| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20080298704 | FACE AND SKIN SENSITIVE IMAGE ENHANCEMENT - Systems and methods of face and skin sensitive image enhancement are disclosed. In one aspect, a face map that includes for each pixel of an input image a respective face probability value indicating a degree to which the pixel corresponds to a human face is calculated. A skin map that includes for each pixel of the input image a respective skin probability value indicating a degree to which the pixel corresponds to human skin is ascertained. The input image is enhanced with an enhancement level that varies pixel-by-pixel in accordance with the respective face probability values and the respective skin probability values. In another aspect, a facial content measurement value indicating a degree to which an input image contains human face content is ascertained. A tone-correction process is tuned in accordance with the facial content measurement value. The input image is enhanced in accordance with the tuned tone-correction process. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20090034870 | Unified spatial image processing - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for image processing that are unified in nature, carrying out many image-enhancement tasks together in a unified approach, rather than sequentially executing separately implemented, discrete image-enhancement tasks. In addition, the methods and systems of the present invention can apply image-enhancement to local, spatial regions of an image, rather than relying on global application of enhancement techniques that result in production of artifacts and distortions. In certain embodiments of the present invention, various different types of intermediate images are produced at each of a number of different scales from a received, input image. From these intermediate images, a photographic mask and temporary image are obtained, and the photographic mask and temporary image are then employed, along with a look-up table or function that receives values from the photographic mask and temporary image, to compute an enhanced, output image. In a described embodiment of the present invention, the intermediate images include low-pass, band-pass, photographic-mask, and temporary-image intermediate images computed at each of a number of different scales. | 02-05-2009 |
| 20090034871 | Method and system for enhancing image signals and other signals to increase perception of depth - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for processing signals, particularly signals encoding two-dimensional images, such as photographs, video frames, graphics, and other visually displayed information. Rather than attempting 3D-boosting by attempting a global contrast enhancement, method and system embodiments of the present invention generate a soft-segmented image that is separately contrast enhanced, segment-by-segment, to produce an enhanced soft-segmented image. A details image is then computed, and is combined with the enhanced soft-segmented image to produce an intermediate image, the brightness of which is adjusted to produce a 3D-boosted output image. Local contrast enhancement provides for proportional enhancement of homogenous regions, resulting in 3D-boosting without introduction of anomalies, artifacts, and distortion. | 02-05-2009 |
| 20090110323 | Method and system for dual-envelope image enhancement - Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for processing signals, particularly signals encoding two-dimensional images, such as photographs, video frames, graphics, and other visually displayed information. In various method embodiments of the present invention, an input image signal is decomposed into an upper-envelope function, a lower-envelope function, and a details function. One or both of the upper-envelope and lower-envelope functions are then modified to produce one or more image-enhancing effects when the modified upper-envelope and lower-envelope functions are recombined with the details function to produce an enhanced image signal. | 04-30-2009 |
| 20100128286 | IMAGE COMPRESSION - A method for compressing a digital image to be printed, the image consisting of pixels. It is determined, for blocks of pixels, whether a block contains a graphical structure that is to be maintained without loss because it is of a type that can be accurately perceived by a human observer. The block is encoded losslessly into a less voluminous format, if such a graphical structure has been found. Otherwise, the block is compressed lossily, if no such graphical structure has been found. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20100182650 | Ink Restriction Determination - A method and apparatus as provided for determining, for an ink to be deposited on a substrate by a halftone inkjet printing process, a nominal coverage value (the ‘ink restriction value’), that corresponds to an amount of ink sufficient to fully cover the area of the substrate to be printed. This determination is effected by measuring the reflectance of the printed substrate for a range of nominal coverage values, and then using an automatic processing arrangement to determine, from the change of measured reflectance with nominal coverage value, the nominal coverage value at which continuous tone behaviour commences. | 07-22-2010 |
| 20100232694 | Minimizing Unwanted Changes Of Color During Image Processing - An image is processed in a device-independent color space by applying a modification function to one or more dimensions of that color space. The image is then converted into a target device-dependent color space. In order to minimize unwanted changes of color arising from the modification function taking image color values out of gamut when converted to the target device-dependent color space, the modification function is scaled to limit modified image values to within modification limits that are determined, for each image pixel or group of pixels, in dependence on the target device-dependent color space gamut boundary in the device-independent color space. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100303305 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EVALUATING PRINTED IMAGES - A method, diagnostic tool and system are provided for evaluating printing defects. A captured image of a printed sheet is received and a profile generated of the printed sheet, this profile being representative of tonal variations in the printed sheet. The profile is analyzed in a plurality of different scales and an assessment made of the significance of one or more features of a printing defect throughout the plurality of different scales. From the assessed significance of the one or more features, an evaluation is carried out, in each of the plurality of different scales, of the severity of the printing defect. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20110090537 | SCREEN DESIGN FOR PROCESS VARIATION ARTIFACT REDUCTION - In a method for designing a halftone screen configured to reduce artifacts in a printed image, artifacts due to a process variation resulting from printing of the image through use of a halftone screen design are modeled and the halftone screen is designed to have threshold values that substantially reduce the artifacts due to the process variation. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110131551 | GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE INPUT ELEMENT IDENTIFICATION - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with graphical user interface input element identification are described. One example system identifies a graphical user interface (GUI) element through which an input to an application was received based on comparing images generated from data provided by the application. Data that describes the GUI element may then be provided. | 06-02-2011 |
