Image editing system including masking capability
First Claim
1. In a computer system having a memory and a visual display, a digital method of editing an image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color, comprising the steps of:
- providing an image in digital form;
interactively selecting a plurality of colors from among those present in the image at at least one location on the visual display to form a set of selected colors wherein each color comprises a single discrete hue; and
manipulating, independent of inputs representative of any other image, only those pixels on the visual display having a color defined in the set of selected colors so as to change a visual feature of the image.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for editing digital images in three dimensions includes a computer for storing a digital image of an object and a background, as well as at least one additional background image. Based upon the difference between the hues of the edge of the object and the surrounding background and a predetermined hue difference, the computer locates the edge of the object and removes portions of the image (i.e., the background) that are outside the edge. Then, the object can be combined with a preselected one of the other background images so as to form a composite image. Components of the preselected background image are assigned relative positions in the X-Y plane, and are also assigned a value defining their location in one of a plurality of layers which form the Z dimension of the image. The object to be combined with the background is also assigned a value defining its location in at least one of those layers. In another embodiment of the invention, colors of either a digital or video image can be selectively assigned to a mask. The colors can be of the entire image or from a selected area of the image. Color manipulation can then be performed on just the colors of the image defined by the mask. The mask may be used with the entire image, with a selected area of the image, or with objects. Alternatively, the colors of the image defined by an inverted mask are affected by color manipulation.
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Citations
102 Claims
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1. In a computer system having a memory and a visual display, a digital method of editing an image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color, comprising the steps of:
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providing an image in digital form; interactively selecting a plurality of colors from among those present in the image at at least one location on the visual display to form a set of selected colors wherein each color comprises a single discrete hue; and manipulating, independent of inputs representative of any other image, only those pixels on the visual display having a color defined in the set of selected colors so as to change a visual feature of the image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. In a computer system having a memory and a visual display, a digital method of editing an image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color, comprising the steps of:
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providing an image in digital form; identifying a color of each pixel of the image; storing data representing each identified color in an original first list on the memory of the computer system; identifying a user-selected color at a user-selected location on the visual display of the image wherein the selected color comprises a single discrete hue; deleting the data representing the selected color from the first list; and manipulating, independent of inputs representative of any other image, pixels of the image on the visual display having colors of a preselected relationship to the colors identified in the first list so as to change a visual feature of the image. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72)
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73. In a computer system having a memory and a visual display, a digital method of creating a color mask for an image, comprising the steps of:
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providing a digital image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color; interactively selecting a plurality of colors from among those present in the image at at least one location on the visual display to form a set of selected colors wherein each color comprises a single discrete hue; and storing data representing the colors from the set of selected colors in a list on the memory of the computer system, to thereby define the mask. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
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80. In a computer system having a memory and a visual display, a digital method of creating an inverted color mask for an image, comprising the steps of:
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providing a digital image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color; identifying the color of each pixel of the image to form a set of identified colors wherein each color comprises a single discrete hue; interactively selecting a color at an arbitrary location of the image in the visual display; and deleting the selected color from the colors in the set of identified colors, thereby defining an inverted mask. - View Dependent Claims (81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95)
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96. A Digital system for editing a digital image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color, comprising:
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a computer having a memory and a visual display; means for providing the image to the computer; means for identifying a color of each pixel of the image on the visual display wherein each color comprises a single discrete hue; means for storing data representing each identified color in a first list on the memory of the computer; interactive means for identifying a selected color at an arbitrary location of the image on the visual display; means for deleting the data representing the selected color from the first list; and means for manipulating pixels of the image having colors corresponding to the colors identified in the first list, independent of inputs representative of any other image, so as to change a visual feature of the image. - View Dependent Claims (97, 98)
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99. In a computer system having a visual display, a digital method of recoloring an object having a plurality of pixels, comprising the steps of:
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providing a digital background image having a plurality of pixels; interactively selecting an area from the background image on the visual display; determining a hue of a selected pixel in the selected area; repeating the determining step until the hue of all pixels in the selected area has been determined; determining an average hue of all the pixels in the selected area; selecting an object on the visual display to be recolored; and changing the hue off the selected object to the determined average hue. - View Dependent Claims (100, 101)
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102. In a computer system having a visual display, a digital method of recoloring an object having a plurality of pixels, comprising the steps of:
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providing a background image having a plurality of pixels; interactively selecting an area from the background image on the visual display; identifying the selected area as a first object; determining a hue of a selected pixel of the first object; repeating the determining step until the hue of all pixels of the first object has been determined; determining an average hue of all the pixels of the first object; identifying a second object on the visual display to be recolored; and changing the hue of the second object to the average hue of the first object.
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Specification