US5583665A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for performing color transformations using a reference image combined with a color tracer
Assignee: Eastman Kodak Co
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Filing: 1995-02-13
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Granted: 1996-12-10
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Expires: 2015-02-13
Abstract
Abstract A system that combines a reference color image with a color move tracer image creating a combined image capable of being edited as desired by the operator and one which records the actual color edits made on the reference image. The tracer is a color grid that represents the domain of colors in a specified color space encoding. The grid is converted into a color edit transform table and the color edits within the color space on a higher resolution version of the reference image, or on other images, can be performed using a table look-up operation. The invention can also be used to capture effects transforms that modify the input/output and/or screen display of an image without necessarily modifying the original image.
Inventors
- 👤 H. Scott Gregory, Jr.
- 👤 Christopher M. Heinz
- 👤 Timothy K. Rodgers, Jr.
- 👤 George B. Pawle
- 👤 Douglas G. Walker
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 14:53
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/46; H04N1/56; H04N1/60; H04N1/6016; H04N1/6019; H04N1/62; H04N1/622
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
83 words
A color transform capture method, comprising the steps of: providing a reference image as a data file; concatenating a color tracer as a data file to the data file of the reference image for creating a combined image having the reference image and color tracer integrally attached so that the location of each pixel in the combined image is detectable by a computer; and performing color changes on the combined image for changing the reference image and recording color changes in the tracer.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
83 words
A color transform capture method, comprising the steps of: providing a reference image as a data file; concatenating a color tracer as a data file to the data file of the reference image for creating a combined image having the reference image and color tracer integrally attached so that the location of each pixel in the combined image is detectable by a computer; and performing color changes on the combined image for changing the reference image and recording color changes in the tracer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the color changes comprise operator made color edits.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
42 words
A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said reference image comprises a low resolution version of an original image and said method further comprises using the color changes captured in the tracer to perform global color changes in the original image.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising using the color changes captured in the tracer to perform global color changes on additional images.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the color changes occur within a color space.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the color edits captured by the tracer are globally applied to an image following image capture and prior to image redisplay.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the color edits captured by the tracer are applied data of an original image to produce a display image.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the color edits captured by the tracer are applied to all images transversing an image path to produce result images without modifying the images.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
19 words
A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the color changes occur due to a transform between color spaces.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
39 words
A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the using step comprises: creating a color transform table from the tracer; and inputting color values from the additional images to the table and outputting transformed versions of the additional images.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said color tracer and said reference image are linked to form an integral color processing object.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the tracer is detached from the image, and changes are recorded in the tracer subsequent to the color changes of the reference image.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
60 words
A color transform capture method, comprising: attaching a color tracer to a reference image creating a combined image; performing color changes on the combined image changing the reference image and recording color changes in the tracer; and wherein said combined image comprises a global tracer corresponding to the original image and a regional tracer corresponding to the regional masked image.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
60 words
A color transform capture method, comprising: attaching a color tracer to a reference image creating a combined image; performing color changes on the combined image changing the reference image and recording color changes in the tracer; and wherein said combined image comprises a global tracer corresponding to the original image and a regional tracer corresponding to the regional masked image.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
103 words
A color transform capture method, comprising: producing a color change tracer; converting the color change tracer to a desired color space from a source space using a space-to-space transform; applying an inverse of the space-to-space transform to the tracer; and extracting changes in the color tracer to obtain compensation values for the space-to-space transform, which compensation values include a difference in pixel value between a pixel in the source space before converting the color tracer and its corresponding value after applying the inverse of the space-to-space transform for identifying a transformation error caused by converting from the source space to desired color space.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
103 words
A color transform capture method, comprising: producing a color change tracer; converting the color change tracer to a desired color space from a source space using a space-to-space transform; applying an inverse of the space-to-space transform to the tracer; and extracting changes in the color tracer to obtain compensation values for the space-to-space transform, which compensation values include a difference in pixel value between a pixel in the source space before converting the color tracer and its corresponding value after applying the inverse of the space-to-space transform for identifying a transformation error caused by converting from the source space to desired color space.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
17 words
A method as recited in claim 14, further comprising using the compensation values to correct display data.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
60 words
A color capture method, comprising: creating a computer-readable data file of a color tracer comprising a sampling of a domain of colors of a reference image; and performing color changes on a computer-readable data file of the reference image which file is concatenated integrally with the data file of the color tracer, and recording the color changes in the tracer.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
60 words
A color capture method, comprising: creating a computer-readable data file of a color tracer comprising a sampling of a domain of colors of a reference image; and performing color changes on a computer-readable data file of the reference image which file is concatenated integrally with the data file of the color tracer, and recording the color changes in the tracer.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1999-12-10 | 2000-06-10 | 2000-12-10 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2003-12-10 | 2004-06-10 | 2004-12-10 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2007-12-10 | 2008-06-10 | 2008-12-10 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |