Virtual dressing over the internet

• US 6,307,568 B1
• Filed: 10/28/1998
• Issued: 10/23/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Imaninarix Limited
• Original Assignee: Imaginarix Limited
• Inventors: Rom, Ehud
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chung, Daniel J
• Application Number:
  US09/179,826
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• Field of Search: 345/634, 345/619, 345/629, 345/630, 345/632, 345/676, 345/633
• US Class Current: 345/629
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/16 Cloth
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/2726 for simulating a person's appearance, e.g. hair style, glasses, clothes

Abstract

A method and a system for displaying garments over the Internet as though th garments were being draped over the body of a user. The method and system of the present invention fits articles of clothing to an image of a user over the Internet. The image of the user is derived from a picture of the user. Critical points are taken from the image of the user, and are used to adjust the spatial configuration of the clothing. The critical points within the volume of the article of clothing are adjusted to match the critical points of the image of the body of the user, such that the spatial configuration of the article of clothing matches the configuration which would be adopted if the user was actually wearing the article of clothing. The adjusted garment image is combined with the user image and is displayed.

Claims

1. A method for trying on a garment by a user through a Web page on the Internet, the steps of the method being performed according to software commands being executed by a data processor, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) transforming a picture of a body of the user into an initial digital image of the user;

(b) displaying the Web page with at least one garment;

(c) selecting at least one garment from the Web page to form a selected garment;

(d) determining a garment spatial configuration of said at least one garment;

(e) altering said garment spatial configuration according to said initial digital image of the user to form an altered garment spatial configuration;

(f) forming a composite image of said selected garment by dressing said selected garment on said initial digital image of the user according to said altered garment spatial configuration; and

(g) displaying said composite image on the Web page through the Internet;

wherein said picture of a body of the user is derived from the group consisting of at least one photograph of the user, a videostream of the user, and additional information about the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of altering said garment spatial configuration according to said initial digital image of the user further comprises the steps of:

(i) determining a plurality of critical user adjustment points of said initial digital image of the user;

(ii) determining a plurality of garment adjustment points of said garment spatial configuration;

(iii) adjusting said plurality of garment adjustment points according to said critical user adjustment points.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said at least one garment is available in a plurality of sizes, the step of determining said plurality of garment adjustment points is determined according to one of said plurality of sizes and the step of adjusting said plurality of garment adjustment points according to said critical user adjustment points is performed according to a transform of said plurality of garment adjustment points between said plurality of sizes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of determining said plurality of critical user adjustment points further comprises the step of translating said plurality of critical user adjustment points to absolute measurements according to an independent calibration function.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of translating said plurality of critical user adjustment points uses an absolute measure of length from said picture of the body of the user.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of translating said plurality of critical user adjustment points uses an independent measure correlated to a measure from said picture of the body of the user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said independent measure is a dimension of the body of the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transforming said picture of the body of the user into said initial digital image of the body of the user comprises the step of removing a background of said picture to form an initial image of the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said picture is selected from the group consisting of at least one printed photograph, a digital still image and a videostream.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming said composite image includes the step of adjusting a lighting of said garment image to compensate for a change in lighting between said composite image and said picture of the body of the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of forming said composite image further includes the step of altering said composite image to change a characteristic of said selected garment.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said characteristic is selected from the group consisting of a color, a pattern and a fabric of said selected garment.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the Web page with at least one garment further comprises the steps of:

(i) selecting a category of garments according to at least one garment characteristic; and

(ii) displaying a plurality of garments within said category of garments fulfilling said at least one garment characteristic.