| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080198175 | Drag-And-Drop Pasting For Seamless Image Composition - Systems and methods provide drag-and-drop pasting for seamless image composition. In one implementation, a user casually outlines a region of a source image that contains a visual object to be pasted into a target image. An exemplary system automatically calculates a new boundary within this region, such that when pasted at this boundary, visual seams are minimized. The system applies a shortest path calculation to find the optimal pasting boundary. The best path has minimal color variation along its length, thus avoiding structure and visual objects in the target image and providing the best chance for seamlessness. Poisson image editing is applied across this optimized boundary to blend colors. When the visual object being pasted has fine structure at its border that could be truncated by the Poisson editing, the exemplary system integrates the alpha matte of the visual object into the Poisson equations to protect the fine structure. | 08-21-2008 |
| 20080240540 | APPEARANCE MANIFOLDS FOR MODELING TIME-VARIANT APPEARANCE OF MATERIALS - A method for modeling a time-variant appearance of a material is described. A sample analysis of a material sample is performed, wherein the sample analysis orders surface points of the material sample with respect to weathering from data captured at a single instant in time. An appearance synthesis using the sample analysis is performed, wherein the appearance synthesis generates a time-variant sequence of frames for weathering an object. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080240607 | Image Deblurring with Blurred/Noisy Image Pairs - Image deblurring with blurred/noisy image pairs is described. In one implementation, a system combines a blurred image with a corresponding noisy image of the same subject to create a high-quality deblurred image. The blurred/noisy image pair can be acquired by an inexpensive hand-held camera, e.g., in unfavorable low light conditions. An exemplary iterative process uses the blurred image and the noisy image at each step to produce the high-quality image. First, the system estimates the blur kernel of the blurred image using information from both the blurred and noisy images. Then, the system performs residual image deconvolution, which favors suppression of ringing artifacts. Finally, the system applies gain-controlled deconvolution to suppress remaining ringing artifacts in smooth image regions. The system iterates these steps to obtain the final high-quality image. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080278479 | Creating optimized gradient mesh of a vector-based image from a raster-based image - A method for creating an optimized gradient mesh of a vector-based image from a raster-based image. In one implementation, a set of boundaries for an object on a raster-based image may be received. An initial gradient mesh of the object may be created. A residual energy between the object on the raster-based image and a rendered initial gradient mesh may be minimized to generate an optimized gradient mesh. | 11-13-2008 |
| 20080297621 | Strategies for extracting foreground information using flash and no-flash image pairs - A flash-based strategy is used to separate foreground information from background information within image information. In this strategy, a first image is taken without the use of flash. A second image is taken of the same subject matter with the use of flash. The foreground information in the flash image is illuminated by the flash to a much greater extent than the background information. Based on this property, the strategy applies processing to extract the foreground information from the background information. The strategy supplements the flash information by also taking into consideration motion information and color information. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080303840 | Mesh Quilting for Geometric Texture Synthesis - Mesh quilting for geometric texture synthesis involves synthesizing a geometric texture by quilting a mesh texture swatch. In an example embodiment, geometry is matched between a mesh texture swatch and a portion of a synthesized geometric texture. Correspondences are ascertained between elements of the mesh texture swatch and the portion of the synthesized geometric texture. The ascertained corresponding elements of the mesh texture swatch and the portion of the synthesized geometric texture are aligned via local deformation to create a new patch. The new patch is merged into an output texture space to grow the synthesized geometric texture. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20080304740 | Salient Object Detection - Methods for detecting a salient object in an input image are described. For this, the salient object in an image may be defined using a set of local, regional, and global features including multi-scale contrast, center-surround histogram, and color spatial distribution. These features are optimally combined through conditional random field learning. The learned conditional random field is then used to locate the salient object in the image. The methods can also use image segmentation, where the salient object is separated from the image background. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20090002363 | Imparting Three-Dimensional Characteristics in a Two-Dimensional Space - Processes and techniques for imparting three-dimensional visual characteristics to images in a two-dimensional space are described. In one implementation, a graphical image is received in a two-dimensional space (e.g., a user interface on a computing device). A shape palette is presented to a user, the shape palette comprising a visual representation of three-dimensional visual information. Based on user markup of the shape palette, three-dimensional visual information is extracted from the shape palette and correlated with the graphical image. The three-dimensional visual information is processed to render the graphical image with three-dimensional visual characteristics. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090006044 | Real-Time Rendering of Light-Scattering Media - A real-time algorithm for rendering of an inhomogeneous scattering media such as smoke under dynamic low-frequency environment lighting is described. An input media animation is represented as a sequence of density fields, each of which is decompressed into a weighted sum of a set of radial basis functions (RBFs) and an optional residual field. Source radiances from single and optionally multiple scattering are directly computed at only the RBF centers and then approximated at other points in the volume using an RBF-based interpolation. Using the computed source radiances, a ray marching technique using slice-based integration of radiance along each viewing ray is performed to render the final image. During the ray marching process, the residual field may be compensated back into the radiance integral to generate images of higher detail. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090006046 | Real-Time Rendering of Light-Scattering Media - A real-time algorithm for rendering of an inhomogeneous scattering media such as smoke under dynamic low-frequency environment lighting is described. An input media animation is represented as a sequence of density fields, each of which is represented by an approximate model density field and a residual density field. The algorithm uses the approximate model density field to compute an approximate source radiance, and further computes an effective exitant radiance by compositing the approximate source radiance using a compositing methods such as ray marching. During the compositing process (e.g., ray marching), the residual field is compensated back into the radiance integral to generate images of higher detail. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090006047 | Real-Time Rendering of Light-Scattering Media - A real-time algorithm for rendering of an inhomogeneous scattering media such as smoke under dynamic low-frequency environment lighting is described. An input media animation is represented as a sequence of density fields, each of which is decomposed into a weighted sum of a set of radial basis functions (RBFs) and an optional residual field. Source radiances from single and optionally multiple scattering are directly computed at only the RBF centers and then approximated at other points in the volume using an RBF-based interpolation. Unique approximation techniques are introduced in the computational algorithms to simplify and speed up the computation of source radiance contributed by single and multiple scattering. Using the computed source radiances, a ray marching technique using slice-based integration of radiance along each viewing ray may be performed to render the final image. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090006051 | Real-Time Rendering of Light-Scattering Media - A real-time algorithm for rendering an inhomogeneous scattering medium such as fog is described. An input media animation is represented as a sequence of density fields, each of which is decomposed into a weighted sum of a set of radial basis functions (RBFs) such as Gaussians. The algorithm computes airlight and surface reflectance of the inhomogeneous scattering medium. Several approximations are taken which lead to analytical solutions of quantities such as an optical depth integrations and single scattering integrations, and a reduced number of integrations that need to be calculated. The resultant algorithm is able to render inhomogeneous media including their shadowing and scattering effects in real time. The algorithm may be adopted for a variety of light sources including point lights and environmental lights. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090006052 | Real-Time Rendering of Light-Scattering Media - A real-time algorithm for rendering of an inhomogeneous scattering medium such as fog with a surface object immersed therein is described. An input media animation is represented as a sequence of density fields. The algorithm computes surface reflectance of the surface object in the inhomogeneous scattering medium. The algorithm may also compute airlight of the inhomogeneous scattering medium. Several approximations are taken which lead to analytical solutions of quantities such as optical depth integrations and single scattering integrations, and a reduced number of integrations that need to be calculated. The resultant algorithm is able to render inhomogeneous media including their shadowing and scattering effects in the real time. The algorithm may be adopted for a variety of light sources including point lights and environmental lights. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090022414 | HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGE HALLUCINATION - An apparatus and method provide for providing an output image from an input image. The input image may contain at least one portion that does not display certain desired information of the image, such as texture information. The desired information may be obtained from a second portion of the input image and applied to the at least one portion that does not contain the texture information or contains a diminished amount of the texture information. Also, at least one characteristic of the second portion of the input image may not be applied to the at least one portion such as illumination information. In another example, the input image may be decomposed into multiple parts such as a high frequency and a low frequency component. Each component may be hallucinated individually or independently and combined to form the output image. | 01-22-2009 |
| 20090080772 | Radiometric Calibration from a Single Image - Radiometric calibration of an image capture device (e.g., a digital camera) using a single image is described. The single image may be a color image or a grayscale image. The calibration identifies and analyzes edge pixels of the image that correspond to an edge between two colors or grayscale levels of a scene. Intensity distributions of intensities measured from the single image are then analyzed. An inverse response function for the image capture device is determined based on the intensity distributions. For a color image, the radiometric calibration involves calculating an inverse response function that maps measured blended colors of edge pixels and the associated measured component colors into linear distributions. For a grayscale image, the radiometric calibration involves deriving an inverse response function that maps non-uniform histograms of measured intensities into uniform distributions of calibrated intensities. | 03-26-2009 |
| 20090219287 | Modeling and rendering of heterogeneous translucent materials using the diffusion equation - An exemplary method includes providing image data for an illuminated physical sample of a heterogeneous translucent material, determining one or more material properties of the material based in part on a diffusion equation where one of the material properties is a diffusion coefficient for diffusion of radiation in the material and where the determining includes a regularization term for the diffusion coefficient, mapping the one or more material properties to a virtual object volume, assigning virtual illumination conditions to the virtual object volume, and rendering the virtual object volume using the virtual illumination conditions as a boundary condition for a system of diffusion equations of the virtual object volume. Other methods, devices and systems are also disclosed. | 09-03-2009 |
| 20090244083 | INVERSE TEXTURE SYNTHESIS - A “texture generator” uses an inverse texture synthesis solution that runs in the opposite direction to traditional forward synthesis techniques to construct 2D texture compactions for use by a graphics processing unit (GPU) of a computer system. These small 2D texture compactions generally summarize an original globally variant texture or image, and are used to reconstruct the original texture or image, or to re-synthesize new textures or images under user-supplied constraints. In various embodiments, the texture generator uses the texture compaction to provide real-time synthesis of globally variant textures on a GPU, where texture memory is generally too small for large textures. Further, the texture generator provides an optimization framework for inverse texture synthesis which ensures that each input region is properly encoded in the output compaction. In addition, the texture generator also computes orientation fields for anisotropic textures containing both low- and high-frequency regions. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090252431 | Image Resizing for Web-based Image Search - Image resizing for web-based searching is described. In one implementation, a system resizes a user-selected thumbnail image into a larger version of the image that emulates the quality of a large, original image, but without downloading the original image. First, the system extracts resizing parameters when each thumbnail image is created. Then, the system creates a codebook of primitive visual elements extracted from a collection of training images. The primitive visual elements in the codebook provide universal visual parts for reconstructing images. The codebook and a resizing plug-in can be sent once to the user over a background channel. When the user selects a thumbnail image for enlargement, the system resizes the thumbnail image via interpolation and then refines the enlarged image with primitive visual elements from the codebook. The refinement creates an enlarged image that emulates the quality of the large, original image, without downloading the original image. | 10-08-2009 |
| 20100074552 | REMOVING BLUR FROM AN IMAGE - Embodiments related to the removal of blur from an image are disclosed. One disclosed embodiment provides a method of performing an iterative non-blind deconvolution of a blurred image to form an updated image. The method comprises downsampling the blurred image to form a blurred image pyramid comprising images of two or more different resolution scales, downsampling a blur kernel to form a blur kernel pyramid comprising kernels of two or more different sizes, and deconvoluting a selected image in the blurred image pyramid according to a Richardson-Lucy deconvolution process in which a bilateral range/spatial filter is employed. | 03-25-2010 |
| 20100085359 | SURFACE NORMAL RECONSTRUCTION FROM A SINGLE IMAGE - The construction of a surface normal map from a single image is disclosed herein. One disclosed embodiment comprises determining an initial surface map comprising initial surface normals, and then receiving an input requesting manual modification of a set of normals in the initial surface map. Lastly, the set of surface normals is modified as requested by the input, to form the surface normal map. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100086232 | ALIGNMENT OF SHARP AND BLURRED IMAGES BASED ON BLUR KERNEL SPARSENESS - The alignment of a sharp image of a subject and a blurred image of the same subject is disclosed. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method of determining a series of trial images. The method comprises applying a corresponding series of coordinate transforms to the sharp image, the series of coordinate transforms differing with respect to one or more of a rotational operation and a scaling operation. The method further comprises computing a series blur kernels corresponding to the series of trial images, each blur kernel mapping a trial image from the series of trial images to the blurred image. The method further includes locating a sparsest blur kernel in the series of blur kernels, and identifying one or more of the rotational operation and the scaling operation of the coordinate transform mapping the trial image corresponding to the sparsest blur kernel to the blurred image. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20110078159 | Long-Query Retrieval - Described herein is a technology that facilitates efficient large-scale similarity-based retrieval. In several embodiments documents, images, and/or other multimedia files are compactly represented and efficiently indexed to enable robust search using a long-query in a large-scale corpus. As described herein, these techniques include performing decomposition of a file, e.g., a document or document-like representation. The techniques use dimension reduction to obtain three parts, topic-related words (major semantics), document specific words (minor semantics), and background words, representing the major semantics in a feature vector and the minor semantics as keywords. Using the techniques described, file vectors are matched in a topic model and the results ranked based on the keywords. | 03-31-2011 |
