A Note on Advantages of the Fuzzy Gabor Filter in Object and Text Detection

Abstract

This note presents a fuzzy optimization of Gabor filter-based object and text detection. The derivation of a 2D Gabor filter and the guidelines for the fuzzification of the filter parameters are described. The fuzzy Gabor filter proved to be a robust text an object detection method in low-quality input images as extensively evaluated in the problem of license plate localization. The extended set of examples confirmed that the fuzzy optimized Gabor filter with adequately fuzzified parameters detected the desired license plate texture components and highly improved the object detection when compared to the classic Gabor filter. The robustness of the proposed approach was further demonstrated on other images of various origin containing text and different textures, captured using low-cost or modest quality acquisition procedures. The possibility to fine tune the fuzzification procedure to better suit certain applications offers the potential to further boost detection performance.