U.S. patent application number 10/725621 was filed with the patent office on 2004-06-10 for familial lenticular image.
Invention is credited to Blish, Nelson A., Hawver, Jeffery R., Tredwell, Timothy J..
Application Number | 20040109010 10/725621 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 21751432 |
Filed Date | 2004-06-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040109010 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Blish, Nelson A. ; et
al. |
June 10, 2004 |
Familial lenticular image
Abstract
A chronological age altering lenticular image is comprised of a
first photograph (62) of an individual at a first age (64). A
second photograph (66) of the individual at a second age (68) and a
third photograph (70) of the individual at a third age (72) are
included in the composite which comprise the lenticular image. The
first, second, and third photographs show the individual at
progressively older stages in the individuals life. In another
embodiment the first, second, and third photographs show the
individual at progressively younger stages in that individuals
life.
Inventors: |
Blish, Nelson A.;
(Rochester, NY) ; Hawver, Jeffery R.; (Rochester,
NY) ; Tredwell, Timothy J.; (Fairport, NY) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Mark G. Bocchetti
Patent Legal Staff
Eastman Kodak Company
343 State Street
Rochester
NY
14650-2201
US
|
Family ID: |
21751432 |
Appl. No.: |
10/725621 |
Filed: |
December 2, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10725621 |
Dec 2, 2003 |
|
|
|
10011662 |
Dec 5, 2001 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
345/646 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G09F 19/14 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
345/646 |
International
Class: |
G09G 005/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A familial lenticular image comprising: a first image of a first
individual; a second image of a second individual wherein said
second individual is related to said first individual; a plurality
of computer generated morphed images wherein each of said plurality
of morphed images shows a progressive stage of morphing between
said first individual and said second individual.
2. A familial lenticular image as in claim 1 wherein a software
program resizes a second image of said second individual to
approximately a size of said first image of said first
individual.
3. A familial lenticular image as in claim 1 wherein a software
program centers a position of said second individual in said second
image to a relative position in said second image to approximately
the same relative position of said first individual in said first
image.
4. A familial lenticular image as in claim 3 wherein said positions
are centered based on a relative position of said subject's
eyes.
5. A familial lenticular image as in claim 1 wherein a background
color in each of said images is standardized.
6. A familial lenticular image as in claim 1 wherein morphing
software generates additional images between said first and second
image so that said first individual appears to transition at a
regular rate from said first individual to said second
individual.
7. A familial lenticular image as in claim 6 wherein morphing
software generates additional images between said second and a
third image of a third individual so that said second individual
appears to transition at regular intervals from said second
individual to said third individual; and wherein said third
individual is related to said second individual.
8. A familial lenticular image as in claim 1 wherein rotation of
said lenticular image causes said first individual to appear to
transition to said second individual.
9. A familial lenticular image as in claim 1 wherein rotation of
said lenticular image causes said second individual to appear to
transition to said first individual.
10. A lenticular image comprising: a first image of a first
individual; a second image of a second individual; and a plurality
of morphed images wherein each of said plurality of morphed image
shows a progressive stage of morphing between said first individual
and said second individual.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/011,662,
filed Dec. 5, 2001.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates in general to lenticular images, and
in particular to lenticular images which display images of an
individual which gives the appearance of an individual aging or
regressing as the lenticular image is moved.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Lenticular image, as used herein, describes the class of
images that are formed on the back side of a lenticular support or
substrate and which provide the ability to selectively view at a
certain viewing angle a single image from a set of images. The
lenticular substrate is a parallel array of cylindrical lenses, or
lenticules, made of a suitable clear material which forms the
substrate onto which specially formatted image data is applied.
This specially formatted image data as described in the art,
consists of separate, parallel image lines or image views placed
behind and along the length of each lenticule. These image view
lines are alternatively called lineform or integral image data.
There are usually many distinct image view lines arranged in
parallel behind each lenticule. As the number of view lines behind
each lenticule increases, the spacing between each line must
decrease proportionally for a given lenticule size. It is not
unusual to have image view line spacing on the order of 12 to 15
microns or less depending on the imaging technology used to
generate the images.
[0004] The thickness of the lenticular substrate is designed so
that when the image data is applied to the back surface of the
substrate, the image view lines will be located at the back focal
distance of each of the individual lenticules. This allows each
image view behind a given lenticule to be seen through the
lenticule separately from the other image views as the lenticule is
observed at different view angles. This is because the cone of
light that emanates off a view line, either from transmittance or
reflection, to the lenticule lens surface refracts and forms a
mostly parallel ray of light exiting the lenslet at an angle
determined by the placement of the view line relative to the
lenticule. The width of the parallel rays emerging from the
lenticule will have the same width as that of the lenticule and
thus the view line's width will be seen magnified to that of the
lenticule.
[0005] The resolution of a lenticular image, in the direction
perpendicular to the lenticules, will always be equal to the pitch
of the lenticular array. The actual number of different images that
can be seen as the viewing angle changes will be the number of
image lines placed behind each lenticule. Of course there will
always be a practical limit on exactly how many distinct views can
actually be resolved. This limit will be determined by such things
as the optical quality of the lenses of the lenticular substrate,
the resolution of the media used to form the image lines and the
manufacturing tolerance for the thickness of lenticular
substrate.
[0006] Viewing of individual images is accomplished by the
cylindrical lenses and the fact that they restrict the view each
eyes sees. The changing of views that are visible to each eye is
accomplished by changing the viewing angle of the eyes relative to
the centerline of the lenticules. This means that either the
lenticular media must be rotated or the location of the viewers eye
must be physically moved to see the different image views of the
lenticular image. Therefore, small lenticular cards are usually
held in the hand and rotated, while large lenticular images are
usually backlit and firmly mounted with the lenticules in the
vertical direction, requiring the viewer to walk past the
lenticular image.
[0007] Depending on the content of the original source images and
how these source images are formatted and applied to the lenticular
array substrate, different lenticular image effects can be
produced. If the original image source data contains multiple
parallax images of a scene, the data can be formatted onto the
lenticular substrate in such a way as to produce an
autostereoscopic image. In this instance the lenticules are
oriented vertically as a person views the stereo image. Since each
eye views the lenticules from different angles, each eye sees
different views behind the lenticules and the image appears to have
the quality of depth.
[0008] Another common use for lenticular imaging is to view motion
or dynamic image content. In this case a temporal image sequence,
which might be from a video clip, is sampled, formatted and applied
to the lenticular substrate. When used in this application the
lenticules are oriented horizontally and in this case each eye will
see exactly the same view. The lenticular image can then be rotated
by hand along the horizontal axis of the image so that the eyes see
sequences of image views producing the effect of motion or scene
change.
[0009] Another variation is to place several different image scenes
in sequence together on one lenticular card forming a collage. The
images may be thematically related but the individual images
themselves are usually different pictures. Thus the images may be
scenes relating to a family vacation or perhaps a wedding. The
number of individual pictures displayed on this type lenticular
card is usually limited to two to four. This is due to the fact
that as more pictures are added to the lenticular card each
individual picture will be seen over a smaller total viewing angle.
This makes it difficult for the person viewing the card to see only
one image at a time.
[0010] It is desirable to have a lenticular image made up of
photographs of an individual taken at different periods in an
individuals life and that give the appearance of the individual
aging as the image is rotated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] According to one aspect of the present invention a
chronological age altering lenticular image is comprised of a first
photograph of an individual at a first age. A second photograph of
the individual at a second age and a third photograph of the
individual at a third age are included in the composite which
comprises the lenticular image. The first, second, and third
photographs show the individual at progressively older stages in
the individuals life. In another embodiment the first, second, and
third photographs show the individual at progressively younger
stages in that individual's life. As the lenticular image is
rotated the individual appears to age. If the lenticular image is
rotated in the other direction the individual appears to grow
younger.
[0012] According to another embodiment of the present invention a
lenticular image is comprised of photographs of an individual taken
at different times in the individual's life. For example, a child
may have a photograph taken at school in the first grade, second
grade, and third grade. These photographs are compiled into a
lenticular image showing the student's face as he or she matures.
Alternatively, if viewed starting from the most current photograph,
the student's lenticular image would regress to the youngest age in
the collection of photographs. Although three photographs are used
in this example, many more photographs may be used, for example,
photographs of the individual taken at grade one through grade
twelve.
[0013] An alternate embodiment of the age regression lenticular
photograph includes morphing each year's photographic image to
standardize the size of the face in each photograph. Another
embodiment automatically centers the face on each photograph based
on a position of the subject's eyes, so that the face does not
appear to move as the lenticular image is rotated. Yet another
embodiment standardizes a background color in each photograph for a
greater sense of continuity, and to focus attention on the
subject's face rather than the background. A further embodiment of
the invention uses computer generated age morphing of a single
photograph to produce multiple images of an individual which are
used for a composite lenticular image. Yet another embodiment
employs computer generated age morphing to provide additional
photographs for a composite lenticular image between two widely
disparate photos taken many years apart of an individual.
[0014] The invention and its objects and advantages will become
more apparent in the detailed description of the preferred
embodiment presented below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical, prior art
lenticular image card.
[0016] FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic views illustrating how the
lenticules provide selective image viewing allowing only one image
view to be observed from a particular viewing angle.
[0017] FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the process of formatting
image information from source pictures to be placed onto the image
layer.
[0018] FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating how the viewing
distance of a lenticular image is defined.
[0019] FIG. 5 is a schematic of a lenticular image according to the
present invention held at a first position showing a photograph of
an individual taken at a first age.
[0020] FIG. 6 is a schematic of a lenticular image according to the
present invention held at a second position showing a photograph of
the individual shown in FIG. 5 taken at a later age.
[0021] FIG. 7 is a schematic of a lenticular image according to the
present invention held at a third position showing a photograph of
the individual in FIGS. 5 and 6 taken at a yet later age.
[0022] FIG. 8 are schematic representations of how the composite
photographs of a lenticular image would be resized and centered
according to the present invention.
[0023] FIG. 9 is a schematic of a photograph of a second individual
which would be used in a lenticular image.
[0024] FIG. 10 is a schematic representation of a plurality of
intermediate morphed images.
[0025] FIG. 11 is a schematic of a photograph which would be used
in a lenticular image of yet a third individual preferably a member
of familial group comprised of the second and third individual.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0026] The present invention will be directed in particular to
elements forming part of, or in cooperation more directly with the
apparatus in accordance with the present invention. It is to be
understood that elements not specifically shown or described may
take various forms well known to those skilled in the art.
[0027] FIG. 1 is a typical lenticular image with a clear lenticular
substrate 10, having a back surface 13 and a front surface 15
wherein a parallel array of cylinder lenses or lenticular lenses 18
have been formed. The curvature of the lenticules and the thickness
of the substrate is such that the flat back surface 13 is at the
focal distance of the lenses. Onto the back surface 13, is applied
an image bearing layer 12 which contains the specially formatted
image data. The image data behind lenticule 17, is partially shown
for simplicity as two parallel lines of image points 20 and 26, the
different image content represented as triangles and circles. In
reality every lenticule will have multiple image view lines formed
behind it on the image bearing layer.
[0028] The image bearing layer must be accurately registered with
the lenticular array both in parallelism and position in order for
the lenticular image to appear correctly. Depending on the type of
image bearing layer 12, there may also be a diffusive reflective
layer 19 laminated to the image bearing layer. This diffusive
reflective layer 19 is provided to reflect light directed from the
lenticule side back out so the images can be viewed from the front.
Alternately, some lenticular image cards are viewed in a
transmissive mode, where the diffusive reflective layer 19 does not
reflect but transmits and diffuses light from a source coming from
behind.
[0029] FIG. 2A depicts a side view of lenticular substrate 10, with
an array of lenticular lenses 18. Only three lenses are shown. When
diffuse ambient illumination light sources 14 and 16, pass in front
of the lenticules through the lenses and clear substrate, it
illuminates the image bearing layer 12 on the back surface 13 of
the lenticular substrate 10. A cone of illumination will then
reflect off diffusive reflective layer 19 and image point 20 of the
image bearing layer 12 and back out through the lens. However,
because the image layer is at the focal distance of each lenticule,
the light cone coming from any spot on the image layer will emerge
as a collimated beam 22 from the surface of the lens. The exact
angle of the collimated beam with respect to the center line of the
lenticules depends on the location of the image spot relative to
the center of the lens through which the light is transmitted. In
FIG. 2A, image point 20 is located exactly on the center line of
the lens and so the collimated beam emerges parallel to the center
axis of the lens.
[0030] FIG. 2B depicts a different image point 26, which is at a
distance 28 above the lens central axis. Because of this, the cone
of light from image point 26, emerges from the lenticule at an
angle 60, with respect to the lens central axis. Hence, it can
readily been seen that image points 20 and 26 can be viewed through
the same lenticule but at different view angles. When a viewer's
eye is looking at a lenticular image, the particular image spot
visible to the eye depends upon the angle of the eye's viewpoint
with respect to the center line of the lenticular media. The
ability of lenticular images to selectively see different image
views at different viewing angles produces all the image effects
such as autostereoscopic 3D, motion, and collages. Discussions from
this point on will focus on the type of lenticular images where the
images are viewed with the lenticules oriented in the horizontal
direction.
[0031] FIG. 3 schematically represents how image data is formatted
behind each of the lenticules to produce a collage effect. In this
figure there are three different source images consisting of a
circle 30, a triangle 36, and a square 42. Each of these images is
sampled in the vertical direction at the resolution of the final
lenticular image. Since there are a total of nine lenticules on the
media in this example, each image must be sampled to form lineform
images of nine lines. The source images are shown sampled to the
left of the original images as circle 32, triangle 38 and square
44. The image sampling in the horizontal direction can be at a
different resolution and is typically much higher.
[0032] The sampling process is usually done using digital scanning
and image processing techniques to produce the lineform images.
Once the three images have been sampled they then are formed into
one composite image file and printed onto the image bearing layer
12. This is done by interlacing the individual lines from each
image. Since there are three source images there will be three
image view lines behind each lenticule. The image data is then
formatted so that the first line of each image is placed behind the
first lenticule. As shown in FIG. 3, line one of circle image data
32 is placed behind the first lenticule at image location 34. Line
one of the second triangle image data 38 is placed behind the first
lenticule at location 40, and line one of the third square image
data 44 is placed behind the first lenticule at location 46.
[0033] The second line of each image is then interlaced so that
they fall behind the second lenticule. This is continued until all
image lines from each source image have been interlaced.
[0034] As shown in FIG. 3, all image view lines from top to bottom
are placed exactly behind each lenticule. In fact if the image data
is applied to the lenticules in this way a problem will exist for
the viewer looking at the images through the lenticules. The
problem is that the viewer will not be able to see any one view
completely at a given position. This is because all parallel rays
emerging from the image view lines from one image will not converge
to the viewer's eye position. However, the image views can be made
to converge by spacing the image view lines at a pitch slightly
lower than the pitch of the lenticules. Increasing the
magnification of the image data in the vertical direction causes
the image data to be slightly longer than the lenticular media.
This produces a convergence of image view lines to a specified
point and is termed the viewing distance of the lenticular
image.
[0035] This is illustrated clearly in FIG. 4 which shows the rays
52 of the image views of the center image of triangle image point
20 converging to the viewer's eye 50 at the viewing distance 54 of
the lenticular image. This convergence is caused by the fact that
the image view lines are displaced from being centered on lenticule
center lines 58 as the distance of the image view lines get farther
from the lenticular image center.
[0036] FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a first photograph
62 of a first individual 64 taken at a first age. This first
photograph, which is part of a interleaved composite forming a
lenticular image as discussed above, is shown when held at a first
position as shown. FIG. 6 shows a second photograph 66 of the same
individual taken at a different point in that individual's life 68.
Once again, this second photograph 66 is part of an interleaved
composite image which forms the lenticule image and can be viewed
when the lenticular image is held at a second position as
shown.
[0037] FIG. 7 shows a third photograph 70 which shows the same
individual shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 taken at a third age 72. The
third photograph 70 forms part of the composite lenticular image
and is viewable at a third angle as shown in FIG. 7.
[0038] In operation, as the lenticular image is rotated from the
first position shown in FIG. 5, to the second position shown in
FIG. 6, to the third position shown in FIG. 7, the individual
appears at three distinct periods of life progressing in age. If
the lenticular image was rotated in a reversed direction starting
with FIG. 7 and proceeding to FIG. 5, the lenticular image would
show the individual at the same distinct periods in life in reverse
order and appear to regress in age. Although only three images have
been shown it is anticipated that more images would be used for a
smoother transformation between the oldest and the youngest image
in the group of composite images which form the lenticular image.
As the number of intervening images is increased the effect of age
progression or regression could be made to appear as a continual
aging process in either direction.
[0039] If only three images were available to form the
chronological age altering lenticular image, morphing software
could be used to generate additional images which would form part
of the composite interleaved lenticular image to smooth the
transition from one age to the other age for the individual. This
could be done even if only two photographs were available, for
example, if FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show the individual at a first age
and at a second age were the only photographs available, morphing
software could be used to generate a plurality of intermediate
photographs which would then be interleaved to form part of the
composite photograph which made up the chronological age altering
lenticular image.
[0040] Referring now to FIG. 8, another feature of the present
invention is shown. It may happen that individual photographs,
which are selected to show an individual at different ages, are not
oriented in a similar fashion. For example, the first photograph 62
shows the individual at a first age 64 relatively centered in
photograph 62. An off-center photograph 67 showing the same
individual at a second age would not provide a smooth, flowing,
chronological age altering lenticular image if it was interleaved
with the first photograph 62. Contour mapping software is then used
to resize the image of the individual at a second age 68 so that
its relative position in the second photograph 66 is approximately
the same as the position of the individual at a first age 64 in the
first photograph 62. There are a number of other suitable ways
available for resizing and centering the image of the individual at
a second age 68. One method would be contour matching software
which would center the position of the individual at a second age
68 based on the position of the individual's eyes 69 to bring them
into relative alignment with the position of the eye 65 of the
individual at a first age 64.
[0041] Another problem that may be encountered is the background
features of the different photographs may be distracting in
photographs taken by a number of different people using different
equipment at different days and at different times. Thus, for
example, the background in the first photograph 74 may be red. In
the off-centered photograph 67 the background 76 may be blue.
Commercially available software is used to change the background
color of one of the photographs, in this case the off-centered
photograph 67, to use the same background color as the first
photograph 62. Some of the photographs may also have undesirable
background features which would detract from the chronological age
altering lenticular image if left in the photograph. Thus, by way
of example, a tree 78 in off-centered photograph 67 would also be
removed to produce the second photograph in the composite image 66.
This operation is preferably done by using image altering software
which is commercially available but could be done manually, as
could the other operations discussed above.
[0042] FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of the present invention
which shows a photograph 80 of a second individual 82. It may be
desirable by some individuals to emphasize the similarities in
familial groups, such as for example, a mother and daughter. FIG. 9
shows a photograph of a daughter 82, for purposes of illustration.
FIG. 11 shows a photograph 90 of yet another individual 92, in this
case the mother of daughter 82 shown in FIG. 9. Using these two
photographs a plurality of morphing images 84 are generated, shown
schematically in FIG. 10, which provide a smooth transition of
images between the daughter 82, shown in FIG. 9, and the mother 92,
shown in FIG. 11. When the photograph 80 of the daughter 82 the
plurality of morphed images 84 and the photograph 90 of the mother
92 are interleaved to generate a composite lenticular image. The
image will show the transition from the daughter to the mother.
This would emphasize familial traits in the two distinct
individuals. This technique could also be applied to individuals
who are not part of the same familial group. As discussed above,
the two photographs 80 and 90 may have to be altered to provide
similar backgrounds in the photograph and centering of the
individual in the photographs.
[0043] The invention has been described in detail with particular
reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be
understood that variations and modifications can be effected within
the scope of the invention. For example, although photographs
showing the face of individuals have been used the invention
described herein could be used to show other features of
individuals such as full body photographs. The technique is also
extendable to inanimate objects.
PARTS LIST
[0044] 10. Lenticular substrate
[0045] 12. Image bearing layer
[0046] 13. Back surface
[0047] 14. Diffuse ambient light
[0048] 15. Front surface
[0049] 16. Diffuse ambient light
[0050] 17. Lenticule
[0051] 18. Lenticular lenses
[0052] 19. Diffusive reflective layer
[0053] 20. Triangle image point
[0054] 22. Collimated beam
[0055] 26. Image point
[0056] 28. Distance
[0057] 30. Circle
[0058] 32. Circle image data
[0059] 34. Image location
[0060] 36. Triangle
[0061] 38. Triangle image data
[0062] 40. Location
[0063] 42. Square
[0064] 44. Square image data
[0065] 46. Location
[0066] 50. Viewer's eye
[0067] 52. Rays
[0068] 54. Viewing distance
[0069] 58. Lenticular lines
[0070] 60. Angle
[0071] 62. First photograph
[0072] 64. First age of individual
[0073] 65. Position of eye
[0074] 66. Second photograph
[0075] 67. Off-center photograph
[0076] 68. Second age of individual
[0077] 69. Position of individual's eyes
[0078] 70. Third photograph
[0079] 72. Third age of individual
[0080] 74. Background of first photograph
[0081] 76. Background of second photograph
[0082] 78. Tree
[0083] 80. Photograph
[0084] 82. Daughter
[0085] 84. Morphing images
[0086] 90. Photograph
[0087] 92. Mother
* * * * *