Interpolated color transform for changing color of an application user interface

• US 20060227149A1
• Filed: 04/08/2005
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cain, Jonathan Marshall
• Granted Patent: US 7,242,409 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/594
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/02 characterised by the way in which colour is displayed details of colour display specific for CRTs G09G1/28; specific for flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6027 Correction or control of colour gradation or colour contrast H04N1/6058 takes precedence

Abstract

A system and method for adjusting the color of an application user interface (UI). A UI allows a user to define hue and saturation values used to adjust first RGB values of pixels determining the color of the UI. A media player application (MPA) calculates second RGB values as a function of the first RGB values and the defined hue and saturation values. The MPA compares the defined saturation value to a threshold saturation value. If the defined saturation value is less than the threshold saturation value, the MPA calculates third RGB values as a function of the second RGB values, and assigns the third RGB values to the pixels determining the color of the UI. If the defined saturation value is equal to or greater than the threshold saturation value, the MPA assigns the second RGB values to the pixels determining the color of the UI.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable components for changing a color scheme of a user interface, said user interface including a plurality of pixels, said pixels each having an input red, green, blue (RGB) value defining the color thereof, said components comprising:

a first transform component for converting the input RGB values of the pixels to corresponding hue and saturation values;

a user interface component for receiving a user-specified change to the color scheme of the user interface, said user-specified change defining either a hue value offset, a saturation value scaling factor, or both; and

a second transform component for adjusting the hue and saturation values of the pixels as a function of the user-specified change and converting the adjusted hue and saturation values of the pixels to output RGB values, said second transform component further weighting the output RGB values if the defined saturation value scaling factor is less than a threshold saturation value scaling factor.

2. The computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of pixels is assigned the output RGB values when the second transform component indicates that the defined saturation value scaling factor is greater than or equal to the threshold saturation value scaling factor.

3. The computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein the first transform component comprises compensation instructions for determining weighted input RGB values by multiplying each of the input RGB values by a corresponding compensation factor, said weighted input RGB values compensating for visual differences associated with each of the RGB values as perceived by a human eye, and wherein the first transform component executes converting instructions to convert the weighted input RGB values to the corresponding hue and saturation values.

4. The computer-readable media of claim 3 wherein the compensation instructions execute the following algorithms to determine components of the weighted input RGB values for each of the input RGB values:

R_W=(0.3086*R_O),
G_W=(0.6094*G_O),
B_W=(0.0820*B_O),

where R_O is the first red value of a pixel in the user interface, G_O is the first green value of pixels in the user interface, and Bo is the first blue value of a pixel in the user interface.

5. The computer-readable media of claim 3 wherein the compensation instructions include instructions for calculating an original luminance value (OLV), and wherein the second transform component calculates the weighted output RGB values as a function of the weighted input RGB values and the original luminance value when the defined saturation value scaling factor is less than the threshold saturation value scaling factor.

6. The computer-readable media of claim 5 wherein the compensation instructions execute the following algorithm to determine the original luminance value:

OLV=R_W+G_W+B_W;

where R_W, G_W, and B_W are components of the weighted input RGB values.

7. The computer-readable media of claim 6 wherein the second transform component executes the following algorithms to determine the weighted output RGB values to assign to each of the plurality of pixels in the user interface when the defined saturation value scaling factor is less than the threshold saturation value scaling factor:

R_OUT=(SV*R_HSV)+(1.0−

SV)*OLV;


G_OUT=(SV*G_HSV)+(1.0−

SV)*OLV;


B_OUT=(SV*B_HSV)+(1.0−

SV)*OLV; and

where SV is the defined saturation value scaling factor, R_HSV, G_HSV, and B_HSV are components of the output RGB values converted from the adjusted hue and saturation values by the second transform component, and OLV is the original luminance value.

8. The computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein the user interface component includes saturation slider control for defining the saturation value scaling factor and a hue slider control for defining the hue value offset for each of the plurality of pixels.

9. The computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein the threshold saturation value scaling factor is 1.0.

10. A method for adjusting a color scheme of a user interface, said user interface including a plurality of pixels, said pixels each having an original red, green, blue (RGB) value defining the color of the pixel, comprising:

receiving a user-specified change to the color scheme of the user interface, said user-specified change defining either a hue value offset, a saturation value scaling factor, or both;

first converting the original RGB values of the pixels to corresponding hue and saturation values;

adjusting the hue and saturation values of the pixels as a function of the user-specified change;

second converting the adjusted hue and saturation values of the pixels to output RGB values;

weighting the output RGB values if the defined saturation value scaling factor is less than the threshold saturation value; and

assigning the weighted output RGB values to the pixels of the user interface.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising assigning the output RGB values without weighting to the pixels of the user interface if the defined saturation scaling factor value is greater than or equal to the threshold saturation value scaling factor.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein first converting the original RGB values includes multiplying each of the original RGB values by a predetermined compensation factor to determine weighted original RGB values, said weighted original RGB values compensating for a visual difference between each of the RGB values as perceived by a human eye, and wherein first converting the original RGB values includes converting the weighted original RGB values to the corresponding hue and saturation values.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising determining an original luminance value as a function of the weighted original RGB values, wherein weighting the output RGB values includes determining the weighted output RGB values as a function of the determined original luminance value and the weighted original RGB values when the defined saturation value scaling factor is less than the threshold saturation value scaling factor.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the threshold saturation value scaling factor is 1.0.

15. In a computer system having a graphical user interface for changing a color scheme of the graphical user interface, said user interface including a plurality of pixels having input color values defining the colors of the pixels, a method of selecting and changing the color scheme of the user interface comprising:

receiving, at the user interface, a user-specified change to the color scheme of the user interface, said user-specified change defining either a hue value offset, a saturation value scaling factor, or both;

first converting the original color values to corresponding hue and saturation values;

adjusting the hue and saturation values of original color values for the pixels of the user interface as a function of the user-specified change;

p1 second converting the adjusted hue and saturation values of the pixels to output color values;

comparing the saturation value scaling factor defined by the user-specified change to a threshold saturation value scaling factor;

weighting the output color values when the defined saturation value scaling factor is less than a threshold saturation value scaling factor; and

assigning weighted output color values to the pixels of the user interface.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising assigning each of the plurality of pixels the output color values without weighting when the defined saturation value is greater than or equal to the threshold saturation value scaling factor.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the first converting includes multiplying each of the original color values by a predetermined compensation factor to determine weighted original color values, said weighted original color values compensating for a visual difference between each of the color values as perceived by a human eye, and wherein first converting the original color values includes converting the weighted original color values to the corresponding hue and saturation values.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising determining an original luminance value (OLV) as a function of the weighted original color values, wherein weighting the output color values includes weighting the output color values as a function of the determined original luminance value and the weighted original color values when the defined saturation value scaling factor is less than the threshold saturation value scaling factor.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein determining the original luminance value includes executing the following algorithm:

OLV=R_W+G_W+B_W;

where R_W, G_W, and B_W are components of the weighted input RGB values.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the output colors correspond to red, green, and blue output values (R_OUT, G_OUT, B_OUT) for each of the plurality of pixels, and wherein weighting includes executing the following algorithm to determine the output color values to assign to each of the plurality of pixels in the user interface when the defined saturation value scaling factor is less than the threshold saturation value scaling factor:

R_OUT=(SV*R_HSV)+(1.0−

SV)*OLV;


G_OUT=(SV*G_HSV)+(1.0−

SV)*OLV;


B_OUT=(SV*B_HSV)+(1.0−

SV)*OLV; and

where SV is the defined saturation value scaling factor, R_HSV, G_HSV, and B_HSV are components of the output RGB values converted from the adjusted hue and saturation values by the second transform component, and OLV is the original luminance value.