Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/387—Composing, repositioning or otherwise geometrically modifying originals
  • H04N1/3871—Composing, repositioning or otherwise geometrically modifying originals the composed originals being of different kinds, e.g. low- and high-resolution originals

Definitions

• the present invention relates in general to digitized imagery data processing systems and is particularly directed to a mechanism for processing digital imagery data representative of text superimposed upon a photographic scene.
• Digital imagery processing systems such as those employed for processing computer-generated graphics images or digitized photographic images, customarily create a bit map-formatted data file in the course of presenting the image to an output device, such as a color printer.
• an output device such as a color printer.
• the actual content of the image is a 'don't care' to the application program, as both artwork and any included text are created and manipulated in accordance with a common graphics rule set.
• the image data is typically maintained in a bit map-formatted file separate from the word processing file through which the text is generated, and each file is manipulated independently of the other until a desired document presentation is realized.
• the output device to which the disc- resident base image data will be coupled is not necessarily identified at the time that the base image is prepared and stored on the disc, it can be expected that further processing of the stored image will be performed in the course of reproducing an image in its 'finalized' or 'finished' output form.
• "•P oc ss '* wc ld have ccn ⁇ * *" ⁇ s those pixel locations of the bit map of the base image where text has been inserted into text-representative bit map values, so that the scene-derived values at those pixel locations would have been lost.
• any further processing of the text-containing image data on the disc would treat text as though it were part of the scene. Consequently, since the text has attributes that are different from and make it stand out from the background scene (e.g. well defined edges) , the application of scene-based bit map processing operator to the entire image would introduce artifacts (shadowing) around the text and produce a degraded image, as pointed out above.
• the above-described artifact-introducing problem of processing combined text-and-scene data together in a common bit map file is obviated by storing the photographic scene-derived portion of the base image data in a dedicated bit map file, on the one hand, and storing text data that is to be inserted into or overlaid on the scene image, as part of a non bit map- based standard code for information exchange (e.g. ASCII) file, on the other hand.
• a non bit map- based standard code for information exchange e.g. ASCII
• the present invention is directed to an imagery data and text formatting and storage mechanism for a digitized image processing system, in which a color photographic image that has been captured on a color photographic image storage medium, such as a 35mm color slide, is digitally encoded and stored in bit reap format in a digital base, such as a digital compact disc.
• Photographic image-representative digital data stored on the disc is readable to cause the generation of the image by way of an array of pixels of an image output device.
• ASCII file is incorporated into that part of the data base where control information relating to, but not forming part of, the photographic scene is stored.
• This ASCII file contains a font descriptor and a identifier of where within the scene bit map the text is to be inserted.
• imagery data stored on the disc is to be read out, for example, supplied to a high resolution thermal printer for generating a hard copy print, a text- representative bit map file is generated in accordance with the contents of said ASCII file and combined with the bit map data file for the photographic scene image.
• the two data files are combined to produce a composite image by replacing those data components of the bit map data file for the scene image with those data components of the text-representative bit map file that are associated with image locations where text is to be superimposed on the slide scene.
• This combined bit map file is then coupled to the output device, which generates a text superimposed-on-scene image.
• the overall image is to be modified in accordance with a selected image processing operator, its text-representative ASCII file is processed using the requisite ASCII code rule set, but corresponding to the manner in which the pixel data within the separate bit map data file for the photographic image is modified by a corresponding bit map image processing operator.
• the manner in which the scene-representative bit map file is processed will not corrupt the text.
• the two respective imagery data files for the text-inserted image of interest are then updated to produce modified bit map and ASCII files.
• a text- representative bit map file is generated in accordance with the contents of the modified ASCII file and combined with the modified scene-representative bit map data file for the photographic image. Since both the scene-representative bit map data and the text- representative bit map data have been derived independently of one another, the resultant image does not suffer from text-induced artifacts.
• the combined modified image may then be supplied to a printer to obtain a modified high resolution hard copy version of the original text-inserted image.
• the invention resides primarily in a novel photo and text imagery data formatting storage and processing mechanism, rather than a particular implementation of that mechanism.
• the mechanism may be carried out by means of a variety of structural combinations of conventional signal processing circuits and components, such as custom-configured integrated circuit hardware. Accordingly, the structure, control and arrangement of the signal processing hardware of an embodiment of the invention have been illustrated in the drawings by a readily understandable block diagram, which shows only those specific details that are pertinent to the present invention, so as not to obscure the disclosure with structural details which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present description.
• a photo processing system through which photographic images 10, such as those captured on 35mm color slides, are stored in digital format is diagrammatically illustrated as comprising an opto-electronic film scanner 12, such as a commercially available Eikonix Modal 1435 scanner.
• Scanner 12 outputs digitally encoded data representative of the response of its imaging sensor pixel array onto which a photographic image contained on a respective color slide is projected.
• This digitally encoded data or 'digitized' image is coupled in the form of a bit map to an attendant image processing workstation 14, which contains a frame store and image processing application software through which the digitized image may be processed (e.g.
• each captured image is stored in the form of a low resolution image and a plurality of residual images to enhance data processing speed.
• the format of the data is that of a digitized image bit map 22, each low resolution pixel value of which has some prescribed code width (e.g. twenty-four bits or eight bits per color) .
• Control information associated with selected modification of the image on the operator's workstation e.g.
• non-bit map formatted file 24 separate from the scanner's o t ut, vik a , so uiSi. Wu ⁇ n uis man pux ⁇ teu image is written to an output storage medium (e.g. a compact disc) that control information may be accessed by a display or print device.
• an ASCII file is incorporated into that part of the data base 24 where control information for the photographic scene is stored.
• the text-representative ASCII data file contains a font descriptor and an insert-location identifier which specifies where, within the image bit map, text is to replace scene pixel data.
• both the bit map file 22 and the control/text file 24 are written to suitable portable storage medium, such as a digital compact disc 26.
• suitable portable storage medium such as a digital compact disc 26.
• the disc may be coupled to an output device, such as a playback unit 32 employing a low to moderate resolution color display monitor 34, or to a high resolution print engine 36, such as a thermal color printer.
• imagery data is read from the disc, for example, supplied to a high resolution color thermal printer for generating a high resolution hard copy print
• a text-representative bit map file is generated and stored in auxiliary buffer storage within the print engine in accordance with the contents of the ASCII file.
• This auxiliary file may then be summed with the bit map data file for the scene image of interest, to effect a replacement of those data components of the scene bit map data file for the scene image with those data components of the text-representative bit map file that are associated with image locations where text is to be superimposed on the scene image, thereby producing a combined 'text-on-scene' bit map data file.
• This combined bit map file is then coupled to the print engine, which generates a print of the slide image in which text has been inserted.
• a key aspect of the text formatting and storage mechanism of the present invention is the fact that the output device to which the disc-resident base image data may be delivered is not necessarily identified at the time that the base image is prepared and stored on the disc, and it may be necessary to perform further processing of the stored image in the course of producing an image in a 'finalized' or •finished' output form.
• conventional processing would have converted those pixel locations of the bit map of the base image where text has been inserted into text-representative values, so that the photo-derived values at those pixel locations would have been lost.
• imagery data on the disc is to be modified (e.g. by way of a spatial filtering operator to improve a prescribed aspect of the scene or a size change) the modification operation does not impact the text or pixel locations of the image adjacent to those where the text is inserted.
• the text is modified by simply changing point size in its ASCII file.
• the two respective imagery data, disc-resident files for the text-inserted image of interest are then updated with modified bit map and ASCII files.
• a text-representative bit map file is generated in accordance with the contents of the modified ASCII file and combined with the modified scene- representative bit map data file for the photographic image. Since both the scene-representative bit map data and the text-representative bit map data have been derived independently of one another, the resultant image does not suffer from text-induced artifacts.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Editing Of Facsimile Originals (AREA)
• Processing Or Creating Images (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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• 1991
  • 1991-12-24 WO PCT/US1991/009560 patent/WO1992012593A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1991-12-24 CA CA 2077659 patent/CA2077659A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1991-12-24 EP EP19920904020 patent/EP0519056A1/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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