Patent ID: 8086050

Claim:
A method comprising: analyzing, at a computer system, image data at each resolution for multiple resolutions of an image; generating, at the computer system, a plurality of layers using a preliminary background image and preliminary foreground image created with low resolution image data relating to a plurality of lower resolution versions of the image, wherein the plurality of layers comprise a first background image and a first foreground image, including removing noise from the preliminary background image and preliminary foreground image to prevent halftone noise from entering a mask generated with the first background image and first foreground image; generating, at the computer system, the mask describing compositing of the plurality of layers to obtain the image by comparing the image with the first background and first foreground images created using image data from multiple resolutions of the image, wherein the first foreground and first background image composite to the image using the mask; and filling pixels to obtain a second foreground and a second background image, at the computer system, in each of the plurality of layers of the first foreground image and first background image, by propagating foreground and background fill values at multiple resolutions, where the pixels being filled are those that do not contribute to the image when the plurality of layers are composited, wherein filling pixels includes using a contrast sensitivity function applied to the second foreground and second background image to perform visual masking.