|Publication number||US7656552 B1|
|Application number||US 10/782,491|
|Publication date||Feb 2, 2010|
|Filing date||Feb 18, 2004|
|Priority date||Feb 20, 2003|
|Publication number||10782491, 782491, US 7656552 B1, US 7656552B1, US-B1-7656552, US7656552 B1, US7656552B1|
|Inventors||George W. Dalke|
|Original Assignee||Dalke George W|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (13), Non-Patent Citations (11), Classifications (7), Legal Events (3)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/448,080, filed Feb. 20, 2003 for Unified Image Processing System, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference for all purposes.
The following documents are attached to this application and are considered part of this application:
During image processing and manipulations, problems with processed images, which are referred to as pathologies, arise. In most cases, it is up to the user to avoid pathologies by visual feedback and interactively moving a control to adjust the amount of processing tolerated by a particular image. The control settings are generally a compromise between increasing the desirable results and keeping the pathologies acceptably low.
Some examples of image pathologies are as follows. A typical “sharpen” filter causes halo and outlining effect, and may further enhance jpeg artifacts, particularly in relatively uniform areas such as sky. Further, burn out and color shift are often caused by brightness adjustment. Posterization and localized color shifts are caused by excessive processing. Textured objects are “flattened” by low local contrast in part of the transform.
According to one aspect, the invention provides an image processing method that comprises generating a synthesized image transform from a set of synthesizing parameters; and subjecting the input image to the synthesized image transform to form an output image wherein: the synthesized image transform is generated from a set of synthesizing parameters; the synthesizing parameters have a defined domain of allowed values; the complete set of synthesized transforms is obtained by varying the synthesizing parameters over all values within the domain; the visual effect of each synthesized transform is characterized by a set of visual effect parameters; and the visual effect parameters and the synthesizing parameters are related in that the visual effect parameters are generated from the synthesizing parameters for the complete set of transforms, and/or the synthesizing parameters are generated from the visual effect parameters for the complete set of transforms.
In some embodiments, the synthesizing parameter sets are composable (that is, a function or algorithm combines two or more sets of synthesizing parameters into a single set of synthesizing parameters); and the composed synthesizing parameters are sequentially equivalent (that is, an image processed sequentially by two or more synthetic transforms will be equivalent to an image processed through a single transform which has been synthesized from the synthesizing parameter set composed from the synthesizing parameter sets of the sequential transforms).
Embodiments of the invention are capable of eliminating or significantly reducing pathologies, while simplifying the optimization of images, thereby removing the need for experienced operators and interactive controls. The transforms also produce superior images without degrading the data from the original image. This feature allows an image to undergo further processing, while eliminating the occurrence of further pathologies.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings.
Associated with each selection function is a “visual effect” given by a set of visual effect parameters. Each visual effect parameter is the statistical expected value of the visual effect functions, given by the equation
V=<f>=∫∫∫f(r,g,b)p(r,g,b)dr dg db
where p(r,g,b) is the joint probability distribution of the input image.
V′=∫∫∫f(r′,g′,b′)p′(r′,g′,b′)dr′ dg′ db′
We can calculate the output probability distribution from the transform and the input probability distribution as
Introducing a change of variables, we get
V′=∫∫∫f(t(r,g,b))p(r,g,b)dr dg db
This remarkable results allows us to associate the visual effect parameters with a transform and an input image. For the special case that the input image has uniform probability distribution, the uniform visual effect parameter for a transform is given by:
Vt=∫∫∫f(t(r,g,b))dr dg db
The specification of the desired visual effect parameters is facilitated by using the “Unified User Interface” presented on page 14 of the Provisional Application. Note that that using a sequence of visual intents gives an intuitive and powerful method of specifying very complex transforms. This is a significant aspect to the authoring and editing capabilities set forth in the Provisional Application.
The algorithm for combining the q-array to a single v-array for execution is
While the above is a complete description of specific embodiments of the invention, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.
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|U.S. Classification||358/1.18, 358/452|
|International Classification||G06K15/00, G06F15/00|
|Cooperative Classification||G06T5/00, G06T2207/20092|
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|Oct 15, 2013||FPAY||Fee payment|
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