Claims
- 1. An image composing apparatus for connecting a reference image and an image to compose which are digital images each of which is a different portion of a composite image, with end portions of the digital images having an overlap region in which the image to compose overlaps the reference image for a predetermined width, comprising:
- reference block setting means for (i) setting a search area in the reference image within the overlap region, (ii) for setting in the search area a first reference block at a portion having an appropriate dispersion value of pixel values existing in said first reference block, said dispersion value being independent of the image to compose and based only on the reference image, and (iii) for setting a second reference block at a portion of the reference image different from said first reference block in said overlap region and having an appropriate dispersion value which is independent of the image to compose and is based only on the reference image;
- means for identifying corresponding pixels in the image to compose which correspond, respectively, to respective predetermined pixels in the first and second reference blocks;
- displacement amount detection means for detecting a displacement amount from said each predetermined pixel in each of the first and second reference blocks set by said reference block setting means, to a position of its said respective corresponding pixel in the image to compose when the reference image and image to compose are composed with each other;
- interpolation means for interpolating pixels in said image to compose on the basis of the displacement amount detected by said displacement amount detection means to obtain an interpolated image to compose such that an object in the reference image within said overlap region coincides with the same object in the image to compose within said overlap region; and
- image composing means to derive the composite image by connecting said reference image with said interpolated image to compose.
- 2. An image composing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
- image pick-up means for generating image data items obtained by dividing the composite image into at least two image data items corresponding to the reference image and the image to compose;
- quantizing means for quantizing each of the image data items obtained by said image pick-up means;
- a first memory for storing quantized image data items; and
- a second memory for storing the image data items outputted from said image composing means.
- 3. An image composing apparatus according to claim 2,
- wherein said image pick-up means generates color image data items (RGB or CMY or CMYK); and
- said first and second memories store respective color image data items obtained by said image pick-up means.
- 4. An image composing apparatus according to claim 3,
- wherein said reference block setting means defines S.sub.ij and S.sub.j as a pixel value for every color within a suitable reference block and an average value of a pixel value for every color within the suitable reference block, respectively, obtains a dispersion value V of the pixel value in each block of said color image data items by the following formula: ##EQU10## where N is the number of pixels present in a block, ##EQU11## is the sum of all pixels present in a block and ##EQU12## is the sum of pixels of each color, sets a block in such a manner in which the dispersion value V is maximum as the temporary reference block, and sets a block in such a manner in which the dispersion value V of the temporary reference block is more than a threshold obtained by corresponding to the number representative of bit of the image as the reference block.
- 5. An image composing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said displacement amount detection means defines S.sub.ij and T.sub.ij (t) as a pixel value for every color within template block and a pixel value for each color within a block at a position t in the search area, respectively, obtains a value C(t) corresponding to the pixel value in each block of said color image data items by the following formula: ##EQU13## where ##EQU14## is the sum of all pixels present in a block, and ##EQU15## is the sum of pixels of each color, and sets a pixel value in such a manner in which the value C(t) is minimum as a corresponding point when the images are composed.
- 6. An image composing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said displacement amount detection means defines Wj as a weight for every color, so that the above formula ##EQU16## is deformed into the following formula ##EQU17## where ##EQU18## is the sum of all pixels present in a block, and ##EQU19## is the sum of pixels of each color, thereby weighting each color image in accordance with the importance of each color, in order to set said corresponding point.
- 7. An image composing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said displacement amount detection means defines "#" as Ai#Bi and uses "#" as an operator for returning 1 in case of Ai=Bi and returning 0 in other cases, and obtains the value C(t) corresponding to the pixel value in each block of said image data items by the following formula: ##EQU20## where ##EQU21## is the sum of pixels present in a block, in order to determine the pixel value in such a manner which the value C(t) is minimum as the corresponding point when the images are composed.
- 8. An image composing apparatus according to claim 2,
- wherein said reference block setting means defines S.sub.i and S as a pixel value within a suitable reference block and an average value of the pixel value within the suitable reference block, respectively, obtains a dispersion value V of the pixel value in each block of said image data items by the following formula: ##EQU22## where N is the number of pixels present in a block, and ##EQU23## is the sum of all pixels present in a block, sets a block in such a manner in which the dispersion value V is maximum as a temporary reference block, and sets a block in such a manner in which the dispersion value V of the temporary reference block is more than a threshold obtained by corresponding to the number representative of bit of the image as a reference block.
- 9. An image composing apparatus according to claim 2,
- wherein said reference block setting means defines S.sub.i and S as a pixel value within the suitable reference block and an average value of the pixel value within the suitable reference block, respectively, obtains the dispersion value V of the pixel value in each block of said image data items by the following formula: ##EQU24## where N is the number of pixels present in a block, and ##EQU25## is the sum of all pixels present in a block, sets a block in such a manner in which the dispersion value V is maximum as a temporary reference block, and sets a block in such a manner in which the dispersion value V of the temporary reference block is more than a threshold obtained by corresponding to the number representative of bit of the image as the reference block.
- 10. An image composing apparatus according to claim 2,
- wherein said displacement amount detection means defines S.sub.i and T.sub.i as a pixel value within template block and each pixel value within a block at a position t in the search area, respectively, obtains a value C(t) corresponding to the pixel value in each block of said image data items by the following formula: ##EQU26## where ##EQU27## is the sum of all pixels present in a block, and sets a position t in such a manner in which the value C(t) is minimum as a corresponding block relative to the reference block.
- 11. An image composing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said interpolation means performs at least one of the following: a binary interpolation, a zero-order interpolation (a close interpolation), a linear interpolation and a spline interpolation.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
5-226154 |
Sep 1993 |
JPX |
|
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/301,240, filed Sep. 6, 1994, now abandoned the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (20)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
63-64180 |
Mar 1988 |
JPX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
301240 |
Sep 1994 |
|