WO2016167739A1

WO2016167739A1 - Floral design processing system

Info

Publication number: WO2016167739A1
Application number: PCT/US2015/025575
Authority: WO
Inventors: Octavia LAW
Original assignee: Law Octavia
Priority date: 2015-04-13
Filing date: 2015-04-13
Publication date: 2016-10-20

Abstract

A floral design processing system includes a communication interface, at least one database configured to store received images, floral container data, floral arrangement data, and floral availability data, and processing circuitry. The system is configured to receive an image of a physical space and to deconstruct the image of the physical space into characteristics including at least one physical space geometrical characteristic and at least one color characteristic. The system selects a floral container from the floral container data based upon the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic and the at least one color characteristic. The system then selects a plurality of flower types from the floral availability data based upon the at least one color characteristic and, based upon the selected plurality of flower types, the floral container, and the at least one color characteristic, selects a floral arrangement that includes a selected plurality of flowers.

Description

TITLE

FLORAL DESIGN PROCESSING SYSTEM

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT - NOT APPLICABLE

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT

DISC - NOT APPLICABLE BACKGROUND

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to image processing and more particularly to floral design selection based upon the image processing.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART The use of fresh flowers to decorate interior spaces has been well known for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Typically, a person selects flowers from an available set of flowers, selects a vessel in which to hold the flowers, and creates a floral arrangement within the vessel. Florists typically employ at least one arranger to prepare such arrangements. In our current day and age, one is able to acquire a bouquet of flowers by either making a trip to their local florist to purchase in person or by selecting bouquets of their choice from a library of pre-arranged floral arrangements displayed online by floral retailers. However, some individuals do not have time to browse the increasingly large selection of bouquets available to order online. Further, unless one is an interior designer it is nearly impossible to select a bouquet having flowers and other components that acceptably suits a space for display. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating a system including and supported by a floral design processing system constructed and operating according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a floral design processing system constructed and operating according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the manner in which an image is deconstructed by the floral design processing system of FIG. 2 for use in selecting a floral arrangement according to the present disclosure; FIG. 4 is block diagram illustrating process flow in designing a floral arrangement and arranging fulfillment by the floral design processing system according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating operations of the floral design processing system according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operations of the floral design processing system according to the present disclosure for selecting a fulfillment center and in processing an order;

FIG. 7A is diagram illustrating the segregation of a template into a plurality of sections using a respective fractal permutation for a proposed floral arrangement according to the present disclosure;

FIG 7B is a diagram illustrating similar mathematical methods of segregating a space based on fractal-like permutations into different sized-geometries;

FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating the user's choice of five alternative color hierarchy arrangements for a proposed floral arrangement;

FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating a first proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 8C is a diagram illustrating a second proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 8D is a diagram illustrating a third proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 8E is a diagram illustrating a fourth proposed floral arrangement for the template of

FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8F is a diagram illustrating a fifth proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION An automatic floral arrangement selector is of value to individuals because it quickens the process of selecting a matching floral arrangement for one's home or office. A tool in the form of a downloadable application allows one to upload, or take, an image of their interior space which needs flowers and uses the colors and shapes found in their image to pair individual flowers and floral containers of the same caliber to their image.

This application describes various uses of extracting a plurality of shapes and colors from

2D and 3D images of interior spaces to help individuals furnish or decorate their spaces, including the option of decorating an exterior space, such as a garden or patio, with a floral arrangement. With the advent of 3D scanning tools available to be used in conjunction with digital tablets and smart phones, and the current trend of including 3D cameras in tablet and smartphone hardware (i.e., Google's "Project Tango"), one may use such hardware in combination with the inventor's software (disclosed herein) in order to select a plurality of geometric shapes from a 3D image and match it to a floral container (otherwise known as a vase, or sculptural work of art to hold an arrangement of flowers).

Although the same image processing tool can be used to aid designers in automatically selecting a framed work of art (such as painting) to furnish an interior space, and works by electronically browsing a database of images of works of art (such as paintings), selecting a plurality of colors from the images, and matching individual works of art to frames (such as a painting frame) to interior spaces with the same or similar plurality of colors - - this disclosure relates specifically to the image processing tool invented to simplify selection of flowers and floral containers, and the optional floral subscription services offered to accompany the inventor's floral design processing system.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating a system including and supported by a floral design processing system constructed and operating according to the present disclosure. The system 101 includes a floral design processing system 105, a plurality of premises 107, 109, and 1 1 1, and a plurality of fulfillment centers 1 13, 1 15, and 117, all of which communicatively couple to the Internet. Communications via the Internet 103 may be serviced via wired and/or wireless communications, which may include Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communications, Cellular communications, cable modem communications, optical communications, and various other communication types.

The floral design processing system 105 includes one or more server computers, which may have a structure as shown in FIG. 2 and which supports the operations described further herein in FIGs. 3-8F. Each of the premises 107, 109, and 11 1 may be a home, an apartment complex, an office building, a commercial establish, a public building, or another type of structure in which a floral arrangement may be placed. A person, an entity, or multiple entities or persons may control each of the premises 107, 109, or 1 11.

The fulfillment centers 1 13, 115, and 117 are businesses or other processing centers that create floral arrangements under the direction of the floral design processing system 105. The fulfillment centers 1 13, 115, and 117 may be flower shops, factories, or other facilities that are equipped to receive orders from the floral design processing system 105 and to fulfill the orders. The fulfillment centers 1 13, 115, and 117 may include their own delivery vehicles, which are used to deliver the floral arrangements to the premises 107, 109, and/or 11 1. The delivery vehicles may be owned by the fulfillment centers 1 13, 1 15, and/or 117. Alternately, or also, the delivery vehicles may be owned by third party delivery services such as Federal Express, United Parcel Service, or another carrier. In some embodiments, depending upon the size and weight of the floral arrangement, a flying drone may be employed to deliver the floral arrangement.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a floral design processing system constructed and operating according to the present disclosure. The floral design processing system 105 may be embodied on one or more server computers and includes a communication interface 202, which interfaces the floral design processing system 105 to the Internet 103 (or World Wide Web) and to at least one user interface 220. The communication interface 202 services wired and/or wireless communications and may include multiple types of communications interfaces. The floral design processing system 105 further includes processing circuitry 204, which may be one or more microprocessors, of various types, capable of executing software instructions to perform the various operations described herein.

The floral design processing system 105 further includes memory 206 that supports the storage of software instructions and data. In particular, the memory 206 includes image storage 208 configured to store images that represent at least portions of interior or exterior spaces of the premises 107, 109 and 11 1 illustrated in FIG. 1. The memory 206 further stores floral container data 210, floral arrangement data 212, floral availability data 214, customer data 216, and fulfillment center data 218.

The floral container data may include color (or a plurality of colors if the vase is multi- toned), material (i.e., glass, ceramic, plastic, etc.), durability (i.e., a throw-away floral container of low durability versus a long-lasting, high-quality, designer floral container of high durability), price per individual unit, and geometrical characteristics (such as dimensions) and 3D shape (i.e., cylindrical, spherical, cubic, etc.). The data stored in the memory 206, such as floral container data, may be acquired by manually inputting characteristics into the database for each floral container made available; or digitally, by using a 2D image to extract color characteristics, by using a 3D scanner to extrapolate basic spatial data (like whether the floral container is made up primarily of ellipses or rectangles) to confer shape and size, or a combination of these methods.

The floral arrangement data 212 is highly customizable according to the user's predefined preferences per image and includes data such as budget per floral arrangement, desired height, width, and length of each floral arrangement, whether duplicate vases are preferred to be identical or constructed using a different plurality of colors from the same image of the premises, whether the flowers making up the floral arrangement should include any particular colors not found in the image of the premises, and whether all of the same type of flower of different colors is desired, or whether a maximum of diversification is preferred in the floral arrangement. Floral arrangement data 212 is constantly changing according to the floral availability data 214, which differs greatly from season to season, month to month, and day to day. As such, the floral arrangement data 212 is updated in near real-time so that if a large order is placed by one user which causes to eliminate a particular type of flower from inventory, another customer in the process of selecting a desired floral arrangement will be presented with an accurate set of flowers and quantity of those flowers available. A multitude of floral arrangements may be generated, but only using flowers in the database that reflect the current availability in fulfillment centers 113, 1 15, and 1 17, so that users are guaranteed to receive the exact floral arrangement they select upon ordering.

Customer data 216 includes information on the type of user using the online interface.

While some customers are business owners and others are individuals, customer data may be collected and used to better fulfill orders large and small. Data includes the last time the user logged into the interface, their known Internet address, their physical address (if available), password, payment details, and the fulfillment centers capable of servicing their shipping address. Other customer data 216 may include order history, payment history, flower preferences, container preferences, color preferences, images of their premises, gender, age, net worth, income range, reorder preferences, reorder frequency, related customer data, gifting history and data, and other information relevant to past, present and future business.

In its operations, the floral design processing system 105 is configured to receive an image of a physical space and to deconstruct the image of the physical space into characteristics including at least one physical space geometrical characteristic and at least one color characteristic. The floral design processing system 105 is further configured to select a floral container from the floral container data based upon the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic and the at least one color characteristic and to select a plurality of flower types from the floral availability data based upon the at least one color characteristic. Further, based upon the selected plurality of flower types, the floral container, and the at least one color characteristic, the floral design processing system is configured to select a floral arrangement that includes a selected plurality of flowers.

In some embodiments, the floral design processing system 105 is further configured to deconstruct the image of the physical space into a plurality of texture data and select the floral arrangement based upon the plurality of texture data. The floral design processing system 105 may also be configured to select a fulfillment center based upon the selected floral container, the selected plurality of flower types, and the selected floral arrangement, prepare an order corresponding to the selected floral container, the selected plurality of flower types, and the selected floral arrangement, and transmit the order to the selected fulfillment center. In fulfilling the order, the floral design processing system may further determine a location of the physical space and select the fulfillment center further based upon the location of the physical space. Methods of determining location of physical space may include acquiring the geographic coordinates of a user via image tag, a user's customer (registration) data, a customer's previous order data, or manually inputted spatial location information. The plurality of flower types may further be selected based upon the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic. The at least one physical space geometrical characteristic may be further based upon received user input.

In selecting a floral arrangement that includes a selected plurality of flowers, the floral design processing system 105 may further select an arrangement size, create a template based upon the arrangement size, and propose a plurality of differing arrangements. For each proposed arrangement, the floral design processing system 105 may segregate the template into a plurality of sections using a respective fractal permutation and, for each of the plurality of sections, select at least one flower type and flower color based upon section size and the at least one color characteristic. Then, the floral design processing system 105 may construct a proposed floral arrangement that incorporates the plurality of sections with corresponding selected flower type and flower color.

In its various operations, the floral design processing system 105 may operate on two dimensional images or three dimensional images. In both cases, the floral container and floral arrangement is selected based upon the data extracted from the image(s). The container may be selected so that its geometry is in agreement with the space in which it is to be placed. Likewise, the floral arrangement itself may be constructed to be in agreement with the space in which it is to be placed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the manner 300 in which an image is deconstructed by the floral design processing system of FIG. 2 for use in selecting a floral arrangement according to the present disclosure. The image 302 is captured at a location in which the floral arrangement is to be placed. The image 302 may be a two dimensional image (which could be captured with a camera lens) or a three dimensional image (which could be captured with a 3D scanner). Further, multiple images may be taken, which represent the space at differing times of day and with differing lighting. The image 302 shown in FIG. 3 is that of a bedroom in a home or hotel room, for example. Shown is a window 304 behind the bed's headboard that has matching physical and geometrical characteristics to the room's doorway 310; both the window 304 and the entryway 310 are framed with the same carved tall wooden frames. A rug 308 is featured prominently in the image, shown beneath the bed to cover most of the bedroom's floor and thus takes up a large percentage of the image. Although relatively little 3D characteristics such as texture can be recognized from the rug 308, important spatial data exists such as the color and number of pixels in the image corresponding to the flat monotone- colored rug, which represent a guaranteed plurality of one of the most populous colors present in the room.

Mirror 306 hangs on the wall above the dresser, which reflects the room's dominant wall color and also is in the same rectangular shape as many of the other objects such as 304, 310, and 308. Relatively few elliptical geometries exist besides the two pillows on the bed, so the floral processing system will attempt to match such data to be found in the image of this premise to a floral container of the similar caliber shape: i.e., a floral container which features cubic or rectangular geometry or images of cubic or rectangular shapes on the vase. The various shapes in this living space and colors of the living space are all relevant in selecting a floral container, a floral arrangement, and the flowers making up the floral arrangement.

The floral design processing system 105 receives the image and deconstructs the image to produce a physical shape geometry 312 and at least one color characteristic 314, which are used in its subsequent processing. The image deconstruction may also produce texture data, room size data, and additional data that is relevant to selecting the floral container and floral arrangement.

In those instances in which an image 302 of a premise contains colors that are not an exact-match to the colors of the flowers in the floral availability data 214 (FIG. 2), the floral design processing system will search a range of colors closest to a plural color by either converting decimal color codes to hexadecimal or vice-versa by triangulating a digital color chart until a match is found to be available.

For example, wherein a non-primary R-G-B color such as pink (whose hexadecimal value is #FFC0CB) is found to be amongst the top five plurality of colors shown in an image, and while there is an absence of an exact match to this particular color in the corresponding floral databases closest to a user's location (i.e., all flowers containing color characteristic #FFC0CB are out of stock), a triangulation of colors found between fuchsia (#FF00FF), white (#FFFFFF), and red (#FF0000) on a digital color chart will find a flower with the nearest- matching Hex Code (#RRGGBB). During instances in which the floral design processing system employs decimal color codes to categorize floral arrangement data 212 (FIG. 2), the process for finding the closest-matching flower colors by browsing a range of colors will be employed again using R-G-B colors ranging from 0-255, and selecting the nearest available matching color on a digital color chart. The floral design processing system may convert hexadecimal color vales to RGB decimal color codes (and/or vice-versa), in order to facilitate matching a user's premises with similarly-colored floral arrangements.

FIG. 4 is block diagram illustrating process flow in designing a floral arrangement and arranging fulfillment by the floral design processing system according to the present disclosure. With the process flow of FIG. 4, a user/customer sends an image of premises 11 1 along with customer data to the floral design processing center 105. The interface between the user/customer and the floral design processing system 105 may be web browser based or application based, e.g., Apple or Android application. The interface is robust enough to allow the user/customer to upload the image and interface with the floral design processing system 105 to select a floral arrangement for delivery.

The floral design processing system 105 is also in electronic communication with a plurality of fulfillment centers 113, 1 15 and 117. The interface between the floral design processing system 105 and the plurality of fulfillment centers 1 13, 1 15, and 117 may be via web browser interface, application based, or proprietary interface. Data exchange between the floral design processing system 105 and the plurality of fulfillment centers 113, 115 and 1 17 includes uploading product availability data from the fulfillment centers 1 13, 115, and 117, such as container data, floral availability data, location data, delivery availability data, floral arranger availability data, and other data relating the fulfillment centers ability.

With the data received from user/customer and from the fulfillment centers 113, 115 and 1 17, the floral design processing system 105 produces a floral design customized for the premises 11 1 based upon user/customer input. The manner in which such a floral design is selected is described further herein. Once this floral design, which includes selection of a container, is determined the floral design processing center selects a fulfillment enter among 113, 1 15, and 1 17 for processing a corresponding order. Selection of the fulfillment center is based upon a number of factors, including the availability of containers and flowers at the delivery centers 113, 115 and 1 17, the availability of workers at the floral delivery centers that can produce the arrangement for delivery, the availability of delivery from the floral delivery center to the premises 1 11, the time to fulfillment of the order, the cost of fulfillment, preferences for one fulfillment center over another fulfillment center, profitability considerations, the predicted future ability of the fulfillment center to service subsequent orders, and other relevant information. Based upon this decision, the floral design processing system 105 submits an order to the chosen fulfillment center, e.g., 117.

The chosen fulfillment center 117 receives the order and processes the order by creating the floral arrangement. In completing the order, the fulfillment center 117 may actually place selected flowers and other components into a chosen container prior to delivering the completed floral design to the premises 1 11. In another example of order fulfillment, the chosen fulfillment center 1 17 only selects flowers to fulfill the order and sends them to the premises 11 1 along with a designer to fulfill the order at the premises 11 1. Thus, the fulfillment center 117 either fully produces the floral arrangement for delivery or delivers the constituent components of the floral arrangement for final assembly at the premises 11 1. Delivery of the floral arrangement is performed either by dedicated delivery service or via common courier.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating operations of the floral design processing system according to the present disclosure. Operations 500 commence with the floral design processing system receiving an image of a physical space (Step 502). The image received may be a 2D or 3 D image. The image may be transmitted via communication link from a customer, the customer may direct the image to be uploaded from another site, or the customer may select the image from local storage, the image having been previously uploaded.

Operations 500 continue with the floral design processing system deconstructing the image of the physical space into characteristics including at least one physical space geometrical characteristic and at least one color characteristic (Step 504). Deconstruction of the image may further include deconstructing the image of the physical space into a plurality of texture data, space dimension data, layout data, component data, room type data, furniture data, window data, floor data, lighting data, and other data respective to the space corresponding to the image. Note that if a 3D image is used to characterize the physical space much more data can be extracted from the image than from a simple 2D image. Such data may be used to better select a floral arrangement for the space corresponding to the image.

Operations 500 then include selecting a floral container from floral container data based upon the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic and the at least one color characteristic (Step 506). The floral container data may correspond to available inventory at fulfillment centers. Further, the floral container data may also relate to a floral container already on-site at the premises that will be used for the floral arrangement. Further still, the floral container data may correspond to floral containers that are available via third parties other than the fulfillment centers. Such data may be determined by the floral design processing center via web crawling of third party sites, downloading floral container data, and storing the floral container data for future access. Note that if an order is placed for such a third party floral container a separate ordering process may be required to either have the floral container delivered to the premises or to a fulfillment center for use in creating the floral display. Operations 500 continue with selecting a plurality of flower types from the floral availability data based upon the at least one color characteristic (Step 508). Based upon prior or concurrent communications with the fulfillment centers, the floral design processing system has in its database the availability of particular flowers, the color of the flowers, the number of flowers available, freshness of the flowers, and other relevant information regarding flowers available at the fulfillment centers. The floral design processing system, based upon data obtained from deconstructing the 2D or 3D image, e.g., color palette, textures, room feature sizes, incoming light, type of room, etc., selects a plurality of flower types for use in creating a floral design.

Then, based upon the selected flower types and other data obtained from deconstructing the 2D or 3D image, the floral design processing system selects a floral arrangement (Step 510). The manner in which the floral arrangement is selected includes selecting from pre-determined arrangements, creating a partially custom floral arrangement, or creating a fully custom floral arrangement. The selection of the arrangement is based upon the data obtained from deconstructing the 2D or 3D image, customer data, customer selections, computer simulation of proposed designs, and other data. The selection operation of Step 510 typically includes at least some customer interaction with the floral design processing system. However, in other operations, the floral design processing system makes all selections automatically based upon availability of floral containers and flowers at the fulfillment centers with none or minimal interaction.

After the floral arrangement is selected and its design completed, the floral design processing center selects a fulfillment center and sends an order for the floral arrangement to the fulfillment center (Step 512). The fulfillment center then fulfills the order, either delivering the floral arrangement to premises, having a third party deliver the arrangement, or preparing the floral arrangement for pickup by the customer or the customer's representative.

In selecting the floral arrangement at Step 510, the floral design processing center selects an arrangement size, create a template based upon the arrangement size, and for a plurality of differing proposed arrangements, segregates the template into a plurality of sections using a respective fractal permutation, selects at least one flower type and flower color based upon section size and the at least one color characteristic, and constructs the proposed floral arrangement to incorporate the plurality of sections with corresponding selected flower type and flower color. Examples of accomplishing these operations are further described herein with reference to FIGs. 7A-8F. FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operations of the floral design processing system according to the present disclosure for selecting a fulfillment center and in processing an order. The operations 600 of FIG. 6 are may be performed in conjunction with the operations 500 of FIG. 5. Operations commence with the floral design processing center receiving customer data, including customer location data and customer premises data (Step 602). This data may be received via a web page interface or an application interface with the customer or a customer's representative. Operations continue with the selection of a fulfillment center based upon a customer's location, a selected floral arrangement, flowers used therewith, and at least one delivery option (Step 604). Then, the floral design processing system or a supporting system collects payment from the customer (Step 606). Payment may be collected by credit card, bank draft, a third party payment system, or by another technique. The floral design processing system then transmits the order to a selected fulfillment center with corresponding delivery options (Step 608). The floral design processing system then determines whether the current order is a recurring order (Step 610). If so, the floral design processing system then collects reordering details, saves data corresponding thereto, and queues a new order or order invitation based upon the future transaction (Step 612). If the current order is not a recurring order, the customer account is placed on hold with regard to future orders (Step 614). In any case, the customer may be sent emails regarding possible or pending future orders as follow up. FIG. 7A is diagram illustrating the segregation of a template into a plurality of sections using a respective fractal permutation for a proposed floral arrangement according to the present disclosure. Dividing a square 701 into five sections as illustrated in 703 illustrates the method used by which the pixels in an image are proportionally assigned to individual sections within larger fractal geometry according to their color.

The floral design processing system maintains a ratio of this type in order to produce the maximum floral diversity in each arrangement. This segregation of a template into a plurality of sections helps guarantee that the floral design processing system does not use images of a user's premises to produce a floral arrangement of all one type of flower of all the same color (i.e., such as a floral arrangement made up of sixteen red roses). For bouquets large and small, the floral design processing system will always rely on the fractal permutation of colors to achieve a maximum of diversity in each floral arrangement's colors, types of flowers, and sizes of flowers.

As FIG. 7A illustrates, the square 703 is further subdivided into sections 702, 704, 706, 708, and 710, wherein the smallest segmented squares are 708 and 710, and are of equal ratio in terms of their size relative to the whole, subsection 706 is twice as large as one of the smallest segments. Similarly, square 704 is twice as large in size as figure 706 and figure 702 is twice as large as figure 704. This particular segregation of 701 into smaller rectangles and squares is mathematically related to the fractal Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8), but slightly different (1, 1, 2, 4, 8) and is mathematically referred to as the heptanacci number sequence generalized by the Fibonacci numbers. Both sequences are realized by 5 or 6 permutation groups which is a ratio commonly found in nature and more popularly known as the Fibonacci Sequence and mimicked in this invention as a natural reflection of beauty. Other examples of Fibonacci w-step number sequences are summarized in FIG. 7B, and may be used in the creation of larger customized floral arrangements if a fulfillment center's floral availability data permits the user to do so.

FIG. 7B is a table summarizing various alternate constructs of segregations of an image into smaller segments using differing sequence types. Alternative floral arrangements can be generated using either fibonacci-like sequences (such as those illustrated in the first three rows) or by using a more basic geometry such as the magic square grid. The inventor's preferred method of generating floral arrangements is by using the tetranacci number sequence geometry illustrated in the floral design processing system described in FIG. 7A.

FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating five proposed color arrangements for the template of color divisions according to the present disclosure of colors found to be dominant in FIG. 3, 302. If the image 302 in FIG. 3 being processed by the floral design processing system has a plurality of colors BLUE #0000FF [a.k.a. RGB (0, 0, 255)], RED #FF0000 [a.k.a. RGB (255, 0, 0)], WHITE #FFFFFF [a.k.a. RGB (255, 255, 255)], YELLOW #FFFF00 [a.k.a. RGB (255, 255, 0)], and GREEN #008000 [a.k.a. RGB (0, 128, 0)] in the user's premise, then each of those colors will be rotated into a position of the equation until five floral arrangements are generated. This gives the user of the floral design processing system five floral arrangements to choose from, and if none of the five floral arrangements is satisfactory to the user, then the user may wish to further customize their desired settings to tweak the outputs. One method of changing which flowers are selected to fill sections of a template to manually select which flowers are desired by browsing and selecting from the floral database.

If the user desires a standard-size floral arrangement for their premise, then multiple large, medium, and small sized flowers are included in the floral arrangement, including medium sized flowers of various colors and large flowers of various colors.

If a standard floral arrangement is desired, the floral design processing system will fill the entirety of section 702 with flowers whose colors match those found in the image(s) of their premise. If an exact match of colors is unavailable, then the closest matching ##RRGGBB color value will be substituted into the floral arrangement either in the form of:

8 small flowers (of various types, if possible),

4 medium flowers (of various types, if possible), or

2 large flowers (of different types, if possible).

Likewise, section 704 will be filled with #RRGGBB (or similar) colored flowers in the form of either:

4 small flowers (of various types, if possible),

2 medium flowers (of different types, if possible), or

1 large flower containing a hue that matches or closely matches the #RRGGBB hue assigned to that section.

Section 706 follows suit by assigning either:

2 small flowers (of various types, if possible), or

1 medium flower.

Sections 708 and 710 are the last and smallest sections and should be filled with one small flower each matching the color of its section. However, if a standard floral arrangement is desired, and only four large flowers are chosen from the memory/database 206 (FIG. 2), one flower may contain multiple color characteristics, in order to maintain the fractional color ratios by combining sections 706, 708, and 710 into one flower. Such an example is indicated in FIG. 8F, whereby one of the flowers contained a plurality of color hues #FFFF00, #FF0000, and #0000FF and was assigned to fill sections 706, 708, and 710 because those sections needed such colors.

To accommodate larger floral arrangements, the quantity of flowers per section should increase respectively, but as each arrangement grows larger in size, the ratio of flowers to each section should remain relatively the same as the tetranacci number sequence as illustrated in the GEOGRAPHICAL SEGREGATION column, in the third row of FIG. 7B.

FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating the first proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure. Shown are various combinations of flowers of differing types and colors to fill in portions of a segregated template.

FIG. 8C is a diagram illustrating the second proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG.7A according to the present disclosure. Shown are various combinations of flowers of differing types and colors to fill in portions of a segregated template. FIG. 8D is a diagram illustrating the third proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure. Shown are various combinations of flowers of differing types and colors to fill in portions of a segregated template.

FIG. 8E is a diagram illustrating a fourth proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure. Shown are various combinations of flowers of differing types and colors to fill in portions of a segregated template.

FIG. 8F is a diagram illustrating a fifth proposed floral arrangement for the template of FIG. 7A according to the present disclosure. Shown are various combinations of flowers of differing types and colors to fill in portions of a segregated template.

As may also be used herein, the term processing circuitry may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing circuitry may be, or further include, memory and/or an integrated memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of another processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that if the processing circuitry includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located (e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be distributed (e.g., cloud computing via indirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network). Further note that if the processing circuitry implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memory element may store, and the processing circuitry, and/or processing unit executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated in one or more of the FIGs. Such a memory device or memory element can be included in an article of manufacture.

One or more embodiments have been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claims. Further, the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality.

To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claims. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof. In addition, a flow diagram may include a "start" and/or "continue" indication. The "start" and "continue" indications reflect that the steps presented can optionally be incorporated in or otherwise used in conjunction with other routines. In this context, "start" indicates the beginning of the first step presented and may be preceded by other activities not specifically shown.

The one or more embodiments are used herein to illustrate one or more aspects, one or more features, one or more concepts, and/or one or more examples. A physical embodiment of an apparatus, an article of manufacture, a machine, and/or of a process may include one or more of the aspects, features, concepts, examples, etc. described with reference to one or more of the embodiments discussed herein. Further, from figure to figure, the embodiments may incorporate the same or similarly named functions, steps, modules, etc. that may use the same or different reference numbers and, as such, the functions, steps, modules, etc. may be the same or similar functions, steps, modules, etc. or different ones.

While particular combinations of various functions and features of the one or more embodiments have been expressly described herein, other combinations of these features and functions are likewise possible. The present disclosure is not limited by the particular examples disclosed herein and expressly incorporates these other combinations.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A floral design processing system comprising:

a communication interface;

at least one database configured to store received images, floral container data, floral arrangement data, and floral availability data;

processing circuitry, the processing circuitry, in conjunction with the communication interface, and the at least one database, configured to:

receive an image of a physical space;

deconstruct the image of the physical space into characteristics including at least one physical space geometrical characteristic and at least one color characteristic;

select a floral container from the floral container data based upon the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic and the at least one color characteristic;

select a plurality of flower types from the floral availability data based upon the at least one color characteristic; and

based upon the selected plurality of flower types, the floral container, and the at least one color characteristic, select a floral arrangement that includes a selected plurality of flowers.

2. The floral design processing system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry, in conjunction with the communication interface and the at least one database, is further configured to:

deconstruct the image of the physical space into a plurality of texture data; and select the floral arrangement based upon the plurality of texture data.

3. The floral design processing system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry, in conjunction with the communication interface and the at least one database, is further configured to: select fulfillment center order based upon the selected floral container, the selected plurality of flower types, and the selected floral arrangement;

prepare an order corresponding to the selected floral container, the selected plurality of flower types, and the selected floral arrangement; and

transmit the order to the selected fulfillment center.

4. The floral design processing system of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry, in conjunction with the communication interface and the at least one database, is further configured to:

determine a location of the physical space; and

select the fulfillment center further based upon the location of the physical space.

5. The floral design processing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of flower types are further selected based upon the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic.

6. The floral design processing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic is further based upon received user input.

7. The floral design processing system of claim 1, wherein, in selecting a floral arrangement that includes a selected plurality of flowers, the processing circuitry is further configured to: select an arrangement size;

create a template based upon the arrangement size;

for a plurality of differing proposed arrangements:

segregate the template into a plurality of sections using a respective fractal permutation;

for each of the plurality of sections, select at least one flower type and flower color based upon section size and the at least one color characteristic; and

construct a proposed floral arrangement to incorporate the plurality of sections with corresponding selected flower type and flower color.

8. The floral design processing system of claim 1, wherein:

the image of the physical space comprises three dimensional data; and

selection of the floral container is based at least in part upon the three dimensional data.

9. A floral design processing system comprising:

a communication interface;

receive an image of a physical space;

receive data regarding a floral container corresponding to the physical space; select a floral container from the floral container data based upon the data regarding the floral container corresponding to the physical space;

10. The floral design processing system of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry, in conjunction with the communication interface and the at least one database, is further configured to:

1 1. The floral design processing system of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry, in conjunction with the communication interface and the at least one database, is further configured to:

select fulfillment center order based upon the selected floral container, the selected plurality of flower types, and the selected floral arrangement;

transmit the order to the selected fulfillment center.

12. The floral design processing system of claim 1 1, wherein the processing circuitry, in conjunction with the communication interface and the at least one database, is further configured to:

determine a location of the physical space; and

13. The floral design processing system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of flower types are further selected based upon the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic.

14. The floral design processing system of claim 9, wherein the at least one physical space geometrical characteristic is further based upon received user input.

15. The floral design processing system of claim 9, wherein, in selecting a floral arrangement that includes a selected plurality of flowers, the processing circuitry is further configured to: select an arrangement size;

create a template based upon the arrangement size;

for a plurality of differing proposed arrangements:

segregate the template into a plurality of sections using a respective fractal permutation; for each of the plurality of sections, select at least one flower type and flower color based upon section size and the at least one color characteristic; and

construct the proposed arrangement to incorporate the plurality of sections with corresponding selected flower type and flower color.

The floral design processing system of claim 9, wherein:

the image of the physical space comprises three dimensional data; and