EP0911759A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
apparatus and a method for reducing red-eye in an image
Assignee: HP Inc
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Filing: 1998-10-16
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2018-10-16
Abstract
Abstract A red-eye reduction system (10) includes a masking module (16) which converts an image (11) into a mask having first state areas representing red colour pixels of the image and second state areas representing other colour pixels of the image. The image (11) includes an eye with a red pupil. A pupil locating module (17) is coupled to the masking module (16) to locate a substantially first state area in the mask that resembles a pupil. A colour replacing module (18) is then coupled to the pupil locating module (17) to change the red colour pixels in the area into monochrome (grey) or other predefined colours. The colour replacing module (18) also adjusts the boundary of the area by changing the colours of pixels in close proximity to the area if the colour of these pixels is determined to be sufficiently close to red such that natural appearance of the eye is maintained when reducing the red pupil.
Inventors
- 👤 Qian Lin
- 👤 Konstantinos Konstantinides
- 👤 Daniel R. Tretter
- 👤 Andrew Parry
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 09:58
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06V; G06V40/00; G06V40/10; G06V40/18; G06V40/193; G06T; G06T7/00; G06T7/90; G06T2207/00; G06T2207/30; G06T2207/30216
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
145 words
A red-eye reduction system, comprising: (A) a masking module (16) operable to convert an image (11) into a mask
having first state areas representing red colour pixels and second state areas
representing other colour pixels, wherein the image (11) includes an eye with a
red pupil; (B) a pupil locating module (17) coupled to the masking module (16)
operable to locate a substantially first state area in the mask that resembles a
pupil; (C) a colour replacing module (18) coupled to the pupil locating module
(17) operable to change the red colour pixels in the area into a predetermined
colours wherein the colour replacing module (18) is also operable to adjust
boundary of the area by changing the colours of pixels in close proximity to the
area to the predetermined colour if the colour of these pixels is determined to be
sufficiently close to red.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
93 words
A red-eye reduction system as in claim 1, wherein the pupil locating
module (17) is operable to detect if the substantially first state area resembles a
pupil by determining if the substantially first state area is a substantially largest
first state area within the mask, wherein after determining that the substantially
first state area resembles a pupil, the pupil locating module (17) is operable to
modify the mask by changing all other first state areas in the mask into second
state such that the modified mask only has the substantially first state area.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
69 words
A red-eye reduction system as in claim 1, wherein the substantially first
state area includes a second state area within the first state area. wherein the
second state area represents the glint in the pupil, wherein the predetermined
colour is a zero chrominance, wherein the colour replacing module (18) is
operable to change the luminance value of all pixels within the substantially first
state area by a predetermined factor.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
47 words
A red-eye reduction system as in any one of claims 1 to 3. wherein the
masking module (16) is operable to convert the image into the mask by first
raising red-green-blue values of the image to a predetermined power and then to
perform a standard luminance-chrominance conversion.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
68 words
A red-eye reduction system as in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the
colour replacing module (18) is operable to determine if the colour of the
adjacent pixel is sufficiently close to red by comparing the colour value of the
adjacent pixel with (i) a median red value and (ii) a median green value of all the
red colour pixels within the substantially first state area.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
33 words
A red-eye reduction system as in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the
adjacent pixel is a pixel that has at least one neighbouring pixel in the
substantially first state area.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
116 words
A method of reducing red-eye effect in a digital image (11), comprising: (A) converting an image (11) having an eye with a red pupil into a mask
having first state areas representing red colour pixels of the image and second
state areas representing other colour pixels of the image; (B) processing the mask to locate a substantially first state area in the
mask that resembles a pupil; (C) changing the red colour pixels in the area into a predetermined colour
with boundary adjustments such that the colour of pixels in close proximity to
the area is also changed to the predetermined colour if the colour of these pixels
is determined to be sufficiently close to red.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
72 words
A method as in claim 7. wherein the step (B) comprises the steps of: (I) determining if the substantially first state area is a largest substantially
first state area in the mask; (II) determining if the substantially first state area is substantially circular; (III) modifying the mask by changing all other first state areas in the mask
into second state such that the modified mask only has the substantially first state
area.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
64 words
A method as in claim 7 or 8, wherein the step (C) comprises the steps of: (a) changing the colour of the red colour pixels within the substantially
first state area to the predetermined colour by setting the chrominance of the red
colour pixels to zero; (b) changing the luminance value of all pixels within the substantially first
state area by a predetermined factor.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method as in claim 9, wherein the step (A) comprises the steps of: (a) raising red-green-blue values of the image to a predetermined power: (b) performing a standard luminance-chrominance conversion; (c) creating the mask.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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