In order to search for an object as efficiently as possible, it can be very useful to take advantage of the spatial relationships in which it commonly participates. Searches that do so, which we call indirect searches, can be modeled as two-stage processes that first find an intermediate object that commonly participates in a spatial relationship for the target object, and then look for the target in the restricted region specified by this relationship. Using this model, previous work has determined that over a wide range of situations, for searches that involve rotating a camera about a fixed location, indirect searches improve efficiency by factors of 2 to 8. However, several areas require future research if indirect search is to become a widely applicable easily usable technique. This paper describes three major areas in need of study -- recognizing typical intermediate objects, defining spatial relationships, and constructing mechanisms for moving a camera to examine cluttered regions of space. It concentrates especially on the latter topic, discussing many issues arising in the design of systems for looking around clutter and occlusions.

Date Published: 1 November 1992
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 1825, Intelligent Robots and Computer Vision XI: Algorithms, Techniques, and Active Vision, (1 November 1992); doi: 10.1117/12.131524

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1825:
Intelligent Robots and Computer Vision XI: Algorithms, Techniques, and Active Vision
David P. Casasent, Editor(s)