Filling of graphical regions

• US 5,870,100 A
• Filed: 11/22/1995
• Issued: 02/09/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: DeFreitas, Scott C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phu K.
• Application Number:
  US08/561,871
• Time in Patent Office: 1,175 Days
• Field of Search: 395/135, 395/133, 395/129, 345/429, 345/431
• US Class Current: 345/441
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/40 Filling a planar surface by adding surface attributes, e.g. colour or texture

Abstract

A computer method for filling a selected region in a target image includes determining an attribute of a seed pixel within the selected region, forming a mask image of the region based on identifying pixels that have the attribute, and filling the selected region based on the mask image.

Claims

1. A computer method for filling a selected region in a target image comprising:

determining a color attribute of a seed pixel within the selected region;

forming a mask image of the selected region based on identifying pixels within the selected region that have the color attribute; and

filling the selected region based on the mask image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected region is piece-wise continuous.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected region is piece-wise discontinuous.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the attribute is represented by at least one settable bit.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one settable bit represents a value of chroma, hue, luminance, or a time-variant change of a characteristic, of the seed pixel.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the mask image includes a first set of mask colors corresponding to pixels within the selected region.

7. The method of claim 6 in which the mask image includes a second set of mask colors corresponding to pixels in the target image outside the selected region.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first set of mask colors comprises a single first mask color, and the second set of mask colors comprises a single second mask color.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the first mask color is black.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the first mask color is white.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the first mask color is black, and the second mask color is white.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the first mask color is white, and the second mask color is black.

13. The method of claim 6 wherein the first set of mask colors comprises a single first mask color.

14. The method of claim 1 in which the step of filling the selected region includes use of a fill image.

15. The method of claim 14 in which the filling step comprises combining values of the pixels in the target image, the fill image, and the mask image.

16. The method of claim 14 in which the filling step further comprises a first forming step wherein a first combined image is formed from the fill image and the target image.

17. The method of claim 16 in which the filling step further comprises a second forming step wherein a second combined image is formed from the first combined image and the mask image.

18. The method of claim 17 in which the filling step further comprises a third forming step wherein the target image, having the selected region filled with the fill image, is formed from the second combined image and the fill image.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the third forming step comprises a mathematical operation on the second combined image and the fill image.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the third mathematical operation comprises exclusive ORing the second combined image and the fill image.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the second forming step comprises performing a second mathematical operation on the first combined image and the mask image.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the second mathematical operation comprises ANDing the first combined image and the mask image.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein the first forming step comprises performing a first mathematical operation on the target image and the fill image.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the first mathematical operation comprises exclusive ORing the target image and the fill image.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of forming the mask image includes a first creating step wherein a preliminary mask image is created from a first set of preliminary mask colors corresponding to pixels of the target image having the attribute and from a second set of preliminary mask colors corresponding to other pixels of the target image.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the first set of preliminary mask colors comprises a single first preliminary mask color and the second set of preliminary mask colors comprises a single second preliminary mask color.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the step of forming the mask image includes a second creating step wherein the mask image is created from a first set of mask colors corresponding to pixels in the target image within the selected region and from a second set of mask colors corresponding to other pixels of the target image.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the first set of mask colors comprises a single first mask color and the second set of mask colors comprises a single second mask color.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein the first and second sets of preliminary mask colors comprise respectively a single first preliminary mask color, and a single second preliminary mask color, and the first and second sets of mask colors comprise respectively a single first mask color and a single second mask color.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the first preliminary mask color is white, the second preliminary mask color is black, the first mask color is black and the second mask color is white.

31. The method of claim 27 wherein the second creating step further comprises the steps of:

determining a piece-wise continuous selected region of pixels of the preliminary mask image having a set of same colors; and

generating the mask image from the piece-wise continuous selected region of pixels.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the set of same colors comprises a single same color.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the same color is white.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein the same color is black.

35. The method of claim 25 wherein the first creating step comprises a bit block transfer function converting the target image into the preliminary mask image.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the preliminary mask image comprises a monochrome image.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the bit block transfer function assigns all pixels sharing the attribute to a set of background colors, and assigns all other pixels to a set of foreground colors.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the set of background colors comprises a single background color, and the set of foreground colors comprises a single foreground color.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the background color is white, and the foreground color is black.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein the background color is black, and the foreground color is white.

41. The method of claim 35 wherein the bit block transfer function assigns all pixels sharing the attribute to a foreground color, and assigns all other pixels to a background color.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the background color is white, and the foreground color is black.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein the background color is black, and the foreground color is white.

44. Apparatus for filling a graphical region comprising:

a fill processor;

a target image storage area; and

a mask storage area, wherein the target image storage area and the mask storage area are coupled to the fill processor, the mask storage area holding a mask formed by determining a color attribute of a seed pixel within a selected region, and forming the mask image of the selected region based on identifying pixels within the selected region that have the color attribute.

45. The apparatus of claim 44 further comprising a fill image storage area coupled to the fill processor.

46. The apparatus of claim 44 further comprising a preliminary mask storage area coupled to the fill processor.

47. The apparatus of claim 44 wherein the target image storage area and the mask storage area comprise regions of memory.

48. The apparatus of claim 44 wherein the fill processor comprises a computer program stored in a region of memory.

49. The apparatus of claim 44 further comprising a region selection device coupled to the fill processor.

50. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the region selection device includes a computer mouse.

51. The apparatus of claim 44 further comprising a display coupled to the fill processor.