Patent ID: 8174611

Claim:
A segmentation method for identifying one or more subjects in a digital image according to distance, comprising the steps of: capturing a first digital image of a scene including first and second subjects at different distances from the point of view of the captured image, at a first flash exposure level; capturing a second digital image of the scene including the first and second subjects, at a second flash exposure level different from the first flash exposure level; determining a luminance difference for pixels corresponding to the first and second subjects, between the first and second digital images; and identifying those pixels having a luminance difference relative to a threshold luminance difference value, as pixels corresponding to the first subject; wherein the identifying step comprises: comparing the luminance difference for each pixel with the threshold luminance difference value; grouping pixels having a similar luminance difference as one another, relative to the threshold luminance difference value, and that are in proximity with one another; identifying outlier pixels that have a luminance difference similar to the grouped pixels, relative to the threshold luminance difference value, but that are not in proximity to a large group of pixels having a similar luminance difference as one another; identifying pixels corresponding to the first subject as the grouped pixels, excluding the outlier pixels.