Image analysis – Editing – error checking – or correction – Including operator interaction
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-12
2003-05-20
Patel, Jayanti K. (Department: 2625)
Image analysis
Editing, error checking, or correction
Including operator interaction
C382S284000, C382S282000, C382S190000, C348S180000, C345S215000, C705S014270
Reexamination Certificate
active
06567569
ABSTRACT:
AREA OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates in general to a method for determining reproducibly if visual features of objects are known to a person. More specifically the invention relates to methods for determining for instance which percentage of a specific group of consumers has knowledge of or is acquainted with specific brands, advertisements, packings, products, persons, art, models (for instance of automobiles), designs, shopping formulae, newspapers, magazines, etc. Furthermore, the invention relates to methods for determining if the above-mentioned familiarity or acquaintance differs dependent on the selected group of people, dependent on the type of human being, dependent on place of living or country, dependent on language, etc.
STATE OF THE ART
To be able to determine if a test person has knowledge of the visual appearance of certain brands, advertisements, packings, etc. it is known to show certain brands, advertisements, packings, or other visually observable objects to a test person and ask the test person if he knows the objects. The researcher receives an answer but does not know for sure if the answer is true. Practice has proven that test persons, because they are afraid of being considered ignorant, sometimes will provide answers which are not in correspondence with the truth. That will make such a research unreliable of course.
Amongst others advertisers therefore have a large need to obtain reliable information about the impact of an advertisement, a special offer or a commercial on the observer thereof.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is now to fulfil the above indicated need and to provide a method for determining if visual features of objects are known by a person, which method cannot or hardly be influenced by the test person on the basis of pretended ignorance, shyness, etc. and which provides reliable reproducible results.
SHORT SPECIFICATION OF THE INVENTION
In agreement with said object the invention now provides a method for determining reproducibly if visual features of an object are known by a person, which method comprises the following steps
a) preparing one or more test images by applying predetermined algorithms by means of which an image of the respective object is altered such that cognitive perception is in general impossible whereas the global affective impression is not influenced,
b) presenting the test images to a person,
c) determining if the images are recognized and, if so, how certain and how correct,
d) determining which parts of the original images can be reproduced based on information recalled from the human memory and determining if there is confusion or interchange with other images.
The invention relies on the understanding that a large part of the image information which is observed daily by a human being is not stored in the human memory such that it can be recalled and used at a later moment. However, the intention of the advertiser is to present information in the form of visually observable stimuli, for instance embodied as advertisements, billboards, and television commercials, such that the presented information can be stored in the memory of the human observer so that familiarity may be assumed.
The invention now fulfils this need by means of a method for measuring how much of an individual stimulus is memorized, stored, can be recalled and can be used.
The fact that from the large number of visually observable objects with which a person will be confronted, only a restricted part is stored in the person's memory, is amongst others related to the manner in which the human visual senses are functioning. In the eye, impinging light will through the cornea and the eye lens reach the retina where the therein present sensors will convert the light into signals which are transferred to the brains and to the memory. The central section of the retina, the fovea centralis, which is located near the optical axis of the eye, has a relatively large number of sensors. With growing distance from the optical axis (fovea centralis or eye centre) the number of sensors and therewith the number of connections with the brains and the memory, diminishes (retina).
The retina occupies a much larger surface than the fovea centralis and has a transfer function for the overall observation and for selecting parts thereof, for whatever reason, on which the eye centre can be aligned.
Image information, observed in high resolution through sensors of the fovea centralis, can be processed by the brains and can be stored as cognitive information in the memory.
By presenting images of which the information contents corresponds with the information contents of an image which was observed “from the corner of the eye”, which cannot be recognized cognitively, it can be determined if the test person retrieves sufficient global information from the image to obtain an association with an image stored in his or her memory enabling on the basis thereof a decision how much, and which part of the original image was put in the memory, was stored, can be retrieved and can be reused.
The cognitively received image with high resolution can be memorized. Without foreknowledge an affectively received image with low resolution cannot be supplemented with cognitive characteristics. However, supplementing is possible if there is preknowledge and then a low resolution image can be sufficient to trigger the recognition process into details. The fact that recognition is obtained proves that there was foreknowledge. Without foreknowledge the low resolution image is “not readable”.
FURTHER APPLICATIONS OF THE INVENTION
The invention is not restricted to a method for determining if visual characteristics of a certain object are known to a person. The invention can be used furthermore to determine if the visual impression of two (or more) objects is more or less equal. If test images are made in the above-indicated manner of two resembling objects, then one could determine on the basis of these test images if confusion or interchanging will be created and at what percentage of the test persons this occurs. Such an embodiment of the method can be applied for instance to prove in trademark disputes, copy right disputes and design disputes whether or not industrial property rights or other forms of property rights are infringed.
Also within the scope of the invention is a method which enables in an early stage of the design process, for instance the process of designing a new packing, the process of designing a new car model, the process of designing a new logo, etc., to determine which images, or parts thereof, which are stored in the memory, can be recalled by a test person on the basis of association.
DETAIL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INVENTION
During the step indicated by a) of the method, preferably use is made of algorithms for relocating array elements (squares or other shapes, for instance interconnected shapes with varying extent). By means of the algorithms all conceivable kinds of relocations, both in volume as well as in direction can be realized. However, only those combinations are applied whereby the altered image fulfils the defined requirements.
The algorithms are based on the determination of array formats and the relocation per array element. For instance, an image can be divided in a larger or smaller number of array elements. There are images which on the basis of only a small visible detail are directly recognizable. There are also images with image elements which are so large that a small array format does cause insufficient alternations. In that case the use of more arrays in different dimensions could solve the problem.
The array formats per image and the algorithms are such that the cognitive characteristics, which relate to larger shapes and those, which relate to smaller shapes and details, are stripped off. The result thereof is that the cognitive features can be stripped of each image in the same way and to the same extent irrespective of the dimensions of the image sections.
By applying the algorithms no image information is l
Kassa Yosef
Verify International N.V.
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