To provide a method for constructing a merged full image automatically.
At least two radiation sub-images of an elongated object are acquired by means of overlapped recording media and converted to digital images. A hypothesis list that includes all possible arrangements of sub-image order, orientation, and overlap is constructed; overlap regions for the pair of sub-images in each hypothesis are detected; a plurality of different measurements on every pair are conducted; and, a hypothesis is deleted from the list if its measurement result is out of range. A correlation function of the overlap regions in each hypothesis left in the hypothesis list is calculated; the maximum value of the function and the horizontal distance between the sub-images of each pair are obtained; the magnitude of the horizontal distance between each pair of consecutive sub-images is detected; and, a relevant hypothesis is deleted from the list if its magnitude is out of range. The minimum sensitivity for each hypothesis left in the hypothesis list is established based on the sum of the maximum of the correlation functions, the hypothesis whose minimum sensitivity is maximum is selected for the best candidate, and sub-images are merged and processed based on the selected hypothesis.
FOOS DAVID H
Shinsuke Onuki
Tadashige Ito
Hiroshi Kida