Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Graph generating
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-28
2002-02-26
Nguyen, Phu K. (Department: 2671)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Graph generating
Reexamination Certificate
active
06351265
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing an image of a head, corresponding to a body image from another source, so that a resulting composite image has a natural orientation and size.
In the following description, the term “head” is intended to include not only the head of a human being with its hair (however long) face, ears, etc., but also any and all appurtenant accessories such as a hat, glasses, hair adornments, jewelry (earrings, etc.) and the like. The term “body” as it is used herein, is intended to include the body of a human being, animal, fish, etc., (either real or fictional) including not only the torso, arms, legs, tail, fins, etc., but also any and ail appurtenant clothing, shoes, jewelry, and the like. The “body” may also be another environment in which an image of a head is appropriate, such as a window, television screen or portal. The image of the head and/or body may be obtained from a “real” head or body, respectively, either photographically or by electronic image scanning, or from an artistic or computer generated rendering thereof
It is known to produce pictures of human subjects with the head of one human being superimposed upon the body of another human being, animal, fish, etc. This superposition is normally accomplished “mechanically” by cutting around the outline of the head of a person shown in a first photograph and applying this head, in the proper position and orientation, to a body in a second photograph. The resulting “mechanical” is thereafter photographed and/or scanned electronically to produce a third photograph or electronic image. Electronic implementation of this process is also known, where the head is electronically traced and superimposed.
This superposition process is time consuming and requires that the head and body in the first and second photographs, respectively, be adjusted in scale photographically; that is, that either the first or second photograph be enlarged or reduced so that the head and body are of the same relative size.
Consequently, this superposition process is only rarely used, and when used it is limited to situations where the cost of the process is small compared to the cost of the overall desired product.
It is also known to scan photographs electronically, which may be used to produce customized portraits on self-adhesive paper labels. It is also known to print a plurality of portrait photographs in a variety of sizes on photographic paper.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for producing an output image including a size-normalized image of a digital image of an object. The object is generally an anatomical portion of a subject, such as a human or animal.
It is also an object according to the present invention to provide a method of producing an electronic image of a human subject, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) providing an electronic representation of an image of a head of said subject;
(b) providing an image containing a body corresponding to said head;
(c) producing a set of digital representations defining an actual size of said head in said electronic representation;
(d) providing a set of digital representations defining a desired size of said head corresponding to said body;
(e) processing said electronic representation of said image of said head in dependence upon the size information defined by said actual size and said desired size, representing said head scaled to said desired size; and
(f) outputting said processed electronic representation as an image of said head scaled to said desired size.
Advantageously, the method includes the further step of superimposing said outputted electronic representation of said head scaled to said desired size on said body. The image of the head may be, for example, a photograph, electronic still image, video image or a series of photographs. Non-electronic image media may be scanned or otherwise digitized for input. The head may be an artistic rendering, or a synthesized or actual image of a head. Likewise, the image containing the body may be an artistic rendering, or a synthesized or actual image of the body. The head and body images need not be of the same type, and advantageously, a processing step may be performed to modify either the head image, body image, or both, to increase a matching between the two. The images are preferably in natural colors; however, monochrome images, false colors, discrete color space images, cartoon images and the like may also be employed.
According to another object of the invention, the head has a reference vector and said body has a reference vector, wherein the head and body are combined to obtain a predetermined relationship of the reference vectors of said head and said body. These vectors may be a point; origin and magnitude; origin, magnitude and orientation, or include other information, and the vector space for the head need not be identical to the vector space for the body. Therefore, the combining step may include a processing of one image portion to correspond to another image portion. Likewise, the vector space may also include a set of varying or incrementally varying images, wherein the processing includes the step of selecting one of the images or synthesizing a new image from the set of images. For example, the image of the head may include a plurality of head images incrementally varying in rotation about a vertical axis, wherein the vector matching comprises selection of the head image having an appropriate angle for the body image.
In one embodiment, the reference point on the head is on the chin.
According to a still further object of the invention, the method may further include the steps of:
(g) providing a second image containing a second body corresponding to said head;
(h) providing a second set of digital representations defining a second desired size of said head corresponding to said body of said second image;
(i) processing said electronic representation of said image of said head in dependence upon the size information defined by said actual size and said second desired size, representing said head scaled to said second desired size; and
(j) outputting said processed electronic representation as an image of said head scaled to said second desired size.
It is a further object of the present invention to produce a reproduction of the combined image on a recording medium, which may be a printing medium or an electronic storage medium.
In order to facilitate alignment of the head and body, and relax the necessary tolerances for an aesthetically pleasing result, a collar may be provided on the body immediately adjacent to a location of said superimposed head. Alternately, a neck portion may be provided on the head, with a reference point on the neck. A soft pink border may be provided around the head.
According to a still further object of the invention, the images may be associated with audio information, such as spoken words. These words may include, for example, the name of the person whose head is included in the image.
According to another object of the invention, a plurality of desired head sizes are provided, and a plurality of heads are each processed and scaled to a different given size, and then the plurality of scaled heads are output.
It is also an object of the invention to provide aethod of producing a composite electronic image of a subject comprising the steps of:
(a) obtaining first image information relating to a first anatomical portion of a subject and producing a set of first representations of the first image;
(b) producing a set of size representations associated with the first image information defining a size of the first anatomical portion;
(c) providing a normalized size parameter;
(d) converting the set of first representations of the first image into a set of second representations, in dependence upon the normalized size parameter, the set of second representations defining the first anatomical portion scaled to the desired size; and
Milde Hoffberg & Macklin, LLP
Nguyen Phu K.
Personalized Online Photo LLC
LandOfFree
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