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US7130492B2 Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Image processing apparatus and method, and program

Assignee: Canon Inc
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Filing: 2002-09-11
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Granted: 2006-10-31
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Expires: 2022-09-11
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Abstract

Abstract A plurality of image data are stored in a hard disk drive in one-to-one correspondence with the image feature amounts of the image data. A CPU calculates the image feature amount of an input image on the basis of each color component value in a predetermined color space of each of regions obtained by segmenting the input image by a predetermined segmentation pattern. Image data similar to the input image is searched for on the basis of the calculated image feature amounts and the image feature amounts of the image data stored in the hard disk drive.

Inventors

  • 👤 Kunihiro Yamamoto

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 11:26
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/50; G06F16/58; G06F16/583; G06F16/5838

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim 187 words
An image processing apparatus for searching for desired image data from a plurality of image data, comprising: input means for inputting an image as a search condition which is drawn in a user drawing area; storage means for storing the plurality of image data in one-to-one correspondence with image feature amounts of the image data; image feature amount calculating means for calculating the image feature amount of an input image drawn in the user drawing area on the basis of each color component value in a predetermined color space of each of regions obtained by segmenting the input image by a predetermined segmentation pattern comprising the user drawing area; and similar image searching means for searching for image data similar to the input image on the basis of the image feature amounts calculated by said image feature amount calculating means and the image feature amounts of the image data stored in said storage means, wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern is composed of the first segmented regions not containing the periphery of the input image and the second segmented regions have different shapes from the first segmented regions.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 187 words
An image processing apparatus for searching for desired image data from a plurality of image data, comprising: input means for inputting an image as a search condition which is drawn in a user drawing area; storage means for storing the plurality of image data in one-to-one correspondence with image feature amounts of the image data; image feature amount calculating means for calculating the image feature amount of an input image drawn in the user drawing area on the basis of each color component value in a predetermined color space of each of regions obtained by segmenting the input image by a predetermined segmentation pattern comprising the user drawing area; and similar image searching means for searching for image data similar to the input image on the basis of the image feature amounts calculated by said image feature amount calculating means and the image feature amounts of the image data stored in said storage means, wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern is composed of the first segmented regions not containing the periphery of the input image and the second segmented regions have different shapes from the first segmented regions.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 40 words
The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern is composed of a segmented regions not containing the periphery of the input image and b segmented regions containing the periphery of the input image, and a+b=8 holds.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 70 words
The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said image feature amount calculating means comprises calculating means for calculating the average value of each color component value in the predetermined color space of each of the regions obtained by segmenting the input image by the predetermined segmentation pattern, and calculates the image feature amount of the input image on the basis of the average value of each color component value.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 60 words
The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern includes a plurality of different segmentation patterns, and said calculating means calculates the average value of each color component value in the predetermined color space of each of the regions obtained by segmenting the input image by one segmentation pattern selected from the plurality of different segmentation patterns.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 29 words
The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined color space is one of the RGB color space, YUV color space, HSV color space, and L*a*b* color space.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 150 words
An image processing method of searching for desired image data from a plurality of image data, comprising: an image feature amount calculation step of calculating the image feature amount of an input image drawn in a user drawing area on the basis of each color component value in a predetermined color space of each of regions obtained by segmenting the input image by a predetermined segmentation pattern comprising the user drawing area; and a similar image search step of searching for image data similar to the input image on the basis of the image feature amounts calculated in the image feature amount calculation step and the image feature amounts of image data stored in a storage medium, wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern is composed of the first segmented regions not containing the periphery of the input image and the second segmented regions have different shapes from the first segmented regions.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 150 words
An image processing method of searching for desired image data from a plurality of image data, comprising: an image feature amount calculation step of calculating the image feature amount of an input image drawn in a user drawing area on the basis of each color component value in a predetermined color space of each of regions obtained by segmenting the input image by a predetermined segmentation pattern comprising the user drawing area; and a similar image search step of searching for image data similar to the input image on the basis of the image feature amounts calculated in the image feature amount calculation step and the image feature amounts of image data stored in a storage medium, wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern is composed of the first segmented regions not containing the periphery of the input image and the second segmented regions have different shapes from the first segmented regions.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 40 words
The method according to claim 6 , wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern is composed of a segmented regions not containing the periphery of the input image and b segmented regions containing the periphery of the input image, and a+b=8 holds.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 79 words
The method according to claim 6 , wherein the image feature amount calculation step comprises the calculation step of calculating the average value of each color component value in the predetermined color space of each of the regions obtained by segmenting the input image by the predetermined segmentation pattern, and in the image feature amount calculation step, the image feature amount of the input image is calculated on the basis of the average value of each color component value.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 62 words
The method according to claim 8 , wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern includes a plurality of different segmentation patterns, and in the calculation step, the average value of each color component value in the predetermined color space of each of the regions obtained by segmenting the input image by one segmentation pattern selected from the plurality of different segmentation patterns is calculated.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 29 words
The method according to claim 6 , wherein the predetermined color space is one of the RGB color space, YUV color space, HSV color space, and L*a*b* color space.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 173 words
A program, stored in executable form in a computer-readable storage medium, for allowing a computer to execute image processing of searching for desired image data from a plurality of image data, comprising: a program code of an image feature amount calculation step of calculating the image feature amount of an input image drawn in a user drawing area on the basis of each color component value in a predetermined color space of each of regions obtained by segmenting the input image by a predetermined segmentation pattern comprising the user drawing area; and a program code of a similar image search step of searching for image data similar to the input image on the basis of the image feature amounts calculated in the image feature amount calculation step and the image feature amounts of image data stored in a storage medium, wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern is composed of the first segmented regions not containing the periphery of the input image and the second segmented regions have different shapes from the first segmented regions.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 173 words
A program, stored in executable form in a computer-readable storage medium, for allowing a computer to execute image processing of searching for desired image data from a plurality of image data, comprising: a program code of an image feature amount calculation step of calculating the image feature amount of an input image drawn in a user drawing area on the basis of each color component value in a predetermined color space of each of regions obtained by segmenting the input image by a predetermined segmentation pattern comprising the user drawing area; and a program code of a similar image search step of searching for image data similar to the input image on the basis of the image feature amounts calculated in the image feature amount calculation step and the image feature amounts of image data stored in a storage medium, wherein the predetermined segmentation pattern is composed of the first segmented regions not containing the periphery of the input image and the second segmented regions have different shapes from the first segmented regions.

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2009-10-30 2010-05-01 2010-10-31 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2013-10-30 2014-05-01 2014-10-31 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2017-10-30 2018-05-01 2018-10-31 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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