Systems and methods for rendering media

• US 20080301546A1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RocketLife, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Visan Industries
• Inventors: Davey, Christopher H., Sashko, Daniel N., Moore, Michael R., Jongens, Randy J., Tjeerdsma, Peter A., Wang-Helmke, Michael D., Turcotte, Kenneth A., Kaye, Daniel A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,707,173 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/243
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for maintaining the aspect ratio of an image in the form of a graphic element or a photograph on a printed product in a theme collage. The aspect ratio of each image in the theme collage is maintained independent of any aspect ratio or resolution of the theme collage. Other methods provide for maintaining the resolution of a graphic element on a printed product in a theme collage using any desired combination of bitmap or vector based graphic data and alpha data when rendering the graphic element. An exemplary system may include one or more modules for determining the size of an image on a page while maintaining an aspect ratio of the image, displaying the image, receiving graphic data for the image, receiving alpha-transparency data for the image, and changing the image appearance according to a rendering parameter.

Claims

1. ) A method for determining a size of an image on a page while maintaining an aspect ratio comprising:

receiving the image having a creation height and a creation width;

receiving a normalized value representing a desired size of the image;

receiving a minimum of a page height or a page width;

determining an image output height according to the minimum of the page height or the page width multiplied by the normalized value multiplied by the creation height;

determining an image output width according to the minimum of the page height or the page width multiplied by the normalized value multiplied by the creation width; and

displaying the image having the image output height and the image output width.

2. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an image alignment;

receiving an offset value for shifting the image alignment;

determining an alignment offset based on the offset value and the image output height; and

displaying the image according to the alignment offset.

3. ) The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving a randomness value;

determining the random offset based on the randomness value multiplied by a normalized random number multiplied by the alignment offset; and

displaying the image according to the random offset.

4. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an image alignment;

receiving an offset value for shifting the image alignment;

determining an alignment offset based on the offset value and the image output width; and

displaying the image according to the alignment offset.

5. ) The method of claim 4 further comprising:

receiving a randomness value;

determining a random offset based on the randomness value multiplied by a normalized random number multiplied by the alignment offset; and

displaying the image according to the random offset.

6. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a horizontal tiling option for the image;

determining a repetition value for the image based on the image output width; and

displaying the image according to the repetition value.

7. ) The method of claim 6 further comprising:

receiving a randomness value;

determining a random tiling value based on the randomness value multiplied by a normalized random number multiplied by the repetition value; and

displaying the image according to the random tiling value.

8. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a vertical tiling option for the image;

determining a repetition value for the image based on the image output height; and

displaying the image according to the repetition value.

9. ) The method of claim 8 further comprising:

receiving a randomness value;

determining a random tiling value based on the randomness value multiplied by a normalized random number multiplied by the repetition value; and

displaying the image according to the random tiling value.

10. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an image rotation value; and

displaying the image according to the image rotation value.

11. ) The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving a randomness value;

determining a random rotation value based on the randomness value multiplied by a normalized random number multiplied by the image rotation value; and

displaying the image according to the random rotation value.

12. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a proportional size value for the image; and

displaying the image according to the proportional size value.

13. ) The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving a randomness value;

determining a random proportion based on the randomness value multiplied by a normalized random number multiplied by the proportional size value; and

displaying the image according to the random proportion.

14. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an image color value; and

displaying the image according to the image color value.

15. ) The method of claim 14 further comprising:

receiving a randomness value;

determining a random color based on the randomness value multiplied by a normalized random number multiplied by the image color value; and

displaying the image according to the random color.

17. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an alpha-transparency value for displaying the image proportionally transparent according to the alpha-transparency value; and

displaying the image proportionally transparent according to the alpha-transparency value.

16. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an alpha-gradient value for displaying the image progressively transparent across the image; and

displaying the image progressively transparent across the image according to the alpha-gradient value.

18. ) The method of claim 1 wherein the image comprises a photograph.

19. ) The method of claim 1 wherein the image comprises a graphic data of the image combined with an alpha-transparency data.

20. ) The method of claim 19 wherein the alpha-transparency data comprises a vector outline.

21. ) The method of claim 19 wherein the graphic data comprises a vector data.

22. ) The method of claim 19 wherein the alpha-transparency data comprises a DCT compressed bitmap.

23. ) The method of claim 19 wherein the graphic data comprises a DCT compressed bitmap.

24. ) A system comprising:

an aspect module configured to determine a size of an image on a page while maintaining an aspect ratio of the image independent of an aspect ratio of the page; and

a display module for displaying the image.

25. ) The system of claim 24 further comprising:

a graphics module configured to receive a graphic data of the image; and

an alpha module configured to receive an alpha-transparency data of the image.

26. ) The system of claim 24 further comprising a rendering module configured to change an image appearance according to a rendering parameter.

27. ) A computer readable medium having embedded thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor for performing a method for achieving aspect independence of an image, the method comprising:

receiving the image having a creation height and a creation width;

receiving a normalized value representing a desired size of the image;

receiving a minimum of a page height or a page width;

determining an image output height according to the minimum of the page height or the page width multiplied by the normalized value multiplied by the creation height;

determining an image output width according to the minimum of the page height or the page width multiplied by the normalized value multiplied by the creation width; and

displaying the image having the image output height and the image output width.