Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N21/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means, i.e. using sub-millimetre waves, infrared, visible or ultraviolet light
  • G01N21/84—Systems specially adapted for particular applications
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T7/00—Image analysis
  • G06T7/0002—Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
  • G06T7/0004—Industrial image inspection
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F18/00—Pattern recognition
  • G06F18/20—Analysing
  • G06F18/24—Classification techniques
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
  • G06T2207/10—Image acquisition modality
  • G06T2207/10056—Microscopic image
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
  • G06T2207/20—Special algorithmic details
  • G06T2207/20036—Morphological image processing
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
  • G06T2207/30—Subject of image; Context of image processing
  • G06T2207/30108—Industrial image inspection
  • G06T2207/30136—Metal

Definitions

• aspects of the present invention refer to an automatic method for the classification of the Degrees of Maturation (DM) of fired iron ore pellets, independent of human intervention.
• An example method is based on the digital acquisition of microscopy images of polished cross sections, and their processing, analysis and classification by a suitable software procedure.
• Iron ore pellets are spherical agglomerates of iron ore super-fines (below 0.25 mm). Pellets undergo thermal processing to increase their compressive strength, which is important during handling and shipping, and during their use in reduction reactors. During thermal treatment several physico- chemical reactions occur, leading to strong changes in microstructure. These changes can be described by "degrees of maturation" (DM), and can be classified in classes in order to represent the microstructural characteristics. Typically DM is divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D, although intermediate types, such as AB, BC, and CD can also be obtained. The Degrees of Maturation increase from A to D, considering class A as the lowest Degree of Maturation and class D as the highest Degree of Maturation.
• DM degree of maturation
• the DM is defined by observation of a cross section of the sample under the optical microscope.
• a trained human operator observes the images, either directly on the microscope eyepiece, or on a digital display, and decides the DM for that field of view. This decision is based on several parameters such as particle shape, porosity, presence of ferrite and slag formation. This represents a complex classification problem that has a strong subjective component, leading to errors and lack of reproducibility.
• Figures 1 to 4 show typical images for classes A, B, C, and D.
• This invention aims to overcome this scenario, characterized by the human intervention that has a strong subjective component, leading to errors and lack of reproducibility, by an automatic method for the classification of the DM of fired iron ore pellets independent of human intervention.
• Figure 1 shows an image for class A of DM
• Figure 2 shows an image for class B of DM
• Figure 3 shows an image for class C of DM
• Figure 4 shows an image for class D of DM
• FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the automatic method provided by the present invention.
• Figure 6 is a system, including a computer device having components configured to perform aspects of the automatic method provided by the present invention.
• the automatic method for the classification of the DM of fired iron ore pellets independent of human intervention is based on the digital acquisition of microscopy images of polished cross sections, and their processing, analysis and classification by a suitable software procedure, as described herein.
• the image processing involves the steps of background correction, edge enhancement, segmentation, and morphological post-processing.
• the image analysis provides several measurement parameters as listed below:
• Field parameters particle and pore count, particle and pore area fraction, particle mean lineal intercept.
• Size parameters particle and pore area, perimeter, calipers, equivalent circular diameter.
• Texture parameters field mean intensity of pixel intensities in a field image, standard deviation of pixel intensities in a field image, and Haralick parameters (that are statistical measurements of cooccurrence of neighboring grayscale pixels) measured from the pixel intensities in a field image.
• Shape parameters particle aspect ratio, convexity based on convex area and perimeter, circular shape factors based on area, perimeter and maximum caliper, branching and modification ratios based on inscribed circle diameter and minimum or maximum calipers.
• This set of parameters was measured for hundreds of image fields representative of the 4 degrees of maturation (A, B, C, and D), and used as inputs to a supervised classification procedure. After cross-validation of more than 10,000 subdivisions of the measurement set, comparing the current method (human analysis) and the automatic method (software analysis), the global classification rate for the 4 classes reached 91.21 %.
• the classification of the images comprises 4 classes of Degrees of Maturation: A, B, C, and D and the Degrees of Maturation increases from A to D, considering class A as the lowest Degree of Maturation and class D as the highest Degree of Maturation.
• a system 600 may be configured to perform aspects of the automatic method 500 for the classification of the DM of fired iron ore pellets independent of human intervention.
• the system 600 includes digital image capture device 620, such as, for example, a digital camera, which captures an image.
• the system 600 also includes a computer device 610, which, at 510 of method 500, acquires the captured image e.g., via a digital image acquisition component 609 from the digital image capture device 620.
• the image includes a first set of image data of a cross-section of a sample of a fired iron ore pellet 630.
• the digital image capture device 620 and the digital image acquisition component 609 are shown as separate components, they can be part of the same component.
• digital image capture device 620 can be part of a computer device, such as the example of computer device 610, that also includes some or all of the other components shown in the example of computer device 610. In another example, some or all of the components shown in the example of computer device 610 may be included as part of digital image capture device 620.
• the computer device 610 processes the image, e.g., via an image processing component 608, which may be software and/or hardware executing one or more of a background correction algorithm or function, an edge enhancement algorithm or function, a segmentation algorithm or function, and/or a morphological post-processing algorithm or function, to generate a revised image and/or a second or processed set of image data.
• an image processing component 608 may be software and/or hardware executing one or more of a background correction algorithm or function, an edge enhancement algorithm or function, a segmentation algorithm or function, and/or a morphological post-processing algorithm or function, to generate a revised image and/or a second or processed set of image data.
• the computer device 610 analyzes the revised image and/or a second or processed set of image data, e.g., via an image analysis component 607, which may be software and/or hardware executing one or more algorithm or function to generate one or more image measurement parameters (e.g., field parameters, size parameters, texture parameters, and/or shape parameters) for the image.
• image analysis component 607 may be software and/or hardware executing one or more algorithm or function to generate one or more image measurement parameters (e.g., field parameters, size parameters, texture parameters, and/or shape parameters) for the image.
• the computer device 610 classifies the image, e.g., via an image classification component 606, which may be software and/or hardware executing one or more of an image classification algorithm or function by comparing the one or more image measurement parameters for the image to a set of one or more corresponding image classification parameter rules, e.g., which may include values or ranges for one or more representative image measurement parameters corresponding to each of one or more DM classifications.
• the image classification parameter rules may be based on samples from a supervised classification procedure used to quantify each class of DM. Based on achieving a certain degree of matching of values or ranges for one or more representative image measurement parameters, or otherwise meeting the image classification parameter rules for a certain DM class, the system thereby generates an association between the DM class and the image.
• the computer device 610 also may include a processor 601 for carrying out processing functions associated with one or more of the components and functions described herein.
• the processor 601 can include a single or multiple set of processors or multi-core processors.
• the processor 601 can be implemented as an integrated processing system and/or a distributed processing system.
• the computer device 610 also may include a memory 602, such as for storing data used herein and/or local versions of applications being executed by processor 601 .
• the memory 602 can include any type of memory usable by a computer, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), tapes, magnetic discs, optical discs, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and any combination thereof.
• the computer device 610 also may include a communications
• the communications component 603 that provides for establishing and maintaining communications with one or more entities utilizing hardware, software, and services as described herein.
• the communications component 603 may carry communications between components within the computer device, as well as between the computer device and external devices, such as devices located across a communications network and/or devices serially or locally connected to the computer device.
• the communications component 603 may include one or more buses, and may further include transmit chain components and receive chain components associated with one or more transmitters and receivers, respectively, or one or more transceivers, operable for interfacing with external devices.
• the computer device 610 also may include a data store 604, which can be any suitable combination of hardware and/or software, that provides for mass storage of information, databases, and programs employed in connection with aspects described herein.
• the data store 604 may be a data repository for applications not currently being executed by the processor 601.
• the computer device 610 also may include a user interface component 605 operable to receive inputs from a user of the computer device 610, and further operable to generate outputs for presentation to the user.
• the user interface component 605 may include one or more input devices, including but not limited to a keyboard, a number pad, a mouse, a touch-sensitive display, a navigation key, a function key, a microphone, a voice recognition component, any other mechanism capable of receiving an input from a user, or any combination thereof.
• the user interface component 605 may include one or more output devices, including but not limited to a display, a speaker, a haptic feedback mechanism, a printer, any other mechanism capable of presenting an output to a user, or any combination thereof.
• a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer.
• an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component.
• One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.
• these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon.
• the components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets, such as data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systems by way of the signal.
• DSP digital signal processor
• ASIC application specific integrated circuit
• FPGA field programmable gate array
• a general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but, in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine.
• a processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Additionally, at least one processor may comprise one or more modules operable to perform one or more of the steps and/or actions described above.
• a software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.
• An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor, such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium.
• the storage medium may be integral to the processor.
• the processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Additionally, the ASIC may reside in a user terminal.
• the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal. Additionally, in some aspects, the steps and/or actions of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a machine readable medium and/or computer readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product. In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.
• Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.
• a storage medium may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer.
• such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.
• any connection may be termed a computer-readable medium.
• software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave
• DSL digital subscriber line
• wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave
• Disk and disc includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs usually reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Computer Vision & Pattern Recognition (AREA)
• Data Mining & Analysis (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
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• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Bioinformatics & Cheminformatics (AREA)
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• 2013
  • 2013-09-26 US US14/038,221 patent/US9207185B2/en active Active
  • 2013-09-27 JP JP2015533382A patent/JP2016500858A/ja active Pending
  • 2013-09-27 TW TW102135170A patent/TW201428273A/zh unknown
  • 2013-09-27 EP EP13785812.2A patent/EP2901422A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2013-09-27 KR KR1020157009645A patent/KR20150060772A/ko not_active Withdrawn
  • 2013-09-27 AU AU2013325135A patent/AU2013325135A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2013-09-27 WO PCT/BR2013/000376 patent/WO2014047709A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2013-09-27 IN IN2787DEN2015 patent/IN2015DN02787A/en unknown

Non-Patent Citations (3)

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