Methods and apparatuses for foreground, top-of-the-head separation from background
First Claim
1. A method comprising steps of:
- reading, from a storage device, a first image of a scene that was captured with a first amount of illumination;
reading, from the storage device, a second image of the scene that was captured with a second amount of illumination that differs from the first amount of illumination;
distinguishing a foreground portion of the scene from a background portion of the scene based on a comparison of the first image to the second image;
identifying, in the scene, a crown region that contains a crown of a person'"'"'s head;
identifying portions of the crown region that have been misidentified as belonging to the background portion rather than the foreground portion; and
recharacterizing the misidentified portions of the crown region as belonging to the foreground portion rather than the background portion;
wherein the steps are performed by an automated device.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Foreground and background regions of a digital image of a scene are distinguished from each other automatically. Foreground objects are identified in a binary image map that distinguishes between foreground pixels and background pixels. From the foreground objects, a primary foreground object is identified. Within the identified primary foreground object, a head region of the primary foreground object is located. Within the head region, patterns of foreground pixels and background pixels that are indicative of a head crown region are identified. Within the head crown region, pixels identified as background pixels that actually show portions of the primary foreground object are converted to foreground pixels, thus improving the accuracy of the binary image map.
114 Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A method comprising steps of:
-
reading, from a storage device, a first image of a scene that was captured with a first amount of illumination; reading, from the storage device, a second image of the scene that was captured with a second amount of illumination that differs from the first amount of illumination; distinguishing a foreground portion of the scene from a background portion of the scene based on a comparison of the first image to the second image; identifying, in the scene, a crown region that contains a crown of a person'"'"'s head; identifying portions of the crown region that have been misidentified as belonging to the background portion rather than the foreground portion; and recharacterizing the misidentified portions of the crown region as belonging to the foreground portion rather than the background portion; wherein the steps are performed by an automated device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A volatile or non-volatile computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform steps comprising:
-
reading, from a storage device, a first image of a scene that was captured with a first amount of illumination; reading, from the storage device, a second image of the scene that was captured with a second amount of illumination that differs from the first amount of illumination; distinguishing a foreground portion of the scene from a background portion of the scene based on a comparison of the first image to the second image; identifying, in the scene, a crown region that contains a crown of a person'"'"'s head; identifying portions of the crown region that have been misidentified as belonging to the background portion rather than the foreground portion; and recharacterizing the misidentified portions of the crown region as belonging to the foreground portion rather than the background portion. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A digital camera comprising:
-
an image capture module that (a) captures a first image of a scene with a first amount of illumination and (b) captures a second image of the scene with a second amount of illumination that differs from the first amount of illumination; a foreground identification module that distinguishes a foreground portion of the scene from a background portion of the scene based on a comparison of the first image to the second image; and a crown identification module that (a) identifies, in the scene, a crown region that contains a crown of a person'"'"'s head, (b) identifies portions of the crown region that have been misidentified as belonging to the background portion rather than the foreground portion, and (c) recharacterizes the misidentified portions of the crown region as belonging to the foreground portion rather than the background portion. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
Specification