Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Graphic manipulation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-09
2002-05-21
Brier, Jeffery (Department: 2672)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Graphic manipulation
C345S634000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06392659
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image connecting method, an image connecting apparatus, and a storage medium on which an image connecting program is stored, for connecting first and second images to each other in such a manner that a particular connecting area is determined for the first and second images and the first and second images are combined together in the connecting area.
2. Description of the Related Art
When first and second signals are given, for example, as shown in
FIG. 13
, one known technique of creating a third signal which smoothly connects the former two signals is to calculate the weighted sum. A specific method of connecting signals based on this weighting addition is disclosed for example in a paper entitled “A Multiresolusion Spline With Application to Image Mosaics” (Peter J. Burt, ACM Transaction on Graphics, Vol. 2, No. 4, October, 1983, pp. 217-236).
In the signal connecting technique disclosed in the paper cited above, first and second signals are connected in a particular area which is variable depending on frequency components. More specifically, the first and second signals are connected in a narrow connection area for high-frequency components, while the first and second signals are connected in a wide connection area for low-frequency components. Furthermore, in this technique disclosed in the above paper, weighted sums are calculated for respective frequency components to connect the first and second signals.
The method of connecting first and second signal at a particular frequency (for example &ohgr;)) according to this technique is described below with reference to FIG.
14
.
In
FIG. 14
, A(t) denotes a function representing a frequency component of the first signal at frequency &ohgr;. B(t) denotes a function representing a frequency component of the second signal at frequency &ohgr;. The components of the first and second signals at frequency &ohgr; are connected to each other in the connecting range of t=−T to T. As described above, the connecting range varies depending on the frequency &ohgr;.
A third signal, via which the frequency component A(t) of the first signal at frequency &ohgr; and the frequency component B(t) of the second signal at frequency &ohgr; are connected, is determined over the connecting range such that the third signal has a frequency component C(t) given by the following equation:
C
(
t
)={1−&agr;(
t
)}×
A
(
t
)+
a
(
t
)×
B
(
t
)
where &agr;(t) is a monotonically increasing function which has a value 0 at t=−T and 1 at t=T. Herein, C(t) is defined within the connecting range from t=−T to T.
The overall signal D(t) resulting from the connection of the components at frequency &ohgr; becomes as follows:
D(t)=A (t) for t≦−T,
D(t)=C (t) for −T<t<T, and
D(t)=B (t) for T<t.
The method of connecting the first and second signals has been described above for the particular component at frequency &ohgr;. In the technique disclosed in the above-cited paper, a similar calculation is performed for all frequency components and resultant signals are all added together to obtain a final result representing a connected signal.
In this signal connecting technique, as can be seen from the above discussion, DC components (components at an extremely low frequency) are connected to each other via a gradually varying signal in a wide connecting range thereby preventing a conspicuous abrupt change which would appear if the connection were performed in a narrow connecting range. On the other hand, high-frequency components are connected to each other in a narrow connecting range via a signal efficiently generated from the original first and second signals A(t) and B(t).
Although the signal connecting method has been described above with reference to an one-dimensional signal, this signal connecting method can also be applied to a two-dimensional signal such as an image signal.
The above-described signal connecting method is discussed further for the case where the signal connecting method described above is used to connect images including a large number of parts having extremely different aspect ratios, as is the case in an image of hairs.
For example, let us assume that a first image
101
including a plurality of hairs as shown in
FIG. 15A and a
second image
102
including, as shown in
FIG. 15B
, a plurality of hairs different from those of the first image
101
are connected to each other such that these two images are overlapped in a particular connecting area and a third image
103
is generated as shown in FIG.
15
C.
In this connecting process, the first image
101
and the second image
102
are decomposed into frequency components and connecting ranges are determined for the respective frequency components. For high-frequency components, a narrow connecting range is set near the center within the maximum connecting range and the weighted sum of the frequency components is calculated over this narrow range so that the first and second images
101
and
102
are connected to each other via the signal given by the resultant weighted sum. For low-frequency components, a connecting range occupying a wider range within the maximum connecting range is set and the weighted sum of the frequency components is calculated over this wide connecting range so that the first and second images
101
and
102
are connected to each other via the signal given by the resultant weighted sum.
The resultant frequency components are all added together so as to create a third image
103
which is an overall image in which the first image
101
and the second image
102
are combined. Although only two ranges, that is, a “narrow connecting range” for a high-frequency component and a “wide connecting range” for a low-frequency component are shown in
FIG. 15C
, various ranges for middle frequency components are set in addition to the above two ranges, in a practical connecting process.
Now, let us assume that the plurality of hairs in the first image
101
include one conspicuous hair
104
. Herein, the “conspicuous hair” refers to such a hair having a conspicuous edge caused by peculiar illumination or reflection of light. Such a conspicuous hair
104
includes a lot of high-frequency components.
For the conspicuous hair
104
, the connection between the first image
101
and the second image
102
is performed in a narrow range because it includes a lot of high-frequency components. As a result, in the resultant combined third image
103
, the conspicuous hair
104
disappears near the center of the connecting range as shown in FIG.
15
C.
Herein, let us assume that the plurality of hairs in the second image
102
also include one conspicuous hair
105
. This conspicuous hair
105
also include a lot of high-frequency components.
Also for the conspicuous hair
105
including such a lot of high-frequency components, the first image
101
and the second image
102
are connected to each other in a narrow range, and thus the conspicuous hair
105
in the resultant combined third image
103
disappears near the connecting range as shown in FIG.
15
C.
Thus, in the resultant third image
103
obtained by connecting the two images of hairs overlapped in the particular range, conspicuous hairs such as a hair
104
extending from the left disappear near the center and conspicuous hairs such as a hair
105
extending from the right also disappear near the center. As a result, the third image
103
becomes unnatural in that there is no hair extending across the central area.
As described above, when a conspicuous object such as a hair is included in both images to be connected, if the two images are connected to each other according to the above signal connecting technique, the resultant image becomes unnatural in that the conspicuous object disappears near the center of the connecting area.
Now, let us assume that the first image
101
is a blurred image of hairs
Nakamura Kyoko
Ohki Mitsuharu
Totsuka Takashi
Bell Boyd & Lloyd LLC
Brier Jeffery
Yang Ryan
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