IMAGE BLENDING BASED ON IMAGE REFERENCE INFORMATION

• US 20120075482A1
• Filed: 09/28/2010
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Voss, Shane D., Cazier, Robert P., Yost, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 9,479,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/207.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20221 Image fusion; Image merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/50 using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/272 Means for inserting a foreground image in a background image, i.e. inlay, outlay

Abstract

A target image is obtained from a cloud database based on reference information associated with a source image that is captured by an image capture device. The target image is blended with the source image to generate a blended image.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining a target image from a cloud database based on reference information associated with a source image captured by an image capture device; and

blending the target image with the source image to generate a blended image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference information comprises external sensory information associated with capturing the source image.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the external sensory information includes information selected from the group consisting of:

horizontal position of the device, vertical position of the device, magnetic direction of the device, rotation on the z-axis of the device, device yaw, device pitch, device roll.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the blended image is provided via a wireless network connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein blending the target image with the source image comprises:

transforming at least one element of the target image to align with a common element of the source image to produce a transformed version of the target image; and

blending the transformed version of the target image with the source image to generate the blended image.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

an image sensor to capture a reference image;

at least one reference sensor to acquire external sensory data associated with capturing the reference image;

a communications module to send the reference image and the external sensory data associated with capturing the reference image to a processing entity via a network connection;

the communications module further to receive a blended version of the reference image from the processing entity via the network connection, wherein the blended version of the reference image is generated by blending the reference image with a similar image selected from a database based on the external sensory data, and wherein the similar image is transformed prior to blending such that at least one element of the similar image is aligned with a common element in the reference image; and

a memory to store the blended version of the reference image.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the at least one sensor is:

a magnetometer;

a location sensor;

or

an orientation sensor.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the communications module is a wireless communication module.

9. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to:

receive a source image captured by a device and reference data for the source image via a network connection;

select a target image from a database based at least in part on the reference data;

blend the target image with the source image to generate a blended image; and

send the blended image to the device via the network connection.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the reference data includes at least one of a magnetic direction of the device, an orientation of the device, a focus position of the device, or a geographic location of the device associated with capturing the source image.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions that cause the blending comprise further instructions that cause the computer to:

alter at least one element in the target image to align with a common element in the source image; and

blend elements of the altered target image with elements of the source image to generate the blended image.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, comprising further instructions that cause the computer to:

determine a subject contained in the source image that is not contained in the target image;

preclude elements of the subject from being blended with the target image; and

include the subject in the blended image.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, comprising further instructions that cause the computer to:

determine a subject contained in the target image that is not contained in the source image;

delete elements of the subject from the blended image.