WO1998020458B1

WO1998020458B1 - Aesthetic imaging system

Info

Publication number: WO1998020458B1
Application number: PCT/US1997/020394
Authority: WO
Filing date: 1997-11-07
Publication date: 1998-06-11

Abstract

Disclosed is an aesthetic imaging system (20) for use in editing digital images. The aesthetic imaging system includes an imaging program (21) that runs on a personal computer (28) having an image capture board (30), a monitor (32), a video source (34) for providing digital images to be edited by the aesthetic imaging system, and a pen and tablet (38) for use in editing the images. The imaging program includes a unique combination draw tool that includes a freehand draw mode, a curve mode and an undo mode that are available without cycling through menus. The combination draw tool may be used with any of the draw tools. Another feature of the imaging program is autoblend, a rectangular user interface that is invoked by each of the shape tools. The autoblend interface simplifies editing when using shape tools by consolidating the move, paste and blend, and paste without blending commands into a single, convenient interface.

Claims

AMENDED CLAIMS

[received by the International Bureau on 30 April 1998 (30.04.98); original claims 1-5 replaced by new claims 1-13 (3 pages)] 1. In an aesthetic imaging system allowing the manipulation of digital images comprised of a plurality of pixels, a method of displaying an edited digital image corresponding to an original digital image wherein the edited digital image differs from the original digital image by at least one edit made to the original digital image, the aesthetic imaging system including a processor, a memory, a monitor, and means for controlling a cursor displayed on the monitor, the method comprising: defining a plurality of regions in said edited digital image, each of the plurality of regions containing at least one edit that distinguishes each of the plurality of regions from a corresponding region in said original digital image; allowing a user to select from the plurality of regions a subset of regions; and displaying a prioritized digital image containing only the edits of the original digital image that are present in the subset of regions.

2. The method of Claim 1 wherein the plurality of regions are defined by encircling the region on the edited digital image with the means for controlling the cursor displayed on the monitor.

3. The method of Claim 1 wherein the plurality of regions are automatically defined by the aesthetic imaging system.

4. The method of Claim 1 further comprising the step of assigning a tag corresponding to each of the plurality of regions.

5. The method of Claim 4 wherein the tag is a textual identifier.

6. The method of Claim 5, wherein the subset of regions are selected from a list of tags corresponding to each region.

7. The method of Claim 1 wherein the original image and the prioritized image are displayed side-by-side.

8. The method of Claim 1 wherein the prioritized image is superimposed over the original image, an opacity of the prioritized image being selectable by a user to allow the user to view a composite image of the prioritized image and the original image, the composite image thereby displaying a variable amount of the edits performed on the original image. -54-

9. The method of Claim 8 wherein the opacity of the prioritized image may vary between zero and 100 percent.

10. In an aesthetic imaging system allowing the manipulation of digital images comprised of a plurality of pixels, each pixel having an alpha channel value indicating the opacity of the pixel, wherein an alpha channel value of zero indicates a transparent pixel and an alpha channel value of 255 indicates an opaque pixel, a method simulating the results of a laser resurfacing treatment, comprising: selecting an original digital image from a memory of the aesthetic imaging system; defining a region on the original digital image; setting the alpha channel values of the pixels outside the defined region at zero and setting the alpha channel values of pixels inside the defined region between zero and 255 to create an alpha mask with a desired opacity; filtering the selected digital image to produce a blurred digital image; adding the alpha mask to the blurred digital image to create a resulting blurred digital image; superimposing the resulting blurred digital image over the original digital image to create an edited digital image; and displaying the edited digital image.

11. The method of Claim 10 further including the step of: adding a solid red digital image to the alpha mask, wherein the degree of redness of the solid red digital image can be predetermined and automatically varied or can be varied by the user by varying the degree of redness of the solid red digital image or varying the opacity of the pixels of the alpha mask.

12. In an aesthetic imaging system allowing the manipulation of digital images comprised of a plurality of pixels having red, green, and blue (RGB) components, a method of correcting the color of an original digital image to substantially match the color of a target digital image comprising: selecting an original digital image and a target digital image from a memory of the aesthetic imaging system selecting a comparison point on the original digital image and a comparison point on the target digital image; -55-

calculating an offset value by subtracting an average of the RGB components of the pixels in a region surrounding the comparison point in the original image from an average of the RGB components of the pixels in a region surrounding the comparison point in the target image, adding the offset value to the RGB components of each pixel in the original image to correct the color of the original digital image; and displaying the color corrected original digital image.

13. In an aesthetic imaging system allowing the manipulation of digital images comprised of a plurality of pixels, a method of correcting the size and orientation of an original digital image to substantially match a target digital image comprising: selecting an original digital image and a target digital image from a memory of the aesthetic imaging systems; selecting at least three reference points on the original digital image and at least three corresponding reference points on the target digital image; calculating a degree of rotation and a size adjustment based on the three reference points in the original and target digital images; rotating the original digital image based on the calculated degree of rotation and scaling the original digital image based on the calculated size adjustment to create a corrected digital image; and displaying the corrected digital image.

-56-

STATEiMENT UNDER ARΗCLE 19(n Applicant requests that the claims be amended by substituting the attached replacement claim sheets. Claims 1-5 have been cancelled and new claims 1-13 have been added.