Reducing differential resolution of separations

• US 7,835,570 B1
• Filed: 12/08/2006
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.), Warner Bros Entertainment Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.), Warner Bros Entertainment Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Perlmutter, Sharon M., Perlmutter, Keren O., Wang, Eric, Klamer, Paul R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns; Andrew W
• Application Number:
  US11/608,556
• Time in Patent Office: 1,439 Days
• Field of Search: 382/162, 382/191, 382/195, 382/199, 382/254, 382/266, 382/275, 382/284, 382/299, 348/96, 348/97, 348/576, 348/577, 348/612, 348/625, 352/66, 352/67
• US Class Current: 382/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20064 Wavelet transform [DWT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20192 Edge enhancement; Edge preservation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/403 Edge-driven scaling; Edge-based scaling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4084 in the transform domain, e.g. fast Fourier transform [FFT] domain scaling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/003 Deblurring; Sharpening vibration or motion blur correction for cameras comprising an electronic image sensor H04N23/682
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/10 using non-spatial domain filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/50 using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/73 Deblurring; Sharpening
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/12 Edge-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/13 Edge detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/58 Edge or detail enhancement; Noise or error suppression, e.g. colour misregistration correction H04N1/62 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/262 Studio circuits, e.g. for mixing, switching-over, change of character of image, other special effects ; Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects

Abstract

Certain disclosed implementations use digital image processing to reduce the differential resolution among separations or images in film frames, such as, for example, red flare. A location in the red image may be selected using information from another image. The selected location may be modified using information from that other image. The selection may include comparing features of an edge in the first image with features of a corresponding edge in the other image. The modification may include performing wavelet transformations of the two images and copying certain coefficients (or a function of these coefficients) produced by the application of the transformation to the second image to the coefficients produced by the application of the transformation to the first image. The copied coefficients may be correlated with the selected location. Other disclosed techniques vary from the above and may be applied to other fields.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a first image of a scene that (1) is associated with a first color separation that was extracted from a composite color image, and (2) includes a first region;

accessing a second image of at least a portion of the scene that (1) is associated with a second color separation that was extracted from the composite color image, and (2) includes a second region that corresponds to the first region;

identifying a feature that is in both the first region and the second region;

determining, based on the first image, a first set of data characterizing a particular aspect of the feature;

determining, based on the second image, a second set of data characterizing the particular aspect of the feature;

selecting one or more data elements of the second set of data; and

modifying each of the selected one or more data elements of the second set of data based on corresponding data elements of the first set of data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the feature comprises an edge,

the particular aspect of the feature comprises spectral information for the edge, and

the first set of data characterizing the particular aspect comprises a set of coefficients of a transformation of the first region.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first region and the second region are derived from a common sub-portion of the composite color image.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first image and the second image populate to a common sub-portion of screen real estate on a display upon which the screen is displayed.

5. A method comprising:

accessing a first image of a scene that (1) is associated with a first color separation that was extracted from a composite color image, and (2) includes a first region;

determining, based on the first image, a property for the first region within the first image;

accessing a second image of at least a portion of the scene that (1) is associated with a second color separation that was extracted from the composite color image, and (2) includes a second region that corresponds to the first region;

determining, based on the second image, the property for the second region within the second image and that corresponds to the first region; and

modifying the property determined for the second region based on the property determined for the first region.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein:

the first and second images are digital images and the first and second regions include pixels, and

determining the property for the first and second regions comprises determining a property that characterizes pixels in the first and second regions, respectively.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising modifying pixels in the second region based on the property determined for the first region.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein modifying the property determined for the second region comprises setting the property determined for the second region equal to a function of the property determined for the first region.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein determining the property for the second region comprises determining a frequency-based property for the second region.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein determining the frequency-based property comprises determining a coefficient of a transformation, into a frequency domain representation, of at least a portion of the second region.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein determining the coefficient of the transformation comprises determining a coefficient of a wavelet transformation of at least the portion of the second region.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein modifying the property determined for the second region comprises replacing the determined coefficient of the wavelet transformation of at least the portion of the second region with a function of a coefficient of a wavelet transformation of at least a portion of the first region.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein replacing the determined coefficient comprises replacing the determined coefficient with a scaled value of the coefficient of the wavelet transformation of at least the portion of the first region.

14. The method of claim 5 wherein determining the property for the second region comprises:

identifying a feature that is in the portion of the scene; and

determining measurable criteria related to the feature in the second image.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein:

the feature comprises an edge, and identifying the feature comprises identifying the edge, and the measurable criteria comprise spectral information, and determining the measurable criteria comprises determining spectral information for the edge.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the spectral information corresponds to red coloration in the portion of the scene, and modifying the property determined for the second region comprises modifying the spectral information corresponding to red coloration in the portion of the scene, thereby reducing red fringing of the edge.

17. The method of claim 5 wherein:

the property comprises a set of data characterizing a particular aspect,

determining the property for the first region comprises determining a first set of data characterizing the particular aspect of the first region, and

determining the property for the second region comprises determining a second set of data characterizing the particular aspect of the second region.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising selecting one or more data elements of the second set of data, and wherein modifying the property determined for the second region based on the property determined for the first region comprises setting each of the selected one or more data elements of the second set of data equal to a function of the corresponding data elements of the first set of data.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein:

each of the selected one or more data elements comprises a separate coefficient of a transformation of the second region, and

setting each of the selected one or more data elements equal to a function comprises setting each of the one or more separate coefficients equal to a function of a corresponding coefficient of a transformation of the first region.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein:

the function of the corresponding coefficient is equal to the corresponding coefficient, and

setting each of the one or more separate coefficients equal to the function of the corresponding coefficient comprises setting each of the one or more separate coefficients equal to the corresponding coefficient of the transformation of the first region.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein:

the function of the corresponding coefficient scales a value of the corresponding coefficient, and

setting each of the one or more separate coefficients equal to the function of the corresponding coefficient comprises setting each of the one or more separate coefficients equal to a scaled value of the corresponding coefficient of the transformation of the first region.

22. The method of claim 5 wherein accessing the first image comprises accessing a red separation that was extracted from a composite color image.

23. The method of claim 5 wherein the first region and the second region are derived from a common sub-portion of the composite color image.

24. The method of claim 5 wherein the first image and the second image populate to a common sub-portion of screen real estate on a display upon which the screen is displayed.

25. An apparatus comprising a computer readable medium that includes instructions for performing at least the following:

accessing a first image of a scene that (1) is associated with a first color separation that was extracted from a composite color image, and (2) includes a first region;

accessing a second image of at least a portion of the scene that (1) is associated with a second color separation that was extracted from the composite color image, and (2) includes a second region that corresponds to the first region;

identifying a feature that is in both the first region and the second region;

determining, based on the first image, a first set of data characterizing a particular aspect of the feature;

determining, based on the second image, a second set of data characterizing the particular aspect of the feature;

selecting one or more data elements of the second set of data; and

modifying each of the selected one or more data elements of the second set of data based on corresponding data elements of the first set of data.

26. An apparatus comprising a computer readable medium that includes instructions for performing at least the following:

accessing a first image of a scene that (1) is associated with a first color separation that was extracted from a composite color image, and (2) includes a first region;

determining, based on the first image, a property for the first region within the first image;

accessing a second image of at least a portion of the scene that (1) is associated with a second color separation that was extracted from the composite color image, and (2) includes a second region that corresponds to the first region;

determining, based on the second image, the property for the second region within the second image and that corresponds to the first region; and

modifying the property determined for the second region based on the property determined for the first region.