Method and apparatus for simulating the appearance of paving stone on an existing driveway
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for simulating a portion of a surface in an image, the method comprising the steps of:
- placing at least one marker on the surface wherein the marker has a first side and a second side, the first side of the marker having a first color and the second side having a second color, so that the marker will have contrast with the surface depending on which side is visible;
capturing an image of the surface including the marker;
determining a boundary that defines a field for the portion of the image;
determining a location of the marker;
calculating the geometry for the field;
selecting a material and texture for a simulated surface; and
generating a new image comprising the captured image and the simulated surface in the field.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Using a digital camera, special markers, and a computer system, an image is taken of an existing surface that is usually a driveway or a walkway. The boundary of the surface to be modified is manually or automatically selected and the markers are also either manually or automatically selected. The user selects a simulation material and, using the boundary and marker geometry, a new surface is calculated to cover the original surface in the image to give the old surface the appearance of being made of the new chosen material.
36 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method for simulating a portion of a surface in an image, the method comprising the steps of:
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placing at least one marker on the surface wherein the marker has a first side and a second side, the first side of the marker having a first color and the second side having a second color, so that the marker will have contrast with the surface depending on which side is visible;
capturing an image of the surface including the marker;
determining a boundary that defines a field for the portion of the image;
determining a location of the marker;
calculating the geometry for the field;
selecting a material and texture for a simulated surface; and
generating a new image comprising the captured image and the simulated surface in the field. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for simulating a portion of a surface in an image, the method comprising the steps of:
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placing at least one marker on the surface;
capturing an image of the surface including the marker;
determining a boundary that defines a field for the portion of the image;
determining a location of the marker;
calculating a geometry for the field by creating a region that contains the boundary;
creating a Delaunay triangulation of the region using the marker as a vertex;
calculating derivatives of direction vectors for the field;
determining a spacing grid for the field from the derivatives of direction; and
calculating perspective and inverse transforms for the field and spacing grid selecting a material and texture for a simulated surface; and
generating a new image comprising the captured image and the simulated surface in the field. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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23. A method for simulating a portion of a surface in an image, the method comprising the steps of:
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placing at least one marker on the surface;
capturing an image of the surface including the marker;
receiving input indicating portions of the boundary that comprise a border;
determining a boundary that defines a field for the portion of the image;
generating the shape and geometry for the border including projecting the border from the image onto a spacing grid for the field;
creating an offset border curve offset a predetermined distance inward from the border;
creating at least one border polygon between the border and the offset border curve;
assigning a consistent texture value to each border polygon; and
transforming the border polygon into image space from grid space determining a location of the marker;
calculating a geometry for the field;
selecting a material and texture for a simulated surface; and
generating a new image comprising the captured image and the simulated surface in the field. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A method for simulating a portion of a surface in an image, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving input indicating an object on top of the surface;
placing at least one marker on the surface;
capturing an image of the surface including the marker;
determining a boundary that defines a field for the portion of the image;
determining a location of the marker;
calculating a geometry for the field;
selecting a material and texture for a simulated surface;
calculating a three-dimensional surface geometry for lighting by estimating a three-dimensional position of a point on a spacing grid based on a size of the marker;
creating a unit sphere having a center at a selected point on the spacing grid;
creating a three-dimensional projection line from an image viewpoint to an adjacent point on the spacing grid;
calculating an intersection of the projection line and the unit sphere to create a three-dimensional line segment;
calculating an orthogonal line segment based on another adjacent grid point; and
determining a surface normal at the selected point from a cross product of the three-dimensional line segment and the orthogonal line segment generating a new image comprising the captured image and the simulated surface in the field; and rendering the indicated objects as an overlay upon the simulated surface portion of the new image.
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Specification