JP2005117437A - Blocked decorative image - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique capable of easily adding a decorative image matched with the color tone of a target image. <P>SOLUTION: A decorative image storage 260 stores a decorative image template FPT containing a plurality of blocks in which colors can be changed. A decorative image generator 230 analyzes the colors of the target image IP, and decides the colors of each of blocks L1-L26 of the decorative image template FPT corresponding to the results of analysis, thereby generating a decorative image FP to be added to the target image IP. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for adding a decoration image to a target image.

  When an image generated by an image generation apparatus such as a digital still camera is output to an image output apparatus such as a display or a printer, a decoration image (also referred to as a “frame image”) is added around the target image. Sometimes. At this time, normally, a plurality of decorative images having different color tones are selected according to the user's own judgment, in accordance with the color tone of the target image.

JP-A-10-320576 JP 2002-300363 A

  However, it may be difficult to harmonize the color tone of the decorative image with the color tone of the target image. In particular, when the target image includes various different color tones, it is quite difficult to select a decoration image that matches the color tone of the target image.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of easily adding a decorative image that matches the color tone of a target image.

In order to achieve at least a part of the above object, an apparatus of the present invention is an image processing apparatus for adding a decoration image around a target image,
A decoration image template storage unit for storing a decoration image template including a plurality of blocks whose colors can be changed;
A decoration image generation unit that generates a decoration image to be added to the target image by analyzing the color of the target image and determining the color of each block of the decoration image template according to a result of the analysis;
Is provided.

  According to this image processing apparatus, since the color of each block of the decoration image template is determined according to the result of analyzing the color of the target image, it is possible to easily add a decoration image that matches the color tone of the target image. is there.

  The color of each block may be determined according to the color of a predetermined color reference block set in the target image adjacent to each block.

  According to this configuration, since the color of each block is determined according to the color of the target image portion adjacent to each block, it is suitable for each block even when the target image has various colors. The color can be determined.

  Further, the color of adjacent blocks may be determined such that the color does not jump at the boundary between the adjacent blocks and the color gradually changes.

  According to this structure, it can prevent that the boundary of adjacent blocks looks unnatural.

  The color of each block may be set to a color different from the color of the color reference block.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to prevent the boundary between the target image and the decoration image from becoming unclear.

  The hue value of each block may be set to a hue value obtained by adding a predetermined hue angle to the hue value of the color reference block.

  According to this configuration, the color of each block can be easily determined.

  In addition, the saturation value of each block may be set to a value lower than the saturation value of the color reference block by a predetermined value.

  According to this configuration, the colors of the target image and the decoration image can be more harmonized.

The color of each pixel in each block is represented by a first component indicating brightness, and second and third components for indicating hue and saturation,
The decoration image template represents that at least one predetermined component including at least the first component cannot be changed by the decoration image generation unit, and at least one remaining predetermined component is the decoration. You may make it include the changeability attribute which shows that it can change by the image generation part.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to change only the color tone without changing the pattern of each block.

  The present invention can be realized in various modes. For example, an image processing method and apparatus for adding a decoration image to a target image, an image processing system, and a decoration with a decoration image added to the target image The present invention can be realized in the form of an image output method and apparatus for outputting an image, a computer program for realizing the functions of the method or apparatus, a recording medium on which the computer program is recorded, and the like.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in the following order based on examples.
A. Example:
B. Variation:

A. Example:
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an image processing system 100 as an embodiment of the present invention. The image processing system 100 includes a digital still camera 110, a personal computer 120, and a color printer 140. The image processing apparatus 200 incorporated in the personal computer 120 has a function of generating a decorative image by adding a decorative image to an input image generated by the digital still camera 110.

  In this embodiment, the image processing apparatus 200 is incorporated in the personal computer 120. However, the image processing apparatus 200 may be incorporated in the color printer 140, and the image processing apparatus 200 may be incorporated in the digital still camera 110.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image processing apparatus 200 in the embodiment. The image processing apparatus 200 includes an input image acquisition unit 210, a decoration image generation unit 230, an image composition unit 240, an output image generation unit 250, and a decoration image storage unit 260. The functions of these units are realized by a computer program.

  FIG. 3 shows an outline of processing of the image processing apparatus 200. The input image acquisition unit 210 (FIG. 2) acquires an input image IP (also referred to as “target image”) as shown in FIG. 3A from the image data file GD. This input image is usually a color photograph. The decorative image storage unit 260 stores a decorative image template FPT as shown in FIG. This decoration image template FPT has an image allocation area MA for arranging the target image in the center, and also has a frame area FA provided around the image allocation area MA. The frame area FA is divided into a plurality of frame blocks L1 to L26 (also simply referred to as “blocks”). One frame block is composed of a plurality of pixels. The pattern of each of the frame blocks L1 to L26 is fixed to a predetermined pattern, but the color in the block can be changed according to the color of the input image IP. Details of this will be described later. The decoration image storage unit 260 stores a plurality of types of decoration image templates FPT having different patterns, and one of them is selected by the user.

  The decoration image generation unit 230 (FIG. 2) acquires the decoration image template FPT from the decoration image storage unit 260 in accordance with a user's selection instruction. Then, the color of the input image IP is analyzed, and the decoration block FP added to the input image IP is generated by determining the colors of the frame blocks L1 to L26 according to the analysis result. The image composition unit 240 synthesizes the decoration image FP and the input image IP to generate an image SP with decoration (also referred to as “image with frame”) shown in FIG. The decoration-added image SP is output to the printer 140 as output data (print data) PD after image quality adjustment is performed as necessary in the output image generation unit 250.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the data structure 300 of the decoration image template FPT. As shown in FIG. 4A, the data structure 300 includes a header 302 and a frame block image storage unit 304. As shown in FIG. 4B, the header 302 includes an identifier 310 indicating a decoration image template FPT, a data format identification code 312 indicating a data format, and a frame area FA (FIG. 3B). Data 314 representing the shape and data 316 representing the shape of the image allocation area MA are included. As shown in FIG. 4C, the frame block image storage unit 304 includes data 320 indicating the number of frame blocks and a plurality of block image data 322 representing images of a plurality of frame blocks.

  One block image data 322 includes data 330 indicating the position of the frame block in the decoration image, data 332 indicating the shape of the frame block, and three image component data 334, 336 and 338 representing the color image in the frame block. And color reference block data 340. The color reference block data 340 is data indicating the position of an image portion (referred to as “color reference block”) in the input image IP that is referred to in order to determine the color of the frame block. The color reference block will be described later.

  Three image component data 334, 336, and 338 for representing a color image in a frame block include a hue H (Hue) distribution, a saturation S (Saturation) distribution, and a lightness V (Value) distribution in the frame block. Respectively. A change prohibiting bit MIB is attached to the head of each of the three image component data 334, 336, and 338. Data whose change prohibition bit MIB is “1” indicates that the decoration image generation unit 230 cannot change the value of the data, and data whose change prohibition bit MIB is “0” can change the value of the data. Is shown. The change prohibition bit MIB itself is rewritable data. Here, “data cannot be rewritten” means that the program that realizes the function of the decoration image generation unit 230 is configured so that the data cannot be rewritten. In the present embodiment, the change prohibition bit MIB of the hue data 334 is 0 (changeable), and the change prohibition bit MIB of the saturation data 336 and the lightness data 338 is 1 (changeable). Therefore, the hue data 334 of each frame block of the decoration image template FPT can be changed by the decoration image generation unit 230, but the saturation data 336 and the lightness data 338 are not changed. Since the saturation data 336 and the lightness data 338 represent the pattern of the block image (light and dark pattern), when the value of the hue data 334 of the block image is changed, only the color tone is changed without changing the pattern. .

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for determining the hue of each of the frame blocks L1 to L26. As shown in FIG. 5A, color reference blocks R1 to R18 adjacent to the inside of the decorative image frame blocks L1 to L26 are provided on the outermost periphery of the image allocation area MA. One color reference block is composed of a plurality of pixels. As indicated by the arrows, the color of each frame block is determined with reference to the color of the color reference block adjacent to that frame block. FIG. 5B shows the relationship between the input image IP and the color reference blocks R1 to R18. Since the color reference blocks R1 to R18 are provided on the outermost periphery of the image allocation area MA adjacent to the inside of the frame area FA, the color reference blocks R1 to R18 are in the input image IP. Note that the position of the color reference block that is referred to when determining the color of each of the frame blocks L1 to L26 is designated in advance by the color reference block data 340 (FIG. 4C).

As described in the lower part of FIG. 5A, the hue value Hi of the i-th frame block Li is given by the following equation (1).
Hi = (Average hue value of adjacent color reference block) + α ° (1)
Here, α is a preset constant and has a value expressed in units of hue angle.

  For example, if α = 0 ° is set, the hue value Hi of the frame block Li is set to a value equal to the hue value of the color reference block. If α is set to 180 °, the hue value Hi of the frame block Li is set to a hue value that has a complementary color relationship with the hue value of the color reference block. Alternatively, if α is set to 30 ° or −30 °, the hue value Hi of the frame block Li is set to a hue value having a predetermined relationship approximate to the hue value of the color reference block. When α = 0 ° is set, the color of the frame block Li and the color of the input image IP adjacent to the inside of the frame block Li become very close to each other, and the boundary may be unclear. Considering this point, it is preferable to set a predetermined value which is not zero as α.

  In the data structure of FIG. 4C, only the hue data 334 can be changed. Instead, the hue data 334 and the saturation data 336 can be set to be changeable. In this case, the hue and saturation of the frame block are determined according to the hue and saturation of the color reference block, respectively. At this time, one of the hue and saturation of the frame block can be set to a value equal to the value of the color reference block, and the other can be set to a value different from the value of the color reference block. Specifically, the hue of the frame block can be set to a value equal to the hue of the color reference block, and the saturation can be set to a value slightly smaller than the saturation of the color reference block. In this way, if the hue is kept equal and the saturation of the decorative image is lowered, the color of the frame block can often be matched with the color of the input image.

The hue value Hi of the frame block Li determined by the above equation (1) can be applied to all the pixels of the frame block Li. However, in this embodiment, the hue value H (x) is calculated according to the following equation (2) so that a color jump does not occur at the boundary between adjacent frame blocks.
H (x) = k (x) Hi-1 + {1-k (x)} Hi (2)
Here, the coordinate x indicates the distance from the center of the (i-1) th frame block Li-1 to the center of the ith frame block Li, as shown in FIG. x) is a weighting factor depending on the coordinate x, and Hi-1 and Hi are hue values at the centers of the (i-1) -th and i-th frame blocks. Note that the hue values obtained by the above-described equation (1) can be used as Hi-1 and Hi.

  Thus, if the color distribution in each frame block is determined so that the color gradually changes, the boundary between the frame blocks does not stand out, and a more natural decorative image can be obtained. In the present embodiment, only the hue value is changed, but both the hue value and the saturation value may be changed. Also in this case, it is preferable that the brightness is maintained at the value set in the template FPT. Further, instead of changing the color linearly as in the above equation (2), the color may be changed along a predetermined curvilinear characteristic.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, since the decoration image template FPT is configured by a plurality of frame blocks whose colors can be changed, the color of each frame block according to the color of the input image IP adjacent to each frame block. Can be set. As a result, it is possible to easily obtain a decorative image whose color matches the input image IP.

B. Variation:
In addition, this invention is not restricted to the said Example and embodiment, It can implement in a various aspect in the range which does not deviate from the summary, For example, the following deformation | transformation is also possible.

B1. Modification 1:
In the above embodiment, the image processing apparatus 200 includes the decoration image storage unit 260 in which a plurality of decoration image templates FPT are stored. The decoration image storage unit 260 may be a server connected to a computer network such as the Internet. May be provided. In this case, an image processing apparatus or an image processing system for adding a decoration image to the target image is configured by a plurality of devices connected via a network.

B2. Variation 2:
In the above embodiment, the attribute of whether or not each image component can be changed is represented by the change prohibition bit MIB embedded at the head of each image component. However, whether or not each image component can be changed depends on the decoration image template. It may be set at another position in the FPT, and may be set in the header 302, for example.

B3. Variation 3:
In the above embodiment, the color of the frame block is expressed in the HSV color system, but it is possible to use component values of other arbitrary color systems. In this case, it is desirable to use a color system that uses one component for representing lightness and two components for representing hue and saturation. Note that two color difference components can be used as the two components representing the hue and saturation. In general, at least one of the three components representing the block image may be set to be changeable, and the remaining at least one component may be set to be unchangeable. However, it is preferable that at least a component representing brightness is set to be unchangeable, and at least a component representing hue is set to be changeable. In this way, it is possible to change only the color tone without changing the pattern of the frame block. If the saturation value of the frame block is set to a value lower than the saturation value of the color reference block (for example, a value reduced by a predetermined value), a more harmonious color tone may be obtained.

B4. Variation 4:
The color of each frame block may be determined by a method other than the above-described equations (1) and (2). In general, it is preferable to determine the color of each frame block by analyzing the color of the target image.

B5. Modification 5:
In the above embodiment, the decoration image is composed of a plurality of frame blocks, but the decoration image may have components other than the frame blocks. For example, it may include image parts arranged in the frame block. In general, the decorative image can be configured to include a plurality of blocks. Also in this case, if the color of each block is determined by analyzing the color of the target image, the color of each block can be harmonized with the color of the target image.

B6. Variation 6:
In the above embodiment, the decoration image is provided over the entire circumference of the target image, but the decoration image may be provided only in a part of the periphery of the target image.

1 is an explanatory diagram showing an image processing system 100 as an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus 200 according to a first embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of a process of the image processing apparatus. Explanatory drawing which shows the data structure 300 of the decoration image template FPT. Explanatory drawing which shows the determination method of the color of each frame block L1-L26.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Image processing system 110 ... Digital still camera 120 ... Personal computer 140 ... Color printer 200 ... Image processing apparatus 210 ... Input image acquisition part 230 ... Decoration image generation part 240 ... Image composition part 250 ... Output image generation part 260 ... Decoration image Storage unit (decorative image template storage unit)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 300 ... Data structure 302 ... Header 304 ... Frame block image storage part 310 ... Identifier 312 ... Data format identification code 314 ... Frame area shape data 316 ... Image allocation area shape data 320 ... Frame block number data 322 ... Block image data 330 ... Block Position data 332 ... Block shape data 334 ... Hue data 336 ... Saturation data 338 ... Lightness data 340 ... Color reference block data

Claims (9)

An image processing apparatus for adding a decoration image around a target image,
A decoration image template storage unit for storing a decoration image template including a plurality of blocks whose colors can be changed;
A decoration image generation unit that generates a decoration image to be added to the target image by analyzing the color of the target image and determining the color of each block of the decoration image template according to a result of the analysis;
An image processing apparatus comprising: The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The color of each block is determined according to the color of a predetermined color reference block set in the target image adjacent to each block. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The color of adjacent blocks is determined so that color jump does not occur at the boundary between the adjacent blocks and the color gradually changes. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3,
The image processing apparatus, wherein the color of each block is set to a color different from the color of the color reference block. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4,
The image processing apparatus, wherein the hue value of each block is set to a hue value obtained by adding a predetermined hue angle to the hue value of the color reference block. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:
The image processing apparatus, wherein the saturation value of each block is set to a value lower than the saturation value of the color reference block. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The color of each pixel in each block is represented by a first component indicating brightness, and second and third components for indicating hue and saturation,
The decoration image template represents that at least one predetermined component including at least the first component cannot be changed by the decoration image generation unit, and at least one remaining predetermined component is the decoration. An image processing apparatus including a changeability attribute indicating that change is possible by an image generation unit. A method for adding a decorative image around a target image,
(A) preparing a decorative image template including a plurality of blocks whose colors can be changed;
(B) analyzing a color of the target image, and determining a color of each block of the decorative image template according to a result of the analysis, thereby generating a decorative image to be added to the target image;
A method comprising: A computer program for adding a decorative image around a target image,
A function of reading the decoration image template from a memory storing a decoration image template including a plurality of blocks whose colors can be changed;
A function of generating a decoration image to be added to the target image by analyzing a color of the target image and determining a color of each block of the decoration image template according to a result of the analysis;
A computer program that causes a computer to realize

Images