METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ROBUST SHAPE DETECTION USING A HIT/MISS TRANSFORM

An apparatus and method for detecting anomalies morphologically detecting regions of interest. The apparatus and method include a region of interest (ROI) detection unit which morphologically detects anomalies in two dimensional input images or morphologically detects regions of interest based on structuring elements which can be set by a user using a modified hit and miss transform which includes a thresholding feature. The thresholding feature makes it possible to vary how much the shape of features within the input images can deviate from the shape of structuring elements and still be detected as a region of interest. One application of this involves detection of abnormal cells in a cervical Pap-smear.