Imaging method and system for determining an area of importance in an archival image

• US 7,327,890 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2002
• Issued: 02/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Fredlund, John R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehta; Bhavesh M
• Assistant Examiner(s): SCHAFFER, JONATHAN C
• Application Number:
  US10/324,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20040120606A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,873 Days
• Field of Search: 382/305, 382/218
• US Class Current: 382/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/25 Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/635 Region indicators; Field of view indicators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image

Abstract

A method is provided for determining an area of importance in an archival image. In accordance with the method, an evaluation images is obtained during composition of an archival image and the archival image is obtained. The evaluation image is compared to the archival image to determine common image elements and area of importance data is determined that identifies the common image elements. The area of importance data is associated with the archival image.

Claims

1. A method for determining an area of importance in an archival image that shows a field of view of a scene, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining the archival image;

obtaining a set of evaluation images each depicting a field of view of the scene captured during a process of composing the archival image;

comparing the field of view of the archival image to field of view of at least one of the evaluation images to determine which portions of the field of view of the archival image show portions of the scene that are also shown in the filed of view of the evaluation image against which the field of view of the archival image is compared;

determining area of importance data that can be used to identify the determined portions of the field of view of the archival image; and

storing the area of importance data in association with the archival image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating the area of importance data and the archival image comprises storing the area of importance data with the archival image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating area importance data with the archival image comprises storing the area of importance data with the archival image in a common digital file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating area of importance data with the archival image comprises storing the area interest data in the archival image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating area of importance data with the archival image comprises storing the archival image in a form having a stored image resolution in the area of importance that is higher than the stored image resolution in the remainder of the archival image.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating the area of importance data and the archival image comprises adapting the archival image so that the area of importance is stored in a compression ratio that is lower than the compression ratio used to store the remainder of the archival image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the area of importance data comprises an area of importance image containing image elements from the area of importance.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluation image is captured within a predetermined time period immediately preceding capture of the archival image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a sequence of evaluation images are captured during composition and wherein the step of determining portions is performed by comparing the archival image to the sequence of the evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image that is captured immediately prior to the capture of the archival image and continuing with additional prior images in sequence until the determined field of view of the archival image is defined by a predetermined minimum image space of the image elements of the archival image.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a sequence of evaluation images are captured during composition and wherein the step of determining portions is determined by comparing the archival image to the sequence of the evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image that is captured immediately prior to the capture of the archival image and continuing with additional prior images until the identified common image elements define a predetermined minimum portion of the image elements of the archival image.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a sequence of evaluation images are captured during composition and wherein the step of determining portions is performed by comparing the field of view of the archival image to the fields of view of each of a sequence of evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image captured immediately prior to the capture of the archival image and continuing with additional prior images until the identified common image elements define a predetermined minimum of horizontal image elements of the archival image.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a sequence of evaluation images are captured during composition and wherein the step of determining portions is performed by comparing the field of view of the archival image to the fields of view of each of a sequence of evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image captured immediately prior to the capture the archival image and continuing with additional prior images until the identified common image elements define a predetermined minimum of vertical image elements of the archival image.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the portions are determined by comparing the field of view of the archival image to the field of view of more than one evaluation image and wherein the evaluation images used for comparison are limited to those having a field of view of the evaluation images that are smaller than a maximum threshold and closest in time to the capture of the archival image.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the common image elements are displayed as an area of importance to a user of the imaging system.

15. The method claim 1, further comprising the steps of displaying the evaluation images during composition and adapting the display of the evaluation images to indicate the field of view of the determined area of importance.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of displaying an evaluation image that corresponds to the captured archival image after capture of the archival image and adapting the display of the corresponding evaluation image to indicate the common image elements.

17. A method for determining an area of importance in an archival image, the method comprising the steps of:

capturing a set of evaluation images during composition of the archival image, but prior to capturing the archival image;

capturing the archival image;

forming a preliminary area of importance image based upon the captured archival image;

extracting portions of the preliminary area of importance image that do not correspond to image information in the images of the set of evaluation images; and

storing the remaining portions of the preliminary area of importance image as an area of importance image and associating the area of importance image with the archival image.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of associating the area of importance image with the archival image comprises storing the area of importance image in association with the archival image.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of capturing a set of evaluation images comprises capturing a sequence of evaluation images and the step of extracting portions of the preliminary area of importance image that do not correspond to image information in the images of the set of evaluation images comprises extracting image information from the preliminary area of importance image that do not correspond to the image information in the evaluation images by comparing the archival image to the evaluation images in a reverse sequence beginning with the first evaluation image and continuing to extract image information from the preliminary area of importance by extracting image information from the additional evaluation images so long as the preliminary area of importance that remains after extraction meets a threshold condition.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of detecting user input indicating that selected ones of the obtained evaluation images are to be used in determining the area of importance wherein only the selected evaluation images are used to determine the area of importance.

21. A method for determining an area of importance in an archival image comprising the steps of:

detecting composition of an archival image of a scene;

obtaining a set of evaluation images of the scene during composition, but prior to capturing the archival image;

capturing the archival image;

obtaining an evaluation image corresponding to the archival image comparing the corresponding evaluation image to the sequence of evaluation images to identify which portions of the scene shown in the archival image are also shown in each of the evaluation image in the sequence of evaluation images;

generating area of importance data characterizing the portions of the archival image that correspond to the common portions of the evaluation image;

storing the area of importance data; and

associating the area of importance data with the archival image.

22. An imaging system comprising:

an image source operable to obtain evaluation images during composition of an archival image and prior to capturing the archival images;

a signal processor comparing the evaluation images and the archival image to identify which portions of the archival image show portions of the scene that are also shown by that all of the evaluation images;

wherein the signal processor stores area of importance data from which the identified portions of the archival image can be determined and associates the area of importance data with the archival image.

23. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the signal processor stores the area of importance data with the archival image.

24. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the signal processor stores the area of importance data with the archival image in a common digital file.

25. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the signal processor stores the area interest data in the archival image.

26. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the signal processor stores the archival image in a form having a stored image resolution in the area of importance that is higher than the stored image resolution in the remainder of the archival image.

27. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein image elements associated with the identified area of importance is stored in the archival image at a compression ratio that is lower than the compression ratio used to store the remainder of the archival image.

28. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the area of importance data comprises an area of importance image containing image elements from the area of importance.

29. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the set of evaluation images include evaluation images that were captured within a predetermined time period immediately preceding capture of the archival image.

30. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the set of evaluation images comprise a sequence of evaluation images captured during composition and wherein the signal processor compares the archival image to the sequence of the evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image that is captured immediately prior to the capture of the archival image and continuing with additional prior images in sequence until the identified portions define a predetermined minimum image space of the image elements of the archival image.

31. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the set of evaluation images comprise a sequence of evaluation images is captured during composition and wherein the signal processor compares the archival image to the sequence of the evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image that is captured immediately prior to the capture of the archival image and continuing with additional prior images until the identified portions define a predetermined minimum portion of the image elements of the archival image.

32. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the set of evaluation images comprises a sequence of evaluation images are captured during composition and wherein the signal processor compares the archival image to the sequence of evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image captured immediately prior to the capture of the archival image and continuing with additional prior images until the identified common image elements define a predetermined minimum of horizontal image elements of the archival image.

33. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein a sequence of evaluation images are captured during composition and wherein the signal processor compares the archival image to the sequence of evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image captured immediately prior to the capture the archival image and continuing with additional prior images until the identified common image elements define a predetermined minimum of vertical image elements of the archival image.

34. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the common image elements are identified by comparing the evaluation images to detect shifts in the field of view of the evaluation images that are smaller than a maximum threshold and closest in time to the capture of the archival image.

35. The imaging system of claim 22, wherein the common image elements are displayed to a user of the imaging system.

36. The imaging system of claim 22, further comprising the steps of the display evaluation images during composition and adapting the display of the evaluation images to indicate of the common elements defining the area of importance.

37. The imaging system of claim 22, further comprising the steps of displaying an evaluation image that corresponds to be captured archival image after capture of the archival image and adapting the display of the corresponding evaluation image to indicate the common image elements.

38. An imaging system comprising:

an image capture system adapted to capture evaluation images during composition of an archival image and prior to capturing the archival image;

a display system for presenting a series of evaluation images to a user of the imaging system during composition of an archival image;

a memory; and

a processor storing evaluation images in the memory during composition and obtaining an area of importance image that corresponds to the archival image;

wherein the processor compares the area of importance image to the series of evaluation images beginning with the evaluation image captured immediately prior to the capture of the archival image and continuing sequentially with additional prior evaluation images until a threshold criterion is met and extracts image information from the area of importance image that does not correspond to image information in the evaluation images with which it is compared.

39. The imaging system of claim 38, wherein the signal processor stores the area of importance image in association with the archival image.

40. An imaging system comprising:

a composition trigger adapted to generate a composition signal for composing an archival image and a capture trigger adapted to generate an archival image capture signal for capturing the archival image;

an image capture system adapted to capture evaluation images when the composition signal is generated and subsequently to capture an archival image when the archival image capture signal is generated; and

a processor adapted to compare the archival image to the evaluation images and identify all of the image elements in the archival image that correspond to image elements in each of the evaluation images;

wherein the processor is further adapted to associate area of importance data that identifies the corresponding portions of the archival image with the archival image.

41. A imaging system comprising:

an image capture means for capturing an archival image and for capturing an evaluation image during composition of the archival image, but prior to capturing the archival image;

a comparison means for comparing the evaluation images to the archival image to identify all of the image elements that are found both in the archival image and each of the evaluation images; and

an associating means for associating area of importance data characterizing the common image elements with the archival image.

42. The imaging system of claim 41, wherein the image capture means captures more than one evaluation image during composition of the archival image and the imaging system further comprises a user interface adapted to receive a signal indicating that selected ones of the evaluation images are to be used in determining the area of importance wherein only the selected evaluation images are used to determine the area of importance.