In order to meet the real-time requirements of vision detection systems

an efficient line edge extraction method using image gradient is proposed. First

by using gradient information of the image and the property that two points define a line

line segments in the image are quickly located and scanned. Then

the scanned line segments are fitted through a method minimizing the geometric distances. Finally

a collinearity judging approach based on the projection distances of line segment endpoints is applied to all the line segments

after which the collinear line segments are linked together and refitted to obtain the final line edge features. Experimental results indicate that the time consumed by the proposed method is only about a half of the fastest improved Hough transform method . Furthermore

with the given parameters

the method is highly adaptable to different images. It can satisfy the real-time and precision requirements of the line edge feature extraction processes in various vision detection systems.