Method for merging images
US5185808A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 6, 1991 |
| Grant date | Feb 9, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 6, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T5/20
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An imagery data mechanism for controllably merging separate, digitally formatted and arbitrarily shaped images eliminates overlap-edge artifacts by gradually blending a paste image (40) along its border (44) with a base image (30), regardless of the shape of the paste image. The mechanism employs a `feathering` window (50) containing a plurality of neighboring pixel locations over which the pixel values of the paste image are controllably modified as to their transparency to achieve a tapered blending of the two images. Whether data value of any pixel within the display is to be modified from a given database value will depend upon whether or not that pixel location is both within the paste image and a prescribed distance to the border (44) of the paste image. If the pixel location is not part of the image, it is effectively masked, so that not only does feathering not take place, but neither the base image nor the paste image contributes to its data value.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.