Method and system for improved internet color

• US 7,339,595 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2001
• Issued: 03/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: LightSurf Technologies, Inc. (VeriSign, Inc.)
• Inventors: Warwick, Joel, Bernard, Peter, Strother, Thomas, Huber, Jean-Pierre, Engeldrum, Peter G., van Prooijen, Kees, Hilliard, William, Baker, Tamara, Deutch, James, Ball, Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung, Kee M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAMS, MICHELLE L
• Application Number:
  US09/803,219
• Publication Number:
  US 20020080168A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,554 Days
• Field of Search: 345/589, 345/590, 345/591, 345593-595, 345/600
• US Class Current: 345/589
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0693 Calibration of display systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/027 Arrangements and methods specific for the display of internet documents
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/02 characterised by the way in which colour is displayed details of colour display specific for CRTs G09G1/28; specific for flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00214 details of transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00217 only involving computer data transmission protocols, e.g. SMTP, WAP or HTTP communication protocol aspects and techniques in packet data networks H04L69/00; network-specific arrangements or communication protocols supporting networked applications H04L67/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00395 Arrangements for reducing operator input input arrangements for job or mode instructions or parameters H04N1/00962; intelligent menu interfaces H04N1/00437
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32502 in systems having a plurality of input or output devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32512 of different type, e.g. internal and external devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32529 of different type, e.g. internal and external devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/603 controlled by characteristics of the picture signal generator or the picture reproducer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/02 for colour television signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 : involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0065 : Converting image data to a format usable by the connected apparatus or vice versa
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/641 : Multi-purpose receivers, e.g. for auxiliary information H04N9/642 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention provides a technique for providing color corrected images to a user over a network. In particular, the present invention allows multiple image providers to provide color corrected images to a user when the user'"'"'s computer and its associated devices are not calibrated and/or characterized, or the calibration and/or characterization data is not available over the network to the image providers. This abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the rules requiring an abstract to allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure contained herein. This abstract is submitted with the express understanding that it will not be used to interpret or to limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for providing images to a client computer over a computer network, comprising:

receiving a request from the client computer to an image server for an image;

determining the unavailability of client computer image display characteristics to the image server; and

selecting a set of default image display characteristics to adjust the requested image in accordance with the set of default characteristics for display on the client computer, the set of default image display characteristics being unrelated to the image display characteristics of the client computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of default image display characteristics is based on average image display characteristics of a plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, prior to selecting the set of default characteristics:

determining one or more sets of default image display characteristics based on the average image display characteristics of the plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more sets of default image display characteristics comprises:

determining groups of the computer clients having known image display characteristics; and

calculating a set of default image display characteristics for each group of computer clients having known image display characteristics.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more sets of default image display characteristics comprises:

calculating one set of default image display characteristics for substantially all computer clients having known image display characteristics.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more sets of default image display characteristics comprises:

determining a group of computer clients having known image display characteristics that are visually perceived as substantially uniform by a viewer; and

calculating a set of default image display characteristics for the group of computer clients.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the group of computer clients having known image display characteristics that are visually perceived as substantially uniform by a viewer comprises:

determining the group having the largest number of computer clients having known image display characteristics that are visually perceived as substantially uniform by a viewer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the group having the largest number of computer clients having known image display characteristics that are visually perceived as substantially uniform by a viewer comprises:

determining the coordinates that are within a selected distance of the maximum number of coordinate points in a multidimensional parameter space comprising the characteristics of the plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics, the selected distance encompassing image display characteristics that are visually perceived as substantially uniform by a viewer.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein calculating the set of default image display characteristics for the group of computer clients comprises:

determining the center of a multidimensional parameter space comprising the characteristics of the plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein calculating the set of default image display characteristics for the group of computer clients comprises:

determining coordinates in a multidimensional parameter space comprising the characteristics of the plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics, the coordinates representative of a set of default image display characteristics that maximize the amount of image adjustment for all computer clients on the computer network.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein calculating the set of default image display characteristics for the group of computer clients comprises:

determining coordinates in a multidimensional parameter space comprising the characteristics of the plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics, the coordinates representative of a set of default image display characteristics that minimize the amount of image degradation for all computer clients on the computer network.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the one or more sets of default image display characteristics comprises:

determining the one or more sets of default image display characteristics in response to each received image request.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

adjusting the requested image in accordance with the selected one of the one or more sets of default characteristics determined in response to the received image request.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising, prior to determining the one or more sets of default image display characteristics in response to each received image request:

updating a database comprising the characteristics of the plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics to determine the one or more sets of default image display characteristics.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

adjusting the requested image in accordance with the selected one of the one or more sets of default characteristics determined in response to the received image request.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein determining one or more sets of default image display characteristics comprises:

periodically determining one or more sets of default image display characteristics based on the average image display characteristics of the plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

adjusting the requested image in accordance with the selected one of the latest one or more sets of default characteristics.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising, prior to periodically determining the one or more sets of default image display characteristics:

updating a database comprising the characteristics of the plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics to determine the one or more sets of default image display characteristics.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

adjusting the requested image in accordance with the selected one of the latest one or more sets of default characteristics.

20. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

selecting an image in response to the request, the image being adjusted in accordance with the selected set of default image display characteristics.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein selecting an image adjusted in accordance with the selected set of default image display characteristics comprises:

selecting an image adjusted in accordance with the selected set of default image display characteristics from a plurality of adjusted images.

22. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the set of default image display characteristics comprises:

selecting the set of default image display characteristics based on the average image display characteristics of a plurality of computer clients having known image display characteristics including one or more of input/output characteristics, color rendering capabilities, and spatial rendering properties.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein selecting the set of default image display characteristics further comprises:

selecting the set of default image display characteristics based on characteristics of the requesting client computer including one or more of software characteristics and communication characteristics.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein selecting the set of default image display characteristics further comprises:

selecting the set of default image display characteristics based on characteristics of the requesting client computer including the relative age of a client computer display monitor.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

prompting a user of the client computer to provide information regarding the client computer; and

selecting the set of default image display characteristics comprises;

selecting the set of default image display characteristics based on information provided by the user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein prompting a user of the client computer to provide information regarding the client computer comprises:

prompting a user of the client computer to provide information regarding the display monitor of the client computer including one or more of the display monitor type, display monitor age, and display monitor location.

27. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing the selected set of default image display characteristics to the image server to adjust the requested image in accordance with the set of default characteristics for display on a computer client display monitor.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein providing the selected set of default characteristics to the image server comprises:

providing the selected set of default characteristics and the requested image to the image server to adjust the requested image in accordance with the set of default characteristics for display on a computer client display monitor.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein receiving the request comprises:

receiving the request at an image request server; and

providing the selected set of default image display characteristics to the image server comprises;

bouncing the client computer over the network to the image server.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the computer network is an Internet, an intranet, or a local area network.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein determining the unavailability of client computer image display characteristics to the image server comprises:

determining the unavailability of a client computer cookie to the image request server, the cookie related to the image display characteristics of the client computer.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein bouncing the client computer comprises:

distributing JavaScript or VBScript to the client computer to bounce the client computer over the network to the image server.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein bouncing the client computer comprises:

distributing HTML, XML, or other mark-up language commands to redirect the client computer over the network to the image server.