Television – Image signal processing circuitry specific to television – Selective image modification
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-11
2001-09-04
Garber, Wendy R. (Department: 2712)
Television
Image signal processing circuitry specific to television
Selective image modification
C348S577000, C348S370000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06285410
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to removal of red-eye and other flash-based artifacts from digital images.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
When photographs are taken of people using a digital or traditional film camera with a flash, a common artifact that can appear in the picture is referred to as “red-eye.” This artifact manifests itself as a red coloration within the pupils of eyes, instead of the natural black or dark gray color, and is referred to as a “flash effect.”
Red-eye is caused by the reflection of light from a flash off of the blood vessels of the retinas of a subject's eyes. One can try to reduce the red-eye by increasing the light level in the room by turning on all the lights. Alternatively, one can have a subject look at a bright light, such as a room lamp, just before taking the flash picture. Both methods of red-eye reduction described above cause the subject's pupils to contract, thereby reducing the amount of reflective surface.
Interestingly, this flash effect appears as red eyes in humans, but as yellow eyes in dogs and cats, and green eyes in some other animals. Photographers and image compositors commonly touch up their images and remove the flash effects from the eyes.
Adobe's PhotoDeluxe™ 2.0 and Microsoft's PictureIt!™ 2.0 are digital photo-editing software applications that offer semi-automatic red-eye removal as a feature. Such software applications require a user to select a region surrounding a group of pixels that are corrupted by red-eye. In operating PhotoDeluxe 2.0, for example, a user selects a red-eye area, clicks a button and then the eyes return to their natural color.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
There is provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for removal of flash artifacts from a digital image containing pixels therein, including using a database of reference flash-corrupted images for identifying corrupted pixels within the digital image that have been corrupted by a flash, and modifying the color values of each corrupted pixel of the digital image, to correct the corrupted pixel color values.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for detecting flash artifacts in a digital image containing pixels therein, including analyzing pixel color values for a group of pixels in the digital image, to determine a likelihood that each pixel of the group of pixels would be classified as flash-corrupted, based on a database of reference flash-corrupted images, and employing the likelihoods for identifying corrupted pixels within the digital image that have been corrupted by a flash.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for removal of flash artifacts from a digital image containing pixels therein, including automatically identifying corrupted pixels within the digital image that have been corrupted by a flash, and modifying the color values of each corrupted pixel of the digital image, to correct the corrupted pixel color values.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a system for removal of flash artifacts from a digital image containing pixels therein, including a pixel processor identifying corrupted pixels within the digital image that have been corrupted by a flash, based on a database of reference flash-corrupted images, and a color processor modifying the color values of each corrupted pixel of the digital image, to correct the corrupted pixel color values.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a system for detecting flash artifacts in a digital image containing pixels therein, including a pixel analyzer analyzing pixel color values for a group of pixels in the digital image, to determine a likelihood that each pixel of the group of pixels would be classified as flash-corrupted, based on a database of reference flash-corrupted images, and a pixel processor employing the likelihoods for identifying corrupted pixels within the digital image that have been corrupted by a flash.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a system for removal of flash artifacts from a digital image containing pixels therein, including a pixel processor automatically identifying corrupted pixels within the digital image that have been corrupted by a flash, and a color processor modifying the color values of each corrupted pixel of the digital image, to correct the corrupted pixel color values.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a photo kiosk including a touch-sensitive screen, red-eye correction apparatus, and a photo printer unit.
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Adobe Systems Incorporated, “CustomerFirst Support PhotoDeluxe 2.0 New Features”, 1998, Downloaded from URL: http://www.adobe.com/supportservice/custsupport/NOTES/610a.htm.
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Blakely & Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman
Garber Wendy R.
MGI Software Corporation
White Mitchell
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