Patent Document ID: 9697595
Application ID: 14554321
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A digital image processing method that comprises: receiving a source image comprising a plurality of visual features; defining a selection mask within the source image, the selection mask comprising a removal object that appears in the source image and that comprises a plurality of selection features which are a first subset of the visual features; defining m matching masks within the source image, each of which comprise an area positioned adjacent to the selection mask, wherein the m matching masks collectively comprise a plurality of matching features which are a second subset of the visual features; identifying n images that are related to the source image; tracking visual features from the source image to at least one of the n related images; determining a selection mask tracked feature count R(n′) corresponding to a quantity of features tracked from the selection mask to an n′th related image; determining a matching mask tracked feature count E(n′, m′) corresponding to a quantity of features tracked from an m′th matching mask to the n′th related image; selecting one of the n related images as a best-match related image based on a matching score that depends on E(n′, m′) and R(n′); removing a portion of the source image that is included in the selection mask; and filling in the removed portion of the source image using a segment of the best-match related image.