AOIManager_MirrorAboutYAxis

This routine reverses (180 degrees) the direction of the fast vector. This operation is relative to the AOI's axes, not the image's axes. An example includes:



Before: Boundbox -ULeft 0, 0 - LRight 5, 1 - REAL	Orient 1
After: Boundbox - ULeft 5, 0 -LRight 0, 1 - IMAGINARY	Orient 2

AOIMaiager_FlipReality

This function changes reality from REAL to IMAGINARY or vice versa. This function may be identical to AOIManager_MirrorAboutXAxis.

AOIManager_SetReality

This function sets the reality to the specified value. This only causes change if the new reality is different from the current reality. The change is identical to AOIManager_MirrorAboutXAxis.

AOIManager_SerOrientation

This function sets the orientation to the specified value. This only causes change if the new orientation is different from the current orientation. An example may include setting the orientation to 6, as follows:

AOIManager_GetRotation

This function returns the rotation of the AOI with respect to the positive x-axis, in degrees The rotation value will be between 0 and 360 degrees (0 and 2π radians)(i.e., no negative numbers). The user specifies whether the positive angle is clockwise (TRUE) or counter-clockwise (FALSE) as well as whether the rotation is returned in degrees or radians.

AOIManager_GetRotationReality

This function returns an enumeration with basically two legal values:

1. AOI Manager_RealityEnumReal (orientations 1,3,6,8)

2. AOI Manager_RealityEnumImaginary (orientations 2,4,5,7)

AOIManager_GetOrientation

This function determines the orientation that is the closest to describing the rotation and rotation reality of the AOI. It is somewhat problematic using orientation to describe rotation since orientation is basically an axis-aligned concept. But, if you expand an orientation to include a 90 degree pie slice from −45 to +45 degrees around that axis, it is still a useful concept.

AOIManager_GetRotationRelativeToOrientazion

This function returns a value from −45 to +45 degrees (or −π/4 to +π/4 radians) which represents a RELATIVE amount of rotation from the axis and direction implied by orientation of an AOI. The user specifies whether the positive angle is clockwise (TRUE) or counter-clockwise (FALSE) as well as whether the angle is returned in degrees or radians.

AOIManager_GeometricRotateAOI

This function will rotate the shape of an AOI. This includes the fast and slow directions as well as all points. This will move the actual position of the points. The rotation is always around the origin (0,0) so that a user can translate the AOI to rotate around the origin and then translate back to the original location. This function will change the direction vectors.

AOIManager_GeometricTranslate AOI

This function will translate (move) an AOI in the X and Y directions. This is especially useful when rotating an AOI since the rotation always rotates around the origin. This function will not change the direction vectors since there is just a shifting of the points.

AOIManager_GeometricScale AOI

This function will scale the AOI in the X and Y directions. Direction vectors will be unaffected. A fractional scaling factor will shrink the AOI. The user can change the size in both the vertical (Y) and horizontal directions (X), Negative scaling has undefined behavior.

AOIManager_GeometricMirrorAboutXAxis

This function will mirror all of the points in the AOI (as well as the direction vectors) over the horizontal axis. This means that all points will have their Y components multiplied by −1.

AOIManager_GeometricMirrorAboutYAxis

This function will mirror all of the points in the AOI (as well as the direction vectors) over the vertical axis. This means that all points will have their X components multiplied by −1.

Processes Implementing the System and Method (Routines) of the Present Invention

Referring now to the drawings,FIG. 1 shows a flow diagram of a first example implementing the present invention.FIG. 1 (as well as the remaining flow diagrams illustrated herein) may equally represent a high level block diagram of the system of the present invention. The steps ofFIG. 1 (as well as the remaining flow diagrams) may be implemented on computer program code in combination with the appropriate hardware. This computer program code may be stored on storage media such as a diskette, bard disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or tape, as well as a memory storage device or collection of memory storage devices such as read-only memory (ROM) or random access memory (RAM). Additionally, the computer program code can be transferred to a workstation over the Internet or some other type of network.

FIG. 1 shows a method implemented by the present invention which sets a polygon as provided by the routine AOIManager_SetAsPolygon. Instep100, a determination is made as to whether there are at least three points. This is used to determine if there is a polygon. If there are not at least three points, instep102, an error is provided. If there are at least three points, instep104, a determination is made as to whether there are any crossovers. If there are crossovers, instep106, an error message is provided. If there are no crossovers, instep108, a copy of polygon information is made to the AOI initial polygon. Instep110, the AOI initial style is set to “polygon”. Instep112, the polygon information is copied to the AOI current polygon. Instep114, the “Current Style” AOI is set to “polygon. Instep116, the process is complete.

FIG. 2 shows a method implemented by the present invention which sets a parallelogram provided by the routine AOIManager₁₃SetAs Parallelogram. Instep202, a determination is made as to whether there is a distinct starting point (SP), fast end point (PEP) and a slow end point (SEP). As previously discussed, the FEP is a point at the visual rightmost horizontal point of interest and a SEP is a point at the visual leftmost vertical point of interest. If there are no distinct points, instep204, an error is provided. If there is are distinct points, instep206, the parallelogram information is converted to a temporary polygon. Instep208, the temporary polygon is copied to the AOI initial polygon, Instep210, the AOI initial style is set to “parallelogram”. Instep212, a copy from the temporary polygon to the AOI current polygon is made. Instep214, the AOI “Current Style” is set to “parallelogram”. Instep216, the process is complete.

FIG. 3 shows a method implemented by the present invention which sets a rectangle provided by the routine AOIManager₁₃SetAsRectangle. Instep300, a determination is made as to whether there is a non-zero distance between the SP and the FEP. If no, then an error is provided instep302. If there is a non-zero distance, instep304, a determination is made as to whether the slow length (SL) is greater than 0. The SL is the distance from the lower left hand corner to the SP in the vertical direction. If the SL is not greater than 0, then an error is provided instep306. If the SL is greater than 0, then the rectangle is converted to a temporary polygon, instep308. Instep310, a copy of the temporary polygon is provided to the AOI initial polygon. Instep312, the AOI initial style is set to “rectangle”. Instep314, a copy is made from the temporary polygon to the AOI current polygon. Instep316, the AOI “Current Style” is set to “rectangle”, Instep318, the process ends.

FIG. 4 shows a method implemented by the present invention which sets a bounding box provided by the routine AOIManager_SetAsBounding Box. Instep400, a determination is made as to whether there is a non-zero area. If there is not a non-zero area, then an error is provided instep402. If there is a non-zero area, instep404, the bounding box information is converted to a temporary polygon. Instep406, a copy from the temporary polygon is made to the AOI initial polygon. Instep408, the AOI initial style is set to “bounding box”. Instep410, a copy is made from the temporary polygon to the AOI current polygon. Instep412, the AOI “Current Style” is set to “bounding box”. Instep414, the process is ends,

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram which shows the implementation of the routine AOIManager_GetAsBoundingBox. Instep500, the AOI current polygon is converted to a bounding box. Instep502, a user is provided with the bounding box. Instep504, the process ends.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram which shows the implementation of the routine AOIManager_GetAsRectangle. Instep600, the AOI current polygon is converted to a rectangle. Instep602, a user is provided with the rectangle. Instep604, the process ends.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram which shows the implementation of the routine AOIManager_GetAsParallelogram. Instep700, the AOI current polygon is converted to a parallelogram. Instep702, a user is provided with the parallelogram. In step704, the process ends.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram which shows the implementation of the routine AOIManager_GetAsPolygon. Instep800, a user is provided with the polygon. It is noted that only this step is necessary to implement the routine ofFIG. 8 based on the fact that a polygon is a generic shape for the remaining shapes, i.e., bounding box, rectangle and parallelogram. In step804, the process ends.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram which shows the implementation of the routine AOIManager_SetStyle. Instep902, a copy is made from the AOI initial polygon to the AOI current polygon. Instep904, the user requests a style, i.e., bounding box, rectangle, parallelogram or polygon. If a bounding box is requested, instep906a, the AOI current polygon is converted to a temporary bounding box. Instep908a, the temporary bounding box is converted to the AOI current polygon. Instep910a, the AOI “Current Style” is set to “Bounding Box”. Instep912, the conversion is complete and the process ends.

Still referring toFIG. 9, if a rectangle is requested, instep906b, the AOI current polygon is converted to a temporary rectangle. Instep908b, the temporary rectangle is converted to the AOI current polygon. Instep910b, the AOI “Current Style” is set to “Rectangle”. Instep912, the conversion is complete and the process ends. If a parallelogram is requested, instep906c, the AOI current polygon is converted to a temporary parallelogram. In step908c, the temporary parallelogram is converted to the AOI current polygon. In step910c, the AOI “Current Style” is set to “Parallelogram”. Instep912, the conversion is complete and the process ends. If a polygon is requested, instep910d, the AOI “Current Style” is set to “Polygon”. Instep912, the conversion is complete and the process ends.

FIGS. 10athrough13egraphically show the bounded areas of the geometric shapes as provided in the AOIManager_SetAs and AOIManager_GetAs routines ofFIGS. 5 through 8. Note that the initial polygon and the initial style remains unchanged by this function. This allows each call to SetStyle to always go back to the initial polygon as the basis for finding the tightest user requested shape which contains such shape. Specifically,FIGS. 10athrough10eshow a conversion of a polygon to a bounding box (FIG. 10b), rectangle (FIG. 10c), parallelogram (FIG.10d) or a polygon (FIG. 10e). In the Set As Polygon ofFIG. 10a, there are four points, P1-P4. A fast direction (FD) is provided in the horizontal direction and the slow direction (SD) is provided in the vertical direction of the axially aligned graph. In the Get As Bounding Box ofFIG. 10b, a start point (SP) is provided in the leftmost upper corner and an end point (EP) is provided in the rightmost lower corner. In the Get as Rectangle ofFIG. 10c, the SP in the leftmost upper corner and the fast end point (FEP) in the uppermost right hand corner are provided in order to define the rectangular shape. In the Get As Parallelogram ofFIG. 10d, a SP, FEP and a slow end point (SEP) are provided. The SEP is provided at the lowermost left hand corner. It is noted that the bounding box and the rectangle are both constrained examples of the parallelogram ofFIG. 10d. Lastly, the Get As Polygon ofFIG. 10eshows the same four points as shown inFIG. 10a.

As should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, the points shown in each of theFIGS. 10athrough10eare the minimum amount of points or parameters needed to define the axially aligned shapes of the bounding box, rectangle, parallelogram or the polygon,FIGS. 10athrough10ealso illustrate the bounded areas of interest for the bounding box, rectangle parallelogram and polygon. The bounding box is provided with the greatest bounded form to the less bounded forms, in order, of the rectangle, parallelogram and polygon. Said otherwise, the polygon is the least constrained form and the bounding box is the most constrained form.

FIGS. 11athrough11eshow a conversion of a parallelogram to a bounding box (FIG. 11b), rectangle (FIG. 11c), parallelogram (FIG. 11d) or a polygon (FIG. 11e).FIGS. 12athrough12eshow a conversion of a rectangle to a bounding box (FIG. 12b), rectangle (FIG. 12c), parallelogram (FIG. 12d) or a polygon (FIG. 12e). Lastly,FIGS. 13athrough13eshow a conversion of a bounding box to a bounding box (FIG.13b), rectangle (FIG. 13c), parallelogram (FIG. 13d) or a polygon (FIG. 13e). It should now be well understood thatFIGS. 13athrough13eillustrate that each area of interest will be the same size based on the fact that the bounding box initially has the greatest bounded form (i.e., area of interest). (The polygon is the least constrained form and the bounding box is the most constrained form.)

While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.