Patent Document ID: 8934145
Application ID: 12420941
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of controlling the width of one or more image objects in a digital image using a digital image processor, the method comprising: a) selecting a target pixel having a pixel value in a digital image; b) forming one or more pixel group windows, each pixel group window including the target pixel; c) determining that at least one edge is detected within the one or more pixel group windows; d) modeling a one-dimensional density distribution of only one of the at least one edge as a step function and determining distribution parameters; e) adjusting the distribution parameters to produce an adjusted density distribution; f) an image processor generating a new pixel value for the target pixel based on area-sampling of the adjusted density distribution producing a modified edge in the image object; and g) repeating steps a)-f) for a plurality of pixels forming the one or more image objects in the digital image, wherein the forming one or more pixel group windows includes forming one or more pixel group vector windows and the one-dimensional density distribution of only one of the at least one edge is modeled as the step function: 
 f ( x )= a 1 +( a 2 −a 1 ) step [( x−m )/ b] where a 1 is the level of the white or gray background, a 2 is the foreground level, x is the dimension along a vector window, m is the pixel location of the edge discontinuity where the only one of the at least one edge has value (a 1 +a 2 )/2, and b defines the orientation of only one of the at least one edge: b=1 for edges rising to the right and b=−1 for edges rising to the left and wherein the adjusted density distribution of the modified edge can be represented as: 
 f ( x )= a 1 +( a 2 −a 1 ) step [( x −( m +δ))/ b] where, for growth of edges, δ<0 for b>0, and δ>0 for b<0; where, for contraction of edges, δ>0 for b>0, and δ<0 for b<0; and where m+δ is a transition parameter.