Generation of image quality adjustment information & image quality adjustment with image quality adjustment information

• US 20050141777A1
• Filed: 09/08/2004
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Kuwata, Naoki
• Granted Patent: US 7,751,644 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/254
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20004 Adaptive image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/40 using histogram techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/75 Unsharp masking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/92 based on global image properties

Abstract

A CPU 200 extracts ornamental image data and layout control information from an ornamental image file FF. When the layout control information does not include characteristic values, the CPU 200 analyzes the ornamental image data to acquire characteristic values representing a tendency of image quality of the ornamental image data. The CPU 200 may additionally compute correction rates for correcting values of image quality-relating parameters of objective image data from the acquired characteristic values of the ornamental image data. The CPU 200 writes either the acquired characteristic values or the computed correction rates into the layout control information. The layout control information including the acquired characteristic values or the computed correction rates is output together with the ornamental image data in the form of the ornamental image file FF.

Claims

1. An image quality adjustment information generation method that generates image quality adjustment information with regard to objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image quality adjustment information generation method comprising:

obtaining the ornamental image data;

analyzing the obtained ornamental image data to acquire an image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data; and

writing the acquired image quality characteristic into layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data and specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data.

2. An image quality adjustment information generation method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said analyzing the obtained ornamental image data and said writing the acquired image quality characteristic are executed only when the layout control information includes neither description of an image quality characteristic nor description of a correction rate.

3. An image quality adjustment information generation method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising:

acquiring an image quality characteristic specification indicator for specifying a tendency of the image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

computing a correction rate of the objective image data from the acquired image quality characteristic specification indicator and the acquired image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data; and

writing the computed correction rate, instead of the acquired image quality characteristic, into the layout control information.

4. An image quality adjustment information generation method in accordance with claim 3, wherein said computing the correction rate and said writing the computed correction rate are executed only when the layout control information does not include description of the correction rate.

5. An image quality adjustment information generation method that generates image quality adjustment information with regard to objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image quality adjustment information generation method comprising:

obtaining the ornamental image data;

analyzing the obtained ornamental image data to acquire a statistical value of an image quality-relating parameter regarding image quality of the ornamental image data; and

writing the acquired statistical value into layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data and specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data.

6. An image quality adjustment information generation method in accordance with claim 5, wherein said analyzing the obtained ornamental image data and said writing the acquired characteristic value are executed only when the layout control information does not include description of the statistical value of the image quality-relating parameter.

7. An image quality adjustment information generation method in accordance with claim 5 further comprising:

acquiring a reference value of the image quality-relating parameter for specifying a tendency of image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

computing a correction rate of the image quality-relating parameter of the objective image data from the acquired reference value of the image quality-relating parameter and the acquired statistical value of the image quality-relating parameter of the ornamental image data; and

writing the computed correction rate of the image quality-relating parameter, instead of the acquired statistical value, into the layout control information.

8. An image quality adjustment information generation method in accordance with claim 7, wherein said computing the correction rate and said writing the computed correction rate are executed only when the layout control information does not include description of the correction rate of the image quality-relating parameter.

9. An image processing method that executes image processing of objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image processing method comprising:

obtaining the ornamental image data;

obtaining the objective image data, which is to be laid out in a layout location of the ornamental image data;

obtaining layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data, specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data, and includes description of an image quality characteristic representing an image quality tendency of the ornamental image data;

adjusting image quality of the objective image data, based on the image quality characteristic described in the obtained layout control information; and

combining the image quality-adjusted objective image data with the ornamental image data according to the layout control information, so as to generate output image data.

13. An image processing method in accordance with claim 9, wherein said adjusting image quality of the objective image data is implemented by adjusting the image quality of the objective image data to make an image quality tendency of the objective image data different from an image quality tendency of the ornamental image data.

14. An image processing method in accordance with claim 9, wherein said adjusting image quality of the objective image data is implemented by adjusting the image quality of the objective image data to make an image quality tendency of the objective image data similar to or identical with an image quality tendency of the ornamental image data.

10. An image processing method that executes image processing of objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image processing method comprising:

obtaining the ornamental image data;

analyzing the obtained ornamental image data to acquire an image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

acquiring an image quality characteristic specification indicator for specifying a tendency of the image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

computing a correction rate of the objective image data from the acquired image quality characteristic specification indicator and the acquired image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

obtaining the objective image data, which is to be laid out in a layout location of the ornamental image data;

obtaining layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data and specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data;

adjusting image quality of the objective image data, based on the computed correction rate; and

combining the image quality-adjusted objective image data with the ornamental image data according to the layout control information, so as to generate output image data.

11. An image processing method that executes image processing of objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image processing method comprising:

obtaining the ornamental image data;

analyzing the obtained ornamental image data to acquire a statistical value of an image quality-relating parameter regarding image quality of the ornamental image data;

obtaining the objective image data, which is to be laid out in a layout location of the ornamental image data;

obtaining layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data and specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data;

adjusting image quality of the objective image data, based on the acquired statistical value; and

combining the image quality-adjusted objective image data with the ornamental image data according to the layout control information, so as to generate output image data.

12. An image processing method in accordance with claim 11 further comprising:

acquiring a reference value of the image quality-relating parameter for specifying a tendency of image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

computing a correction rate of the image quality-relating parameter of the objective image data from the acquired reference value of the image quality-relating parameter and the acquired statistical value of the image quality-relating parameter of the ornamental image data; and

executing image quality adjustment of the objective image data, based on the computed correction rate of the image quality-relating parameter, instead of the acquired statistical value.

15. An image quality adjustment information generation device that generates image quality adjustment information with regard to objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image quality adjustment information generation device comprising:

an ornamental image data acquisition module that obtains the ornamental image data;

an image quality characteristic acquisition module that analyzes the obtained ornamental image data to acquire an image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data; and

a writing module that writes the acquired image quality characteristic into layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data and specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data.

16. An image quality adjustment information generation device that generates image quality adjustment information with regard to objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image quality adjustment information generation device comprising:

an ornamental image data acquisition module that obtains the ornamental image data;

a statistical value acquisition module that analyzes the obtained ornamental image data to acquire a statistical value of an image quality-relating parameter regarding image quality of the ornamental image data; and

a writing module that writes the acquired statistical value into layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data and specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data.

17. An image processing device that executes image processing of objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image processing device comprising:

an ornamental image data acquisition module that obtains the ornamental image data;

an objective image data acquisition module that obtains the objective image data, which is to be laid out in a layout location of the ornamental image data;

a layout control information acquisition module that obtains layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data, specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data, and includes description of an image quality characteristic representing an image quality tendency of the ornamental image data;

an image quality adjustment module that adjusts image quality of the objective image data, based on the image quality characteristic described in the obtained layout control information; and

an output image data generation module that combines the image quality-adjusted objective image data with the ornamental image data according to the layout control information, so as to generate output image data.

18. An image processing device that executes image processing of objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image processing device comprising:

an ornamental image data acquisition module that obtains the ornamental image data;

an image quality characteristic acquisition module that analyzes the obtained ornamental image data to acquire an image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

an image quality characteristic specification indicator acquisition module that acquires an image quality characteristic specification indicator for specifying a tendency of the image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

a correction rate computation module that computes a correction rate of the objective image data from the acquired image quality characteristic specification indicator and the acquired image quality characteristic of the ornamental image data;

an objective image data acquisition module that obtains the objective image data, which is to be laid out in a layout location of the ornamental image data;

a layout control information acquisition module that obtains layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data and specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data;

an image quality adjustment module that adjusts image quality of the objective image data, based on the computed correction rate; and

an output image data generation module that combines the image quality-adjusted objective image data with the ornamental image data according to the layout control information, so as to generate output image data.

19. An image processing device that executes image processing of objective image data, which is laid out on ornamental image data, said image processing device comprising:

an ornamental image data acquisition module that obtains the ornamental image data;

a statistical value acquisition module that analyzes the obtained ornamental image data to acquire a statistical value of an image quality-relating parameter regarding image quality of the ornamental image data;

an objective image data acquisition module that obtains the objective image data, which is to be laid out in a layout location of the ornamental image data;

a layout control information acquisition module that obtains layout control information, which is related to the ornamental image data and specifies a layout location and layout dimensions of the objective image data to be laid out on the ornamental image data;

an image quality adjustment module that adjusts image quality of the objective image data, based on the acquired statistical value; and

an output image data generation module that combines the image quality-adjusted objective image data with the ornamental image data according to the layout control information, so as to generate output image data.