US 12,243,215 B2
Method for segmenting images
Tianyu Jiang, Seattle, WA (US); Xu Chen, Seattle, WA (US); and Mengying Leng, Seattle, WA (US)
Assigned to Univeristy of Washington, Seattle, WA (US)
Filed by University of Washington, Seattle, WA (US)
Filed on Apr. 15, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/721,905.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/176,737, filed on Apr. 19, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0335595 A1, Oct. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. G06T 7/00 (2017.01); G06T 5/40 (2006.01); G06T 7/162 (2017.01)
CPC G06T 7/0004 (2013.01) [G06T 5/40 (2013.01); G06T 7/162 (2017.01); G06T 2207/20092 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
capturing an image of a powder bed with a visible light camera that shares an optical axis with a laser beam, wherein the laser beam is configured for heating the powder bed;
increasing first intensities of first pixels of the image that are indicative of foreign objects within the image;
normalizing second intensities of second pixels of the image that are indicative of uneven illumination of the powder bed;
processing the image via contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization after increasing the first intensities and after normalizing the second intensities;
using graph-based image segmentation to identify third pixels of the image that correspond to an area of the powder bed that has been processed by the laser beam; and
indicating the third pixels via a user interface.