BACKGROUND REMOVAL TOOL FOR A PRESENTATION APPLICATION

• US 20090044136A1
• Filed: 08/06/2008
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Flider, Mark, Zimmer, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20104 Interactive definition of region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/194 involving foreground-background segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

A presentation application for masking portions of an object, such as the background of an image, is provided. The presentation application may provide a background removal tool that allows a user to define an initial point in the background of the object. The presentation application may establish an initial background color based on the initial point, and may compute and automatically adjust a color tolerance of the background color based on the distance that a user-controlled cursor is from the initial point. Using a seed-fill algorithm, the presentation application can select a contiguous portion of the object for masking that includes the initial point and surrounding pixels that are within the background color tolerance. To smoothen the edges of the contiguous portion, the presentation application can convert the portion to a vector graphic before masking the object.

Claims

1. A method of selecting a portion of an object to mask using a presentation application implemented on an electronic device, the method comprising:

identifying an initial color of an initial point on the object received from a user;

computing a color tolerance for the initial color that is derived from a distance between the initial point and a second location on the object defined by the user; and

selecting for masking the portion of the object that includes the initial point based on the initial color and the color tolerance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting for masking comprises choosing points in the object that are within the color tolerance of the initial color.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting for masking comprises performing a seed-fill algorithm starting from the initial point on the object.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a mark on the object indicating the initial point; and

displaying a circle having a center at the initial point and a radius defined by the distance between the initial point and the second location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing and the selecting are performed in real-time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a region overlaid over the portion of the object that visually distinguishes the portion of the object from remaining portions of the object; and

allowing the user to finalize the portion for masking.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial point is selected by the user using a computer mouse pointer, and wherein the second location is defined by a location of the computer mouse pointer after the initial point is selected.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user indication of a third location on the object;

updating the color tolerance based on a distance between the initial point and the third distance; and

changing the selected portion for masking based on the updated color tolerance.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

masking the selected portion from the object; and

selecting for masking another portion of the object, wherein the other portion includes a second initial point selected by the user and is based on a second color tolerance.

10. A method of masking a portion of an object using a presentation application implemented on an electronic device, the method comprising:

selecting the portion of the object for masking;

creating a bitmap of the selected portion;

converting the bitmap to a vector graphic of the selected portion; and

masking areas of the object corresponding to the vector graphic of the selected portion.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a bitmap comprises:

converting the selected portion to a black bitmap object; and

converting unselected portions of the object to a white bitmap object.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein converting the bitmap comprises performing a tracing algorithm on the bitmap.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the tracing algorithm comprises a PO tracing algorithm.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein masking areas of the object comprises performing a Boolean addition of the vector graphic with the object.

15. An electronic device for selecting a portion of an object to mask using a presentation application, the electronic device comprising a display, an input device, and a processor, the processor operative to:

direct the display to display the object;

identify an initial color of an initial point on the object received from the input device;

receive a second location on the object from the input device;

compute a color tolerance for the initial color based on a distance between the initial point and the second location; and

select for masking the portion of the object that includes the initial point based on the initial color and the color tolerance.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

direct the display to provide a region overlaid over the portion of the object that visually distinguishes the portion from remaining portions of the object; and

direct the display to mask the region when a user indication is received from the input device.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the displayed portion is semi-transparent.

18. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a third location on the object from the input device when a user indication to mask the region is not received; and

select for masking a different portion of the object based on the third location.

19. An electronic device for selecting a portion of an object to mask using a presentation application, the electronic device comprising a display and a processor, the processor operative to:

select the portion of the object for masking;

create a bitmap of the selected portion;

convert the bitmap to a vector graphic of the selected portion; and

mask areas of the object corresponding to the vector graphic of the selected portion.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the processor is further operative to:

perform a tracing algorithm on the bitmap to produce the vector graphic.