Apparatus and method for image compositing

• US 6,674,485 B2
• Filed: 08/26/1999
• Issued: 01/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Fukase, Shigehiro, Naitou, Yoshihiro, Baba, Tohru, Akiyama, Keiho, Baba, Naoto, Otokozawa, Kou
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shang, Annan Q
• Application Number:
  US09/384,933
• Publication Number:
  US 20030133044A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,594 Days
• Field of Search: 348/586, 348/587, 348/590, 348/591, 348/592, 348/593, 345/41, 345/48, 345/63, 345/76, 345/84, 345/621-640, 382/167, 382/162, 382/164, 382/165, 396/2, 396/3, 396/4
• US Class Current: 348/586
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/75 Chroma key

Abstract

The present invention provides an image compositing apparatus capable of producing a natural composite image, with a simple structure and a less occupying space. The present invention also provides a method for compositing an image by providing shadow-free conditions in a limited space for chroma-keying so that a subject image and a desired background image are naturally integrated as one image.

Claims

1. An image compositing apparatus provided with a fare adjustment function comprising:

light panels provided behind a subject and on a floor, which uniformly emit uniform light with predetermined hue, saturation and brightness distributions;

a means for measuring the hue, saturation and brightness distributions of the light panels provided behind the subject and on the floor;

a memory for memorizing the hue, saturation and brightness distributions of the light panels provided behind the subject and on the floor;

an image extracting means for extracting a foreground image of the subject based on a color of the light panels behind and underneath the subject;

an image compositing means for comparing and correcting hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of the foreground image with respect to hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of a background image, and compositing the foreground image with the background image to provide a composite image; and

an image display device for displaying the composite image.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a distortion correcting means for correcting a distortion of the foreground image.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a noise eliminating means for eliminating a noise on an edge of the foreground image.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a jaggedness eliminating means for eliminating jaggedness of the foreground image by blurring a contour of the foreground image.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an image inputting device.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the image-inputting device comprises one of a CCD camera, C-MOS-loaded camera, a video camera, and a digital camera.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a printing device.

2. An image compositing method comprising the steps of:

providing at least one light panel behind a subject which uniformly emit uniform light with predetermined hue, saturation and brightness distributions;

extracting a foreground image of the subject;

memorizing hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of a background image; and

correcting hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of the foreground image with respect to the hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of the background image to provide a composite image.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising inputting an image comprising the foreground image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the imputed image is photographed, filmed, or downloaded from a data storage device.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising outputting the composite image.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the composite image is outputted to a display device, a printer or a data storage device.

13. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing at least one light panel underneath the subject, wherein the light panels uniformly emit uniform light with predetermined hue, saturation and brightness distributions.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the foreground image is extracted from a photograph or a digital image including the subject.

15. A method for compositing a foreground image of a subject with a background image to produce a composite image comprising the steps of

(a) providing light panels that uniformly emit light with a predetermined hue, saturation and brightness behind and underneath the subject;

(b) measuring and storing hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of the foreground image in a memory of a computer;

(c) measuring and storing hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of the background image in a memory of a computer; and

(d) correcting the hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of the foreground image with respect to the hue, saturation, and brightness distributions of the background image, thereby compositing the foreground image with the background image to produce a composite image.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a contour of the foreground image is measured and extracted to correct distortion of the foreground image.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the composite image is printed out or displayed.