US 2001/0033295 A1 · System, method, and product for resolution-independent image translation

Abstract

A system, method and product are provided for resolution-independent image translation. Such system, method and product convey, through the use of a resolution-independent coordinate system, a description of location, shape, color, spline, and other distinguishing characteristics of images, including edited effects, rendered on a low-resolution image. The low-resolution images upon which the effects are imposed may be user-selected without converting high-resolution, non-digital, images into high-resolution, digital, images. Such resolution-independent information based on low-resolution images may be applied automatically, i.e., without human intervention, to reproduce the special effects on a corresponding high-resolution image. In a typical application, the user-selected, low-resolution, images upon which the effects are imposed are analog or digital video images. Also typically, the corresponding high-resolution images upon which the effects are automatically reproduced are film images.

Claims32

Dependent claims

A resolution-independent image translation system that operates upon at least one low-resolution image converted from a corresponding at least one high-resolution image, comprising:

means for user-rendering at least one effect having a location on the at least one low-resolution image;
and
a resolution-independent image translator that generates at least one record comprising at least one resolution-independent datum describing the at least one effect.

A method for resolution-independent image translation, comprising the steps of:

(a) converting a plurality of high-resolution images to corresponding low-resolution images;
(b) enabling user selection of at least one high-resolution image based on the corresponding low-resolution images;
(c) enabling editing of at least one of the corresponding low-resolution images to include at least one effect;
(d) generating at least one record of such at least one effect including at least one first resolution-independent datum that describes the location of the effect and at least one second resolution-independent datum that describes at least one location-related distinguishing characteristic of the effect;
(e) providing a user interface to receive a first resolution of the first resolution-independent datum and a second resolution of the second resolution-independent datum;
(f) generating at least one first low-resolution datum that describes the location of the at least one effect on the at least one low-resolution image;
(g) generating at least one second low-resolution datum that describes at least one location-related distinguishing characteristic of the at least one effect on the at least one low-resolution image;
(h) scaling the at least one first low-resolution datum using the first user-selected resolution;
(i) generating the first resolution-independent datum using the scaled at least one first low-resolution datum;
(j) scaling the at least one second low-resolution datum using the second user-selected resolution;
(k) generating the second resolution-independent datum using the scaled at least one second low-resolution datum;
and
(1) storing in the metadata data structure the first resolution-independent datum and the second resolution-independent datum.

10 more elements

A computer program product for use with an appropriate computing system having at least one central processing unit (CPU), an operating system, at least one input device, at least one output device, and at least one memory unit, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having embodied therein computer readable program code method steps, the method steps comprising:
(a) converting a plurality of high-resolution images to corresponding low-resolution images;
(b) enabling user selection of at least one high-resolution image based on the corresponding low-resolution images;
(c) enabling editing of at least one of the corresponding low-resolution images to include at least one effect;
(d) generating at least one record of such at least one effect including at least one first resolution-independent datum that describes the location of the effect and at least one second resolution-independent datum that describes at least one location-related distinguishing characteristic of the effect;
(e) providing a user interface to receive a first resolution of the first resolution-independent datum and a second resolution of the second resolution-independent datum;
(f) generating at least one first low-resolution datum that describes the location of the at least one effect on the at least one low-resolution image;
(g) generating at least one second low-resolution datum that describes at least one location-related distinguishing characteristic of the at least one effect on the at least one low-resolution image;
(h) scaling the at least one first low-resolution datum using the first user-selected resolution;
(i) generating the first resolution-independent datum using the scaled at least one first low-resolution datum;
(j) scaling the at least one second low-resolution datum using the second user-selected resolution;
(k) generating the second resolution-independent datum using the scaled at least one second low-resolution datum;
and
(l) storing in the metadata data structure the first resolution-independent datum and the second resolution-independent datum.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System, method, and product for resolution-independent image translation

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System, method, and product for resolution-independent image translation

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Abstract

Claims32