Apparatus and methods for feathering a composite image

Claim 1

A method for feathering a first image and a second image in a composite frame, comprising the steps of: receiving an original matte image; a first box filtering step including box filtering at least a portion of the original matte image horizontally and vertically to generate an intermediate matte image; a second box filtering step including box filtering at least a portion of the intermediate matte image horizontally and vertically to generate a processed matte image; and generating a composite image by blending the first image and the second image together according to the processed matte image; wherein the step of box filtering the original matte image includes a step of processing the original matte image through a first box filter having an even filter width that is biased in a first direction: and wherein the step of box filtering the intermediate matte image includes a step of processing the intermediate matte image through a second box filter having an even filter width that is biased in a second direction that is opposite the first direction.

Claim 2

A method for feathering a first image and a second image in a composite frame, comprising the steps of: receiving an original matte image; a first box filtering step including box filtering at least a portion of the original matte image horizontally and vertically to generate an intermediate matte image; a second box filtering step including box filtering at least a portion of the intermediate matte image horizontally and vertically to generate a processed matte image; and generating a composite image by blending the first image and the second image together according to the processed matte image; wherein the step of box filtering the original matte image includes a step of processing the original matte image through a first box filter having an even filter width that is biased in a first direction: and wherein the step of box filtering the intermediate matte image includes a step of processing the intermediate matte image through a second box filter having an even filter width that is biased in a second direction that is opposite the first direction.

Claim 3

An apparatus for feathering a first image and a second image in a composite frame, comprising: a general purpose computer including: a memory that stores a program; and a processor that, when executing the program, receives an original matte image, box filters, in a first filtering step, at least a portion of the original matte image horizontally and vertically to generate an intermediate matte image, box filters, in a second filtering step, at least a portion of the intermediate matte image horizontally and vertically to generate a processed matte image, and generates a composite image by blending the first image and the second image together according to the box-filtered processed matte image; wherein the processor, when box filtering the original matte image, processes the original matte image through a first box filter having an even filter width that is biased in a first direction; and wherein the processor. when box filtering the intermediate matte image, processes the intermediate matte image through a second box filter having an even filter width that is biased in a second direction that is opposite the first direction.

Claim 4

An apparatus for feathering a first image and a second image in a composite frame, comprising: a general purpose computer including: a memory that stores a program; and a processor that, when executing the program, receives an original matte image, box filters, in a first filtering step, at least a portion of the original matte image horizontally and vertically to generate an intermediate matte image, box filters, in a second filtering step, at least a portion of the intermediate matte image horizontally and vertically to generate a processed matte image, and generates a composite image by blending the first image and the second image together according to the box-filtered processed matte image; wherein the processor, when box filtering the original matte image, processes the original matte image through a first box filter having an even filter width that is biased in a first direction; and wherein the processor. when box filtering the intermediate matte image, processes the intermediate matte image through a second box filter having an even filter width that is biased in a second direction that is opposite the first direction.

Claim 15

A method of generating a composite frame from a foreground image contained in a first frame and a background image contained in a second frame, the method comprising the steps of: generating an original matte image having an original processing area; a first filtering step that generates an intermediate matte image from the original matte image, the first filtering step including steps of: applying a horizontal box filter to at least a portion of the original processing area; and; applying a vertical box filter to at least a portion of the original processing area; a second filtering step that generates a processed matte image from the intermediate matte image, the intermediate image having an intermediate processing area, the second filtering step including steps of: applying a horizontal box filter to at least a portion of the intermediate processing area; and applying a vertical box filter to at least a portion of the intermediate processing area; generating a composite image by blending the first image and the second image together according to the processed matte image; wherein each matte image includes a plurality of rows of pixels, and wherein the method further comprises a step of: increasing a filter width of a box filter so that the box filter performs an extra add operation when calculating a value of an initial pixel in a row of pixels of a matte image, while maintaining the number of add operations when calculating values of other pixels in the row of pixels of the matte image.

Claim 16

A method of generating a composite frame from a foreground image contained in a first frame and a background image contained in a second frame, the method comprising the steps of: generating an original matte image having an original processing area; a first filtering step that generates an intermediate matte image from the original matte image, the first filtering step including steps of: applying a horizontal box filter to at least a portion of the original processing area; and; applying a vertical box filter to at least a portion of the original processing area; a second filtering step that generates a processed matte image from the intermediate matte image, the intermediate image having an intermediate processing area, the second filtering step including steps of: applying a horizontal box filter to at least a portion of the intermediate processing area; and applying a vertical box filter to at least a portion of the intermediate processing area; generating a composite image by blending the first image and the second image together according to the processed matte image; wherein each matte image includes a plurality of rows of pixels, and wherein the method further comprises a step of: increasing a filter width of a box filter so that the box filter performs an extra add operation when calculating a value of an initial pixel in a row of pixels of a matte image, while maintaining the number of add operations when calculating values of other pixels in the row of pixels of the matte image.

Claim 21

An apparatus for feathering a first image and a second image in a composite frame, comprising: a general purpose computer including: a memory that stores a program; and a processor that, when executing the program, receives an original matte image, box filters, in a first filtering step, at least a portion of the original matte image horizontally and vertically to generate an intermediate matte image, box filters, in a second filtering step, at least a portion of the intermediate matte image horizontally and vertically to generate a processed matte image, and generates a composite image by blending the first image and the second image together according to the box-filtered processed matte image; wherein each matte image includes a plurality of rows of pixels, and wherein the processor, when executing the program, increases a filter width of a box filter so that the box filter performs an extra add operation when calculating a value of an initial pixel in a row of pixels of a matte image, while maintaining the number of add operations when calculating values of other pixels in the row of pixels of the matte image.

Claim 22

An apparatus for feathering a first image and a second image in a composite frame, comprising: a general purpose computer including: a memory that stores a program; and a processor that, when executing the program, receives an original matte image, box filters, in a first filtering step, at least a portion of the original matte image horizontally and vertically to generate an intermediate matte image, box filters, in a second filtering step, at least a portion of the intermediate matte image horizontally and vertically to generate a processed matte image, and generates a composite image by blending the first image and the second image together according to the box-filtered processed matte image; wherein each matte image includes a plurality of rows of pixels, and wherein the processor, when executing the program, increases a filter width of a box filter so that the box filter performs an extra add operation when calculating a value of an initial pixel in a row of pixels of a matte image, while maintaining the number of add operations when calculating values of other pixels in the row of pixels of the matte image.