Registration of separations

• US 8,818,088 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2013
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• 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, Keren O., Perlmutter, Sharon M., Wang, Eric, Klamer, Paul R., Cookson, Christopher J., Gasparri, Massimiliano
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassa, Yosef
• Application Number:
  US13/846,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20130230238A1
• Time in Patent Office: 526 Days
• Field of Search: 382/260, 382/274, 382/275, 382/284, 382/294, 358/3.26, 358/3.27, 358/463, 358/450
• US Class Current: 382/164
• 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: G06T 7/38 Registration of image sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/24 Aligning, centring, orientation detection or correction of the image
• 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 23/15 Image signal generation with circuitry for avoiding or correcting image misregistration
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/11 Scanning of colour motion picture films, e.g. for telecine

Abstract

Separations or images relating to film or other fields may be registered using a variety of features, such as, for example: (1) correcting one or more film distortions; (2) automatically determining a transformation to reduce a film distortion; (3) applying multiple criteria of merit to a set of features to determine a set of features to use in determining a transformation; (4) determining transformations for areas in an image or a separation in a radial order; (5) comparing areas in images or separations by weighting feature pixels differently than non-feature pixels; (6) determining distortion values for transformations by applying a partial distortion measure and/or using a spiral search configuration; (7) determining transformations by using different sets of features to determine corresponding transformation parameters in an iterative manner; and (8) applying a feathering technique to neighboring areas within an image or separation.

Claims

1. A method of processing component images, the method comprising:

accessing a first component image, the first component image being a digital color component image of a scene and corresponding to a first color;

accessing a second component image that is separate from the first component image, the second component image being a digital color component image of the scene and corresponding to a second color that is different than the first color;

accessing a third component image that is separate from the first component image and the second component image, the third component image being a digital color component image of the scene and corresponding to a third color that is different than the first color and the second color;

transforming the first component image, the second component image, and the third component image to generate a transformed version of the first component image, a transformed version of the second component image, and a transformed version of the third component image;

aligning the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image; and

based on the alignment of the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image, recombining, by at least one processor, the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image into a composite color image of the scene.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component image corresponds to a red color, the second component image corresponds to a blue color, and the third component image corresponds to a green color.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

digitizing the first component image;

digitizing the second component image; and

digitizing the third component image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein aligning the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image comprises determining automatically an alignment vector for at least a part of a selected component image from among the accessed first, second, and third component images.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the alignment vector aligns the part of the selected component image with a corresponding part of a second of the accessed first, second, and third component images, the method further comprising combining the selected component image and the second of the accessed first, second, and third component images after applying the alignment vector.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising selecting one of the accessed first, second, and third component images as a reference, wherein determining the alignment vector comprises determining an alignment vector between a part of the reference and the part of the selected component image.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the composite color image of the scene on a machine-readable medium.

8. An apparatus for processing component images, the apparatus comprising at least one processor programmed to perform operations comprising:

accessing a first component image, the first component image being a digital color component image of a scene and corresponding to a first color;

accessing a second component image that is separate from the first component image, the second component image being a digital color component image of the scene and corresponding to a second color that is different than the first color;

accessing a third component image that is separate from the first component image and the second component image, the third component image being a digital color component image of the scene and corresponding to a third color that is different than the first color and the second color;

transforming the first component image, the second component image, and the third component image to generate a transformed version of the first component image, a transformed version of the second component image, and a transformed version of the third component image;

aligning the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image; and

based on the alignment of the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image, recombining the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image into a composite color image of the scene.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first component image corresponds to a red color, the second component image corresponds to a blue color, and the third component image corresponds to a green color.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

digitizing the first component image;

digitizing the second component image; and

digitizing the third component image.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein aligning the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image comprises determining automatically an alignment vector for at least a part of a selected component image from among the accessed first, second, and third component images.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the alignment vector aligns the part of the selected component image with a corresponding part of a second of the accessed first, second, and third component images, the operations further comprise combining the selected component image and the second of the accessed first, second, and third component images after applying the alignment vector.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise selecting one of the accessed first, second, and third component images as a reference, wherein determining the alignment vector comprises determining an alignment vector between a part of the reference and the part of the selected component image.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise storing the composite color image of the scene on a machine-readable medium.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause a computing device to perform operations comprising:

accessing a first component image, the first component image being a digital color component image of a scene and corresponding to a first color;

accessing a second component image that is separate from the first component image, the second component image being a digital color component image of the scene and corresponding to a second color that is different than the first color;

accessing a third component image that is separate from the first component image and the second component image, the third component image being a digital color component image of the scene and corresponding to a third color that is different than the first color and the second color;

transforming the first component image, the second component image, and the third component image to generate a transformed version of the first component image, a transformed version of the second component image, and a transformed version of the third component image;

aligning the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image; and

based on the alignment of the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image, recombining the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image into a composite color image of the scene.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first component image corresponds to a red color, the second component image corresponds to a blue color, and the third component image corresponds to a green color.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

digitizing the first component image;

digitizing the second component image; and

digitizing the third component image.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein aligning the transformed version of the first component image, the transformed version of the second component image, and the transformed version of the third component image comprises determining automatically an alignment vector for at least a part of a selected component image from among the accessed first, second, and third component images.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the alignment vector aligns the part of the selected component image with a corresponding part of a second of the accessed first, second, and third component images, the operations further comprise combining the selected component image and the second of the accessed first, second, and third component images after applying the alignment vector.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise selecting one of the accessed first, second, and third component images as a reference, wherein determining the alignment vector comprises determining an alignment vector between a part of the reference and the part of the selected component image.