| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20080252931 | Image output color management system and method - Disclosed is an image color management system and method for controlling an image output device. The method for controlling the image output device comprises generating an image output device profile LUT (look-up-table) characterizing the color profile of the image output device for a plurality of drift states associated with the image output device; generating a set of basis vectors representing the LUT; storing the set of basis vectors in an image output device controller; and generating an image output device active profile associated with a current drift state of the image output device to convert image color data for display or printing by the image output device, wherein the image output device active profile is generated from the set of basis vectors. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080253649 | Image output color management system and method - Disclosed is an image color management system and method for controlling an image output device. The method for controlling the image output device comprises generating an image output device profile LUT (look-up-table) characterizing the color profile of the image output device for a plurality of drift states associated with the image output device; generating a set of augmented basis vectors representing the LUT, L*a*b* values and multiple GCR/UCRs; storing the set of basis vectors in an image output device controller; and generating an image output device active profile associated with a current drift state of the image output device to convert image color data for display or printing by the image output device, wherein the image output device active profile is generated from the set of basis vectors. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080259374 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COMPENSATING FOR THERMOCHROMATICITY DIFFERENCES IN INLINE SPECTROPHOTOMETERS - An alogrithmic method is identified for compensating for thermochromaticity errors in insitu spectral color measurements of a color printing device. A difference is mapped between spectral measurements of a printed color generated by the color printing device measured at a first or hot temperature and at a second or cool ambient temperature where the mapping comprises a referenceable characteristic of the color printing device. The spectrophotometric measurement of a hot color is compared with colors obtained with thermochromaticity compensation matrix to assess if the measured color corresponds to the desired color which will result when cooled to ambient temperature. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20080291479 | Spot color printing with non-standard gamuts achieved with process set point adjustment - A color management system is provided for enabling imaging of selected colors called spot colors that document dynamically adjusting the normal printer gamut to achieve extended colors. Developed mass may be increased or decreased by changing set points such as a photoreceptor roll charge, development bias or raster output scanner laser power. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20080291480 | Image-based color printer fractal gamut extensions achieved with process set point adjustment - A color management system is provided for enabling imaging of selected colors called spot colors by dynamically adjusting the normal printer gamut to achieve a color gamut extension. Developed toner mass may be increased or decreased by changing ROS laser intensity. Such adjustment can occur on a pixel-by-pixel basis for within page and within sections of the image gamut extension. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20090009766 | METHOD TO MINIMIZE INSTRUMENT DIFFERENCES IN COLOR MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS - A method for estimating color measurements of color samples includes printing a color sample based on input data, measuring a color of the printed color sample with an in-line spectral sensor at a first temperature, and estimating a color of the printed color sample which would be output by a reference spectral sensor at a second temperature. The estimation is based on a thermochromatic model which represents relationships between measured colors of printed color samples on the in-line spectral sensor at the first temperature and the reference spectral sensor at the second temperature. The reference spectral sensor is a different type of sensor from the in-line spectral sensor, so the color response of the two spectral sensors is different, even when the measurement conditions are identical. Consequently, a set of printed spot color samples generate different measured colors at the second temperature on the in-line spectral sensor from the reference spectral sensor. The exemplary method allows these differences, as well as measurement temperature differences to be accounted for in the estimation. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090040563 | Printing job control system and method - Disclosed is an invisible encoding system which can be used for tracking printing jobs. Specifically, this disclosure provides a system and method of encoding sheets of a printing job, where the encoding is invisible to the human naked eye and the encoded information may be permanently fixed to the finished printed product. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090040616 | Fabry-perot piezoelectric tunable filter - Disclosed is a microelectromechanically tunable Fabry-Perot device and method of manufacturing tunable Fabry-Perot device and method of manufacturing. The F-P device comprises a first and second substrate which has partially reflective planar surfaces, and the partially reflective planar surfaces are separated by a predetermined separation distance and aligned to provide a F-P cavity, where one or more piezoelectric members are adapted to displace the first and second substrates when an electric field is applied. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090080041 | MULTIPLE DIMENSIONAL COLOR CONVERSION TO MINIMIZE INTERPOLATION ERROR - Linear transformations of L*a*b* color space are provided to minimize interpolation errors when performing multi-dimensional color space conversions involving lookup tables. Methods are provided for linear transformations (e.g., rotation and shear) to substantially fir the sampling grid to a given printer gamut. | 03-26-2009 |
| 20090161125 | Method for classifying a printer gamut into subgamuts for improved spot color accuracy - A method is provided for classifying a color printer gamut into a plurality of gamut subclasses including representing the color printer gamut as a composite of gamut classes wherein each gamut class is comprised of a subset of printer color separations; and, assigning selected spot color targets to determined ones of the gamut classes. The method further includes determining if the selected spot color target is located inside, or on-boundary, or outside of the gamut classes. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20090161127 | IMAGE OUTPUT COLOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - Disclosed is an image output device color management system. The color management system includes a 2 dimensional principle component analysis (PCA) compensation method for reducing the number of measurement required for re-profiling a device, such as a printer. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20090161183 | OPTIMAL NODE PLACEMENT FOR MULTI-DIMENSIONAL PROFILE LUTS FOR ARBITRARY MEDIA AND HALFTONES USING PARAMETERIZED MINIMIZATION - A method and system for optimal node placement of a color correction table first generate a high resolution color correction table. A low resolution color correction table is generated. Each node of the low resolution color correction table has a corresponding color correction value generated by interpolating the color correction values of the high resolution color correction table. A reconstructed color correction table is generated, and each of the nodes of the reconstructed color correction table has a corresponding color correction value generated by interpolating the color correction values of the low resolution color correction table using an interpolation method identical to an output device interpolation method. Differences between the color correction values of the reconstructed and the high resolution color correction table are quantified into a measure of error, and the node locations of the low resolution color correction table are adjusted, and the procedure is repeated. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20090185230 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMUM BLACK COMPONENT DETERMINATION FOR GRAY COMPONENT REPLACEMENT - A multi-dimensional printer profile look-up table for color correction is generated. First, an initial estimate for a black (K) component in a four-color color space for received color signals in the device independent color space is generated by using a three-dimensional parametric function. Next, initial estimates for the three non-black color components of the four-color color space are generated from the generated initial estimate for the black (K) component and the received color signals. Then, a printer profile including a map that maps the device independent color space to the four-color color space is generated using the generated initial estimates for the black (K) and the three non-black color components in the four-color color space. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090190144 | GAMUT BOUNDARY SEPARATED PRINT SYSTEM PROFILING METHODS AND SYSTEMS - This disclosure provides a method and system to generate device dependent color space representations for an image output device. The method and system are particularly applicable to a printing device, where gamut boundary separated profile methods are executed to map device in-gamut and device out-of-gamut colors. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090190965 | ACTIVE IMAGE STATE CONTROL WITH DISTRIBUTED ACTUATORS AND SENSORS ON DEVELOPMENT ROLLS - Exemplary embodiments provide a roll member that includes one or more controllable cells and methods for making and using the roll member to control an image (or toner) state thereon. The controllable cells can be disposed on a roll substrate and configured in a manner that each controllable cell can be addressed individually and/or as groups. Each controllable cell can be addressable to provide a surface vibration to release toner particles adhered/attracted thereto and can also be capable of sensing the toner state of the roll member and thus to control the image or toner state. In an exemplary embodiment, the disclosed roll member can be used as a donor roll for a development system of an electrophotographic printing machine to create controlled and desired toner powder cloud for high quality image development. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090190966 | ACTIVE IMAGE STATE CONTROL WITH LINEAR DISTRIBUTED ACTUATORS ON DEVELOPMENT ROLLS - Exemplary embodiments provide a roll member that includes one or more linear arrays of actuator cells and methods for making and using the roll member. In one embodiment, each linear array of the roll member can be controllably actuated as a group by, e.g., an oscillating voltage, to release toner particles adhered thereto and to form a uniform toner cloud in the development area between the roll member and an image receiving member. The controllable actuation can also aid in the unloading process of the residual toner particles from the roll member. In various embodiments, the uniform toner cloud and/or the controllable unloading process can enable a non-interactive development system for image-on-image full-color printing. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090190967 | ADDRESSABLE ACTUATORS FOR A DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM - Exemplary embodiments provide a digital development system and methods for making and using the system. Specifically, the digital development system can utilize a roll member that includes a plurality of actuator cells arranged in a 2-dimensional array with each actuator cell having an actuator membrane individually addressable to eject one or more toner particles adhered thereto. In addition, the digital development system can utilize an imager architecture that includes an addressing logic circuit connected to each cell to selectively control the ejection of the one or more toner particles onto an image receiving member that is closely spaced from each actuator membrane. The disclosed digital development system can be used for non-interactive development systems for image-on-image full-color printing similar to HSD (Hybrid Scavengeless Development) technology with the donor roll becoming a high quality silent imager. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090190968 | DIRECT IMAGING SYSTEM WITH ADDRESSABLE ACTUATORS ON A DEVELOPMENT ROLL - Exemplary embodiments provide a direct imaging system and methods for direct marking an image using the system. The disclosed direct imaging system can eliminate the use of at least one of a charge, and/or exposure subsystems in an electrostatographic machine and related processes. Specifically, the direct imaging system can include a direct marking substrate (e.g., a printing substrate) and a development roll member closely spaced from the direct marking substrate. In one embodiment, the development roll member can include a plurality of actuator cells with each actuator cell controllably addressable to eject one or more toner particles adhered thereto. The ejected toner particles can transit the space between the donor roll member and the direct marking substrate, and thereby marking onto the direct marking substrate forming an image. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090195797 | SENSITIVITY MATRIX DETERMINATION FOR ADAPTIVE COLOR CONTROL - What is provided are a novel system and method for determining a sensitivity matrix for adaptive color control in a color marking device capable of performing device independent color correction. In one embodiment, a determination is made as to what control operation the color marking device is being characterized for. Nominal CMYK values are then selected based on the determined control operation. If the control operation is a gray balancing operation, the nominal CMYK values are selected using C=M=Y=L* and K*=0 values. Otherwise, the nominal CMYK values are selected using a CMYK to L*a*b* printer map. Color parameters are determined for the CMYK values based on the selected nominal CMYK values. A sensitivity matrix is then generated from the color parameters and CMYK values. The method facilitates calibration of dynamically varying color reproduction devices. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090251712 | Methodology for developing color models and printer sensitivity functions for spot colors and profiles - A method and system is disclosed for developing a printer model from a reduced set of selected test patches. The model corresponds to a spot color editor controller having a sensitivity matrix model developed from a plurality of the patches to define printer operation. The sensitivity matrix is comprised of coefficients computed from an orthogonal disposition of the experimental patches within a selected sub gamut of the color printer gamut. A plurality of replicas of the experimental patches are run for achieving statistical significance. | 10-08-2009 |
| 20090296085 | UV ENHANCED FULL WIDTH ARRAY SCANNING SPECTROPHOTOMETER - A system and method for full width scanning color analysis of a printed media sheet are disclosed. The full width array spectrophotometer system includes one or more substantially linear elongated illumination arrays of closely spaced multiple illumination sources. The sources include sets of illumination sources, including a first set of different color illumination sources and a second set including one or more UV-emitting illumination sources. The sets are arranged to span a printer paper path or other object path to illuminate a band extending transversely across a printed print media sheet or other object moving in the path. A full width array light imaging sensor includes an elongated array of multiple closely spaced photodetectors for detecting plural colors and is positioned adjacent to and extending substantially parallel to the linear array(s) to receive radiation reflected from the transverse illuminated band. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296091 | METHOD FOR CONDITIONAL APPLICATION OF COLOR MEASUREMENT ERROR COMPENSATION IN SPECTRAL SENSORS - Color measurements of color samples are estimated by a system and method wherein an area coverage of a color sample is computed, the color sample is printed, a color of the printed color sample, such as a set of reflectance values, is measured at a first temperature, and a color of the printed color sample is estimated at a second temperature lower than the first temperature, the estimation being based on the area coverage and a thermochromatic model which represents relationships between measured colors of printed color samples at the first and second temperatures. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296107 | METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS TO RETRIEVE GCRS FROM HISTORICAL DATABASE - This disclosure provides methods, apparatus and systems for generating a profile for a printing device. Specifically, the profile is generated by selecting a GCR profile from a plurality of GCR profiles and mapping a plurality of nodes to a device dependent color space as a function of the selected GCR profiles. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296108 | COOPERATIVE NEIGHBOR PRINTING SYSTEM PROFILE METHODS AND SYSTEMS - This disclosure provides printing methods, apparatus, and systems to generate a multidimensional printer profile for a color printer. Specifically, the profile is generated by a method of selecting a recruiter set of nodes associated with a plurality of target color nodes and selecting a candidate set of nodes associated with a plurality of target color nodes. The candidate nodes and recruiting node cooperate to generate a printer profile. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296109 | PRINTER PROFILING METHODS, APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS FOR DETERMINING DEVICE AND GAIN MATRIX VALUES - This disclosure provides printer profiling methods, apparatus and systems for determining device and gain matrix values. Specifically, a method is disclosed for generating a multidimensional printer profile look-up table (LUT) for color correction. The method includes generating an initial LUT associating a plurality of colorimetric nodes with respective initial estimates of their respective device dependent color space representations and their respective gain matrix. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296110 | IMAGE INDEXED RENDERING OF IMAGES FOR TUNING IMAGES FROM SINGLE OR MULTIPLE PRINT ENGINES - A system and method for rendering an image provide for segmenting the image into a plurality of segments based on image content and, for each identified segment, identifying a rendering profile from a set of rendering profiles. The rendering profile may include a look up table for converting pixels from a first color space, such as a device independent color space, e.g., RGB, to second color space, such as a device dependent color space, e.g., CMYK. The identified rendering profile is applied to the respective segment and the segments to which the profiles have been applied are combined into a print job for rendering on print media by an associated color output device or otherwise output. The system allows different segments in the image to be processed through different rendering profiles most suited to the objects that the segments contain. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296112 | SPOT COLOR CONTROL METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM - This disclosure provides spot color control methods, apparatus and systems. According to one exemplary embodiment, disclosed is a method of generating device dependent color recipes for a plurality of printing devices. The method includes generating a first device dependent recipe for a target color for rendering on a first printing device, and generating a second device dependent recipe for the target color for rendering on a second printing device, whereby the second device dependent recipe is a function of the first device dependent color recipe. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296113 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO PRODUCE CONSISTENT SPOT COLORS FOR MULTI-COLOR PRINT ENGINES - This disclosure provides methods, systems and apparatus to manage spot colors for an image marking device. Specifically, disclosed is a spot color control method including selecting a gain matrix K from a plurality of gain matrices, the gain matrix K being selected to satisfy performance criteria associated with the rendering of the target spot color, the performance criteria including an acceptable spot color error associated with the rendered spot color relative to the target color, an acceptable actuator energy utilized to achieve the acceptable spot color error and a total toner/ink usage acceptable to render the spot color. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296114 | COLOR MANAGEMENT METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO ADAPTIVELY TUNE COLORS FOR IMAGE MARKING DEVICES - Disclosed are color management methods and systems to adaptively tune colors for one or more image marking devices. Specifically, exemplary embodiments include methods and systems to create profiles for preference color matching. For example, Lab values associated with target node colors can be warped using a predefined function for special regions of interest. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296152 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COLOR CONTROL OF COATED IMAGES ON A PRINTED MEDIA - This disclosure relates to the color management of image output devices. Specifically, this disclosure provides methods, apparatus and systems to generate a destination printer profile for coated images. According to one exemplary method, the destination printer profile is generated by printing a plurality of color patches which are then coated, measuring the color attributes associated with the coated color patches, and modifying a destination printer profile to compensate for differences between the printed and coated color patches, relative to a respective reference color. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296153 | METHODS, APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS FOR BLENDING MULTIPLE GCRS - This disclosure provides methods, apparatus and systems for generating a multidimensional printer profile for a color printer. Specifically, the disclosure provides a method to blend multiple GCR functions or strategies to produce a final GCR blended printer profile, for example a printer profile LUT. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296154 | OFF-GRAY BALANCE CALIBRATION FOR EXTENDED COLOR GAMUT - A marking device is provided which is capable of operating in a standard output color gamut mode or a non-standard output color gamut mode. The device includes: a color manager that performs color processing on input color data in accordance with a calibration of the device; and, a marking engine that applied colorants to an image-receiving medium in accordance with output from the color manager. Suitably, when the device is operating in the non-standard mode, then the calibration of the device which is conducted is an off-gray balance calibration. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296156 | Pitch based high quantization halftone dot linearization for rendering high quality color images - A device, system, and method for reducing the pitch-to-pitch variation of color using pitch-based linearization of halftone screens are presented. A selection of images is printed at different pitches, and each image is measured and tracked with its pitch. Pitch-based TRCs are constructed using patches, which may be scheduled during print run or during machine diagnostic process and halftone dots are constructed and uploaded in the image path for each pitch. The updated dots are then used to produce a linearized halftone image for transfer to a print surface which results in improved color balance. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296159 | control system for suppressing black in images - A computerized system, method, and software apparatus is presented which reduces the black level of the printing process in order to substantially remove stray black dots from the finished product of a printing output. Black levels are reduced by updating the print engine regions for the colors W, C, M, Y, MY, CM, CY, and neutral and by assigning a weights each color. The values are used to compute CMKY values. These values are then placed in a gain matrix and stored in a computer memory. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296171 | CONTROL BASED ITERATIVE PROFILING METHODS - A method and system of color management for an image marking device. A sensor measures printed hardcopy colors. A first gain, computed by a linear controller based on a linear model, is scheduled for each color node of a sampled color space. For each node where a convergence error exceeds a threshold, a second gain is scheduled by a nonlinear controller. The second gain scheduling includes initializing operational parameters, and performing an iterative procedure. The iterative procedure includes computing gain matrices over a defined projection horizon, evaluating a cost function for each gain matrix, determining the cost function, scheduling a new gain based on selecting a gain matrix having the minimum value of the cost function, and computing new CMYK values based on the new gain. A multidimensional LUT based on the scheduled gain matrices is generated and stored in memory, and a hardcopy output image is generated based on the stored multidimensional LUT. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296173 | Method to create spot colors with white and CMYK toner and achieve color consistency - A system and method for achieving process spot color consistency using white and CMYK toners is disclosed. The present application employs traditional CMYK using the automated spot color editing approach and enhances this approach by applying a white toner to the printing substrate prior to applying the color. This new and novel method will improve the color printing technology for printing or alternately, applying the application of the white as a distinct separation layer for the color toner separations, on plastics, ceramics, woods, and other such non-paper materials. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296981 | Finishing control system using inline sensing with clear toner - The present application discloses a system, method and device for placing substantially invisible marks comprising alphanumeric characters, symbols, or bar codes, on a page using clear ink or toner, which may then be read by a spectrophotometer. Such substantially invisible marks are not viewable to the unaided eye of a human observer, do not distract a viewer, and allow the viewer to focus their attention on the printed matter and text of interest to the viewer. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090296993 | Job integrity sensing with clear toner, output management and control system - The present exemplary embodiment relates to a job integrity and verification system which uses patches comprised of at least one symbology printed in non-visible ink and attached to the individual components of a job. The patches are detected, read, and interpreted by use of an inline spectrophotometer. The content of the plurality of patches are compared and when a match is detected, the components containing the patches are combined together into one end item finished product. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090297179 | TONER CONCENTRATION SYSTEM CONTROL WITH STATE ESTIMATORS AND STATE FEEDBACK METHODS - The present disclosure provides for an imaging machine having an imaging member including a method for maintaining a toner concentration. The method for maintaining the toner concentration comprises: determining a toner concentration (TC) measurement using a sensor; computing a state estimator output from the TC measurement and a pre-stored estimator gain matrix, K | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090299905 | Web enabled color management service system and method - The present application discloses a system and method of critical web-based service architecture at a high level for color management systems in which services can be rendered remotely at very low cost to the end user using a cloud computing based computer network architecture. Service supported include Remote RIPPing, remote profiling, remote IQ analysis for diagnosing color problems, Remote System Problem Action Requests (SPAR) evaluation and patch distribution, remote copy match solutions; multi-machine matching; remote Half-tone downloads; other remote file processing; and image or photo indexing and retrieval. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090300055 | Accurate content-based indexing and retrieval system - The computer algorithm described which indexes and retrieves images. A query in the form of an image object or an image facilitates image retrieval in order to retrieve several images close to user's request. A thumbnail form of rank ordered images is provided for viewing. The user selects the images and down loads the images for inclusion in the job. The images are then ripped and printed. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090316165 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COLOR CONTROL OF CLEAR COATED IMAGES ON MEDIA - An apparatus ( | 12-24-2009 |
| 20100177366 | METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR MATCHING COLOR GAMUTS OF MULTIPLE IMAGE TRANSFER DEVICES - A method for adjusting the gamuts of a set of printers to match the gamuts across a population of printers using mass targets. The method involves printing color patches suitably positioned in the color gamut with CMYK separations and simultaneously actuating DMA targets to the level 2 controls of the printers using closed loop control algorithms. An extreme MIMO control algorithm is used to converge to the desired L*a*b* targets by adjusting mass targets to the printing system in an iterative fashion to maximize the common intersection gamut across the printers. | 07-15-2010 |
| 20100198368 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO SCHEDULE GAINS IN PROCESS CONTROL LOOPS - Methods and planning systems used to schedule gain matrices for process control loops and determine optimal values for manipulated variables according to a minimum cost function. A cost function is calculated for each of a predetermined number of plans as a sum of partial cost functions calculated over a predetermined number of projections in a horizon. Each partial cost function after the initial projection of a plan is calculated using a scheduled gain matrix. The gain matrix can be scheduled for each projection by selection from a predetermined set of gain matrices or can be calculated in real time during the calculation for each projection. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100202005 | PITCH TO PITCH ONLINE GRAY BALANCE CALIBRATION WITH DYNAMIC HIGHLIGHT AND SHADOW CONTROLS - An automatic gray balance control system to produce TRCs for all primary colors in a reproduction device and for each pitch of a photoreceptor system by printing target patches for each pitch, measuring the output colors, and automatically readjusting the tone reproduction curves until a satisfactory level of accuracy is obtained as compared to the theoretical desired output. The system produces pitch-based gray balanced TRCs that are updated frequently for each pitch, with different TRCs for different pitches, to ensure consistency in output from pitch to pitch as well as from page to page on a given pitch. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100214579 | MAPPING AN OUT-OF-GAMUT COLOR TO A SURFACE OF A COLOR GAMUT - What is disclosed is a system and method for mapping an out-of-gamut spot color to a surface boundary of a target color gamut of a color marking device in a color management system. The present method accurately detects the intersection of a point at the boundary surface of a ray traced between the out-of-gamut color and color point along a neutral axis of the target gamut. The ability to map an out-of-gamut color accurately to the gamut surface provides many advantages as one skilled in the art would appreciate. Various embodiments are provided. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100215258 | DETERMINING WHETHER A COLOR IS INSIDE OR OUTSIDE A BOUNDARY SURFACE OF A COLOR GAMUT - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for quickly and accurately determining whether a color is inside or outside the boundary of a surface of a color gamut. The present method enables a gamut mapping algorithm to quickly identify points which require further processing and those which are already inside the gamut and thus do not need to be processed by the gamut mapping function. The present method can be performed directly on the printing device to determine whether the colors are in/out of the actual gamut surface of the target marking device. Other embodiments have also been disclosed. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100215262 | RAY-BASED COMPRESSION MAPPING IN A COLOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for performing ray-based compression mapping in a color management system. The present method compresses a color point located at or near a boundary surface of a color gamut to a point beneath the gamut surface in order to eliminate artifacts which are likely to arise from a color marking device trying to reproduce colors which are on a boundary of the device's printable gamut. The present method is directly applicable to a variety of gamut mapping strategies employed in color management systems. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100225939 | METHODS, APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS FOR USING BLACK-ONLY ON THE NEUTRAL AXIS IN COLOR MANAGEMENT PROFILES - This disclosure provides methods, apparatus and systems for generating and using color management profiles. Specifically, the color management profiles generated include K-only colorant recipes for image colors associated with a neutral axis. | 09-09-2010 |
| 20100253960 | SENSITIVITY MATRIX DETERMINATION VIA CHAIN RULE OF DIFFERENTIATION - What is provided are a novel system and method for generating a sensitivity matrix for adaptive color control in a color marking device. In one embodiment, a first and second color space is identified. A total of N intermediate components are identified. Component sensitivity matrices are calculated and a sensitivity matrix is generated using a chain rule of differentiation over each successive component sensitivity matrix. The present method facilitates calibration of dynamically varying color reproduction devices. | 10-07-2010 |
| 20100259794 | METHODS AND ALGORITHMS FOR ADJUSTING GLOSS LEVELS IN PRINTERS - A printer configured to adjust gloss appearance of images includes a marking engine configured to render an image on a substrate from input image data; and a controller configured to: (i) correlate a minimum luminance value to be used by the printer based on a gloss selection; (ii) determine a black point compensation function based on the correlated minimum luminance value; and (iii) adjust luminance values for input image data using the determined black point compensation function. A method to adjust gloss appearance of images is also provided. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100290797 | METHODS TO CONTROL APPEARANCE OF GLOSS LEVELS FOR PRINTED TEXT AND IMAGES - A printer configured to adjust gloss appearance of images includes a marking engine configured to render an image on a substrate from input image data; and a controller configured to: (i) correlate a minimum luminance value to be used by the printer based on a gloss selection; (ii) determine a black point compensation function based on the correlated minimum luminance value; and (iii) adjust luminance values for input image data using the determined black point compensation function. A method to adjust gloss appearance of images is also provided. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20110013206 | ADAPTIVE ILLUMINATION INDEPENDENT MATCHING OF SPOT COLORS - A methodology is disclosed to achieve adaptive illumination independent matching of spot colors. In one embodiment, the methodology includes an iterative process to determine a variety device specific recipes for spot colors across different illumination spectra, and then automatically choosing and/or recommending the optimal recipe that provides the lowest color dispersion across a variety of illuminants under consideration. This approach may be used with a variety of gamut mapping techniques. According to a further embodiment, the methodology may be used with a ray-based gamut mapping method. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110019212 | BLACK POINT COMPENSATION IN A TIPP ARCHITECTURE - A method for calibrating an image printing system that includes a plurality of parallel printers, where each of the printers has a minimum luminance value. The method includes determining a minimum luminance value profile for the plurality of printers in the image printing system based on the minimum luminance values of each of the printers in the image printing system, determining a black point compensation function based on the determined minimum luminance value profile, adjusting luminance values for input image data using the determined black point compensation function, and rendering, with the parallel printers, images on substrates based on the input image data with adjusted luminance levels. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110026053 | ADAPTIVE ILLUMINATION INDEPENDENT MATCHING OF OUT OF GAMUT SPOT COLORS USING VARIOUS GAMUT MAPPING TECHNIQUES - A methodology is disclosed to achieve adaptive illumination independent matching of out-of-gamut spot colors. In one embodiment, the methodology includes an iterative process to determine a variety device specific recipes for out-of-gamut spot colors across different illumination spectra and gamut mapping techniques, and then automatically choosing and/or recommending the optimal recipe and gamut mapping technique that provides the lowest color dispersion across a variety of illuminants under consideration. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110032545 | CONTROLLING PROCESS COLOR IN A COLOR ADJUSTMENT SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for controlling process color in a color adjustment system in an image marking device. A control parameter, such as a gain matrix, forms a basis of an adaptive closed-loop controller. A sensitivity matrix is used to calculate the gain matrix. This permits complex color adjustments at a customer location. The present system and method is well suited for long production runs because, as the system moves (or drifts) away from nominal, the color control system will learn the changes in the system (e.g., new input-output sensitivity) with print, measure, and prediction processes, operating on the test patches, and effectively adapt to these changes by re-computing the feedback controller gains and revising the current actuator values to follow desired target color values. The present system and method can also be used for adjusting or developing a CMYK recipe in color management LUTs. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110063631 | METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVED COLOR CHARACTERIZATION - Methods and systems are presented for characterizing a printer, display or other color reproduction device in which parametric and nonparametric forward color transforms are generated to construct a forward color device transform to characterize the mapping of CMYK input data to La*b* data of the device, with the parametric transform adapted to compensate for drifting performance of the color reproduction device. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110090548 | REDUCING NOISE INDUCED BY COLOR MIXING SPOT COLOR RECIPE SEARCH - What is disclosed is a novel system and method to reduce noise induced by color mixing in a color management system. At least one device color recipe is obtained for a target spot color. The recipe is defined for a color marking device and defines a range of marking device color values for a target L*a*b color value. Next, a minimal value and a maximum value of each color value in the range of color values for said target L*a*b color value are identified. An iterative process of searching is performed until the printed color test patch produces a visually acceptable smoothness while matching color accuracy. This iterative process includes generating at least one additional new device color recipe from color values within the range of color values. At least one of the new device color recipes is selected and provided to the color marking device for rendering. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110134447 | METHOD TO RETRIEVE A GAMUT MAPPING STRATEGY - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for retrieving a gamut mapping for a color device. A ray-based model is derived from a system estimation of either a seed profile or a seed device. The model is hard coded inside a run-time ICC profile creation algorithm. The runtime profile generation code can be optimized for a variety of gamut mapping scenarios. The generated profile is provided to an imaging system wherein out-of-gamut colors are mapped to the color gamut of the host device. The present method provides an accurate way to reproduce colors of images by retrieving the gamut mapping from profiles or from the color device that use destination profiles for rendering images. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110149311 | COLOR INCONSTANCY GUIDE FOR SPOT COLOR PRINT APPLICATIONS - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for generating a color inconstancy guide for use in spot color print applications. In a manner more fully disclosed herein, color inconstancy values are calculated for selected spot colors of interest using a color inconstancy metric. A color inconstancy guide is generated from the calculated color inconstancy values and their respective spot colors. Thereafter, when a user desires to render a job in a particular spot color, the associated color inconstancy value for that color can be obtained from the guide. In various embodiments, recommendations in the form of a suggested printer to use, a media type, a halftone screen, and other meaningful assistance can be provided for spot color selection that are less sensitive to varying illuminations for a given print/copy job. The present color inconstancy guide provides meaningful extensions in color quality and color reproduction in print/copy job environments. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110149312 | SPECTRAL MATCHING GUIDE FOR SPOT COLOR PRINT APPLICATIONS - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for generating a spectral matching guide for spot color print applications. Spectral matching values are determined for spot colors obtained from a library of spot colors. A spectral matching guide is created from the spot colors and their respective spectral matching values in a manner more fully disclosed herein. Thereafter, when a user desires to render a job in a particular spot color, the associated spectral matching value for that spot color can be obtained from the spectral matching guide. In other embodiments, recommendations in the form of a suggested printer to use, a media type, a halftone screen, and other meaningful assistance can be provided for selection of spot colors for a given print/copy job that are less sensitive to varying illuminations. The present spectral matching guide provides meaningful extensions in spectral color reproduction in print/copy job environments. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110149313 | REFERENCE COLOR DIFFERENCE QUANTITY GUIDE FOR SPOT COLOR APPLICATIONS - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for generating a reference color difference quantity guide for spot color print applications. RCDQ values are determined for spot colors obtained from a library of spot colors. A reference color difference quantity guide is created from the spot colors and their respective RCDQ values in a manner more fully disclosed herein. Thereafter, when a user desires to render a job in a particular spot color, the associated RCDQ value for that spot color can be obtained from the reference color difference quantity guide. In various embodiments, recommendations in the form of a suggested printer to use, a media type, a halftone screen, and other meaningful assistance can be provided for selection of spot colors for a given print/copy job that are less sensitive to varying illuminations. The present RCDQ guide provides meaningful extensions in color reproduction in diverse print/copy job environments. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110267630 | METHOD FOR MAPPING AN OUT-OF-GAMUT COLOR USING A REFERENCE GAMUT MAPPING - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for retrieving a gamut mapping strategy from a seed profile of a seed device. In a manner more fully described herein, the present method provides an embodiment which accounts for the pathological case of a false gamut mapping ray being produced in those instances where the shapes of the gamuts of the host and seed devices are substantially different. In these instances, the rays miss the boundary surface of the host gamut and intersect the boundary of the L*a*b* cube. Another embodiment is provided which accounts for those cases wherein the ray intersects the host gamut at a substantially oblique angle such that mapped color is sufficiently different to generate contours in the output print. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110282613 | CHARACTERIZATION OF A MODEL-BASED SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE SENSING DEVICE - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for quickly characterizing a reflectance sensing device without measuring the full set of characterization color patch training samples currently used in manufacturing and characterizing individual sensors. In accordance with the teachings hereof, measurements of training samples taken with a previously manufactured ‘fleet master’ sensing device are adapted, in a manner more fully disclosed herein, based upon knowledge of the wavelengths of the illuminators used for both the subject and fleet master sensors, as well as spectral reflectance response of the training samples as measured by a reference spectrophotometer device. Utilizing the adapted measurements of the fleet master device, a reconstruction matrix can be quickly constructed for the subject sensor. The present system and method provides reasonably good accuracy using pre-existing measurement data. This results in manufacturing cost savings on a per-sensor basis. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110299128 | REDUCING THE SIZE OF A HIGH RESOLUTION PROFILE LOOKUP TABLE - What is disclosed is a system and method for generating a destination profile LUT. In a manner more fully described herein, a high resolution LUT (e.g., 100-cube LUT) is received. Regions of high curvature of the gamut of an image output device are identified. A non-parametric dynamic optimization node selection method is utilized to select a subset of nodes from the high resolution profile LUT which captures these nonlinearities. Down-sampling the high resolution LUT produces a low resolution LUT. The low resolution LUT is up-sampled to a size of the high resolution LUT to obtain a reconstructed LUT. An error is then calculated between the reconstructed LUT and high resolution LUT. The process of node selection is iteratively repeated until all the subsets of nodes are considered. A destination profile LUT is then generated from the subset of nodes with the least error. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110305389 | HIERARCHICAL MULTIDIMENSIONAL LOOKUP TABLE GENERATION - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for generating a hierarchical LUT for implementing a color transformation within a color imaging system. In one embodiment, a coarse LUT is received which comprises a plurality of sub-cubes arrayed on a plurality of coarse levels on a structured coarse grid. Each of the sub-cubes encompasses at least one coarse LUT node. Sub-cubes in the coarse grid are identified that are bisected by a boundary surface of the gamut. Then, each of the identified coarse LUT sub-cubes are associated with fine LUT which comprises a plurality of fine LUT nodes arrayed on a plurality of fine levels on a structured fine grid. A hierarchical LUT is generated from the coarse LUT and the associated fine LUTs. Thereafter, the hierarchical LUT can be used for color transformation within a color imaging system. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20120019842 | DIGITAL PRINTING CONTROL USING A SPECTROPHOTOMETER - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for xerographic Dmax control based upon measurements made on the printed paper using an inline spectrophotometer (ILS) or similar device. The disclosed method is based upon directly measuring the color to actuator sensitivity. Each of the separations is controlled independently using an actuator specific to that color separation. The present method is effective at controlling the color of the solid primaries. The fact that the vector of change is highly correlated with solid color variation seen in the field suggests that the teachings hereof effectively increase the solid color stability. Increased solid color stability increases the color stability throughout the printer gamut and the stability of the gamut boundaries, which increases the robustness of gamut mapping algorithms. Advantageously, the present method can be combined with existing ILS-based maintenance architectures. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120086959 | OPTIMAL SPOT COLOR RECIPES USING VARIABLE GCR PROFILES - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for obtaining optimum CMYK values for spot colors, with significantly lower computational effort, by using a set of printer profiles with different pre-computed GCR strategies. Various versions are discussed on how to utilize and/or choose among these profiles for each spot color. The present invention is applicable to spot color emulation for CMYK as well as N-color printing, and can be used to optimize one or more image quality attributes, including graininess, mottle, color stability, ink cost, etc. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120105927 | COMPENSATING FOR PRINT ENGINE CHANGE IN A DOCUMENT REPRODUCTION DEVICE - What is disclosed is a novel system and method of inheriting intended GCR into a 4-to-4 cascaded LUT to compensate for print engine change which adversely impacts the quality of an output print. The present method uses the device link transform to generate starting LUT nodes for the inverse of the drifted printer model by inputting CMYK or RGB into the device link at a color space resolution sufficient to determine output nodes. Lab and CMYK values are derived from this process, and a “starting LUT” is created at the Lab destination nodes. An iterative control begins with this starting LUT to produce an inverse drifted printer model that contains a close approximation for the intended GCR. The present method captures the intent of the device link transform for a fleet and generates the cascaded LUT for drift, specific printer, side1/side2, and other modes leading to special GCRs. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120113440 | ATTRIBUTE DRIVEN GAMUT MAPPING VIA A MINIMIZED MULTI-OBJECTIVE CUMULATIVE COST FUNCTION - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for mapping out-of-gamut colors to a device's gamut to improve image quality in a color document reproduction device involves performing the following. First, an out-of-gamut color x | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120147194 | DETERMINING A TOTAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN AN IR IMAGE OBTAINED VIA AN IR IMAGING SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for determining the number of persons in an IR image obtained using an IR imaging system. The present method separates a human from the surrounding background via a set of particularly formed intensity ratios. Quantities derived from these ratios and threshold values are used to selectively classify whether a pixel in the IR image is from a human or from a non-human. Based upon the classification of the various pixels in the IR image, the number of persons is determined. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 06-14-2012 |
| 20120147390 | DIGITAL PRINTING CONTROL USING A SPECTROPHOTOMETER - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for xerographic Dmax control based upon measurements made on the printed paper using an inline spectrophotometer (ILS) or similar device. The disclosed method is based upon directly measuring the color to actuator sensitivity. Each of the separations is controlled independently using an actuator specific to that color separation. The present method is effective at controlling the color of the solid primaries. The fact that the vector of change is highly correlated with solid color variation seen in the field suggests that the teachings hereof effectively increase the solid color stability. Increased solid color stability increases the color stability throughout the printer gamut and the stability of the gamut boundaries, which increases the robustness of gamut mapping algorithms. Advantageously, the present method can be combined with existing ILS-based maintenance architectures. | 06-14-2012 |
| 20120154831 | UPDATING A SMOOTHNESS CONSTRAINED CLUSTER MODEL FOR COLOR CONTROL IN A COLOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for updating a cluster model for color control. In one example embodiment, a cluster model is received and analyzed to identify clusters therein. Each of the identified clusters has an associated transform. Thereafter, in response to a threshold event having occurred, a critical cluster is identified and a critical color is identified from the cluster. Steps for identifying a critical color are more fully described herein. A selected number of patches is then printed in each of the critical colors and color measurements are obtained from the printed patches using, for instance, a colorimeter or spectrophotometer. If the color measurements have deviated beyond a defined threshold, then update the cluster model by: updating the transform associated with the cluster; redefining the number of clusters; redefining a center of any of the clusters; or redefining a boundary of the clusters. | 06-21-2012 |
| 20120200580 | SYNCHRONOUS PARALLEL PIXEL PROCESSING FOR SCALABLE COLOR REPRODUCTION SYSTEMS - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for parallel processing of intra-image data in a distributed computing environment. A generic architecture and method are presented which collectively facilitate image segmentation and block sorting and merging operations with a certain level of synchronization in a parallel image processing environment which has been traditionally difficult to parallelize. The present system and method enables pixel-level processing at higher speeds thus making it a viable service for a print/copy job document reproduction environment. The teachings hereof have been simulated on a cloud-based computing environment with a demonstrable increase of ≈2× with nominal 8-way parallelism, and an increase of ≈20×-100× on a graphics processor. In addition to production and office scenarios where intra-image processing are likely to be performed, these teachings are applicable to other domains where high-speed video and audio processing are desirable. | 08-09-2012 |
| 20120200682 | METHOD FOR CLASSIFYING A PIXEL OF A HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGE IN A REMOTE SENSING APPLICATION - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for simultaneous spectral decomposition suitable for image object identification and categorization for scenes and objects under analysis. The present system captures different spectral planes simultaneously using a Fabry-Perot multi-filter grid each tuned to a specific wavelength. A method for classifying pixels in the captured image is provided. The present system and method finds its uses in a wide array of applications such as, for example, occupancy detection in a transportation management system and in medical imaging and diagnosis for healthcare management. The teachings hereof further find their uses in other applications where there is a need to capture a two dimensional view of a scene and decompose the scene into its spectral bands such that objects in the image can be appropriately identified. | 08-09-2012 |
| 20120200897 | CLUSTER MODEL FOR CONTROLLING COLOR IN A COLOR MARKING DEVICE - What is disclosed is a system and method for improving image quality of a color of interest using a cluster model in a color printing system involving the following. First, one or more image quality attributes are selected for a target color marking device. A cluster model is received which comprises a plurality of clusters with each cluster having an associated transform. The cluster model is used to estimate an image quality parameter. The image quality parameter is used to select colorant sets and thereby to improve the image quality in the marking device. Various embodiments of the use of cluster models are disclosed. | 08-09-2012 |
| 20120212752 | UPDATING A FLEET CMYK TO ENGINE cmyk LUT IN A COLOR MANAGEMENT STRATEGY - What is disclosed is a system and method which addresses the problem of inheriting color management intent from a fleet color management LUT into a 4-to-4 cascaded LUT. The LUT is updated starting with a set of patches that either form a uniform or non-uniform grid of the LUT or can be projected to a uniform or non-uniform grid in the CMYK space using, e.g., PCA. A set of L*a*b* target as well a variable that serve the purpose of preserving the GCR and other elements of the fleet profile is obtained by passing the set of CMYK values to the fleet printer model. By iterating on the printer (or the printer model of the engine at the moment of the engine change) and converging to the targets, the engine device cmyk set is obtained. The LUT is formed between the uniform or non-uniform gridded CMYK and the device cmyk. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20120262577 | DETERMINING A NUMBER OF OBJECTS IN AN IR IMAGE - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for determining the number of objects in an IR image obtained using an IR imaging system. In one embodiment, a total of N intensity values are collected for each pixel in an IR image using a IR imaging system comprising an IR detection device and an IR Illuminator. Intensity values are retrieved from a database which have been estimated for a plurality of known materials, such as skin and hair. A classification is determined for each pixel in the IR image using either a best fitting method of a reflectance, or a correlation method. Upon classification, a total number of objects in the IR image can be determined. The present system and method finds its intended uses in of real world applications such as, determining the number of occupants in a vehicle traveling in a HOV/HOT lane. | 10-18-2012 |
| 20120263357 | SUBCUTANEOUS VEIN PATTERN DETECTION VIA MULTI-SPECTRAL IR IMAGING IN AN IDENTIFY VERIFICATION SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for identifying an individual in an IR image involves the following. Intensity values are collected at N wavelengths for each pixel in an IR video-based image. The intensity values are collected using an IR imaging system having an IR detector and an IR Illuminator. The intensity values are then used to identify pixels of human skin in the IR image. If human skin is identified in the IR image then, the human hand is identified in the IR image from the human skin to distinguish the hand from the background. Vein patterns in the hand are then located and extracted. A reference vein pattern is retrieved from a database of known vein patterns for individuals, and a comparison is made to determine a match. If a match is determined, then the individual in the captured IR image can be identified. | 10-18-2012 |
| 20120289850 | MONITORING RESPIRATION WITH A THERMAL IMAGING SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a system and method for monitoring respiration of a subject or subject of interest using a thermal imaging system with single or multiple spectral bands set to a temperature range of a facial region of that person. Temperatures of extremities of the head and face are used to locate facial features in the captured thermal images, i.e., nose and mouth, which are associated with respiration. The RGB signals obtained from the camera are plotted to obtain a respiration pattern. From the respiration pattern, a rate of respiration is obtained. The system includes display and communication interfaces wherein alerts can be activated if the respiration rate falls outside a level of acceptability. The teachings hereof find their uses in an array of devices such as, for example, devices which monitor the respiration of an infant to signal the onset of a respiratory problem or failure. | 11-15-2012 |
| 20120296595 | COMPENSATING FOR SPECTRAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TWO SPECTROPHOTOMETERS FOR ACCURATE COLOR MANAGEMENT - What is disclosed is a system and method for compensating for differences between two spectrophotometers for accurate color control in a color management system. In one example embodiment, at least one print is generated on the digital color printing system incorporating an inline spectral reflectance measurement sensor. A spectral reflectance of the print is measured using an inline spectral reflectance measurement sensor. Spectral reflectance of the print is measured using a selected offline spectral reflectance measurement sensor. From the measurements, a sensor correction model is determined which transforms spectral measurements obtained from the inline sensor into spectra approximating what the offline sensor would measure. The sensor correction model is used to perform color management on the digital color printing system such that print output of the digital color printing system is accurate when measured on the offline sensor. | 11-22-2012 |
| 20120327434 | SPOT COLOR RENDERING VIA FEEDBACK-BASED MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION - What is disclosed is a feedback control based system and method for selecting spot color recipes for improved spot color rendition while simultaneously minimizing a function of image quality attributes formed with states defined as vectors such as L*, a*, b*, mottle, graininess, etc. Color is measured with an in-line spectrophotometer or with a full/partial width array. If the sensor is not available, then a model of the print device is used to optimize the function of image quality attributes. In one example embodiment, a spot color of interest is selected along with a set of image quality attributes to be improved for the spot colors of interest. Set points for process actuators and color recipes of the color marking device are adjusted such that a function of the image quality attributes is minimized when the spot color is rendered on the device. Various workflows are disclosed. | 12-27-2012 |
| 20130016284 | HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION VIA A COMPRESSED SENSING FRAMEWORKAANM MESTHA; Lalit KeshavAACI FairportAAST NYAACO USAAGP MESTHA; Lalit Keshav Fairport NY USAANM GIL; Alvaro EnriqueAACI RochesterAAST NYAACO USAAGP GIL; Alvaro Enrique Rochester NY US - What is disclosed is a system and method for image reconstruction using a compressed sensing framework to increase the number of wavelength bands in hyperspectral video systems. The present method utilizes a restricted representation matrix and sampling matrix to reconstruct bands to a very large number without losing information content. Reference multi-band image vectors are created and those vectors are processed in a block-wise form to obtain custom orthonormal representation matrices. A sampling matrix is also constructed offline in the factory. The compressed sensing protocol is applied using a l | 01-17-2013 |
| 20130051625 | FRONT SEAT VEHICLE OCCUPANCY DETECTION VIA SEAT PATTERN RECOGNITION - What is disclosed is a system and method for determining whether a front seat in a motor vehicle is occupied based on seat pattern recognition. The present invention takes advantage of the observation that an unoccupied seat of a motor vehicle exhibits features which are distinguishable from an occupied seat. An unoccupied motor vehicle seat typically features long contiguous horizontal line segments and curve segments, and substantially uniform areas encompassed by these segments which are not present in an occupied seat. The present method provides a long horizontal edge test which uses location information within a defined window of the image, edge linking, softness of the edge, number of lines, line/curve fitting, and other techniques to locate horizontal edges in the image which define a seat, and a uniformity step which determines whether the area bounded by the horizontal edges is relatively uniform indicating an unoccupied seat. | 02-28-2013 |
| 20130076913 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBJECT IDENTIFICATION AND TRACKING - What is disclosed is a system and method for identifying materials comprising an object captured in a video and for using the identified materials to track that object as it moves across the captured video scene. In one embodiment, a multi-spectral or hyper-spectral sensor is used to capture a spectral image of an object in an area of interest. Pixels in the spectral planes of the spectral images are analyzed to identify a material comprising objects in that area of interest. A location of each of the identified objects is provided to an imaging sensor which then proceeds to track the objects as they move through a scene. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 03-28-2013 |
| 20130077958 | MULTI-FILTER ARRAY FOR A MULTI-RESOLUTION, MULTI-SPECTRAL CAMERA - What is disclosed is a filter array for a multi-resolution multi-spectral camera system which not only captures 2D images at multiple wavelength bands simultaneously but also at a spatial resolution that meets the demand for spatial feature extraction. The present system optimizes filter bands that provide high image contrast at the highest possible resolution to enable spatial feature extraction and other wavelength bands at lower resolution to achieve maximum number of wavelength bands (e.g. spectral resolution) for multi-spectral analysis. After determining the required spatial resolution and number of wavelength bands for spectral analysis, multiple filters are arranged in a geometric pattern with each filter being designed to have specified wavelength and spatial resolution. Physical sizes of filters differ within each filter group. This maximizes the detector usage while optimizing the trade-off between spatial resolution and spectral resolution. Filter gaps are fixed or tuned to wavelengths of interest. | 03-28-2013 |
| 20130079649 | ESTIMATING CARDIAC PULSE RECOVERY FROM MULTI-CHANNEL SOURCE DATA VIA CONSTRAINED SOURCE SEPARATION - What is disclosed is a system and method for recovering a patient's cardiac pulse rate from a sequence of video images recording of that patient. In one embodiment, a reference signal of a particular frequency is generated at predetermined frequency intervals and a constrained source separation is performed on the source data to obtain an estimation of the source signal intended to be recovered. The reference signal is updated and constrained source separation is again performed. These operations are repeated for all frequencies of the reference signal. The frequency at which a minimum error is achieved is determined to be the subject's recovered cardiac pulse frequency. In such a manner, the source signal is extracted and recovered reliably from captured multi-channel RGB signals or multispectral signals. The teachings hereof find their uses in a variety of medical solutions including various military, security and telemedicine applications. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 03-28-2013 |
| 20130079658 | MINIMALLY INVASIVE IMAGE-BASED DETERMINATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) CONCENTRATION IN EXHALED BREATH - What is disclosed is a system and method for image-based determination of carbon dioxide (CO | 03-28-2013 |
| 20130088729 | USING A PARETO FRONTIER TO FIND AN OPTIMAL COLOR SOLUTION FOR SPOT CALIBRATION - What is disclosed is a method for determining a color solution which achieves color objectives for a color marking device involves performing the following. In one embodiment, N objectives of interest are identified for a color marking device and a N-dimensional Pareto Front is constructed which comprises a collection of color solutions which accommodates those objectives. The Pareto Front is constructed using an optimization process based upon printer models of the objectives. Color solutions can be at least one color recipe, or a combination of color recipes and process actuators. A target point is selected in an N-dimensional objective space based upon at least one user-selected preference. The target point is then mapped to a point on the Pareto Front. The mapping identifies one of the color solutions which, in turn, is used to generate a spot color for the device. The generated spot color achieves the user-selected preference. | 04-11-2013 |
| 20130108236 | FILTERING SOURCE VIDEO DATA VIA INDEPENDENT COMPONENT SELECTION | 05-02-2013 |
| 20130128338 | METHOD OF FORMING A FABRY-PEROT TUNABLE FILTER - A method of forming a tunable Fabry-Perot filter includes forming a first reflective layer on a surface of a substrate, forming a sacrificial layer over the first reflective layer, forming a second reflective layer over the sacrificial layer, defining vias through the sacrificial layer, forming a support body over the sacrificial layer which extends into the vias and removing the sacrificial layer to define a gap intermediate the first and second reflective layers. | 05-23-2013 |
| 20130141574 | VEHICLE OCCUPANCY DETECTION VIA SINGLE BAND INFRARED IMAGING - What is disclosed is a method for vehicle occupancy detection using a single band infrared imaging system. First, an infrared image of a vehicle intended to be processed for human occupancy detection is captured using a single band infrared camera set to a predefined wavelength band. A candidate sub-image is identified within the captured image. A cumulative histogram is formed using the reflectance values of each pixel in the candidate region. A threshold reflectance value is then determined from the cumulative histogram using a pre-defined cumulative occurrence fraction value which corresponds to a value equivalent to an average sized human face. Embodiments for setting the threshold reflectance value are disclosed. Thereafter, human occupants can be distinguished in the image from the vehicle's interior by comparing pixel reflectances in the sub-image against the threshold reflectance value. | 06-06-2013 |
| 20130148847 | POST-PROCESSING A MULTI-SPECTRAL IMAGE FOR ENHANCED OBJECT IDENTIFICATION - What is disclosed is a system and method for post-processing a multi-spectral image which has already been processed for pixel classification. A binary image is received which contains pixels that have been classified using a pixel classification method. Each pixel in the image has an associated intensity value and has a pixel value of 1 or 0 depending on whether the pixel has been classified as a material of interest or not. The image is divided into a plurality of blocks of pixels. On a block by block basis, pixel values in a block are changed according to a threshold-based filtering criteria such that pixels in the same block all have the same binary value. Once all the blocks have been processed, contiguous pixels having the same binary value are grouped to form separate objects. In such a manner, pixel classification errors in the post-processed binary image can be reduced. | 06-13-2013 |
| 20130148904 | POST-PROCESSING A MULTI-SPECTRAL IMAGE FOR ENHANCED OBJECT IDENTIFICATION - What is disclosed is a system and method for post-processing a multi-spectral image which has already been processed for pixel classification. A binary image is received which contains pixels that have been classified using a pixel classification method. Each pixel in the image has an associated intensity value and has a pixel value of 1 or 0 depending on whether the pixel has been classified as a material of interest or not. A block of size m×n is defined. Pixel values in a block are changed according to a threshold-based filtering criteria such that pixels in the same block all have the same binary value. The block is then shifted by k pixels and pixel processing repeats until all pixels have been processed. Once all blocks have been processed, contiguous pixels having the same binary value are grouped to form objects. In such a manner, pixel classification errors are reduced. | 06-13-2013 |
| 20130181836 | IMAGE-BASED DETERMINATION OF CO AND CO2 CONCENTRATIONS IN VEHICLE EXHAUST GAS EMISSIONS - What is disclosed is a system and method for image-based determination of concentration of CO and CO | 07-18-2013 |
| 20130182266 | GENERATING AN IMAGE PROFILE LUT FOR A N-COLOR MARKING DEVICE VIA MULTI-OBJECTIVE COST MINIMIZATION - What is disclosed is a method for profile LUT construction which uses a cost function to provide improvements to one or more image quality attributes present in printed images while imposing constraints in terms of color accuracy and spectral response to achieve a color match under various illuminants. Image quality attributes are selected. A reference profile is selected. For each node, candidate recipes are found which reproduce L*a*b* colors within a threshold e | 07-18-2013 |
| 20130185001 | VEHICLE EMISSIONS TESTING AND TOLL COLLECTION SYSTEM - What is disclosed is a system and method for testing a motorized vehicle's exhaust emissions in a non-controlled emissions testing environment. In one embodiment, the present system comprises a toll collection structure having a sensor for obtaining information about a registered owner of a motor vehicle and about the motor vehicle itself, as the vehicle travels on a lane which passes through the structure. At least one emissions detector, which is fixed to the toll collection structure, performs an emissions test on the vehicle by analyzing an exhaust plume emitted by the vehicle. Speed/acceleration of the vehicle is also measured. In various embodiments hereof, the emissions detector comprises a combination of dispersive or non-dispersive infrared detector and a dispersive or non-dispersive ultraviolet detector. Emissions data collected is automatically compared to emissions standards and an authority is notified if that the vehicle does not meet those standards. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 07-18-2013 |
| 20130201342 | ESTIMATING A VISIBLE VECTOR REPRESENTATION FOR PIXELS IN AN INFRARED IMAGE - What is disclosed is a system and method for estimating color for pixels in an infrared image. In one embodiment, an infrared image is received which has been captured using a N-band infrared imaging system comprising a multi-spectral camera or a hyperspectral camera. The IR image is composed of an array of pixels with N intensity values having been collected for each pixel in the image. Then, for each pixel of interest, a search metric is used to search a database of vector samples to identify a visible-IR set which is closest to the intensity values of the IR band vector collected for the pixel. A visible vector representation is then estimated for the pixel based upon the visible portion corresponding to the closest visible-IR set. Thereafter, color coordinates for this pixel are computed from the visible vector. The method repeats for all pixels of interest in the IR image. | 08-08-2013 |
| 20130215244 | REMOVING ENVIRONMENT FACTORS FROM SIGNALS GENERATED FROM VIDEO IMAGES CAPTURED FOR BIOMEDICAL MEASUREMENTS - What is disclosed is a system and method for automatically removing undesirable periodic or random background noise from heart rate measurement signals obtained from a video camera, ambient illuminator and other unknown electromagnetic sources to improve the overall reliability of biomedical measurements. In one embodiment, a time varying video image acquired over at least one imaging channel of a subject of interest is received. The video images are then segmented into a first region comprising a localized area where plethysmographic signals of the subject can be registered and a second region comprising a localized area of the environment where the plethysmographic signals cannot be registered. Both of the regions are exposed to the same environmental factors. The segmented video signals are pre-processed and the processed signals are subtracted from each other to generate an environmentally compensated signal. The environmentally compensated signal is then communicated to a computer system. | 08-22-2013 |
| 20130218028 | DERIVING ARTERIAL PULSE TRANSIT TIME FROM A SOURCE VIDEO IMAGE - What is disclosed is a system and method for determining an arterial pulse transit time of a subject of interest in a remote sensing environment. A video imaging system is used to capture a time varying source images of a proximal and distal region of a subject intended to be analyzed for arterial pulse transit time. A time series signal for each of the proximal and distal regions is extracted from the source images and a phase of each of the extracted time series signals is computed. A difference is then computed between these phases. This phase difference is a monotonic function of frequencies in the signals. From the monotonic function, an arterial pulse transit time of the subject is extracted. The subject's arterial pulse transit time is then communicated to a computer system. The computer system determines blood pressure, blood vessel blockage, blood flow velocity, or a peripheral neuropathy. | 08-22-2013 |
| 20130235178 | MULTI-BAND INFRARED CAMERA SYSTEM OPTIMIZED FOR SKIN DETECTION - What is disclosed is a system and method for selecting the optimal wavelength ban combination for a multi-band infrared camera system which is optimized for skin detection. An objective function is constructed specifically for this application from classified performance and the algorithm generates wavelengths by maximizing the objective function. A specific wavelength band combination is selected which maximizes the objective function. Also disclosed is a 3-band and 4-band camera system with filters each having a transmittance of one of a combination of wavelength bands optimized to detect skin in the infrared band. The camera systems disclosed herein find their intended uses in a wide array of vehicle occupancy detection systems and applications. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 09-12-2013 |
| 20130236073 | WEB-BASED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIDEO ANALYSIS - What is disclosed is a web-based system which comprises, in part, video analysis modules for performing different types of analysis services on a video, and a server in network communication with a user's computing device. A user selects one or more menu options displayed on a webpage. Each of the menu options is associated with a respective video analysis available to the user. The user makes their election and, within the same session, uploads to the server a video desired to be analyzed with respect to each of the video analysis services selected by the user. Once the server has obtained the user's selection(s) and has received the uploaded video, the server communicates the video to each video analysis module associated with each of the respective analysis services. Upon each completion of the video analysis, the results are communicated back to the user. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 09-12-2013 |
| 20130242097 | VIDEO-BASED DETERMINATION OF VEHICLE COMPONENT RISK FOR FAILURE DUE TO OVERHEATING - What is disclosed is a system for non-contact, video-based determination of vehicle component failure due to overheating. In a manner more fully disclosed herein, at least one infrared camera is used to capture an infrared image of a component of a vehicle to be inspected for overheating. The images are processed to isolate that component. A temperature is estimated for the isolated component in the image using a camera calibration curve which relates pixel intensities to temperature. A temperature threshold for the isolated component is retrieved from a database based upon a classification of the vehicle. The estimated temperature is then compared to that component's temperature threshold. If the estimated temperature is above the retrieved threshold, a signal is initiated. The teachings hereof find their uses in a variety of remote and non-cooperative vehicle inspection modes in the field of transportation safety. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 09-19-2013 |
| 20130265598 | OFF-GRAY BALANCE CALIBRATION FOR EXTENDED COLOR GAMUT - A printing system and associated method is provided which is capable of operating in a standard output color gamut mode and/or a non-standard output color gamut mode. According to an exemplary method, the printing system non-standard output color gamut mode is associated with an off-gray balance calibration to extend the gamut of the printing system to include colors outside the gamut associated with the standard output color gamut mode. | 10-10-2013 |
| 20130307932 | 3D IMAGING USING STRUCTURED LIGHT FOR ACCURATE VEHICLE OCCUPANCY DETECTION - What is disclosed is a method which combines structured illumination in the SWIR wavelength range with the detection capabilities of NIR to generate a 3D image of a scene for accurate vehicle occupancy determination. In one embodiment, structured light is projected through a customized optical element comprising a patterned grid. Wavelengths of the received structured pattern are shifted to a CCD detectable range. The shifted light comprises an image in a structured pattern. The wavelength-shifted light is detected using an infrared detector operating in the NIR. For each pixel in the detected patterned image, an amount of distortion caused by 3D surface variation at this pixel location is determined. The distortion is converted to a depth value. The process repeats for all pixels. A 3D image is constructed using each pixel's depth value. The number of occupants in the vehicle is determined from the constructed 3D image. | 11-21-2013 |
| 20130322729 | PROCESSING A VIDEO FOR VASCULAR PATTERN DETECTION AND CARDIAC FUNCTION ANALYSIS - What is disclosed is a non-contact system and method for determining cardiac function parameters from a vascular pattern identified from RGB and IR video signals captured simultaneously of a region of exposed skin of a subject of interest. In one embodiment, a video of a region of exposed skin is captured using a video camera that captures color values for pixels over visible channels and an IR camera that measures pixel intensity values in wavelength ranges of interest. Pixel intensity values are processed to generate a vascular binary mask that indicates pixel locations corresponding to the vascular pathways. The IR images are registered with corresponding data from the camera's visible channels such that pixels that correspond to the vascular pattern can be isolated in each frame of the video of visible color data. Once processed, pixels associated with the isolated vascular patterns are analyzed to determine desired cardiac function parameters. | 12-05-2013 |
| 20130324830 | MINUTE VENTILATION ESTIMATION BASED ON DEPTH MAPS - What is disclosed is a system and method for estimating minute ventilation by analyzing distortions in reflections of structured illumination patterns captured in a video of a thoracic region of a subject of interest being monitored for respiratory function. Measurement readings can be acquired in a few seconds under a diverse set of lighting conditions and provide a non-contact approach to patient respiratory function that is particularly useful for infant care in an intensive care unit (ICU), sleep studies, and can aid in the early detection of sudden deterioration of physiological conditions due to detectable changes in chest volume. The systems and methods disclosed herein provide an effective tool for non-contact minute ventilation estimation and respiratory function analysis. | 12-05-2013 |
| 20130324874 | MINUTE VENTILATION ESTIMATION BASED ON CHEST VOLUME - What is disclosed is a system and method for estimating minute ventilation by analyzing distortions in reflections of structured illumination patterns captured in a video of a thoracic region of a subject of interest being monitored for respiratory function. Measurement readings can be acquired in a few seconds under a diverse set of lighting conditions and provide a non-contact approach to patient respiratory function that is particularly useful for infant care in an intensive care unit (ICU), sleep studies, and can aid in the early detection of sudden deterioration of physiological conditions due to detectable changes in patient chest volume. The systems and methods disclosed herein provide an effective tool for minute ventilation estimation and respiratory function study and analysis in a non-contact remote sensing environment. | 12-05-2013 |
| 20130324875 | PROCESSING A VIDEO FOR RESPIRATION RATE ESTIMATION - What is disclosed is a system and method for estimating a respiration rate by analyzing distortions in reflections of structured illumination patterns captured in a video containing a view of a subject's thoracic region. In one embodiment, a video of a target region of a body of a subject of interest is received. Video image frames are processed to estimate 3D time-series data for the target region. As more fully disclosed herein, the subject's respiration rate is estimated from the 3D time-series data. Measurements can be acquired under a diverse set of lighting conditions. The teachings hereof provide a non-contact approach to patient respiratory function monitoring that is useful for intensive care units and for monitoring at homes, and which aid in the detection of sudden deterioration of physiological conditions due to changes in respiration rates. The teachings hereof provide an effective tool for non-contact respiratory function study and analysis. | 12-05-2013 |
| 20130324876 | PROCESSING A VIDEO FOR TIDAL CHEST VOLUME ESTIMATION - What is disclosed is a system and method for estimating tidal chest volume using 3D surface reconstruction based on an analysis of captured reflections of structured illumination patterns from the subject with a video camera. The imaging system hereof captures the reflection of the light patterns from a target area of the subject's thoracic region. The captured information produces a depth map and a volume is estimated from the resulting 3D map. The teachings hereof provide a non-contact approach to patient respiration monitoring that is particularly useful for infant care in a neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU), and can aid in the early detection of sudden deterioration of physiological condition due to detectable changes in respiratory function. The systems and methods disclosed herein provide an effective tool for tidal chest volume study and respiratory function analysis. | 12-05-2013 |
| 20130342670 | CONTINUOUS CARDIAC PULSE RATE ESTIMATION FROM MULTI-CHANNEL SOURCE VIDEO DATA WITH MID-POINT STITCHING - What is disclosed is a novel system and method for extracting photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals (i.e., cardiac signals) on a continuous basis from signals generated from video images captured of a subject being monitored for cardiac function in a non-contact remote sensing environment. In one embodiment, a time-series signal is received. The time-series signal is generated from video images captured of a region of exposed skin where a PPG signal of a subject of interest can be registered. The time-series signal is then divided into batches for processing, with successive batches having at least a 95% overlap with a previous batch. Each of the batches of time-series signals is processed to obtain a PPG signal from each batch. A mid-point of each of these PPG-signals is stitched together to obtain a continuous PPG signal for the subject. The continuous PPG signal for the subject can then viewed on a display device. | 12-26-2013 |
| 20130342756 | ENABLING HYBRID VIDEO CAPTURE OF A SCENE ILLUMINATED WITH UNSTRUCTURED AND STRUCTURED ILLUMINATION SOURCES - What is disclosed is a system and method for enabling hybrid video capture of a scene being illuminated with structured and unstructured illumination sources over a wavelength range of interest that significantly intersects with each other. In one embodiment, the present system comprises a video capture device for capturing video of a scene being actively illuminated by both a structured and unstructured illumination source; a controller for controlling a manipulation of at least one structured and at least one unstructured illumination sources during capture of the video by the video capture device; and a processor in communication with the controller, the processor executing machine readable program instructions effectuating the manipulation. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 12-26-2013 |
| 20130343614 | CONTINUOUS CARDIAC PULSE RATE ESTIMATION FROM MULTI-CHANNEL SOURCE VIDEO DATA - What is disclosed is a computationally efficient system and method for estimating a subject's cardiac pulse rate from multi-channel source video data. In one embodiment, A time-series signal is continuously processed by repeatedly: (1) conditioning the estimated source signal obtained on a previous iteration to produce a next reference signal; (2) using this reference signal to perform constrained source separation on this next segment to obtain an estimated source signal. A frequency at which this next estimated source signal converged is the subject's estimated cardiac pulse rate for this signal segment. The reference signal is repeatedly updated. Upon convergence, the sliding window is shifted to define a next segment of the time-series signal. The method repeats for each time-series signal segment on a continuous basis or until a termination criteria is met. In such a manner, the subject's cardiac pulse rate is estimated from video data on a continuous basis. | 12-26-2013 |
| 20130343634 | CONTEMPORANEOUSLY RECONSTRUCTING IMAGES CAPTURED OF A SCENE ILLUMINATED WITH UNSTRUCTURED AND STRUCTURED ILLUMINATION SOURCES - What is disclosed is system and method for contemporaneously reconstructing images of a scene illuminated with unstructured and structured illumination sources. In one embodiment, the system comprises capturing a first 2D image containing energy reflected from a scene being illuminated by a structured illumination source and a second 2D image containing energy reflected from the scene being illuminated by an unstructured illumination source. A controller effectuates a manipulation of the structured and unstructured illumination sources during capture of the video. A processor is configured to execute machine readable program instructions enabling the controller to manipulate the illumination sources, and for effectuating the contemporaneous reconstruction of a 2D intensity map of the scene using the second 2D image and of a 3D surface map of the scene using the first 2D image. The reconstruction is effectuated by manipulating the illumination sources. | 12-26-2013 |
| 20130345568 | VIDEO-BASED ESTIMATION OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY - What is disclosed is a video-based system and method for estimating heart rate variability from time-series signals generated from video images captured of a subject of interest being monitored for cardiac function. In a manner more fully disclosed herein, low frequency and high frequency components are extracted from a time-series signal obtained by processing a video of the subject being monitored. A ratio of the low and high frequency of the integrated power spectrum within these components is computed. Analysis of the dynamics of this ratio over time is used to estimate heart rate variability. The teachings hereof can be used in a continuous monitoring mode with a relatively high degree of measurement accuracy and find their uses in a variety of diverse applications such as, for instance, emergency rooms, cardiac intensive care units, neonatal intensive care units, and various telemedicine applications. | 12-26-2013 |
| 20130345569 | DETERMINING CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIA FROM A VIDEO OF A SUBJECT BEING MONITORED FOR CARDIAC FUNCTION - What is disclosed is a system and method for processing a time-series signal generated by video images captured of a subject of interest in a non-contact, remote sensing environment such that the existence of a cardiac arrhythmia can be determined for that subject. In one embodiment, a time-series signal generated is received. The time-series signal was generated from video images captured of a region of exposed skin where photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals of a subject of interest can be registered. Signal separation is performed on the time-series signal to extract a photoplethysmographic signal for the subject. Peak-to-peak pulse points are detected in the PPG signal using an adaptive threshold technique with successive thresholds being based on variations detected in previous magnitudes of the pulse peaks. The pulse points are then analyzed to obtain peak-to-peak pulse dynamics. The existence of cardiac arrhythmias is determined for the subject based on the pulse dynamics. | 12-26-2013 |
| 20140012142 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING VIDEO-BASED PULSE TRANSIT TIME WITH TIME-SERIES SIGNALS - What is disclosed is a system and method for determining a subject of interest's arterial pulse transit time from time-varying source signals generated from video images. In one embodiment, a video imaging system is used to capture a time-varying source signal of a proximal and distal region of a subject of interest. The image frames are processed to isolate localized areas of a proximal and distal region of exposed skin of the subject. A time-series signal for each of the proximal and distal regions is extracted from the source video images. A phase angle is computed with respect to frequency for each of the time-series signals to produce respective phase v/s frequency curves for each region. Slopes within a selected cardiac frequency range are extracted from each of the phase curves and a difference is computed between the two slopes to obtain an arterial pulse transit time for the subject. | 01-09-2014 |
| 20140142435 | RESPIRATORY FUNCTION ESTIMATION FROM A 2D MONOCULAR VIDEO - What is disclosed is a system and method for processing a video acquired using a 2D monocular video camera system to assess respiratory function of a subject of interest. In various embodiments hereof, respiration-related video signals are obtained from a temporal sequence of 3D surface maps that have been reconstructed based on an amount of distortion detected in a pattern placed over the subject's thoracic region (chest area) during video acquisition relative to known spatial characteristics of an undistorted reference pattern. Volume data and frequency information are obtained from the processed video signals to estimate chest volume and respiration rate. Other respiratory function estimations of the subject in the video can also be derived. The obtained estimations are communicated to a medical professional for assessment. The teachings hereof find their uses in settings where it is desirable to assess patient respiratory function in a non-contact, remote sensing environment. | 05-22-2014 |
| 20140160355 | PROCESSING A VIDEO FOR SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL MAGNIFICATION WITH MINIMIZED IMAGE DEGRADATION - What is disclosed is a novel video processing system and method wherein a plurality of image frames of a video captured using a video camera with a spatial resolution of (M×N) in the (x, y) direction, respectively, and a temporal resolution (T) in frames per unit of time. A first and second magnification factor f | 06-12-2014 |
| 20140168421 | MATERIAL IDENTIFICATION FROM A SPECTRAL FILTERED PATTERNED IMAGE WITHOUT DEMOSAICING - What is disclosed is a system and method for processing image data acquired using a multi-band infrared camera system with a spectral mosaic filter arranged in a geometric pattern without having to perform a demosaicing that is typical with processing data from an array of sensors. In one embodiment, image data that has been captured using a camera system that has a spectral filter mosaic comprising a plurality of spectral filters arrayed on a grid. A material index is determined, using intensity values collected by sensor elements associated with this cell's respective spectral filters. All of the material indices collectively generate a material index image. Thereafter, material identification is performed on the material index image using, for example, pixel classification. Because the demosaicing step can be effectively avoided, image processing time is reduced. The teachings hereof find their uses in a wide array of applications including automated HOV/HOT violation detection. | 06-19-2014 |
| 20140205175 | PROCESSING SOURCE VIDEO FOR REAL-TIME ENHANCEMENT OF A SIGNAL OF INTEREST - What is disclosed is a system and method for real-time enhancement of an identified time-series signal of interest in a video that has a similar spatial and temporal structure to a given reference signal, as determined by a measure of closeness. A closeness measure is computed for pixels of each image frame of each channel of a multi-channel video to identify a time-series signal of interest. The intensity of pixels associated with that time-series signal is modified based on a product of the closeness measure and the reference signal scaled by an amplification factor. The modified pixel intensity values are provided back into the source video to generate a reconstructed video such that, upon playback of the reconstructed video, viewers thereof can visually examine the amplified time-series signal, see how it is distributed and how it propagates. The methods disclosed find their uses in remote sensing applications such as telemedicine. | 07-24-2014 |
| 20140213909 | CONTROL-BASED INVERSION FOR ESTIMATING A BIOLOGICAL PARAMETER VECTOR FOR A BIOPHYSICS MODEL FROM DIFFUSED REFLECTANCE DATA - What is disclosed is a system and method for estimating a biological parameter vector for a biophysics model using reflectance measurements obtained from a reflectance-based spectral measurement system. The present method uses a semi-empirical biophysics model to describe skin properties and estimate reflectance spectra and reduces the dimensionality of the estimated and measured reflectance spectra using basis vectors for computational efficiency. A mixture of algorithms are employed to generate an initial set of parameters which, in turn, are further refined using an iterative control based technique in which the error between the parameters derived from the measured spectra are compared to the parameters calculated from the estimated spectra. These errors are then processed to generate a small delta to the initial set of parameters. The process is repeated until an error between the estimated virtual biological parameters and the measured virtual biological parameters falls to zero or is otherwise below a pre-defined threshold level. | 07-31-2014 |
| 20140221845 | DETERMINING CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIA FROM A VIDEO OF A SUBJECT BEING MONITORED FOR CARDIAC FUNCTION - What is disclosed is a system and method for processing a time-series signal generated by video images captured of a subject of interest in a non-contact, remote sensing environment such that the existence of a cardiac arrhythmia can be determined for that subject. In one embodiment, a time-series signal generated is received. The time-series signal was generated from video images captured of a region of exposed skin where photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals of a subject of interest can be registered. Signal separation is performed on the time-series signal to extract a photoplethysmographic signal for the subject. Peak-to-peak pulse points are detected in the PPG signal using an adaptive threshold technique with successive thresholds being based on variations detected in previous magnitudes of the pulse peaks. The pulse points are then analyzed to obtain peak-to-peak pulse dynamics. The existence of cardiac arrhythmias is determined for the subject based on the pulse dynamics. | 08-07-2014 |
| 20140240511 | AUTOMATICALLY FOCUSING A SPECTRAL IMAGING SYSTEM ONTO AN OBJECT IN A SCENE - What is disclosed is a system and method for focusing a camera on an object of interest in a scene. In one embodiment, an illuminator comprising a light source which emits light at a desired wavelength band is aimed at an object in a scene. The source light beam impacts the object at an aim point. A spectral sensing device senses a reflection of the projected light beam off the object. In response to the reflected light beam having been detected by the spectral sensing device, a location of the object in the scene is determined and communicated to a video acquisition system. A focus of the video system is changed so that the object is brought into the camera's field of view. The object can be tracked as it moves about the scene. A spectral image of the object can be captured and analyzed for the object's material composition. | 08-28-2014 |
| 20140247469 | STANDARDIZED MULTI-INTENT COLOR CONTROL ARCHITECTURE - A color management system includes an input device, an input processor, and a plurality of print engines. The input processor is configured to transform, using an input transformation stored on the input device, the digital image in an input source color space to a digital image in a standardized multi-color color space. A print engine processor of the print engine is configured to receive the digital image in the standardized multi-color color space from the input processor and transform, using a print engine transformation stored on the print engine, the digital image in the standardized multi-color color space to a digital image in a print engine multi-color color space. The input transformation includes a color gamut coverage at least equal to color gamut coverage of all the print engines in the color management system. | 09-04-2014 |
| 20140267881 | SINGLE-PIXEL CAMERA ARCHITECTURE WITH SIMULTANEOUS MULTI-BAND ACQUISITION - A system is provided comprising: a light field emanating from a scene and a positive imaging lens focusing light from the light field onto a DMD array. A first collector lens directs the spatially modulated light to a first photodetector having a spectral sensitivity to a first spectral band. The first photodetector senses the directed light from the first pixel-wise multiplication and produces a signal representing a first inner product between the light incident on the DMD and the first basis function for the first spectral band. A second collector lens directs the spatially modulated light to a second photodetector having a spectral sensitivity to a second spectral band. The second photodetector senses the directed light from the first pixel-wise multiplication and produces a signal representing a first inner product between the light incident on the DMD and the first basis function for the second spectral band. | 09-18-2014 |
| 20140287135 | METHOD FOR COATING NON-UNIFORM SUBSTRATES - A method for applying a uniform coating to a non-uniform substrate, the method including: a) optically characterizing the non-uniform substrate; b) adjusting a thickness and a color of a primer layer to achieve a first target color while depositing the primer layer on the non-uniform substrate; c) optically characterizing the non-uniform substrate comprising the primer layer deposited thereon; and, d) adjusting a thickness and a color of a first paint layer to achieve a second target color while depositing the first paint layer on the non-uniform substrate comprising the primer layer deposited thereon. | 09-25-2014 |
| 20140323888 | CONTINUOUS CARDIAC SIGNAL GENERATION FROM A VIDEO OF A SUBJECT BEING MONITORED FOR CARDIAC FUNCTION - What is disclosed is a system and method for extracting photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal (i.e., a cardiac signal) on a continuous basis from a time-series signals obtained from video images captured of a subject being monitored for cardiac function in a non-contact remote sensing environment involves the following. First, a time-series signal obtained from video images captured of a region of exposed skin where a photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal of a subject of interest can be registered. A sliding window is then used to define consecutive sequential segments of the time-series signal for processing. Each of the consecutive time-series signal segments is detrended such that low frequency variations and non-stationary components are removed. The detrended signals are processed to obtain, for each segment, a PPG signal. The PPG signal segments are then stitched together using a stitching method, as disclosed herein, to obtain a continuous PPG signal for the subject. | 10-30-2014 |
| 20140355820 | ESTIMATING A POSE OF A CAMERA FOR VOLUME ESTIMATION - What is disclosed a system and method for estimating a position (or pose) of a camera relative to a surface upon which an object rests in an image captured by that camera such that a volume can be estimated for that object. In one embodiment, a matrix K is determined from parameters intrinsic to a camera used to capture image. An amount of a camera translation T is determined with respect to a set of real-world coordinates in (X,Y,Z). An amount of a camera rotation matrix R is determined from camera angles measured with respect to the real-world coordinates. A distance Z | 12-04-2014 |
| 20140368639 | HANDHELD CELLULAR APPARATUS FOR VOLUME ESTIMATION - What is disclosed is a wireless cellular device capable of determining a volume of an object in an image captured by a camera of that apparatus. In one embodiment, the present wireless cellular device comprises an illuminator for projecting a pattern of structured light with known spatial characteristics, and a camera for capturing images of an object for which a volume is to be estimated. The camera is sensitive to a wavelength range of the projected pattern of structured light. A spatial distortion is introduced by a reflection of the projected pattern off a surface of the object. And processor executing machine readable program instructions for performing the method of: receiving an image of the object from the camera; processing the image to generate a depth map; and estimating a volume of the object from the depth map. A method for using the present wireless cellular device is also provided. | 12-18-2014 |
| 20140376788 | COMPENSATING FOR MOTION INDUCED ARTIFACTS IN A PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNAL EXTRACTED FROM A SINGLE VIDEO - What is disclosed is a system and method for compensating for motion induce artifacts in a physiological signal obtained from a video. In one embodiment, a video of a first and second region of interest of a subject being monitored for a desired physiological function is captured by a video device. The first region is an area of exposed skin wherein a desired signal corresponding to the physiological function can be registered. The second region is an area where movement is likely to induce motion artifacts into that signal. The video is processed to isolate pixels in the image frames associated with these regions. Pixels of the first region are processed to obtain a time-series signal. A physiological signal is extracted from the time-series signal. Pixels of the second region are analyzed to identify motion. The physiological signal is processed to compensate for the identified motion. | 12-25-2014 |
| 20140376789 | COMPENSATING FOR MOTION INDUCED ARTIFACTSIN A PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNAL EXTRACTED FROM MULTIPLE VIDEOS - What is disclosed is a system for compensating for motion induced artifacts in a physiological signal obtained from multiple videos of a first and second region of interest a subject being monitored for a desired physiological function. At least one of the videos being of the first region and at least one of the videos being of the second region. The first region being at least one area of exposed skin where a desired signal corresponding to the physiological function can be registered by a video imaging device. The second region being an area where a movement by the subject is likely to induce motion artifacts into the signal. The videos are processed to isolate pixels associated with the first and second regions. Processed pixels of the isolated first regions to obtain a composite time-series signal. From the composite signal, a physiological signal corresponding to the physiological function is extracted. | 12-25-2014 |
| 20140378842 | VIDEO ACQUISITION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING A SUBJECT FOR A DESIRED PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTION - What is disclosed is a video system and method that accounts for differences in imaging characteristics of differing video systems used to acquire video of respective regions of interest of a subject being monitored for a desired physiological function. In one embodiment, video is captured using N video imaging devices, where N≧2, of respective regions of interest of a subject being monitored for a desired physiological function (i.e., a respiratory or cardiac function). Each video imaging device is different but has complimentary imaging characteristics. A reliability factor f is determined for each of the devices in a manner more fully disclosed herein. A time-series signal is generated from each of the videos. Each time-series signal is weighted by each respective reliability factor and combined to obtain a composite signal. A physiological signal can be then extracted from the composite signal. The processed physiological signal corresponds to the desired physiological function. | 12-25-2014 |
| 20150018647 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING A SUBJECT FOR BLOOD OXYGEN SATURATION - What is disclosed is a system and method for monitoring a subject of interest for functional blood oxygen saturation using an apparatus that can be comfortably worn by the subject around an area of exposed skin where a photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal can be registered. In one embodiment, the apparatus is a reflective or transmissive wrist-worn device with emitter/detector pairs fixed to an inner side of a band with at least two illuminators, each emitting source light at a different wavelength band. Each photodetector comprises sensors that are sensitive to a wavelength band of its respective illuminator. Each photodetector measures an intensity of sensed light emitted by a respective illuminator. The signal obtained by the sensors comprises a continuous PPG signal. The continuous PPG signal analyzed for functional blood oxygen saturation levels and communicated to a remote device. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 01-15-2015 |
| 20150018654 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING A SUBJECT FOR FRACTIONAL BLOOD OXYGEN SATURATION - What is disclosed is a system and method for monitoring a subject of interest for fractional blood oxygen saturation using an apparatus that can be comfortably worn by the subject around an area of exposed skin where a photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal can be registered. In one embodiment, the apparatus is a reflective or transmissive wrist-worn device with emitter/detector pairs fixed to an inner side of a band with at least three illuminators, each emitting source light at a different wavelength band. Each photodetector comprises sensors that are sensitive to a wavelength band of a respective illuminator. Each photodetector measures an intensity of sensed light emitted by a respective illuminator. The signal obtained by the sensors comprises a continuous PPG signal. The continuous PPG signal analyzed for fractional blood oxygen saturation levels and communicated to a remote device. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 01-15-2015 |
| 20150018693 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING A SUBJECT FOR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION - What is disclosed is a method for monitoring a subject for cardiac arrhythmia such as atrial fibrillation using an apparatus that can be comfortably worn by the subject around an area of exposed skin where a photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal can be registered. In one embodiment, the apparatus is a reflective or transmissive wrist-worn device with emitter/detector pairs fixed to an inner side of a band with at least one illuminator emitting source light at a specified wavelength band. The illuminator is paired to a respective photodetector comprising one or more sensors that are sensitive to a wavelength band of its paired illuminator. The photodetector measures intensity of sensed light emitted by a respective illuminator. The signal obtained by the sensors comprises a continuous PPG signal. The continuous PPG signal analyzed for peak-to-peak pulse points from which the existence of cardiac arrhythmia such as atrial fibrillation event can be determined. | 01-15-2015 |
| 20150051461 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING A REMOTE MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS - What is disclosed is a system and method for performing a medical diagnosis for a subject of interest using a RGB video camera and a spot radiometer in a non-contact, remote sensing environment. In one embodiment, video images are captured using a RGB video camera in real-time of a subject of interest for medical diagnostic purposes. The video images are analyzed to identify a region of exposed skin for which measurements are desired to be obtained. A relative position of a spot radiometer is then adjusted such that the spot radiometer can measure incident radiation at a desired wavelength range from the identified region of exposed skin. The measurements are then used to perform a medical diagnosis for the subject. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 02-19-2015 |
| 20150073281 | GENERATING A FLOW-VOLUME LOOP FOR RESPIRATORY FUNCTION ASSESSMENT - What is disclosed is a system and method for generating a flow-volume loop for respiratory function assessment of a subject of interest in a non-contact, remote sensing environment. In one embodiment, a time-varying sequence of depth maps of a target region of a subject of interest being monitored for respiratory function is received. The depth maps are of that target region over a period of inspiration and expiration. The depth maps are processed to obtain a volume signal comprising a temporal sequence of instantaneous volumes. The time-varying volume signal is processed to obtain a flow-volume loop. Changes in a contour of the flow-volume loop are used to assess the subject's respiratory function. The teachings hereof find their uses in a wide array of medical applications where it is desired to monitor respiratory function of patients such as elderly patients, chronically ill patients with respiratory diseases and premature babies. | 03-12-2015 |
| 20150085136 | Hybrid single-pixel camera switching mode for spatial and spot/area measurements - Disclosed herein is a single-pixel camera system and method for performing spot/area measurement of a localized area of interest identified in a scene and for performing spatial scene reconstruction. A switching module enables a single-pixel camera to alternate between a spot/area measurement mode and a spatial scene reconstruction mode. In the case where the operative mode is switched to spot measurement, a light modulation device is configured to modulate incoming light according to a clustered pattern that is specific to a localized area of interest intended to be measured by integrating across the pixels to generate an integral value. In the case where the operative mode is switched to spatial scene reconstruction, the light modulation device can be configured to modulate incoming light to display a spatial pattern corresponding to a set of predetermined basis functions. | 03-26-2015 |
