System and method for monochromatic tinting using saturation maps

• US 20100177109A1
• Filed: 01/09/2009
• Published: 07/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Dinsney Enterprises Incorporated
• Inventors: Moore, Matthew, Dunstan, Jackson
• Granted Patent: US 8,330,769 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/589
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/02 characterised by the way in which colour is displayed details of colour display specific for CRTs G09G1/28; specific for flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40012 Conversion of colour to monochrome
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/60 Colour correction or control H04N1/54 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/62 Retouching, i.e. modification of isolated colours only or in isolated picture areas only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/622 with simulation on a subsidiary picture reproducer

Abstract

There are provided systems and methods for tinting an image by monochromatic tinting using saturation maps for use by an application providing a user interface supporting customizable tinted images. By using saturation map and a monochromatic value map derived from the image and configuring the saturation map to specify areas for tinting, a tint color can be applied to the image by a series of quickly processed arithmetic calculations. This provides a lightweight and high quality method for tinting images within an application without wasting unnecessary network bandwidth or processor resources. Furthermore, the method can be adapted to apply multiple tint colors for multiple tints or use an alpha channel to restore color information lost due to the monochromatic value map. The resulting tinted image can also be used as a texture for a three-dimensional rendering engine.

Claims

1. A system for tinting an image for use by a processor to display tinted images, the system comprising:

a display; and

a processor in communication with the display, the processor configured to;

create an intermediate image by screen blending a tint color as a solid fill color with a saturation map, the saturation map expressing greater saturation as lower values;

multiply the intermediate image by a value map;

normalize the intermediate image within an RGB color space of the tint color to create a tinted image; and

display the tinted image on the display.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein prior to creating the intermediate image the processor is further configured to:

store the tint color in a memory, the tint color comprising a triplet of RGB color values in the RGB color space having a color depth defining bits per value; and

retrieve a plurality of image maps having dimensions equal to a dimensions of the image, including;

the saturation map comprising HSV pixel saturations derived from the image corresponding to areas to tint by the tint color; and

the value map comprising HSV pixel values derived from the image; and

store the plurality of image maps in the memory using a Hue Saturation Value (HSV) representation with a pixel saturation bit depth and a pixel value bit depth equal to the color depth.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute a Flash application to display the tinted image on the display.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute a Java application to display the tinted image on the display.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute a Silverlight application to display the tinted image on the display.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to process the tinted image in a three-dimensional renderer before displaying the tinted image on the display.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein prior to displaying the tinted image, the processor is configured to further tint the image by a secondary tint color by performing an iteration of the steps executed by the processor in claim 1, wherein the tinted image is substituted for the value map in the iteration, and wherein a secondary saturation map comprising HSV pixel saturations derived from the image corresponding to areas to tint by the secondary tint color is substituted for a saturation map in the iteration.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to retrieve the plurality of image maps from a single image file having each of the plurality of image maps embedded within independent color channels.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the prior to displaying the image, the processor is configured to apply an alpha channel providing image transparency when the tinted image is displayed.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to restore lost color information from the tinted image by layering the tinted image with an applied alpha channel on top of the image such that the alpha channel allows the lost color information to display.

11. A method for use by a processor to tint an image, the method comprising:

creating an intermediate image by screen blending a tint color as a solid fill color with a saturation map, the saturation map expressing greater saturation as lower values;

multiplying the intermediate image by a value map;

normalizing the intermediate image within an RGB color space of the tint color to create a tinted image; and

displaying the tinted image on a display in communication with the processor.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein prior to creating the intermediate image the processor is further configured to:

store the tint color in a memory, the tint color comprising a triplet of RGB color values in the RGB color space having a color depth defining bits per value; and

retrieve a plurality of image maps having dimensions equal to a dimensions of the image, including;

the saturation map comprising HSV pixel saturations derived from the image corresponding to areas to tint by the tint color; and

the value map comprising HSV pixel values derived from the image; and

store the plurality of image maps in the memory using a Hue Saturation Value (HSV) representation with a pixel saturation bit depth and a pixel value bit depth equal to the color depth.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to execute a Flash application to display the tinted image on the display.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to process the tinted image in a three-dimensional renderer before displaying the tinted image on the display.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to execute a Silverlight application to display the tinted image on the display.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to execute a native binary application to display the tinted image on the display.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein prior to displaying the tinted image, the processor is configured to further tint the image by a secondary tint color by performing an iteration of the method of claim 12, wherein the tinted image is substituted for the value map in the iteration, and wherein a secondary saturation map comprising HSV pixel saturations derived from the image corresponding to areas to tint by the secondary tint color is substituted for a saturation map in the iteration.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to retrieve the plurality of image maps from a single image file having each of the plurality of image maps embedded within independent color channels.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the prior to displaying the image, the processor is configured to apply an alpha channel providing image transparency when the tinted image is displayed.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to restore lost color information from the tinted image by layering the tinted image with an applied alpha channel on top of the image such that the alpha channel allows the lost color information to display.