COMPUTER GENERATED MOSAICS

• US 20070296824A1
• Filed: 06/22/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Naik, Devang Kalidas, Ko, Steve, Silverman, Kim E.A., Williams, Joshua Matthew, Scalo, John William, Paine, Mallory Jackson
• Granted Patent: US 8,159,550 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/205 Image-based rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/122 Tiling
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/395 Arrangements specially adapted for transferring the contents of the bit-mapped memory to the screen G09G5/399 takes precedence

Abstract

Apparatus, methods and systems for creating mosaics are described. A method is provided that includes identifying an image for presentation as a mosaic; dividing the identified image into a plurality of tiles; scoring each tile; identifying a matching image from an image dataset using the score for each tile; and rendering the mosaic using the matching images.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying an image for presentation as a mosaic;

dividing the identified image into a plurality of tiles;

scoring each tile;

identifying a matching image from an image dataset using the score for each tile; and

rendering the mosaic using the matching images.

2. The method of claim 1 where identifying the image includes selecting the image from a set of images.

3. The method of claim 2 where the set of images is defined by a user.

4. The method of claim 1 where dividing includes dividing the image into a plurality of equal sized tiles.

5. The method of claim 4 where the tiles are rectangular.

6. The method of claim 1 where dividing includes dividing the image into a plurality of tiles having at least two different sizes.

7. The method of claim 1 where dividing includes dividing the image into a plurality of tiles having at least two different shapes.

8. The method of claim 1 where scoring includes scoring based on color.

9. The method of claim 1 where scoring includes transforming the image using one or more of a discrete cosine or discrete sine transform to produce a score.

10. The method of claim 1 where scoring includes sampling the image and scoring the samples.

11. The method of claim 10 where sampling the image includes selecting a subset of pixels of the image.

12. The method of claim 11 where selecting a subset includes selecting a zigzag pattern of pixels for scoring.

13. The method of claim 1 where scoring includes:

acquiring sampled data from the image;

transforming the sampled data using a transformation function to produce transformed data; and

evaluating the transformed data to produce a score.

14. The method of claim 13 where the transformation function is a discrete cosine transform or discrete sine transform or a combination of the two.

15. The method of claim 13 where evaluating includes selectively evaluating portions of the transformed data.

16. The method of claim 15 where evaluating includes ignoring all but the most significant transformed data values.

17. The method of claim 1 where scoring a tile includes evaluating less than all of the image data for the tile to produce the score.

18. The method of claim 1 where identifying a matching image includes evaluating thumbnail images.

19. The method of claim 1 where identifying a matching image includes identifying potentially matching images, scoring the potentially matching images and locating a best matching image from the scored potentially matched images.

20. The method of claim 19 where scoring potentially matching images includes scoring a lesser resolution image associated with each potentially matching image.

21. The method of claim 20 where the lesser resolution image is a thumbnail.

22. The method of claim 1 where identifying a matching image from the image dataset using a score for each tile includes identifying an image with a score closest to the score of the tile.

23. The method of claim 1 where the dataset is a kd-tree and identifying includes searching the kd-tree for the matching image.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the dataset including scores for each image in the dataset.

25. The method of claim 1 where the image dataset is retrieved from storage.

26. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

prior to displaying the first image, identifying a next image for presentation as a mosaic;

replacing a matching tile in the image with the next image; and

rendering the mosaic using the matching images and the next image.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

zooming toward the next image including scaling the mosaic.

28. The method of 27 including:

stopping zooming when the next image occupies a predetermined portion of the display.

29. The method of claim 28 where the predetermined portion is the whole display.

30. The method of claim 28 where the predetermined portion includes a predetermined number of whole or partial images along with the next image.

31. A method comprising:

creating a first mosaic including identifying a next image in the first mosaic;

presenting the first mosaic;

zooming the first mosaic toward the next image; and

presenting the next image as a next mosaic.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising:

zooming toward the next image including scaling the mosaic.

33. The method of 32 including:

stopping zooming when the next image occupies a predetermined portion of the display.

34. The method of claim 33 where the predetermined portion is the whole display.

35. The method of claim 33 where the predetermined portion includes a predetermined number of whole or partial images along with the next image.

36. A method comprising:

identifying an image;

identifying a plurality of portions of the image;

evaluating each portion;

identifying a matching image for one or more portions based on the evaluation; and

creating a mosaic using the matching images.

37. A method comprising:

identifying a first image to be presented as a compilation;

presenting one of the first image or a second image; and

adjusting a focus so that the presented image is presented along with a portion of the compilation.

38. A method comprising:

identifying a first image to be presented as a first compilation;

presenting a second compilation that includes the first image;

adjusting a focus so that the first image is presented along with only a portion of the second compilation; and

presenting the first compilation.

39. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

identifying an image for presentation as a mosaic;

dividing the identified image into a plurality of tiles;

scoring each tile;

identifying a matching image from an image dataset using the score for each tile; and

rendering the mosaic using the matching images.

40. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

creating a first mosaic including identifying a next image in the first mosaic;

presenting the first mosaic;

zooming the first mosaic toward the next image; and

presenting the next image as a next mosaic.

41. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

identifying an image;

identifying a plurality of portions of the image;

evaluating each portion;

identifying a matching image for one or more portions based on the evaluation; and

creating a mosaic using the matching images.

42. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

identifying a first image to be presented as a compilation;

presenting one of the first image or a second image; and

adjusting a focus so that the presented image is presented along with a portion of the compilation.

43. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

identifying a first image to be presented as a first compilation;

presenting a second compilation that includes the first image;

adjusting a focus so that the first image is presented along with only a portion of the second compilation; and

presenting the first compilation.