Hue-based color naming for an image

• US 9,633,448 B1
• Filed: 09/02/2014
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dorner, Charles Shearer
• Primary Examiner(s): Niu, Feng
• Application Number:
  US14/475,414
• Time in Patent Office: 966 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/462 Computing operations in or between colour spaces; Colour management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5838 using colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/56 relating to colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/10 Recognition assisted with metadata

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for associating colors or color names with a color image based on hue. A set of hue values can be extracted from color data, such as a color palette, corresponding to a color image. A representative hue can be derived from the set of hue values. Colors included in the color data that are attributable to the representative hue can be identified and one or more colors can be derived therefrom as representative of a subject depicted by the color image. Color names matching the representative colors can be identified and associated with the color image. In particular, a common color name can be determined therefrom and associated with the subject of the color image.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining color names for a color image based at least in part on hue, the computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of a hardware computing device configured with specific computer executable instructions,

obtaining color data corresponding to a color image;

determining a plurality of representative colors each having, as an attribute of the representative color, a representative hue derived from the color data;

identifying a plurality of color names including a first color name and a second color name that correspond to at least two of the plurality of representative colors, wherein the first color name is mapped to a first region in a color space that includes the at least two representative colors, wherein the second color name is mapped to a second region in the color space that includes the at least two representative colors, and wherein the first region partially overlaps with the second region;

selecting the first color name from the plurality of color names; and

associating the first color name with a subject depicted in the color image.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the representative hue derived from the color data corresponds to a hue value or a range of hue values in accordance with a Hue-Saturation-Brightness (“

HSB”

) color space.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the color data includes a color palette generated based, at least in part, on the color image.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the color palette includes a plurality of palette color values in a color space, wherein each palette color value of the plurality of palette color values is associated with a palette color weight.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first color name comprises selecting a most specific color name among the plurality of color names.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of a hardware computing device configured with specific computer executable instructions,

obtaining two or more representative colors corresponding to a representative hue, wherein the representative hue is derived from a color image;

identifying a set of color names including a first color name and a second color name that correspond to the two or more representative colors, wherein the first color name is mapped to a first region in a color space that includes the two or more representative colors, wherein the second color name is mapped to a second region in the color space that includes the two or more representative colors, and wherein the first region partially overlaps with the second region; and

selecting the first color name from the set of color names; and

associating the first color name with a subject of the color image.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the two or more representative colors are generated based, at least in part, on a measure of divergence corresponding to the representative hue.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the set of color names include at least third color name and wherein the third color name is more general than the first color name.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising associating the set of color names with the color image.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising causing retrieval of the color image based, at least in part, on a query including at least one color name of the set of color names.

11. A system comprising:

a data store configured to at least store computer-executable instructions; and

a hardware processor in communication with the data store, the hardware processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least;

obtain two or more representative colors corresponding to a representative hue, wherein the representative hue is derived from a color image;

identify a set of color names including a first color name and a second color name that correspond to the two or more representative colors, wherein the first color name is mapped to a first region in a color space that includes the two or more representative colors, wherein the second color name is mapped to a second region in the color space that includes the two or more representative colors, and wherein the first region partially overlaps with the second region; and

select the first color name from the set of color names; and

associate the first color name with a subject of the color image.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the representative hue is derived, at least in part, from a plurality of hue values extracted from the color image.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least identify the set of color names based, at least in part, on a relationship between at least one color name and at least one color value represented in a color space.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the relationship between the at least one color name and the at least one color value corresponds to at least one of a one-to-one relationship, one-to-multiple relationship, multiple-to-one relationship, multiple-to-multiple relationship, hierarchical relationship, probabilistic relationship, or fuzzy relationship.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to at least select the second color name from the set of color names.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor perform operations comprising:

obtaining two or more representative colors corresponding to a representative hue, wherein the representative hue is derived from a color image;

identifying a set of color names including a first color name and a second color name that correspond to the two or more representative colors, wherein the first color name is mapped to a first region in a color space that includes the two or more representative colors, wherein the second color name is mapped to a second region in the color space that includes the two or more representative colors, and wherein the first region partially overlaps with the second region;

selecting the first color name from the set of color names; and

associating the first color name with a subject of the color image.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the second color name from the set of color names, wherein the second color name is not hierarchically related to the first common color name.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise determining a contextual criterion associated with the color image.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the contextual criterion corresponds to at least one of a subject depicted by the color image, category of the subject depicted, source contributing to the color image, geographical region, age, gender, ethnic group, religion, or culture.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein at least one of the obtaining two or more representative colors, identifying the set of color names, selecting the first color name, or associating the first color name with the subject of the color image is based, at least in part, on the contextual criterion.