Color selection, coordination and purchase system

• US 9,639,983 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2009
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BEHR Process Corporation (Masco Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEHR Process Corporation (Masco Corporation)
• Inventors: Buzyn, John, Irizarry, Bernadette, Milsom, Doug, Reynolds, Damien, Une, Donna, Webb, Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Caschera, Antonio A
• Application Number:
  US12/610,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20110018895A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,741 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics

Abstract

A website arranged to provide a plurality of home pages, each presenting a featured painting project image, each project image employing a plurality of different colors, each color located in a respective region of the image with at least one attention-drawing animated “hot spot” located in one or more of the regions and responsive to a first selection operation to cause display of the color name of the color of the region where the hot spot lies. The home pages further may include real-life simulating animation features, while the system software is operable to select the relative frequency with which each home page appears. Other web pages provide an animated color sheen selection tool.

Claims

1. A paint color selection apparatus comprising:

a website comprising one or more servers or computers for supplying data for generating a plurality of web pages, the web pages comprising;

a first page for display on a computer controlled display apparatus, the first page comprising a first project image employing a plurality of different colors, each color located in a respective region of said image;

at least one hot spot located in one of said regions, the hot spot comprising an attention-drawing animation feature; and

wherein a first selection operation performable on said hot spot causes display of at least one color name, said color name being that of the color of the region where said hot spot lies; and

wherein said web pages further comprise a color sheen selection tool, providing a display comprising a plurality of color sheen chips, each chip representing a different selected sheen and wherein touching a selected sheen chip causes an enlarged image of the chip to appear and wherein a further operation causes the chip to move slightly to the left and slightly to the right to enhance the display of the sheen'"'"'s characteristics.

2. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 1 wherein a second selection operation performed on said hot spot causes display of a color summary menu comprising a listing of a plurality of colors present in said project image.

3. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 2 wherein said first selection operation further causes display of a link to said color summary menu.

4. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 1 wherein a portion of said project image is animated to simulate real-life operation of a portion of said image.

5. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 4 wherein said project image comprises a home and front lawn and wherein the project image is animated to simulate water spraying from one or more sprinklers disposed on the lawn.

6. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 4 wherein said project image comprises an interior room having a fireplace and wherein the project image is animated to cause the fireplace to appear to be burning.

7. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first page comprises a home page and wherein said web pages further comprise a second home page comprising a second featured project image, said second featured project image employing a plurality of different colors each in a respective area of said image and wherein said website further comprises software operable to cause appearance of said first and second home pages according to a selected ratio of appearance.

8. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 7 wherein said second project image further comprises:

a plurality of second hot spots, one located in each of said areas, each second hot spot employing an attention-drawing animation feature;

and wherein a third selection operation on one of said second hot spots causes display of at least one color name, said color name being that of the color of the area wherein the second hot spot lies.

9. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 7 wherein a fourth selection operation on said second hot spot causes display of a color summary menu comprising a listing of a plurality of colors present in said second project image.

10. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 7 wherein said third selection operation further causes display of a link to a color summary menu.

11. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 7 wherein a portion of said second project image is animated to simulate life-like operation of a portion of said image.

12. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 7 wherein said first project image comprises a home and front lawn and wherein the animation comprises simulating water spraying from one or more sprinklers disposed on said lawn and wherein said second project image comprises an interior room having a fireplace and wherein the animation comprises causing the fireplace to appear to be burning.

13. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 1 wherein animation of said hot spot comprises enlargement thereof in response to touching.

14. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 1 wherein animation of said hot spot comprises pulsing or blinking.

15. The paint color selection apparatus of claim 1 wherein said hot spot comprises a pulsing or blinking, rounded chip shape.