APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MODIFYING ARRANGEMENT OF COLORS

• US 20080025600A1
• Filed: 07/24/2007
• Published: 01/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kwak, Young-shin, Park, Du-sik, Nam, Gun-woo
• Granted Patent: US 7,953,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/167
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/62 Retouching, i.e. modification of isolated colours only or in isolated picture areas only

Abstract

An apparatus and method for modifying an arrangement of colors of an input image to satisfy a user preference in consideration of color composition of the input image, the apparatus including: an extraction unit extracting one or more dominant colors from an input image; a center-of-gravity calculation unit calculating a first position of a center of gravity based on a position of each dominant color in a color space; a parameter calculation unit calculating a parameter for modifying the color arrangement of the input image based on the first position and a second position to which the center of gravity is moved from the first position according to a predetermined standard; and a control unit modifying the color arrangement of the input image according to the parameter.

Claims

1. An apparatus for modifying an arrangement of colors of an input image, the apparatus comprising:

an extraction unit to extract one or more dominant colors from the input image;

a center-of-gravity calculation unit to calculate a first position of a center of gravity in the input image based on a position of each dominant color in a color space;

a parameter calculation unit to calculate a parameter for modifying a color arrangement of the input image based on the first position and a second position to which the center of gravity is moved from the first position according to a predetermined standard; and

a control unit to modify the color arrangement of the input image according to the parameter.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a conversion unit to divide the input image into a luminance signal and a color signal.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the conversion unit converts the input image into an image in a lightness, chroma, and hue (LCH) color space.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the extraction unit extracts one or more colors having a frequency of pixels greater than a predetermined threshold value as the one or more dominant colors.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the extraction unit extracts the one or more colors having the frequency of pixels greater than the predetermined threshold value in a color histogram of the input image.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the extraction unit extracts one or more colors having a highest frequency of pixels in the input image as the one or more dominant colors.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the extraction unit divides the input image into a plurality of sub-regions, each sub-region comprising one or more pixels, selects a main color representing each sub-region, and extracts the one or more dominant colors based on the main color of each sub-region.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein, if a proportion of the input image occupied by continuously arranged sub-regions that have an identical main color is greater than a predetermined threshold rate, the extraction unit extracts the identical main color as the one or more dominant colors.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the center-of-gravity calculation unit applies a weight to each dominant color according to a proportion of each dominant color in the input image.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit modifies the position of each dominant color to correspond to the second position of the center of gravity.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the color space comprises a plurality of subspaces.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

a center-of-gravity movement unit to move the center of gravity from the first position to the second position, wherein the second position is located within a specific subspace.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the specific subspace is selected by a user.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the specific subspace corresponds to a desired adjective.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the center of gravity has a predetermined movement range with respect to the first position.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the second position is located in an overlapping region of the movement range and the specific subspace.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the second position is located at a position in the specific subspace having a minimum distance from the first position if the movement range does not overlap the specific subspace.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a display unit to display the input image with the modified color arrangement.

19. A method of modifying an arrangement of colors of an input image, the method comprising:

extracting one or more dominant colors from the input image;

calculating a first position of a center of gravity in the input image based on a position of each dominant color in a color space;

calculating a parameter for modifying a color arrangement of the input image based on the first position and a second position to which the center of gravity is moved from the first position according to a predetermined standard; and

modifying the color arrangement of the input image according to the parameter.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:

dividing the input image into a luminance signal and a color signal.

21. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the dividing of the input image comprises converting the input image into an image in a lightness, chroma, and hue (LCH) color space.

22. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the extracting of the one or more dominant colors comprises extracting one or more colors having a frequency of pixels greater than a predetermined threshold value as the one or more dominant colors.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the extracting of the one or more colors having the frequency of pixels greater than the predetermined threshold value comprises extracting the one or more colors having the frequency of pixels greater than the predetermined threshold value in a color histogram of the input image.

24. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the extracting of the one or more dominant colors comprises extracting one or more colors having a highest frequency of pixels in the input image as the one or more dominant colors.

25. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the extracting of the one or more dominant colors comprises:

dividing the input image into a plurality of sub-regions, each sub-region comprising one or more pixels, and selecting a main color representing each sub-region; and

extracting the one or more dominant colors based on the main color of each sub-region.

26. The method as claimed in claim 25, where the extracting of the one or more dominant colors based on the main color of each sub-region comprises:

if a proportion of the input image occupied by continuously arranged sub-regions that have an identical main color is greater than a predetermined threshold rate, extracting the identical main color as the one or more dominant colors.

27. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the calculating of the first position comprises applying a weight to each dominant color according to a proportion of each dominant color in the input image.

28. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the modifying of the color arrangement of the input image comprises modifying the position of each dominant color to correspond to the second position of the center of gravity.

29. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the color space comprises a plurality of subspaces.

30. The method as claimed in claim 29, further comprising:

moving the center of gravity from the first position to the second position, wherein the second position is located within a specific subspace.

31. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein the specific subspace is selected by a user.

32. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein the specific subspace corresponds to a desired adjective.

33. The method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the center of gravity has a predetermined movement range with respect to the first position.

34. The method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the second position is located in an overlapping region of the movement range and the specific subspace.

35. The method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the second position is located at a position in the specific subspace having a minimum distance from the first position if the movement range does not overlap the specific subspace.

36. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:

displaying the input image with modified color arrangement.

37. A computer readable recording medium encoded with the method of claim 19 implemented by a computer.