Apparatus and method for outputting image using a plurality of chroma-key colors

• US 20070216811A1
• Filed: 01/23/2007
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Oh, Seung-taek, Byun, Jung-khun
• Granted Patent: US 8,363,164 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/592
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/75 Chroma key

Abstract

An apparatus which outputs an image using a plurality of chroma-key colors is provided. The apparatus includes a chroma-key-color-storage unit that stores multiple chroma-key colors; a microprocessor unit (MPU) that sets a block where the chroma-key color is applied using a pixel address of a foreground image; and a video controller that composes a background image and the foreground image using the block set by the MPU, and displays the composed image in the display unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for outputting an image using a plurality of chroma-key colors, the apparatus comprising:

a chroma-key-color-storage unit that stores the chroma-key colors;

a microprocessor unit (MPU) that sets a block where one of the chroma-key colors is applied using a pixel address of a foreground image; and

a video controller that generates a composed image comprising a background image and the foreground image using the block set by the MPU, and outputs the composed image.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a display unit which displays the composite image output by the video controller.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein if two or more of the chroma-key colors are applied among the multiple chroma-key colors stored in the chroma-key-color-storage unit, the block is recognized as a chroma-key-application area, and the composite image is composed using the chroma-key application area.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the MPU calculates a height and a width of the block where the chroma-key color is applied using a physically-fixed value of a display device and a pixel address.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the MPU calculates a number of pixels and records the number of pixels in a horizontal line included in the block, and the video controller outputs a number of background-image pixels as the number of the pixels calculated.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein if the number of pixels of the horizontal line is less than a set number, the MPU applies the first chroma-key color among the chroma-key colors to the whole block, and if the number of the pixels is greater than the set number, the MPU applies a number n of chroma-key colors to the horizontal line, and records the number of the pixels in the (n+1)^th pixel.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the (n+1)^th pixel, where the number of the pixels is recorded, further comprises a parity bit.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the video controller composes the background image and the foreground image that comprises the chroma-key colors, the number of the pixels and the parity bit, and outputs the composed image.

9. A method of outputting an image using a plurality of chroma-key colors, the method comprising:

selecting a block to apply the chroma-key colors;

determining a number of pixels included in a horizontal line within the block;

applying at least two or more chroma-key colors among the chroma-key colors to a pixel; and

recording the number of pixels of the horizontal line and a parity bit in a pixel adjacent to the pixel where one of the chroma-key colors has been applied.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the number of pixels included in a horizontal line within the block comprises extracting a height and a width of an area where at least one chroma-key color will be applied using an address of the pixels.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein if the number of the pixels of the horizontal line is two or less in the block, one chroma-key color is applied to the whole block, and if the number of the pixels is three or more, at least two chroma-key colors among the chroma-key colors are applied to the pixels from a first pixel.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a number n of the chroma-key colors are applied to the horizontal line, and the number of the pixels “

p”

of the horizontal line and the parity bit are further included in a pixel adjacent to the pixels where the n chroma-key colors have been applied.

13. A method of outputting an image using a plurality of chroma-key colors, the method comprising:

determining whether the i^th pixel of a foreground image, which comprises a block where a number n of chroma-key colors are applied, is one of the n chroma-key colors;

determining whether the (i+1)^th pixel of the foreground image is a remaining color among the n chroma-key colors, and reading the number of pixels “

p”

recorded in the (i+1)^th pixel of the foreground image; and

composing the foreground image and a background image on the (i, i+p) area of a horizontal line where the i^th pixel and the (i+1)^th pixel of the foreground image are included, and displaying the composed foreground image and the composed background image as a composite image.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein if one of the n chroma-key colors is displayed in the i^th pixel and the (i+1)^th pixel of the foreground image is recognized as one of the n chroma-key colors;

the background image, which corresponds to the pixel, is composed; and

the composite image is displayed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the pixel, where the number of the pixels “

n”

is recorded, further comprises the parity bit.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising displaying the background image of the (i, i+p) area of the horizontal line, and determining whether one of the n chroma-key color needs to be applied to the pixel where i=i+p+1.