Automatic White Balance with Facial Color Features as Reference Color Surfaces
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of automatic white balance of image and video media in an electronic media device, comprising:
- acquiring one or a plurality of digital images of scenes under a sufficient color profile range of illumination conditions applicable to automatic white balance including a face of a user or users of the device, including capturing a digital image or images of a user or users using a lens and image sensor, or receiving a digital image or images of a user or users after capturing using a lens and image sensor, or a combination thereof;
acquiring the facial color features set of the user or users including the Intrinsic Values and Target Value of the color profiles of the skin tone portion, eye ball white and teeth by a color profile extraction process;
acquiring a digital image that needs automatic white balance and,conducting face detection, segmentation and recognition in the digital image, and in case of a recognized face being identified belonging to the face of a user matching a user entry in the facial color features set;
conducting illuminant estimation based on segmented facial parts Features in the facial color features set resulting in C2, and based on other parts of the image resulting in C1,and in final estimation C3 taking into account both C1 and C2;
conducting automatic white balance gain adjustment and color enhancement based on the illuminant estimation results and the above acquired Facial Color Features Set of the user or users.
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Abstract
An automatic white balance method and an electronic media device incorporating the method deploy characterized individual human facial color features set of a user or users of the device as reference color surfaces in automatic white balance illuminant estimation and color adjustments, which could improve illuminant estimation accuracy, provide flexible color adjustment options and render the image color to each user'"'"'s own satisfaction taking into account user preferred rendition as target values through a human-machine interactive interface.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of automatic white balance of image and video media in an electronic media device, comprising:
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acquiring one or a plurality of digital images of scenes under a sufficient color profile range of illumination conditions applicable to automatic white balance including a face of a user or users of the device, including capturing a digital image or images of a user or users using a lens and image sensor, or receiving a digital image or images of a user or users after capturing using a lens and image sensor, or a combination thereof; acquiring the facial color features set of the user or users including the Intrinsic Values and Target Value of the color profiles of the skin tone portion, eye ball white and teeth by a color profile extraction process; acquiring a digital image that needs automatic white balance and, conducting face detection, segmentation and recognition in the digital image, and in case of a recognized face being identified belonging to the face of a user matching a user entry in the facial color features set; conducting illuminant estimation based on segmented facial parts Features in the facial color features set resulting in C2, and based on other parts of the image resulting in C1, and in final estimation C3 taking into account both C1 and C2; conducting automatic white balance gain adjustment and color enhancement based on the illuminant estimation results and the above acquired Facial Color Features Set of the user or users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An electronic media device comprises:
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one or more cameras with at least one camera working in a front-side operational mode; one or more processors with one working as the system controller controlling system operation of the electronic media device;
non-transitory memory storage media containing instructions readable by the one or more processors;
memory storage media module accessible by the one or more processors to store data and execute the controlling instructions;
an apparatus with mechanisms to receive, store or output images, videos and other data;
a display device being able to display images, videos and graphics content;
a user controllable interactive interface to the electronic media device that takes in the user control input so that the system controller understands and properly responds to the user intention;an automatic white balance control apparatus in the camera working in the front-side operational mode incorporating an automatic white balance method comprising; acquiring one or a plurality of digital images of scenes under a sufficient color profile range of illumination conditions applicable to automatic white balance including a face of a user or users of the device, including capturing a digital image or images of a user or users using a lens and image sensor, or receiving a digital image or images of a user or users after capturing using a lens and image sensor, or a combination thereof; acquiring the facial color features set of the user or users including the Intrinsic Values and Target Value of the color profiles of the skin tone portion, eye ball white and teeth by a color profile extraction process; acquiring a digital image that needs automatic white balance and, conducting face detection, segmentation and recognition in the digital image, and in case of a recognized face being identified belonging to the face of a user matching a user entry in the facial color features set; conducting illuminant estimation based on segmented facial parts Features in the facial color features set resulting in C2, and based on other parts of the image resulting in C1, and in final estimation C3 taking into account both C1 and C2; conducting automatic white balance gain adjustment and color enhancement based on the illuminant estimation results and the above acquired Facial Color Features Set of the user or users. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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17. One or more non-transitory program storage devices, containing instructions readable by one or more processors for causing the one or more processors to perform a method of automatic white balance, comprising:
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acquiring one or a plurality of digital images of scenes under a sufficient color profile range of illumination conditions applicable to automatic white balance including a face of a user or users of the device, including capturing a digital image or images of a user or users using a lens and image sensor, or receiving a digital image or images of a user or users after capturing using a lens and image sensor, or a combination thereof; acquiring the facial color features set of the user or users including the Intrinsic Values and Target Value of the color profiles of the skin tone portion, eye ball white and teeth by a color profile extraction process; acquiring a digital image that needs automatic white balance and, conducting face detection, segmentation and recognition in the digital image, and in case of a recognized face being identified belonging to the face of a user matching a user entry in the facial color features set; conducting illuminant estimation based on segmented facial parts Features in the facial color features set resulting in C2, and based on other parts of the image resulting in C1, and in final estimation C3 taking into account both C1 and C2; conducting automatic white balance gain adjustment and color enhancement based on the illuminant estimation results and the above acquired Facial Color Features Set of the user or users.
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Specification