Method for collecting data for color measurements from a digital electronic image capturing device or system

• US 7,751,653 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2005
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Color Savvy Systems Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Color Savvy Systems Ltd.
• Inventors: Seibert, Karl F., Bodnar, Gary N., Pearson, Christopher H., Duke, Ronald J., Broehl, Joshua M., Staufenberg, Donald J., Shova, Bryan M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed; Samir A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Liu; Li
• Application Number:
  US11/201,854
• Publication Number:
  US 20060078199A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,790 Days
• Field of Search: 382/128, 382/162, 382/168, 382/312, 382/313, 382/315
• US Class Current: 382/315
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/0233 Handheld
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/02 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0262 Constructional arrangements for removing stray light
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/027 Control of working procedures of a spectrometer; Failure detection; Bandwidth calculation
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0272 Handheld
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0289 Field-of-view determination; Aiming or pointing of a spectrometer; Adjusting alignment; Encoding angular position; Size of measurement area; Position tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0291 Housings; Spectrometer accessories; Spatial arrangement of elements, e.g. folded path arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/10 Arrangements of light sources specially adapted for spectrometry or colorimetry
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/2803 using photoelectric array detector
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/50 using electric radiation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/524 Calibration of colorimeters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/71 Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation

Abstract

A method for providing an intensity or brightness measurement using a digital image-capturing device comprising: selecting a target area within a field of view of the image-capturing device, the target area containing pixels; determining the brightness of pixels in the target area; accumulating the brightness values of the pixels in the target area; and determining a pixel value representative of the pixels in the target area. A device for making color measurements comprising an image-capture device, a processor or logic device, and a memory location for accumulating color data, and the processor or logic device is programmed to perform color measurements by accumulating the data for pixels located in the target area in memory, and determining a representative color value.

Claims

1. A device for measuring the color of a target area in an image comprising:

a housing including an image-capture device,

a processor or logic device,

a memory location, and

a platen having an aperture therein through which the color measurement is made,

the housing being mounted on a pair of rails to reciprocate along a straight line with respect to the platen between a first and a second position, wherein in the first position the housing is spaced from the platen such that a user of the device can position the aperture over the target area and in the second position the housing encloses the aperture in the platen to provide a light-tight seal for the aperture for measuring the color of the target area.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein by closing the housing about the aperture, the image-capture device captures an image of the aperture from which the color measurement is made.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the housing is spring loaded in the rails.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the image-capturing device is a digital camera or an image-capturing chip.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein the image-capturing device is a CMOS imaging chip.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein said device is hand held.

7. The device of claim 1 further comprising a switch that triggers the device to take a measurement when the housing fully encloses the aperture.