Method and apparatus for background replacement in still photographs
First Claim
1. A method of imaging a foreground object placed in front of a background, the method comprising:
- acquiring a first image of the foreground object and the background while illuminating the background under a first lighting condition relative to the object;
acquiring a second image of the foreground object and the background while illuminating the background under a second lighting condition relative to the object;
computing a mixing function based on a selected one of the images; and
using the image that was not selected and the mixing function, computing an object image function relating to an image of the foreground object with a reduced background intensity relative to the foreground object as compared to the image that was not selected.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A first digital image is acquired of a framed area while illuminating the background and foreground object under a first lighting condition. A second digital image is then acquired of the same framed area while illuminating the background and foreground object under a second lighting condition. Preferably, the first lighting condition illuminates the background without illuminating the foreground object so that a silhouette of the foreground object is acquired in the first image. The second lighting condition illuminates the foreground object (e.g., with frontal lights). Due to the difference in the illumination between the background and silhouette in the first image, an alpha mask can be created from the first acquired image. Using the mask, the background from the second image can be removed and replaced by virtually any other desired background image.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method of imaging a foreground object placed in front of a background, the method comprising:
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acquiring a first image of the foreground object and the background while illuminating the background under a first lighting condition relative to the object; acquiring a second image of the foreground object and the background while illuminating the background under a second lighting condition relative to the object; computing a mixing function based on a selected one of the images; and using the image that was not selected and the mixing function, computing an object image function relating to an image of the foreground object with a reduced background intensity relative to the foreground object as compared to the image that was not selected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of computing an image, the method comprising:
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computing a mixing function from a first image taken of a scene having a foreground object placed in front of a background, where the background is illuminated under a first lighting condition relative to the object; accessing a second image of the foreground object and the background, where the background is illuminated under a second lighting condition relative to the object; and using the second image and the mixing function, computing an object image function relating to an image of the foreground object with a reduced background intensity relative to the foreground object as compared to the second image. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method of imaging an object placed in front of a background, the method comprising:
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acquiring a first image of the foreground object and the background while illuminating the background under a first lighting condition relative to the object; acquiring a second image of the foreground object and the background while illuminating the background under a second lighting condition relative to the object within a predetermined time interval of acquiring the first image, the predetermined time interval being computed based on a maximum acceptable speed of movement of the foreground object. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An imaging system for imaging a scene having a foreground object placed in front of the background, comprising:
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a camera system adapted to acquire an image of the scene; and a lighting system configured to generate a first lighting condition, in which the background appears to the camera brighter than the foreground object, and a second lighting condition, in which both the foreground object and the background are illuminated, wherein the lighting system is arranged and configured to sequentially generate the first and second lighting conditions within a time interval computed based on a maximum acceptable movement speed of the foreground object, and the camera system is adapted to acquire a first image of the scene under the first lighting condition and a second image of the scene under the second condition. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A storage medium having encoded thereon computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to:
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compute a mixing function from a first image taken of a scene having a foreground object placed in front of a background, where the background is illuminated under a first lighting condition relative to the object; access a second image of the foreground object and the background, where the background is illuminated under a second lighting condition relative to the object; and using the second image and the mixing function, compute an object image function relating to an image of the foreground object with a reduced background intensity relative to the foreground object as compared to the second image.
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29. A method for isolating a substantially stationary foreground object in a framed area from the background in the framed area using still photography, comprising:
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acquiring a first image of the framed area, while illuminating the background and foreground object under a first lighting condition; acquiring a second image of the framed area while illuminating the background and foreground object under a second lighting condition; determining the background from a predetermined one of the first and second acquired images; and removing the background from the other image by registering the determined background of the predetermined one image with the other image. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A system for isolating a substantially stationary foreground object in a framed area from the background in the framed area using still photography, comprising:
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a front light and a back light arranged and configured to generate a first lighting condition, in which the background appears brighter than the foreground object, and a second lighting condition, in which both the foreground object and the background are illuminated; a camera system adapted to acquire a first and second image of the framed area during the first and second lighting condition, respectively; and a processor, operatively connected to the camera system, the processor including processing means for determining an alpha mask from a predetermined one of the first and second images, the alpha mask being used to remove the background from the other of the first and second images. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification