Treffer: Contextual Object Grouping (COG): A Specialized Framework for Dynamic Symbol Interpretation in Technical Security Diagrams.

This paper introduces Contextual Object Grouping (COG), a specific computer vision framework that enables automatic interpretation of technical security diagrams through dynamic legend learning for intelligent sensing applications. Unlike traditional object detection approaches that rely on post-processing heuristics to establish relationships between the detected elements, COG embeds contextual understanding directly into the detection process by treating spatially and functionally related objects as unified semantic entities. We demonstrate this approach in the context of Cyber-Physical Security Systems (CPPS) assessment, where the same symbol may represent different security devices across different designers and projects. Our proof-of-concept implementation using YOLOv8 achieves robust detection of legend components (mAP50 ≈ 0.99, mAP50–95 ≈ 0.81) and successfully establishes symbol–label relationships for automated security asset identification. The framework introduces a new ontological class—the contextual COG class that bridges atomic object detection and semantic interpretation, enabling intelligent sensing systems to perceive context rather than infer it through post-processing reasoning. This proof-of-concept appears to validate the COG hypothesis and suggests new research directions for structured visual understanding in smart sensing environments, with applications potentially extending to building automation and cyber-physical security assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Algorithms is the property of MDPI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)