Patent Publication Number: US-2002003631-A1

Title: System and method for producing a coloring book image from a digital image

Description:
[0001] This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/187,332 filed Mar. 6, 2000. 
    
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] The present invention relates generally digital imaging. In particular, the present invention relates to the production of coloring book images from digital images.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003] Coloring book images have traditionally been created by a printing method and the images have traditionally been purchased in book form. With the advent of digital images, consumers wish to create personalized and specialized coloring book images from their own digital images. Although it is well know to render line-art images from digital images, there is currently no method or system to automatically create coloring book images from digital images.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004] A method and system for producing a coloring book image from a digital image are described. In one embodiment, a line-art image is rendered from a digital image. The line-art image is formatted to produce a coloring book image and the coloring book image is printed.  
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0005] Features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art in light of the following detailed description in which:  
     [0006]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment for a distributed coloring book production system;  
     [0007]FIG. 2 is a block diagram for one embodiment of an architecture for a computer system;  
     [0008]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment for a non-volatile memory of FIG. 2;  
     [0009]FIG. 4 is an exemplary digital image;  
     [0010]FIG. 5 is an exemplary line-art image;  
     [0011]FIG. 6 is an exemplary coloring book image;  
     [0012]FIG. 7 is an exemplary color-by-numbers coloring book image;  
     [0013]FIG. 8 is an exemplary coloring book storyboard;  
     [0014]FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of one embodiment for automatically producing a coloring book image from a digital image;  
     [0015]FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of one embodiment for automatically producing a coloring book image from a digital image over a distributed system;  
     [0016]FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of one embodiment for automatically printing a coloring book image produced from a digital image at a client; and  
     [0017]FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of one embodiment for automatically producing a coloring book image from a digital image at a server.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     [0018] A method and system for producing a coloring book image from a digital image are described. In one embodiment, a line-art image is rendered from a digital image. The line-art image is formatted to produce a coloring book image and the coloring book image is printed.  
     [0019] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.  
     [0020] Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.  
     [0021] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system&#39;s registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.  
     [0022] The embodiments also relate to a system for performing the operations herein. This system may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus.  
     [0023] The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. In addition, the embodiments are not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the embodiments as described herein.  
     [0024]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment for a distributed coloring book production system  100 . Referring to FIG. 1, server  120  is connected to mass storage device  125 . Server  120  and mass storage device  125  are connected via wide area network (WAN)  110  to a number of clients  105  and  115 . Wide area network  110  may be connected to any of a variety of clients  105  and  115 . Clients  105  and  115  may be, for example, a personal computer  105  or a client at a public kiosk  115 . In the discussion that follows, the term client may be used interchangeably for a personal computer  105 , public kiosk  115 , or any other suitable system access device.  
     [0025] In one embodiment, a user loads a digital image into client  105 . Any suitable means for loading the digital image may be used such as, for example, using a digital scanner, a digital camera, memory stick, digital camcorder, or the like. The digital image may be any digital image such as, for example, an eight-bit or sixteen-bit grayscale image, an eight-bit duotone image, an eight-bit paletted image, a sixteen-bit, twenty-four-bit, thirty-two-bit, or forty-eight-bit color image, or the like. In one embodiment, the digital image may be transmitted from client  105  via WAN  110  to server  120 . At server  120 , a line-art image may be rendered from the digital image and a coloring book image may be formatted from the line-art image. The line-art image may be rendered from the digital image by any well-known rotoscoping technique. The coloring book image may be transmitted to client  105  and printed. In an alternate embodiment, the rendering and/or formatting may be performed on client  105  or a part of the coloring book image production process may be performed on client  105  and server  120 . In an alternate embodiment, the printing of the coloring book image may be performed at a server  120  site and the printed image shipped to the user. Alternatively, the coloring book image may be transmitted to another site (server or client site) at the user&#39;s direction and subsequently printed.  
     [0026] In one embodiment, the user may load the digital image at public kiosk  115 . Public kiosk  115  may be located, for example, in a shopping center or at a store location. Public kiosk  115  includes a suitable system access device for interacting with server  120 . For example, the system access device may be a cradle for docking a memory stick or digital camera and a means for contacting and interacting with server  120 , such as a keyboard. The digital image may be rendered and formatted into the coloring book image at server  120  and the coloring book image may be printed at public kiosk  115 . In an alternate embodiment, the coloring book image may be printed at server  120  or other site and shipped to the user by direct mail or other appropriate means. Alternatively, the entire process of producing the coloring book image from the digital image may be performed at public kiosk  115 . In one embodiment, a fee may be charged for printing the coloring book image. In an alternate embodiment, a fee may be charged for rendering, formatting, and printing the image.  
     [0027] In any of the embodiments described above, the coloring book image may be transmitted to another site for printing, such as, for example, to another client  105 ,  115  or to another server  120  site.  
     [0028] In any embodiment described above, color samples may be generated from the digital image and a fixed or programmable palette of colors may be assigned to image areas of the coloring book image. Further, an index number may be assigned to a corresponding sample color and the index number and color may be printed with the coloring book image to produce a color-by-numbers coloring book image. The coloring book images generated in any of the embodiments described above may be combined with stock line-art images to generate a storyboard. The storyboard may be printed in the form of a coloring book.  
     [0029]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an architecture for a computer system  200 . Computer system  200  may be used for client  105  or public kiosk  115 , or server  120 . Referring to FIG. 2, CPU  210  is coupled via a bus  250  to a variety of memory structures and input/output (I/O)  260  such as, for example, a printer. The memory structures may include read only memory (ROM)  220 , random access memory (RAM)  230 , and/or non-volatile memory  240 . In one embodiment, CPU  210  may also be coupled via bus  250  to a network interface. The network interface may be used to communicate between computer system  200  and a variety of other clients, servers, and computers via a wide area network such as, for example, the Internet or communicate over a local area network. The network interface may be coupled to wide area network  110  by any of a variety of means such as, for example, a telephone connection via modem, a DSL line, a wireless connection, or the like.  
     [0030]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment for non-volatile memory  240  of FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 3, non-volatile memory  240  contains rendering application  310 , stock images  320 , line-art image  330 , coloring book image  340 , color samples  350 , and storyboard  360 . Although described as a single application, rendering application  310  may consist of a number of separate applications maintained within separate locations or memory. Although described as a single image, line-art image  330  and coloring book image  340  may contain one or more images.  
     [0031] In one embodiment, rendering application  310  may be used to render a digital image into line-art image  330 . In addition, rendering application  310  may be used to format line-art image  330  into coloring book image  340 . Further, rendering application  310  may be used to generate a number of color samples  350  from the digital image. Color samples  350  may be generated from fixed color palettes or may be programmable palettes. Color samples  350  represent the paletted colors of image areas of the original digital image. For example, if the original digital image is of a face, the color samples  350  may correspond to the lips, hair, or the like. Color samples  350  may be assigned an index number corresponding to the given image area and the color, color name, and/or index number may be printed together with the color book image  340 . Stock images  320  contain a number of digital images that may be combined with coloring book image  340  to produce storyboard  360 . Storyboard  360  may be printed as a coloring book that consists of a number of coloring book images  340 . Storyboard  360  images may be printed with or without color samples  350 .  
     [0032]FIG. 4 is an exemplary digital image  400 . Referring to FIG. 4, digital image  400  may be any mode of digital image such as, for example, an eight-bit or sixteen-bit grayscale image, an eight-bit duotone image, an eight-bit paletted image, a sixteen-bit, twenty-four-bit, thirty-two-bit, or forty-eight-bit color image, or the like. In one embodiment, digital image  400  is a high-bit-mode digital image that is rendered into a line-art image by any well-known rotoscoping process.  
     [0033]FIG. 5 is an exemplary line-art image  500 . Referring to FIG. 5, line-art image  500  may be rendered from digital image  400 . Any of a variety of well know rotoscoping methods may be used to produce line-art image  500  from digital image  400 . For example, a number of well known image filters may be used to reduce and change the mode of a digital image by using edge detection, mode reduction, or the like.  
     [0034]FIG. 6 is an exemplary coloring book image  600 . Referring to FIG. 6, coloring book image  600  is formatted from line-art image  500 . Coloring book image  600  is formatted so that the image is properly placed on the page for printing by any standard printing process. Coloring book image  600  is formatted so that line-art image  500  is fully visible on the printed page. In one embodiment, a single image is formatted into coloring book image  600 . Alternatively, a number of images may be formatted so as to fit onto coloring book image  600 .  
     [0035]FIG. 7 is an exemplary color-by-numbers coloring book image  700 . Referring to FIG. 7, color-by-numbers coloring book image  700  includes color index  705 , and image  735 . Color index  705  includes color palette  710 ,  715  and color index  720 . Color index  720  includes index number  725  and color name  730 . Image  735  includes image areas  740 ,  745 . Image areas  740 ,  745  include color number  750 ,  755 . Color number  750  corresponds to index number  725  which indicates, for example, that image area  740 , having a color number  750  of “2” corresponds to index number  725  and name  730  and that image area  740  should be colored the color represented by color palette  715 . Color palettes  710 ,  715  are generated from digital image  400  and are a paletted representation of the original colors of image areas  740 ,  745  within digital image  400 . Any well know means for generating color palettes  710 ,  715  may be used to generate color index  705 .  
     [0036] FIGS.  8  is an exemplary coloring book storyboard  800 . Referring to FIG. 8, coloring book storyboard  800  includes line-art image  805  and stock images  810 ,  815 ,  820 . Line-art image  805  may be combined with stock images  810 ,  815 ,  820  to create coloring book storyboard  800 . Coloring book storyboard  800  may be generated automatically or at the direction of the user. The user may choose which stock images  810 ,  815 ,  820  may be included in coloring book storyboard  800  and in which order. In one embodiment, a number of stock images together with any number of line-art images may be combined to generate coloring book storyboard  800 . Any number of means may be used to manipulate line-art image  805  and stock images  810 ,  815 ,  820  to produce storyboard  800 . For example, the user may choose images by placing a number representing the order of the images within coloring book storyboard  800  in a suitable area within a display or may drag the images from the image display area to coloring book storyboard  800 . The user may then rearrange the images on coloring book storyboard  800 .  
     [0037]FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of one embodiment for automatically producing a coloring book image from a digital image. At processing block  905 , digital image  400  is selected for production. Digital image  400  may be any digital image such as, for example, an eight-bit or sixteen-bit grayscale image, an eight-bit duotone image, an eight-bit paletted image, a sixteen-bit, twenty-four-bit, thirty-two-bit, or forty-eight-bit color image, or the like.  
     [0038] At processing block  910 , line-art image  500  is rendered from digital image  400 . Line-art image  500  may be rendered from digital image  400  by any well-known rotoscoping technique. In one embodiment, color samples  350  may be generated from digital image  400  and assigned to a corresponding image area  740  of line-art image  500 . In one embodiment, index number  725  may be assigned to a corresponding color sample  350 .  
     [0039] At processing block  920 , line-art image  500  is formatted into coloring book image  600 . In one embodiment, color index  705  may be generated and formatted together with line-art image  500  to produce coloring book image  600 . In an alternate embodiment, line-art image  500  may be formatted with stock images  320  to generate coloring book storyboard  800 . In this alternate embodiment, color index  705  may be formatted with line-art image  500  and stock images  320  to generate coloring book storyboard  800 .  
     [0040] At processing block  925 , coloring book image  600  is printed. In one embodiment, coloring book image  600  may be printed. In an alternate embodiment, color-by-numbers coloring book image  700  may be printed. In another alternate embodiment, coloring book storyboard  800  may be printed.  
     [0041]FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of one embodiment for automatically producing coloring book image  600  from digital image  400  over distributed system  100 . At processing block  1005 , digital image  400  is received from client  105 ,  115  at server  120 .  
     [0042] At processing block  1010 , digital image  400  is rendered into line-art image  500 . Any well known rotoscoping process may be used to render line-art image  500 .  
     [0043] At processing block  1020 , line-art image  500  is formatted into coloring book image  600 . In one embodiment, color index  705  may be generated and formatted together with line-art image  500  to produce coloring book image  600 . In an alternate embodiment, line-art image  500  may be formatted with stock images  320  to produce coloring book storyboard  800 . In this alternate embodiment, color index  705  may alternatively be formatted with line-art image  500  and stock images  320  to produce coloring book storyboard  800 .  
     [0044] At processing block  1025 , coloring book image  600  is transmitted to client  105 ,  115 . In one embodiment, coloring book image  600  may be transmitted to client  105 ,  115 . In an alternate embodiment, color-by-numbers coloring book image  700  may be transmitted to client  105 ,  115 . In another alternate embodiment, coloring book storyboard  800  may be transmitted to client  105 ,  115 .  
     [0045] At processing block  1030 , coloring book image  600  is printed at client  105 ,  115 . In an alternate embodiment, color-by-numbers coloring book image  700  may be printed. In another alternate embodiment, coloring book storyboard  800  may be printed. In an alternate embodiment, coloring book image  600  may be transmitted via WAN  110  to an alternative server  120  site or client  105 ,  115  for printing.  
     [0046]FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of one embodiment for automatically printing coloring book image  600  produced from digital image  400  at client  105 ,  115 . At processing block  1105 , digital image  400  is transmitted from client  105 ,  115  to server  120 .  
     [0047] At processing block  1110 , coloring book image  600  is received from server  120  at client  105 ,  115 . Coloring book image has been rendered and formatted from digital image  400 . In one embodiment, coloring book image  600  may be received. In an alternate embodiment, color-by-numbers coloring book image  700  may be received. In another alternate embodiment, coloring book storyboard  800  may be received.  
     [0048] At processing block  1115 , coloring book image  600  is printed at client  105 ,  115 . In one embodiment, coloring book image  600  may be printed. In an alternate embodiment, color-by-numbers coloring book image  700  may be printed. In another alternate embodiment, coloring book storyboard  800  may be printed.  
     [0049]FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of one embodiment for automatically producing coloring book image  600  from digital image  400  at server  120 . At processing block  1205 , digital image  400  is received from client  105 ,  115 .  
     [0050] At processing block  1210 , digital image  400  is rendered into line-art image  500 . Line-art image  500  may be rendered from digital image  400  by any well-known rotoscoping technique. In one embodiment, color sample  350  may be generated from digital image  400  and assigned to a corresponding image area of line-art image  500 . In one embodiment, index number  725  corresponding to sample color  350  may be assigned.  
     [0051] At processing block  1215 , line-art image  500  is formatted into coloring book image  600 . In one embodiment, line-art image  500  may be rendered into coloring book image  600 . In an alternate embodiment, line-art image  500  may be rendered into color-by-numbers coloring book image  700 . In another alternate embodiment, line-art image  500  may be rendered into coloring book storyboard  800 .  
     [0052] At processing block  1220 , coloring book image  600  is transmitted to client  105 ,  115 . In one embodiment, coloring book image  600  may be transmitted. In an alternate embodiment, color-by-numbers coloring book image  700  may be transmitted. In another alternate embodiment, coloring book storyboard  800  may be transmitted. In an alternate embodiment, coloring book image  600 , color-by-numbers coloring book image  700 , or coloring book storyboard  800  may be transmitted to another server  120  site or to an alternate client  105 ,  115  from the client  105 ,  115  that the digital image  400  was received in processing block  1205 .  
     [0053] The specific arrangements and methods herein are merely illustrative of the principles of this invention. Numerous modifications in form and detail may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. What is claimed is: