Patent ID: 7236642

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining image information of a transparent object in a digital image from a transparent object bitmap wherein said transparent object bit map comprises a plurality of pixels and each pixel has encoded therein a transparency weight for that pixel creating a plurality of image areas, wherein said plurality of image areas cover a total area of the transparent object; and each image area covers a different portion of said transparent object; combining, pixel-by-pixel, pixels of said transparent object covered by an image area with pixels of a background image of said digital image also covered by said image area wherein said background image does not include said transparent object, wherein said combining includes using a transparency weight of a pixel from said transparency object bitmap together with a weight for a corresponding pixel of said background image to create combined pixel information that is a combination of both of pixel information of said transparent object and pixel information of said background image; and storing said combined pixel information in said image area.