Patent ID: 7415153

Claim:
A method comprising employing a vocabulary of color names in assigning a color name to a pixel in a digital representation, including the steps of: providing said vocabulary of color names with a plurality of color prototypes, each said color prototype having a prototype color name and a corresponding prototype color value; comparing a pixel color value of said pixel to said prototype color value of each color prototype in the vocabulary, and obtaining a color match value for said each color prototype in the vocabulary; determining a closest color match value resulting from said step of comparing; assigning to said pixel a particular prototype color name corresponding to said closest match value; forming said vocabulary of color names employing the steps of: obtaining at least one general set of essential color names, each essential color name having a corresponding color value; whereby each color name includes a hue descriptor, brightness modifier, and saturation modifier; and selecting a subset of said at least one general set in meeting an application desire for said vocabulary of color names, wherein the step of obtaining includes starting with a large number of arbitrary color names having corresponding color values and modify said color names through subjective experiments to obtain a general set that models human behavior in color naming, wherein the step of comparing includes the steps of: computing a color distance in a selected color space between the color value of said pixel and said prototype color value; finding the closest perceptual match to the prototype color value for said color distance; computing an estimate value of perceptual dissimilarity between said closest perceptual match and color value of said pixel; and using said estimate value to modify said color distance, thereby obtaining said color match value, wherein the step of determining includes finding the prototype color value having the minimum color naming distance to the color value of said pixel, and further comprising: acquiring a digital representation of a scene; and employing said vocabulary in providing a description of a color composition in said scene.