Dynamic image processing using particle systems

Claim 2

A dynamic image processing system, comprising: a display field for displaying a source image; means for providing a plurality of virtual particles, each virtual particle having a virtual position within the display field; means for associating a dynamic image processing element having a plurality of image processing attributes with each particle, the image processing element for selectively transforming a portion of the source image related to the virtual position in response to the image processing attributes of the element, to produce a transformed image; means for providing one or more virtual forces for influencing the virtual position of the particles; a storage device for storing the particles and the image processing attributes; a user input device, coupled to the storage device, for accepting user specification of the particles and the image processing elements; and an output device, coupled to the storage device, for outputting the transformed image.

Claim 3

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein an image processing attribute varies as a function of a virtual force.

Claim 4

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein a virtual force varies as a function of a characteristic of the source image.

Claim 5

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein a virtual force varies as a function of a characteristic of the transformed image.

Claim 6

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein a force varies as a function of a measured gradient of a characteristic of the source image.

Claim 7

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein a virtual force varies as a function of a measured gradient of a characteristic of the transformed image.

Claim 8

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein the means for providing one or more virtual forces comprises: means for providing a mesh within the display field, the mesh having a plurality of cells, each cell having a virtual position within the display field, each cell for generating a localized virtual force.

Claim 9

The dynamic image processing system of claim 7, wherein the localized virtual force of each cell selectively influences the virtual position of one or more particles having a virtual position related to the virtual position of the cell.

Claim 10

The dynamic image processing system of claim 7, wherein each cell has a pressure property, and wherein the localized virtual force of each cell is dependent on a difference in pressure between the cell and at least one neighboring cell.

Claim 11

The dynamic image processing system of claim 9, wherein each cell has a diffusion property, and wherein properties each cell selectively diffuse into neighbor cells in response to a difference in pressure and the diffusion property.

Claim 12

The dynamic image processing system of claim 7, wherein the localized virtual force of each cell varies interpolatively within the cell in response to the localized virtual force of neighbor cells.

Claim 13

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein the source image is a moving image and the transformed image is a moving image.

Claim 14

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein the virtual particles act as models of physical particles.

Claim 15

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein one or more image processing attributes has an inertia value for preventing temporal discontinuities in the transformed image.

Claim 16

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein an image processing attribute varies as a function of a characteristic of the source image.

Claim 17

The dynamic image processing system of claim 1, wherein an image processing attribute varies as a function of a characteristic of the transformed image.

Claim 18

A computer-implemented process of dynamically processing a source image, comprising the steps of: initializing a plurality of virtual particles each having a virtual position within a display field: associating with each virtual particle a dynamic image processing element, each element having a plurality of dynamic image processing attributes; initializing one or more virtual forces that affect the virtual position of the particles; initializing a time variable; producing a transformed image by repeatedly performing the substeps of: for each particle, determining a total effect of the virtual forces affecting the particle; updating the position of each particle responsive to the total effect of the virtual forces; updating the image processing attributes Of each image processing element; for each particle, selectively transforming a portion of the source image related to the updated position responsive to the updated image processing attributes; and incrementing the time variable: and outputting the transformed image.

Claim 19

A computer-implemented process of dynamically processing a source image, comprising the steps of: initializing a plurality of virtual particles each having a virtual position within a display field: associating with each virtual particle a dynamic image processing element, each element having a plurality of dynamic image processing attributes; initializing one or more virtual forces that affect the virtual position of the particles; initializing a time variable; producing a transformed image by repeatedly performing the substeps of: for each particle, determining a total effect of the virtual forces affecting the particle; updating the position of each particle responsive to the total effect of the virtual forces; updating the image processing attributes Of each image processing element; for each particle, selectively transforming a portion of the source image related to the updated position responsive to the updated image processing attributes; and incrementing the time variable: and outputting the transformed image.

Claim 20

The computer-implemented process of claim 17, wherein the substep of determining a total effect of the virtual forces comprises the substeps of: for each virtual force, determining the effect of the virtual force on the particle; and generating a force list containing information describing the effects of the virtual forces on the particle.

Claim 21

The computer-implemented process of claim 17, wherein the source image is a moving image and the transformed image is a moving image.

Claim 22

The computer-implemented process of claim 17, wherein the virtual particles act as models of physical particles.

Claim 23

The computer-implemented process of claim 17, further comprising the step of specifying an inertia value for an image processing attribute for preventing temporal discontinuities in the transformed image.

Claim 24

A computer-implemented process of providing an f-mesh force in a dynamic image processing system, comprising the steps of: defining a mesh within the display field containing a plurality of cells, each cell having a virtual position within the display field and a plurality of cell properties; for each cell, determining a flow vector between the cell and each of one or more neighbor cells as a function of one or more properties of the cell and one or more properties of the neighbor cells; defining an f-mesh force associated with the cell as a function of the flow vectors of the cell; and modifying a position of a particle in a dynamic image processing system as a function of the f-mesh force.

Claim 25

A computer-implemented process of providing an f-mesh force in a dynamic image processing system, comprising the steps of: defining a mesh within the display field containing a plurality of cells, each cell having a virtual position within the display field and a plurality of cell properties; for each cell, determining a flow vector between the cell and each of one or more neighbor cells as a function of one or more properties of the cell and one or more properties of the neighbor cells; defining an f-mesh force associated with the cell as a function of the flow vectors of the cell; and modifying a position of a particle in a dynamic image processing system as a function of the f-mesh force.

Claim 26

The computer-implemented process of claim 22, wherein each cell has an associated pressure property, and the step of defining an f-mesh force comprises the substeps of: for each neighbor cell, determining a flow vector between the cell and the neighbor cell based on the difference in pressure between the cell and the neighbor cell; and combining the flow vectors to obtain a force vector for the cell.

Claim 27

The computer-implemented process of claim 22, wherein each cell has an associated diffusion property and a radiation property, and the step of defining an f-mesh force further comprises: determining a force as a function of a pressure differential between the cell and neighbor cells, the diffusion property, and the radiation property.

Claim 28

The computer-implemented process of claim 24, wherein the step of determining a force comprises the substeps of: for each neighbor cell, determining a pressure differential between the cell and the neighbor cell; for each neighbor cell, scaling the pressure differential in response to the diffusion property of the cell; obtaining a total pressure differential by summing the pressure differentials; and altering the force for the cell in response to the pressure differential, and the radiation property of the cell.

Claim 29

The computer-implemented process of claim 22, further comprising the steps of: accepting a stroke input; sampling the stroke input to produce a series of vectors, each vector having a virtual position within the display field; and for each vector, defining an f-mesh force associated with a cell having a virtual position corresponding to the virtual position of the vector.

Claim 30

The computer-implemented process of claim 22, further comprising the steps of: accepting a stroke input; sampling the stroke input to produce a series of vectors, each vector having a virtual position within the display field; separating each vector into vector components; and for each vector component, defining an f-mesh force associated with a cell having a virtual position corresponding to the virtual position of the vector component.

Claim 31

The computer-implemented process of claim 22 wherein a plurality of meshes are defined in the display field.