US Patent 11568554 Contour-based detection of closely spaced objects

A system includes a sensor and a client. The client receives a set of frames of top-view depth images generated by the sensor. The client identifies a frame of the received frames in which a first contour associated with a first object is merged with a second contour associated with a second object. The client determines, at a first depth in the identified frame, a merged-contour region which is associated with the merged contours. The client detects a third contour at a second depth that is less than the first depth and determines a first region associated with the third contour. The client detects a fourth contour at the second depth and determines a second region associated with the fourth contour. If criteria are satisfied, the client associates the first region with a position of the first object and associates the second region with a position of the second object.