JPH11345330A - Method and device for processing image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the quality of a mosaic image by generating other material images based on a material image stored in a storage means and generating the mosaic image by using the plural generated material images. SOLUTION: P pieces of main material images stored in a hard disk are read (S1), the P pieces of material images are made T1, T2 to TP and each material image is respectively reversed horizontally. That is, a new material image produced by reversing a material image Ti horizontally is made TP+i and the number of material images is subjected to double processing from the P pieces to 2×P pieces (S2) by repeating the processing about all of the 'i's of 1<=i<=P. And, P' pieces of material images which increase the number of images are produced (S3) and the quality of the mosaic image can be more improved by using the P' pieces of material images.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for generating a mosaic image by combining a plurality of material images in a mosaic manner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A mosaic is widely referred to as "a technique in which small pieces of various colors such as stone, glass, marble, etc. are combined, fitted into floors, walls, etc., and designed, or a technique thereof" (Sanseido Modern Japanese Dictionary). Are known. Using this technique, many photographic images can be combined to form a design or one photographic image.

[0003]

However, when such a mosaic image is created, if the number of material images (tile images) constituting the mosaic image is small, the mosaic image created using these material images is not used. There was a problem that the quality of the image deteriorated. For this reason, it is desirable to provide an image file or the like in which a larger number of material images are stored in advance, but a large amount of memory is required to store such a large number of material images. Did not.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and has been made to increase the number of material images constituting a mosaic image, and to further enhance the quality of a mosaic image created by using them. It is an object to provide an image processing method and apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method and apparatus for generating many material images from a limited number of stored material images and using these material images to create a mosaic image. It is in.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention has the following arrangement.
That is, an image processing apparatus that generates a mosaic image by combining a plurality of material images in a mosaic manner, wherein a storage unit that stores the plurality of material images, and another based on the material images stored in the storage unit. It has a feature image generating means for generating a material image, and a mosaic image creating means for creating a mosaic image using a plurality of material images generated by the material image generating means.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the image processing method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, an image processing method for generating a mosaic image by combining a plurality of material images like a mosaic, wherein a material image generating step of generating another material image based on the stored plurality of material images, A mosaic image creating step of creating a mosaic image using the plurality of material images generated in the image generating step.

[0008]

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a computer system that executes image processing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a CPU which controls the entire system according to a program stored in a hard disk 106 and loaded into a RAM 105.
A keyboard 102 is used together with the mouse 102a to input various commands and data to the system according to the present embodiment. A display unit 103 includes, for example, a CRT and a liquid crystal. 104 is ROM, 105 is RAM
Thus, the storage unit in the system of the present embodiment is configured,
It stores programs executed by the system and data used by the system. 106 is a hard disk, 1
Reference numeral 07 denotes a floppy disk device, which constitutes an external storage device used in the file system of the system according to the present embodiment. 108 is a printer.

The hard disk 106 stores a plurality (P) of tile images serving as constituent elements of a mosaic image, and M × N images selected from the tile images are shown in FIG. So, M in the horizontal direction
A mosaic image is created by combining and arranging N images in the vertical direction. The mosaic image created in this way is
Stored as an image file on the hard disk 106,
The data is displayed on the CRT 103 or output to the printer 108 and printed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between a plurality of types of images used in the mosaic method.

In FIG. 3, an image 201 indicates a design or an image which is the basis for forming an image using the mosaic method. The image 202 is a mosaic image configured using a plurality of small images (tiles) by a mosaic method. The material image 203 is a material image used to compose the image 202. The number P of these material images is
Generally, the number of colors and textures required to compose the image 202 is a sufficiently large number that can be prepared. Here, for the sake of explanation, the size of each of the P material images is set to the same size as the tile, but the size of each material image does not necessarily need to match the size of the tile.
Also, it is not necessary that all P sheets have the same size. When the size of each material image is different as described above, the image 20
When pasting to the corresponding tile of No. 2, the size of the material image needs to be converted.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a general flow of the mosaic processing in the computer system according to the present embodiment. Here, M × N images are selected from the increased number of material images, and a mosaic image is created using the selected material images. Note that a program for executing this processing is stored in the hard disk 106 or a floppy disk.
05 and executed.

First, in step S1, the hard disk 10
Then, the P material images stored in No. 6 are read out, and the number (P) of these P images is increased to a larger number P ′ (P <P ′) in step S2. This process will be described later in detail with reference to FIGS.

In step S3, P 'material images with the increased number are generated, and the process proceeds to step S4, where mosaic images are generated using the P' material images as tile images.

Next, the process of increasing the number of material images in step S2 of FIG. 4 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

Here, P material images stored in the hard disk 106 of the system of the present embodiment are
1, T2, ..., TP. The left and right of each of these material images are reversed. That is, a new material image created by inverting the material image Ti from side to side is defined as TP + i, and this processing is defined as 1 ≦ i ≦
By repeating for all “i” of P, the number of material images can be doubled from P to 2 × P. By increasing the number of material images in this way, the subsequent step S
4 (FIG. 4), it is possible to select a more appropriate material image as a tile image, and to improve the quality of a mosaic image.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process for increasing the number of material images shown in step S2 of FIG.

First, at step S21, "1" is substituted for a variable k. Next, the process proceeds to step S22, where a certain material image T
A material image Tp + k in which k is inverted left and right is generated. This processing will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Next, in step S23, the variable k is incremented by one. Then, the process proceeds to step S24, in which the variable k is compared with the value p. If the variable k is larger, the process ends, and if not, the process returns to step S22.

Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9, the process of turning the material image right and left in step S22 of FIG. 8 will be described.

Here, the size of each material image T is width x (pixel) and height y (pixel), and each pixel of each material image is R
It is assumed that each value of GB is represented by “0” to “255” (8 bits). The R value of the pixel at the position (i, j)
Similarly, the G and B values of the pixel are represented by Gi, j and Bi, j (where 0 ≦ i ≦ x−1 and 0 ≦ j ≦ y−1).

A material image T 'is generated based on the material image T. The material image T ′ thus created has the same size of x × y (pixels) as the original material image, and the RGB values of each pixel are R′i, j, G′i, j, B′i, respectively. , j.

In FIG. 9, first, at step S51, "0" is substituted for a variable j. Next, in step S52, "0" is substituted for a variable i. Then, the process proceeds to step S53,
The R value (R'x-1-i, j) of the pixel at the position (x-1-i, j) of the material image T 'is replaced by the R value of the pixel (i, j) of the original material image T.
Substitute the value (Ri, j). Similarly, in step S54,
The G value (Gi, j) of the pixel (i, j) of the material image T is added to the G value (G'x-1-i, j) of the pixel at the position (x-1-i, j) of the material image T '. Is assigned. Similarly, in step S55, the pixel B at the position (x-1-i, j) of the material image T 'is
The B value (Bi, j) of the pixel (i, j) of the material image T is substituted for the value (B'x-1-i, j). In this way, left-right inverted material image T '
RGB value (R'x-1-) of the pixel at the position (x-1-i, j)
i, j, G'x-1-i, j, B'x-1-i, j) are determined.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S56, where the variable i is increased by "1". Then, in step S57, the variable i
Is compared with the number of pixels “x” in the horizontal direction of the material image. If the values are equal, it is determined that the processing for the pixels in the j-th row has been completed, and the process proceeds to step S58. Is repeatedly executed.

In step S58, the value of the variable j is incremented by one, and the process proceeds to the next line. In step S59, the value of the variable j is compared with "y". Otherwise, the process returns to step S52 to execute the process.

In this way, a material image T 'can be created from a certain material image T by inverting the material image T, thereby doubling the number of material images.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the mosaic image creation process in step S4 of FIG. An image generation method using the mosaic technique will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, first, in step S41, the original image 201 is divided into M × N tiles. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, an M × N rectangular tile TL (0,
0), TL (1,0), TL (2,0) ... TL (2,
4), TL (3, 4) are generated. FIG. 6 illustrates an example in which the image is divided into 4 × 5 rectangles.

In FIG. 6, X and Y are images 20 respectively.
1, the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions, and each of p and q are obtained by dividing the image 201 into 4 × 5 rectangular tiles TL (0,
0), TL (1,0), TL (2,0) ... TL (2,
4) and TL (3, 4) indicate the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions of each tile. Therefore, X = p
× M (= 4) and Y = q × N (= 5).

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of each tile. That is, each tile is composed of p × q pixels of three primary colors, red (R), green (G), and blue (B).

Referring again to FIG. 5, in step S42, the average RGB density is calculated for each of the M × N tiles divided in step S41 according to the following equation.

Rd-av = (ΣRi) / (p × q) Gd-av = (ΣGi) / (p × q) Bd-av = (ΣBi) / (p × q) Here, “d” is “destinatio
n ".

Then, the process proceeds to a step S43, and the average density of R, G, B is calculated for each of the P ′ material images according to the following equation.

Rs-av = (ΣRi) / (p × q) Gs-av = (ΣGi) / (p × q) Bs-av = (ΣBi) / (p × q) where “s” is , Means source.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S44, wherein a counter Xpos (0≤Xpos≤M-1) indicating the position of the tile being processed,
Both Ypos (0 ≦ Ypos ≦ N−1) are initialized to “0” (upper left). Here, (Xpos, Ypos) = (0, 0) indicates the upper left tile position of the original image 201. Next, proceeding to step S45, the image most suitable for the tile indicated by the values of the position counters Xpos and Ypos is selected from the P 'material images. This selection method calculates the distance ΔE of the RGB3 stimulus values, and selects the one with the smallest value.
The evaluation formula for this is shown below.

ΔE = {square of (Rs−av−Rd−av)} +
｛(Gs-av-Gd-av) squared｝ + ｛(Bs-av-Bd-av)
When the image selected on the basis of this evaluation formula is pasted on the tile portion, if the size does not match, a scaling process is performed to an appropriate size.

In step S46, the above processing is performed on the image 2
01, and move the tile position of interest in order to sequentially row adjacent tiles in the horizontal and / or vertical direction,
In step S47, the processing of steps S45 to S47 is repeatedly executed until the processing is performed on all tiles of the image 201.

In this manner, a mosaic image can be generated using P 'material images in which the number P of the original material images is increased.

[Embodiment 2] In Embodiment 1 described above, the pixel position of the original material image is reversed left and right in order to increase the number of material images. , Or another method.

Therefore, in the second embodiment, a new material image is generated by increasing (decreasing) the color values (luminance) of all pixels of the original material image. More specifically, the R value (R′i, j) of the pixel of the new material image (x × y) is determined by the {R value (Ri, j) × α} of the pixel of the original material image. . This pixel value determination processing is performed by setting 0 ≦ i ≦ x, 0 ≦ j ≦
This is performed for all pixels (i, j) of y. Here, α is an appropriate constant. This is performed for each of R, G, and B colors.

Here, if the same processing is repeated for a plurality of (n) constants α0, α1, α2,..., Αn−1, the number of material images can be increased up to n times. be able to.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process (S2) for increasing the number of material images according to the second embodiment. This process is similar to the flowchart shown in FIG. The difference from the processing in FIG. 8 is that the color values of the pixels are converted.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the process of creating a new material image (step S32 in FIG. 10) according to the second embodiment.

Here, in step S61, step S5
Similarly to 1, the value of the variable j is set to “0”, and the value of the constant α is set. Next, in step S62, the value of the variable i is set to “0”.
, And in steps S63 to S65, each of the colors (Ri, j, Gi, j, Bi, j) of the pixel (i, j) of the original material image is multiplied by a constant α to obtain a new material image. (R '
i, j, G'i, j, B'i, j). Then, in steps S66 to S69, the aforementioned step S of FIG.
Similar to 56 to S59, these processes are repeated until the process for all the pixels of the material image is completed.

Here, the luminance value is linearly changed as R value (Ri, j) × α｝, but the same effect can be generally obtained by changing the luminance using any function. Needless to say, For example, R value (R'i, j) of a pixel of a new material image (x × y) ←
Using the function (255-Ri, j), a new material image can be created by negative-positive inversion of the original material image. In this case, the functions in steps S63 to S65 in FIG.
[R'i, j ← (255-Ri, j)], [G'i,
j ← (255-Gi, j)], [B′i, j ← (255
−Bi, j)].

[Third Embodiment] In the second embodiment, a new material image is created by processing the luminance component by applying the same processing to all of R, G, and B of each pixel of the original material image. did. However, by applying this to, for example, only the R value, it is possible to create a new material image in which the entire surface is reddish.

As described above, by converting only a specific color component, the number of new material images can be increased, and the quality of a mosaic image can be improved. The same effect can be obtained by specifying and processing only two colors, G or B, or RGB as the specific color component.

In general, a new material image (R'i, j, G'i) is obtained from pixels (Ri, j, Gi, j, Bi, j) of the material image by using arbitrary functions fR, fG, fB. , j, B′i, j).
That is, R'i, j ← fR (Ri, j, Gi, j, Bi, j) G′i, j ← fG (Ri, j, Gi, j, Bi, j) B′i, j ← fB ( Ri, j, Gi, j, Bi, j), it is possible to generate a new material image in which color difference components have been processed, and to increase the number of material images used for generating a mosaic image. it can.

The present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), but can be applied to a single device (for example, a copier, a facsimile). Device).

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or CPU) of the system or apparatus.
Or MPU) reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code. ) Performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, The case where the CPU of the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the number of tile images constituting a mosaic image can be increased, so that the quality of a mosaic image using these tile images can be further improved. Can be done.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that the number of material images constituting a mosaic image can be increased, and the quality of a mosaic image created by using them can be further improved. .

Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that many material images can be generated from a limited number of stored material images, and a mosaic image can be created using these material images.

[0060]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a mosaic image.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process of generating a mosaic image.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a mosaic image creation process in the system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a mosaic image creation process in step S4 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mosaic image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a color configuration of individual tiles forming a mosaic image.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process of increasing the number of material images in step S2 of FIG. 4 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a left / right inversion process of the material image in step S22 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process of increasing the number of material images in step S2 of FIG. 4 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating color conversion processing of a material image according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 CPU 102 Keyboard 102a Mouse 103 Display 104 ROM 105 RAM 106 Hard Disk 107 Floppy Disk 108 Printer

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for generating a mosaic image by combining a plurality of material images in a mosaic manner, comprising: storage means for storing a plurality of material images; Image processing means for generating another material image by using a plurality of material images generated by the material image generating means, and a mosaic image generating means for generating a mosaic image using the plurality of material images generated by the material image generating means. apparatus. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the material image generating unit generates a material image in which the first material image is inverted left and right. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the material image generating unit generates a material image having pixels obtained by converting the color values of each pixel of the first material image. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the material image generating unit generates a negative-positive material image of the first material image. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the material image generating unit generates a material image having a pixel obtained by converting a specific color value of each pixel of the first material image. . 6. An image processing method for generating a mosaic image by combining a plurality of material images in a mosaic manner, comprising: a material image generating step of generating another material image based on the stored plurality of material images. A mosaic image creating step of creating a mosaic image using the plurality of material images generated in the material image generating step,
An image processing method comprising: 7. The image processing method according to claim 6, wherein in the material image generating step, a material image in which the first material image is inverted left and right is generated. 8. The image processing method according to claim 6, wherein in the material image generating step, a material image having a pixel obtained by converting a color value of each pixel of the first material image is generated. 9. The image processing method according to claim 6, wherein in the material image generating step, a material image obtained by performing a negative-positive conversion of the first material image is generated. 10. The image processing method according to claim 6, wherein in the material image generating step, a material image having a pixel obtained by converting a specific color value of each pixel of the first material image is generated. . 11. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing an image processing method for generating a mosaic image by combining a plurality of material images in a mosaic manner, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a plurality of material images. A material image generation step module for generating another material image based on the plurality of material images generated by the material image generation step module, and a mosaic image generation step module for generating a mosaic image using the plurality of material images. Storage medium. 12. The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the material image generating step module generates a material image in which the first material image is inverted left and right. 13. The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the material image generation step module generates a material image having pixels obtained by converting the color values of each pixel of the first material image. 14. The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the material image generating step module generates a material image obtained by performing a negative-positive conversion of the first material image. 15. The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the material image generating module generates a material image having pixels obtained by converting specific color values of each pixel of the first material image. .