Shape and texture recognitions of symbols in pedigree schematic sketch

Pedigree schematic sketch is a drawing of a family´s hereditary history in a form of a “tree” for an interpretation of possible inheritance of a given trait or disease. It consists of circles, rectangles, and diamonds with some textures to indicate a presence of carrier. Currently, doctors sketch such family tree on a piece of paper with a pen or pencil, which may be smudged over time and cannot be visualized with accuracy. In addition, the hand-swivel drawing is difficult to be analyzed systematically. Therefore, it is desirable to transform such schematic sketch into a digital form, so it can be conveniently stored in a database and further analyzed with ease. In this paper, we segment the symbols in pedigree schematic sketches, then design algorithms to classify their shapes (as circle, rectangle, or diamond) and textures (as shaded or empty). The results are very satisfactory.