Haar-like features with optimally weighted rectangles for rapid object detection

This article proposes an extension of Haar-like features for their use in rapid object detection systems. These features differ from the traditional ones in that their rectangles are assigned optimal weights so as to maximize their ability to discriminate objects from clutter (non-objects). These features maintain the simplicity of evaluation of the traditional formulation while being more discriminative. The proposed features were trained to detect two types of objects: human frontal faces and human heart regions. Our experimental results suggest that the object detectors based on the proposed features are more accurate and faster than the object detectors built with traditional Haar-like features.