Mechanism for color-space neutral (video) effects scripting engine

• US 20070002076A1
• Filed: 09/08/2006
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Graves, Eric, Ubillos, Randall
• Granted Patent: US 7,554,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/604
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/67 for matrixing camera processing pipelines for matrixing of colour signals H04N23/85

Abstract

A first command is retrieved from a script containing one or more commands written for a first color space. The first command is associated with zero or more input buffers and zero or more output buffers. The first command has zero or more parameters. A behavior of the first command in the first color space and in a second color space is determined. The behavior comprises one of unique behavior, transparent behavior, and different behavior. The first command has the unique behavior when the first command only operates in the first color space. The first command has the transparent behavior when the first command generates similar results in the first color space and in the second color space. The first command has the different behavior when the first command generates different results in the first color space and in the second color space. Using the behavior of the first command, an operation associated with the first command is processed. The operation is processed in a preferred format based on current formats of the input buffers.

Claims

1. A method to process one or more images, the method comprising:

receiving a first command written for a first color space; and

based at least on the first command, automatically selecting a color space in which an operation associated with the first command is to be processed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the command is received from an image processing script written for the first color space.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected color space is selected based on the first command and one or more color spaces of one or more input buffers associated with the first command.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the color space in which the operation associated with the first command is to be processed is selected from at least the first color space and a second color space;

and the second color space is preferred over the first color space in a script engine in which a script including the first command is processed.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein:

when the first command operates only in the first color space, the selected color space is the first color space; and

otherwise, the selected color space for the operation associated with the first command is selected to minimize color space conversion.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

when the first command generates different results in the first color space and in a second color space and when the selected color space is the second color space, the method further comprises;

transforming the first command to a second command in the second color space;

wherein the second command generates a similar result in the second color space as the first command in the first color space.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said transforming the first command to the second command in the second color space comprises:

transforming one or more parameters of the first command to comparable parameters for the second command such that the second command generates a similar result in the second color space as the first command in the first color space.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first command explicitly specifies an operation in the first color space;

and said selecting the color space in which an operation associated with the first command is to be processed comprises;

based at least on the first command, automatically determining whether or not to perform image processing according to the first command in a second color space.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

in response to a determination to perform image processing according to the first command in the second color space, converting one or more parameters of the first command from the first color space to the second color space.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first color space is RGB;

and the second color space is YUV.

11. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions which are executable by a digital processing system, and which, when executed by the digital processing system, cause the system to perform a method to process one or more images, the method comprising:

parsing a first command written for a first color space; and

based at least on the first command, automatically selecting a color space in which an operation associated with the first command is to be processed.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the selected color space is selected based on the first command and one or more color spaces of one or more input buffers associated with the first command.

13. The medium of claim 12, wherein:

when the first command operates only in the first color space, the selected color space is the first color space;

when the first command generates similar results in the first color space and in the second color space, the color space for the operation associated with the first command is selected to minimize color space conversion; and

when the first command generates different results in the first color space and in the second color space and when the selected color space is the second color space, the method further comprises;

transforming the first command to a second command in the second color space;

wherein the second command generates a similar result in the second color space as the first command in the first color space.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein said transforming the first command further comprises:

transforming one or more parameters of the first command to comparable parameters for the second command such that the second command generates a similar result in the second color space as the first command in the first color space.

15. The medium of claim 11, wherein the first command explicitly specifies an operation in the first color space;

and wherein said selecting comprises;

automatically determining whether or not to perform image processing according to the first command in a second color space.

16. The medium of claim 15, wherein said determining is based at least on the first command;

the method further comprising;

in response to a determination to perform image processing according to the first command in the second color space, converting one or more parameters of the first command from the first color space to the second color space.

17. The medium of claim 15, wherein the first color space is RGB;

and the second color space is YUV.

18. A script engine having a preferred color space for image processing, the script engine comprising:

means for receiving a first command of an image processing script written for a first color space which is different from the preferred color space; and

means for, based at least on the first command, automatically selecting a color space in which an operation associated with the first command is to be processed.

19. The script engine of claim 18, wherein the script engine is capable to process a first script written for the first color space and a second script written for a second color space.

20. The script engine of claim 18, wherein:

the first command explicitly specifies an operation in the first color space; and

said means for selecting comprises means for, based at least on the first command and a color space of an input buffer of the first command, automatically determining whether or not to perform image processing according to the first command in a second color space.

21. The script engine of claim 20, wherein the input buffer comprises one or more video images.

22. A data processing system, comprising:

memory to store an image processing script;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor to parse a first command of the image processing script, the first command written for a first color space, and based at least on the first command the processor to automatically select a color space in which an operation associated with the first command is to be processed.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the selected color space is selected based on the first command and one or more color spaces of one or more input buffers associated with the first command.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein:

when the first command operates only in the first color space, the selected color space is the first color space; and

when the first command generates different results in the first color space and in the second color space and when the selected color space is the second color space, the processor is to further transform the first command to a second command in the second color space;

wherein the second command generates a similar result in the second color space as the first command in the first color space.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein to transform the first command to the second command, the processor is to transform one or more parameters of the first command to comparable parameters for the second command such that the second command generates a similar result in the second color space as the first command in the first color space.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the first command explicitly specifies an operation in the first color space;

and wherein to select the color space in which the operation associated with the first command is to be processed, the processor is to automatically determine whether or not to perform image processing according to the first command in a second color space.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein in response to a determination to perform image processing according to the first command in the second color space, the processor is to convert one or more parameters of the first command from the first color space to the second color space.