Evaluation of sets of oriented and non-oriented receptive fields as local descriptors

Local descriptors are increasingly used for the task of object recognition because of their perceived robustness with respect to occlusions and to global geometrical deformations. We propose a performance criterion for a local descriptor based on the tradeoff between selectivity and invariance. In this paper, we evaluate several local descriptors with respect to selectivity and invariance. The descriptors that we evaluated are Gaussian derivatives up to the third order, gray image patches, and Laplacian-based descriptors with either three scales or one scale filters. We compare selectivity and invariance to several affine changes such as rotation, scale, brightness, and viewpoint. Comparisons have been made keeping the dimensionality of the descriptors roughly constant. The overall results indicate a good performance by the descriptor based on a set of oriented Gaussian filters. It is interesting that oriented receptive fields similar to the Gaussian derivatives as well as receptive fields similar to the Laplacian are found in primate visual cortex.

Detecting Digital Forgeries Using Bispectral Analysis

With the rapid increase in low-cost and sophisticated digital technology the need for techniques to authenticate digital material will become more urgent. In this paper we address the problem of authenticating digital signals assuming no explicit prior knowledge of the original. The basic approach that we take is to assume that in the frequency domain a "natural" signal has weak higher-order statistical correlations. We then show that "un-natural" correlations are introduced if this signal is passed through a non-linearity (which would almost surely occur in the creation of a forgery). Techniques from polyspectral analysis are then used to detect the presence of these correlations. We review the basics of polyspectral analysis, show how and why these tools can be used in detecting forgeries and show their effectiveness in analyzing human speech.

On Directional Selectivity in Vertebrate Retina: An Experimental and Computational Study

This thesis describes an investigation of retinal directional selectivity. We show intracellular (whole-cell patch) recordings in turtle retina which indicate that this computation occurs prior to the ganglion cell, and we describe a pre-ganglionic circuit model to account for this and other findings which places the non-linear spatio-temporal filter at individual, oriented amacrine cell dendrites. The key non-linearity is provided by interactions between excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs onto the dendrites, and their distal tips provide directionally selective excitatory outputs onto ganglion cells. Detailed simulations of putative cells support this model, given reasonable parameter constraints. The performance of the model also suggests that this computational substructure may be relevant within the dendritic trees of CNS neurons in general.

Shape from Shading: A Method for Obtaining the Shape of a Smooth Opaque Object from One View

A method will be described for finding the shape of a smooth apaque object form a monocular image, given a knowledge of the surface photometry, the position of the lightsource and certain auxiliary information to resolve ambiguities. This method is complementary to the use of stereoscopy which relies on matching up sharp detail and will fail on smooth objects. Until now the image processing of single views has been restricted to objects which can meaningfully be considered two-dimensional or bounded by plane surfaces. It is possible to derive a first-order non-linear partial differential equation in two unknowns relating the intensity at the image points to the shape of the objects. This equation can be solved by means of an equivalent set of five ordinary differential equations. A curve traced out by solving this set of equations for one set of starting values is called a characteristic strip. Starting one of these strips from each point on some initial curve will produce the whole solution surface. The initial curves can usually be constructed around so-called singular points. A number of applications of this metod will be discussed including one to lunar topography and one to the scanning electron microscope. In both of these cases great simplifications occur in the equations. A note on polyhedra follows and a quantitative theory of facial make-up is touched upon. An implementation of some of these ideas on the PDP-6 computer with its attached image-dissector camera at the Artificial intelligence Laboratory will be described, and also a nose-recognition program.