Use of pre-scanned low resolution imagery data for synchronizing application of respective scene balance mapping mechanisms during high resolution rescan of successive images frames on a continuous film strip

Claim 1

A method of controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a continuous color photographic film strip are scanned by an opto-electronic scanning device and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, said film strip containing physical demarcations associated with the locations of respective ones of said images thereon, comprising the steps of: (a) translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so as to effect a sequential scanning of said plurality of photographic images at a first, low spatial scanning resolution and thereby producing a plurality of first digitally encoded images; (b) translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so as to effect a sequential rescanning of said plurality of photographic images at a second, high spatial scanning resolution and thereby producing a plurality of second digitally encoded images; (c) mapping respective ones of said plurality of second digitally encoded images into image storage memory on the basis of the contents of respective ones of said plurality of first digitally encoded images, selected exclusive of said physical demarcations.

Claim 2

A method of controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a continuous color photographic film strip are scanned by an opto-electronic scanning device and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, said film strip containing physical demarcations associated with the locations of respective ones of said images thereon, comprising the steps of: (a) translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so as to effect a sequential scanning of said plurality of photographic images at a first, low spatial scanning resolution and thereby producing a plurality of first digitally encoded images; (b) translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so as to effect a sequential rescanning of said plurality of photographic images at a second, high spatial scanning resolution and thereby producing a plurality of second digitally encoded images; (c) mapping respective ones of said plurality of second digitally encoded images into image storage memory on the basis of the contents of respective ones of said plurality of first digitally encoded images, selected exclusive of said physical demarcations.

Claim 7

A method of controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a color photographic image recording medium are scanned by an opto-electronic scanning device and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, comprising the steps of: (a) scanning said plurality of photographic images at a first, low resolution to produce a plurality of first digitally encoded images, and processing each first digitally encoded image in accordance with a prescribed image processing mechanism to derive, for each image, a firs signal representative of a first prescribed attribute of said image; (b) generating second signals representative of physical demarcations associated with the locations of respective ones of said plurality of images on said photographic recording medium; (c) rescanning said plurality of photographic images at a second, high resolution, to produce a plurality of second digitally encoded images, and processing each second digitally encoded image in accordance with said prescribed image processing mechanism adjusted in accordance with a respective one of the first signals produced in step (a) and selected in accordance with said second signals; and wherein step (a) further comprises generating third signals representative of a measure of the contents of each of said first digitally encoded images, and step (c) further comprises generating fourth signals representative of a measure of the contents of each of said second digitally encoded images, and wherein each second digitally encoded image is selected in accordance with a prescribed relationship between said third and fourth signals.

Claim 8

A method of controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a color photographic image recording medium are scanned by an opto-electronic scanning device and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, comprising the steps of: (a) scanning said plurality of photographic images at a first, low resolution to produce a plurality of first digitally encoded images, and processing each first digitally encoded image in accordance with a prescribed image processing mechanism to derive, for each image, a firs signal representative of a first prescribed attribute of said image; (b) generating second signals representative of physical demarcations associated with the locations of respective ones of said plurality of images on said photographic recording medium; (c) rescanning said plurality of photographic images at a second, high resolution, to produce a plurality of second digitally encoded images, and processing each second digitally encoded image in accordance with said prescribed image processing mechanism adjusted in accordance with a respective one of the first signals produced in step (a) and selected in accordance with said second signals; and wherein step (a) further comprises generating third signals representative of a measure of the contents of each of said first digitally encoded images, and step (c) further comprises generating fourth signals representative of a measure of the contents of each of said second digitally encoded images, and wherein each second digitally encoded image is selected in accordance with a prescribed relationship between said third and fourth signals.

Claim 10

A method of controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a color photographic image recording medium are scanned by an opto-electronic scanning device and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, comprising the steps of: (a) scanning said plurality of photographic images at a first, low resolution to produce a plurality of first digitally encoded images, and processing each first digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism to derive, for each image, a first signal representative of the color content of said image, and producing, for each image, a second signal representative of a measure of the contents of that image; and (b) rescanning said plurality of photographic images at a second, high resolution, to produce a plurality of second digitally encoded images, and producing for each second image a third signal representative of a measure of the contents of that image, and processing each second digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism that has been calibrated in accordance with a respective one of the first signals produced in step (a) and selected in accordance with a prescribed relationship between said second and third signals, so as to obtain a color content-balanced digitized image.

Claim 11

A method of controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a color photographic image recording medium are scanned by an opto-electronic scanning device and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, comprising the steps of: (a) scanning said plurality of photographic images at a first, low resolution to produce a plurality of first digitally encoded images, and processing each first digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism to derive, for each image, a first signal representative of the color content of said image, and producing, for each image, a second signal representative of a measure of the contents of that image; and (b) rescanning said plurality of photographic images at a second, high resolution, to produce a plurality of second digitally encoded images, and producing for each second image a third signal representative of a measure of the contents of that image, and processing each second digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism that has been calibrated in accordance with a respective one of the first signals produced in step (a) and selected in accordance with a prescribed relationship between said second and third signals, so as to obtain a color content-balanced digitized image.

Claim 13

A method of controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a continuous color photographic film strip are scanned by an opto-electronic scanning device and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, comprising the steps of: (a) translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so as to effect a sequential scanning of said plurality of photographic images at a first, low spatial scanning resolution and thereby produce a plurality of first digitally encoded images; (b) producing, for each image scanned in step (a), a first signal representative of a measure of the contents of that scanned image; (c) processing each first digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism to derive, for each image, a second signal representative of the color content of said image; (d) translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so as to effect a rescanning of said plurality of photographic images at a second, high spatial scanning resolution and thereby produce a plurality of second digitally encoded images; (e) producing, for each image scanned in step (d), a third signal representative of a measure of the contents of that scanned image; and (f) processing each second digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism that has been calibrated in accordance with a respective one of the second signals produced in step (c) and selected in accordance with a prescribed relationship between said first and third signals.

Claim 14

A method of controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a continuous color photographic film strip are scanned by an opto-electronic scanning device and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, comprising the steps of: (a) translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so as to effect a sequential scanning of said plurality of photographic images at a first, low spatial scanning resolution and thereby produce a plurality of first digitally encoded images; (b) producing, for each image scanned in step (a), a first signal representative of a measure of the contents of that scanned image; (c) processing each first digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism to derive, for each image, a second signal representative of the color content of said image; (d) translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so as to effect a rescanning of said plurality of photographic images at a second, high spatial scanning resolution and thereby produce a plurality of second digitally encoded images; (e) producing, for each image scanned in step (d), a third signal representative of a measure of the contents of that scanned image; and (f) processing each second digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism that has been calibrated in accordance with a respective one of the second signals produced in step (c) and selected in accordance with a prescribed relationship between said first and third signals.

Claim 16

An apparatus for controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a continuous color photographic film strip are scanned and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, said film strip containing physical demarcations associated with the locations of respective ones of said images thereon, comprising, in combination: an opto-electronic scanning device arranged to optically scan said film strip during mutual relative translation of said film strip with respect to said scanning device; means for translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so that said scanning device sequentially scans said plurality of photographic images at a first, low spatial scanning resolution and produces a plurality of first digitally encoded images, and thereafter translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so that said scanning device sequentially rescans said plurality of photographic images at a second, high spatial scanning resolution and produces a plurality of second digitally encoded images; and an image processor which maps respective ones of said plurality of second digitally encoded images into an image storage memory on the basis of the contents of respective ones of said plurality of first digitally encoded images, selected exclusive of said physical demarcations.

Claim 17

An apparatus for controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a continuous color photographic film strip are scanned and processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, said film strip containing physical demarcations associated with the locations of respective ones of said images thereon, comprising, in combination: an opto-electronic scanning device arranged to optically scan said film strip during mutual relative translation of said film strip with respect to said scanning device; means for translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so that said scanning device sequentially scans said plurality of photographic images at a first, low spatial scanning resolution and produces a plurality of first digitally encoded images, and thereafter translating said photographic film strip with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so that said scanning device sequentially rescans said plurality of photographic images at a second, high spatial scanning resolution and produces a plurality of second digitally encoded images; and an image processor which maps respective ones of said plurality of second digitally encoded images into an image storage memory on the basis of the contents of respective ones of said plurality of first digitally encoded images, selected exclusive of said physical demarcations.

Claim 21

An apparatus for scanning a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a color photographic image recording medium processing scanned images for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, comprising, in combination: an opto-electronic scanning device, optically coupled with said color photographic recording medium so as to optically scan said plurality of photographic images at a first, low resolution and producing a plurality of first digitally encoded images; imagery data processing means for processing each first digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism to derive, for each image, a first signal representative of the color content of said image, and producing, for each image, a second signal representative of a statistical measure of the contents of that image; and wherein said opto-electronic scanning device is controlled to rescan said plurality of photographic images at a second, high resolution, to produce a plurality of second digitally encoded images, and producing, for each second image, a third signal representative of a statistical measure of the contents of that image, and wherein said imagery data processing means includes means for processing each second digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism that has been calibrated in accordance with a respective one of said first signals and selected in accordance with a prescribed relationship between said second and third signals, so as to obtain a color content-balanced digitized image.

Claim 22

An apparatus for scanning a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a color photographic image recording medium processing scanned images for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base, comprising, in combination: an opto-electronic scanning device, optically coupled with said color photographic recording medium so as to optically scan said plurality of photographic images at a first, low resolution and producing a plurality of first digitally encoded images; imagery data processing means for processing each first digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism to derive, for each image, a first signal representative of the color content of said image, and producing, for each image, a second signal representative of a statistical measure of the contents of that image; and wherein said opto-electronic scanning device is controlled to rescan said plurality of photographic images at a second, high resolution, to produce a plurality of second digitally encoded images, and producing, for each second image, a third signal representative of a statistical measure of the contents of that image, and wherein said imagery data processing means includes means for processing each second digitally encoded image in accordance with a scene balance mechanism that has been calibrated in accordance with a respective one of said first signals and selected in accordance with a prescribed relationship between said second and third signals, so as to obtain a color content-balanced digitized image.

Claim 24

An apparatus for controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a continuous color photographic recording medium are scanned, processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base and reproduced, said recording medium containing physical demarcations associated with the locations of respective ones of said images thereon, comprising, in combination: an opto-electronic scanning device arranged to optically scan said photographic recording medium during mutual relative translation of said photographic recording medium with respect to said scanning device; means for translating said photographic recording medium with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so that said scanning device sequentially scans said plurality of photographic images at a first, low spatial scanning resolution and produces a plurality of first digitally encoded images, and thereafter translating said photographic recording medium with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so that said scanning device sequentially rescans said plurality of photographic images at a second, high spatial scanning resolution and produces a plurality of second digitally encoded images; an image processor which maps respective ones of said plurality of second digitally encoded images into an image storage memory on the basis of the contents of respective ones of said plurality of first digitally encoded images, selected exclusive of said physical demarcations; and an image reproduction device for reproducing images captured on said photographic recording medium in accordance with the operation of said image processor.

Claim 25

An apparatus for controlling the manner in which a plurality of color photographic images that have been captured on a continuous color photographic recording medium are scanned, processed for storage as a plurality of digitized images in a digital imagery data base and reproduced, said recording medium containing physical demarcations associated with the locations of respective ones of said images thereon, comprising, in combination: an opto-electronic scanning device arranged to optically scan said photographic recording medium during mutual relative translation of said photographic recording medium with respect to said scanning device; means for translating said photographic recording medium with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so that said scanning device sequentially scans said plurality of photographic images at a first, low spatial scanning resolution and produces a plurality of first digitally encoded images, and thereafter translating said photographic recording medium with respect to said opto-electronic scanning device so that said scanning device sequentially rescans said plurality of photographic images at a second, high spatial scanning resolution and produces a plurality of second digitally encoded images; an image processor which maps respective ones of said plurality of second digitally encoded images into an image storage memory on the basis of the contents of respective ones of said plurality of first digitally encoded images, selected exclusive of said physical demarcations; and an image reproduction device for reproducing images captured on said photographic recording medium in accordance with the operation of said image processor.