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Description  |
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BACKGROUND AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention disclosed herein is an improvement of my prior invention,
U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,012, issued Apr. 7, 1981. The prior art discussed in
that patent is still considered to be the most relevant prior art.
This invention relates to a system of the type enabling a subject using the
system to view a composite picture showing part of the subject himself (or
herself) together with some separate article or object as though the
subject were actually wearing such article. For instance, such a system
when used in ladies bridal salon, might allow a customer to sample the
effects of various wedding gowns and choose the most becoming one without
actually having to try them on.
Systems of this general kind have already been proposed and have utilized
various optical expedients for producing the composite pictures. However,
none of such prior art devices so far as known to applicant, have been
entirely satisfactory.
Perhaps the simplest type of system used employs a semi-transparent mirror
positioned before the subject, with means for positioning the actual
articles to be displayed, at a suitable position behind the mirror, so
that a subject when looking at the semi-transparent mirror will see the
reflected image of his or her face or figure, together with the article,
as seen by transparency through the semi-transparent mirror so that it
will appear to be naturally joined with the reflected image. Systems of
this kind are advantageously simply, but have the serious drawback that
they require a large number of articles, samples or models to be
physically present, and the system will in many instances involve a
prohibited amount of storage space.
Other composite display systems have accordingly been proposed in which
these difficulties are eliminated through the use of projection slides for
displaying the images of the articles in the composite pictures, thereby
dispensing with the need, for a physical presence of the actual articles.
Slides of course are much easier to store in large numbers and more
convenient to manipulate, than are the articles themselves.
Another system requires a black draped subject looking through a
semi-transparent mirror, the reflection of her own fact in the mirror is
formed on the plane of a screen, together with the projected image of a
slide formed by a projector on the screen. The slides represent headless
models wearing different articles of clothing whereby the subject appears
to see composite pictures of herself as though wearing the articles.
Although this system will allow a full figure composite image, it does so
under conditions which are not entirely comfortable for the viewing
subject, and has serious drawbacks. For the system to work, it must be
used in a darkened room which many people find uncomfortable especially in
the presence of strangers (salespeople/system operators). Furthermore, the
subject must sit with a black cape on her body from the neck down keeping
her head fixed in a preset position so as not to misalign the composite
image, additionally, there is an inherent inability to produce a composite
image of dark or black skinned people. In producing the reflection of the
viewer's face from the mirror, a black cape is used to black out the
viewer's body below the neck, this ability of the mirror not to reflect
the blacked out part of the viewer's body also makes it impossible for the
mirror to reflect adequately a dark or black skinned face. Further, in
order to have a common background for the composite image as seen in the
mirror, the slides are photographed against a black background which will
not allow a high quality (detail) reproduction in the slides of black
articles of clothing. With this system, the operator attempts to
correspond the body size of the projected image (model's body) to the
viewer's body by means of a zoom lens on the projector. Inherently, a zoom
lens will increase or decrease the size of its projected image
proportionately in all directions. Therefore, with this apparatus, it is
impossible to create a short fat image or a tall, thin image but rather
only a short thin, tall fat or a well proportioned image in between which
may or may not correspond with the viewer's own body. Another drawback of
this system is the large amount of space it requires making its use
impractical except in very large stores.
The prior art in this field is believed to be best represented by U.S. Pat.
No. 1,133,311, wherein the subject's head and a garment ar composed on a
mirror; U.S. Pat. No. 2,722,600, superimposition of two separate images on
a common screen; U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,730,565 and 3,576,945, composite
pictures where background scenes are blended with a separate image; U.S.
Pat. No. 3,398,664, directed to an automatic photoprocessor, and U.S. Pat.
No. 3,849,596, directed to various techniques for using a television
camera for automatic alignment of two images side-by-side.
None of the foregoing references teach a system which is compact, allows
the customer to be photographed in an open area and allows the composite
picture to be proportioned along at least one of two axes such that the
image of the model's body can be adjusted to be proportioned to the
customer's head.
My invention encompasses a composite display system which overcomes the
difficulties of the prior art and which is convenient to use and operate,
will enable a full figure, full size display under confortable conditions
for the customer viewer, can be readily adjusted and operated by the
system operator in order to view sequentially a series of composite full
figure picture displays at a rate as fast or slow as desired.
My invention is broadly directed to a system for displaying to a customer,
composite views including part of the customer together with the image of
an article as though said article were actually associated with or worn by
the customer, which system comprises means to record and display a portion
of a body of a customer; means to store a plurality of images, which
images when combined with the recorded portion of the customer will
provide a full figure display; means to vary the dimensions of the stored
image; means to combine and display the combined images.
The method of my invention of providing a proportioned full figure image
which includes: displaying at least a portion of a customer on a medium,
recording at least a portion of an article of clothing on a medium,
combining the images to produce a full figure image, scaling of one of the
images with respect to the other to provide a proportional full figured
composite image.
The present invention as with the prior invention overcomes the prior art
problems discussed therein and, further, this invention has the following
advantages or improvements over my prior invention, namely, there is
greater flexibility in scaling the height and width of the customer's
body. That is, the whole X and/or Y and/or any portion or different
portions of the X and/or Y can be scaled. The present invention, is not
necessarily limited to making the subject's body taller or shorter, fatter
or thinner; the model's body which originally modeled the garment can be
scaled to the customer's overall measurements. Preferably, this is
accomplished by stretching or shrinking horizontally rasters based on a
calculated stretch factor. For example, I can scale the model which is
stored in memory to the bust, hip, waist, and height measurements of the
customer. A further improvement is that the skin tone of the model can be
adjusted to more nearly simulate the skin tone of the customer.
In the preferred embodiment the system comprises a video camera, a frame
grabber, a CPU, an image buffer and a television monitor. the videocamera
takes the image of the customer which is digitized by and stored in the
frame grabber and ultimately displayed on a video screen. Pre-recorded
articles of clothing to be combined with the image of the customer are
stored. Through use of the central processing unit, at least one of the
images, preferably that of the article of clothing are varied at least
along horizontal and vertical axes to provide a proportioned full figured
composite.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a block and pictorial diagram representing the preferred
embodiment of my invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustrating the composite on a screen.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1, a television camera or video camera 10, such as a JVC
Model KY 1900 U CHL 6 communicates with a frame grabber 12, such as a
OCTEK 2200. The camera 10 records the customer 14 to provide a first image
16; see FIG. 2(a).
Various articles of clothing are modeled to provide second images. The
images are coded and stored in a memory 18, such as a DEC RXO2; via a CPU
20, such as a DEC LSI-11/23. As many recordings of various articles of
clothing as desired are taken and stored in sequence in the memory 18. The
second images from the memory 20 are input to an image buffer 22 such as
an AED 512. The image in the image buffer 22 is scaled and the output is
displayed on a video screen 24.
The control of the computer 20 is accomplished through instructions. The
instructions are written in terms of the particular mode of operation
desired. The computer thus has stored in its memory the programs or
routines corresponding to each mode or operation of the computer. It is
well known to those skilled in the art, that the computer comprises
suitable controls, storage and computational units for performing the
various arithmatic and logical functions on data which it processes in
ditigal form. Any standard computer language consistent with the
capability of the computer can be used for the instructions. The routines
are not described in detail, since they can be written in any desired
notations, formats or sequences, depending upon the particular program
being utilized, computer language, etc. For the specific computer of the
preferred embodiment, the manufacturer's handbook sets forth the necessary
program which includes the sequence of internal interconnections which
have been added by the preparation and loading of the program into the
internal memory of the computer.
It will only a rare instance when the view of the customer's head and neck
will be proportional with the previously recorded view of the article of
clothing modeled from the neck down. Therefore, the vertical and
horizontal adjustments are necessary, as distinguished from those
adjustments which are commonly found with a zoom lens. For example, the
customer may be a size 16 and the model a size 8; preferably, horizontal
rasters are scaled so that a true proportional full figure composite will
be presented to the viewer-customer.
With the above system, it is clear it is not dependent on black in either
the background or as a means of eliminating any portion of the customer's
body below the neck. Further, this system can be viewed under normal
interior lighting conditions much the same as home television viewing
thereby providing for more comfortable environment for both the customer
and the salesperson. Also, once the customer's image has been recorded by
the video camera, the customer is free to assume any position or location
comfortable and convenient for viewing the display screen. Still further,
because there is no need to record or photograph the articles of clothing
against a black background the clothing can be shown against backgrounds
which enhance the color of the clothing. In this regard, the system if so
designed could allow the composite image to be superimposed over a
background which would be a natural setting for the use of the clothing
displayed, like an evening gown displayed over the background of a formal
ballroom, such as employing the techniques disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
3,576,945. Lastly, although all of the components have been shown in block
diagram form, all components may be housed in a single cabinet which
requires only a few square feet of floor space, will need no special areas
or darkened rooms and can be placed anywhere convenient for its use in any
sized department or store.
Referring to FIG. 2, in the operation of the invention, after all
components are actuated a memory of articles or second images 26 is
created. This is accomplished simply by photographing or picturing in
sequence a model with the articles of clothing to be stored. The video
signals from the TV camera are grabbed by the image grabber 12. The image
in the image grabber is composed of horizontal lines of information called
`rasters`. There is one image for each article of clothing and each image
is in color. Each image is coded and stored in memory 18 raster by raster.
Also, the clothing size of the second image is identified (coded) as a
standard. Further, each image stored in the memory is the same size top to
bottom.
The customer 16 then is viewed by the color TV camera 10; see FIG. 2(a).
The customer's clothes size is fed to the computer 20 and if the
customer's size does not match the standard size the computer calculates a
horizontal stretch or squeeze factor to be applied to the stored images so
that depending upon whether the customer's size is smaller or larger
respectively, the stored image may be proportioned properly to match with
the customer's size. The customer selects an image, say a particular
bridal gown and the coding information for this image is input into the
computer. The image of the customer is displayed on the screen 24 and that
portion below the client's neck (indexed at a specific raster location)
may or may not be shown as originally photographed. The horizontal stretch
or shrink factor is applied to the stored image on a raster by raster
basis, and the stretched or squeezed result is fed to the display device
24, overriding the image of the client up to but not over the face at the
specified raster location.
More particularly, the article of clothing chosen by the customer is read
into the computer memory. Starting at the specified raster of the image
(near the neck area), each raster is stretched or shrunk horizontally by
the stretch factor, and a new raster calculated.
Two alternatives may be used in this step. First, a simply re-partitioning
of the raster using fractions of pixels according to the stretch factor;
or secondly, a low pass filtering and sampling according to the pixel
spacing; preferably, two dimensional filtering (incorporating the rasters
above and below the current raster) should contribute less distortion to
the stretch image.
Each new computer raster is loaded into the display device on top of the
customer image and the next rasters are computed in sequence until the
composite image is complete as shown in FIG. 2b.
Alternatively, the first image can be input in digitized form into the
image buffer 22 and not initially displayed at 24. The second image is
overlayed or combined electronically with the first image and the
composite image is scanned out and displayed. A separate buffer may be
used to store the first image and the images from both buffers combined
and displayed.
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