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| United States Patent | 5615320 |
| Link to this page | http://www.wikipatents.com/5615320.html |
| Inventor(s) | Lavendel; Laurence A. (Aptos, CA) |
| Abstract | A computer-implemented system for selecting a color scheme and colorizing a
document with the selected color scheme includes displaying a menu of
user-selectable objectives which are used to define a color scheme,
accessing a computerized color knowledge-base system in accordance with
the selected objectives to select the color scheme, and displaying the
selected color scheme. Once the color scheme has been selected, the
document can be colorized by retrieving the document from a file such as
that created by a desktop publishing program, selecting a page of the
document image to be colorized, and colorizing a plurality of
reproductions of the selected page. The plurality of reproduced pages are
variably colorized with combinations of colors from the selected color
scheme. A user selects the most desirably colorized page reproduction and
the selected colorized page is re-displayed for further processing. |
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Title Information  |
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| Publication Date |
March 25, 1997 |
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| Filing Date |
April 25, 1994 |
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Title Information |
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Market Review |
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Technical Review |
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Claims |
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What is claimed is:
1. A computer-implemented method for selecting a color scheme, comprising
the steps of:
retrieving user-selectable color-scheme impact objectives, each of which
specify a relevance relation to at least one color and which are used to
automatically generate a color scheme for colorizing a document, said
color scheme comprising a dominant color; and
accessing a computerized color knowledge-base system to generate a color
scheme which includes the dominant color in the color scheme based on
selected color impact objectives.
2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying
the dominant color of the color scheme.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the accessing step comprises the
step of combining the selected color-scheme impact objectives and
determining the dominant color from the knowledge base and generating
dominant supporting colors in accordance with a predetermined color
association to the dominant color.
4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the accessing step further
includes combining the selected color-scheme impact objectives and
determining the coexisting color and generating a coexisting supporting
color in accordance with a predetermined association to the coexisting
color.
5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of adjusting
the color of any of the dominant color, dominant supporting color,
coexisting color, and coexisting supporting color.
6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the color scheme includes at
least the dominant color and dominant supporting colors.
7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the color scheme includes the
dominant color, coexisting colors, and coexisting supporting colors.
8. A method for colorizing a document using a computer-generated color
scheme, comprising the steps of:
retrieving a document;
selecting a page of the document to be colorized;
simultaneously colorizing a plurality of thumbnail reproductions of the
selected page, the plurality of thumbnail reproductions being
automatically and variably colorized using combinations of colors from the
computer-generated color scheme; and
displaying, in accordance with a user selection, one of the plurality of
colorized thumbnail reproductions,
wherein the step of simultaneously colorizing a plurality of thumbnail
reproductions of the selected page includes automatically varying a
combination of the selected color scheme such that the same varied color
combination is not repeated for each of the plurality of thumbnail
reproductions.
9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the step of colorizing a
plurality of thumbnail reproductions of a selected page is repeated for
each document page within the document.
10. A method of skewing color schemes selected by a computer-implemented
program, the method comprising the steps of:
maintaining a log of color schemes previously selected and applied by a
user;
determining preference information of commonly used colors based on
previously selected color schemes and their use; and
developing a color selection and skew factors based on the preference
information.
11. A method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of applying
the color skew factor to the computer-implemented color scheme selection
in order to obtain a skewed color scheme selection.
12. A method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of applying
the skewed color scheme to automatically colorize a document.
13. A method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of applying
the color skew factor to a colorized document in order to modify the
application of the colors to the colorized document.
14. In a computer system for colorizing documents, a document-colorizing
method comprising the steps of:
retrieving user-selectable color-scheme impact objectives which are used to
generate a color scheme for colorizing a document;
accessing a computerized color knowledge-base system in accordance with the
selected color-scheme impact objectives in order to generate the color
scheme;
automatically generating the color scheme based on the selected
color-scheme impact objectives, said generated color scheme comprising a
dominant color, at least one coexisting color and at least one supporting
color;
displaying the color scheme;
retrieving a document file; and
colorizing a plurality of thumbnail reproductions of the retrieved document
using the selected color scheme, the plurality of thumbnail reproductions
of the document being variably colorized with combinations of colors from
the displayed color scheme.
15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of
selecting, in accordance with a user's designation, one of the plurality
of the colorized thumbnail reproductions and re-displaying the designated
colorized thumbnail reproduction.
16. A computer-implemented colorizing apparatus for selecting a color
scheme, comprising:
menu display means for displaying a menu of user-selectable color-scheme
impact objectives which are used to specify a color scheme;
access means for automatically accessing a computerized color
knowledge-base system in accordance with the selected color-scheme impact
objectives to automatically generate the color scheme; and
color scheme display means for displaying the selected color scheme,
wherein the generated color scheme comprises a dominant color, at least
one coexisting color and at least one supporting color.
17. An apparatus for colorizing a document with a computer-generated color
scheme, comprising:
retrieval means for retrieving a document;
selection means for selecting a page of the document to be colorized;
colorizer means for colorizing a plurality of thumbnail reproductions of
the selected page, the plurality of thumbnail reproductions being
automatically and variably colorized with combinations of colors from the
selected color scheme; and
display means for displaying, in accordance with a user selection, one of
the plurality of colorized thumbnail reproductions,
wherein the colorizer means varies the combination of colors of the color
scheme for each thumbnail reproduction such that the same varied color
combination is not repeated for each of the plurality of thumbnail
reproductions.
18. An apparatus for skewing color schemes selected by a
computer-implemented program, the apparatus comprising:
a color diary for maintaining a log of a plurality of color schemes
previously selected by a user;
determining means for determining preference information based on
previously selected and applied colors and based on previously selected
color schemes and
color adjusting means for developing a color skew factor based on the
preference information.
19. An apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising a color skewing
means for applying the color skew factor to a computer-implemented color
scheme in order to obtain a skewed color scheme selection.
20. An apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising a colorizer
means for colorizing a document with the skewed color scheme.
21. An apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the colorizing means
applies the skewed color schemes to a colorized document in order to
modify the colors in the colorized document.
22. In a computer system for colorizing documents, a document-colorizing
apparatus comprising:
menu display means for displaying a menu of user-selectable color-scheme
objectives used to specify a color scheme;
access means for automatically accessing a computerized color
knowledge-base system in accordance with the selected color-scheme impact
objectives to automatically generate the color scheme, said generated
color scheme comprising a dominant color, at least one coexisting color
and at least one supporting color;
color-scheme display means for displaying the color scheme;
retrieval means for retrieving a document;
selection means for selecting a page of the document to be colorized;
colorizer means for colorizing a plurality of thumbnail reproductions of
the selected page, the plurality of thumbnail reproductions being variably
colorized with combinations of colors from the displayed color scheme; and
display means for displaying, in accordance with a user's selection, one of
the plurality of reproduced colorized pages.
23. A computer-implemented method for automatically generating a color
scheme based on input color-scheme impact objectives, the method
comprising the steps of:
accessing a computerized knowledge-base system in accordance with the input
color-scheme impact objectives;
determining a dominant color of the color scheme using the computerized
knowledge-base system;
automatically generating a dominant supporting color of the color scheme
having a predetermined relationship to the dominant color;
automatically generating a coexisting color of the color scheme having a
predetermined relationship to the dominant color different from the
predetermined relationship of the dominant supporting color; and
automatically generating coexisting supporting colors of the color scheme
having a predetermined relationship to the coexisting color.
24. A method according to claim 23, further comprising the step of
displaying the dominant color, dominant supporting color, coexisting
color, and coexisting supporting color in a color palette.
25. A method for colorizing a document using a plurality of
computer-generated selected color schemes, the method comprising the steps
of:
displaying a plurality of computer-generated color schemes;
selecting a document to be colorized;
automatically colorizing a plurality of thumbnail reproductions of the
selected document using each of the plurality of computer-generated color
schemes; and
displaying each of the colorized plurality of thumbnail reproductions.
26. A method according to claim 25, wherein each of the computer-generated
color schemes is based on input color impact objectives.
27. A method for modifying a color scheme generated by a computer in
accordance with input color impact objectives, the method comprising the
steps of:
selecting a plurality of different colors in the color scheme which are to
be modified;
linking the selected plurality of different colors to be modified; and
simultaneously modifying the linked plurality of colors in the color scheme
so as to modify each of the linked colors equally.
28. A method according to claim 27, wherein, in the step of modifying, hue,
saturation, blackness, whiteness, and warmth of each of the plurality of
colors can be altered.
29. A method according to claim 28, wherein the step of modifying includes
the step of linking at least two colors of the color scheme which are to
be modified so that when one of the linked colors is modified, all of the
linked colors are similarly modified in such a way as to maintain a
constant color relationship.
30. A document-colorizing apparatus for colorizing documents using a color
scheme based on user-selected impact color-scheme objectives, comprising:
input means for inputting at least one color-scheme impact objective;
memory means for storing process steps, a color knowledge base for
automatically generating the color scheme, and color-scheme impact
objectives;
process means for a) automatically generating the color scheme, in
accordance with the process steps stored in said memory means, which
includes retrieving user-selectable color-scheme impact objectives which
are used to define a color scheme, 2) accessing the color knowledge base
in accordance with the retrieved color-scheme impact objectives, 3)
selecting the color scheme from the color knowledge base, 4) displaying
the color scheme, and 5) colorizing a plurality of thumbnail reproductions
of a document to be colored using the selected color scheme.
31. An apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the input means is
operative to select, in accordance with a user's designation, one of the
plurality of colorized thumbnail reproductions, and wherein the process
means re-displays the designated colorized thumbnail reproduction as a
full-size colorized document so as to allow further color modifications. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer-aided color selection and
document colorizing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently-developed coloring programs provide the computer operator with
tools to help in coloring documents. For example, such coloring programs
as ColorUP or Power Point provide "canned" color schemes which include
static sets of color palettes so as to be useful for a wide range of
document coloring tasks. However, color professionals, such as designers
and artists, tend to base color decisions on goals and constraints of a
job on which they are working. Therefore, "canned" color palettes may not
contain the appropriate colors for a particular task. Furthermore, these
coloring programs are difficult to use. As a specific example, since the
coloring programs do not have a universally compatible interface with
other applications, the user not only has to determine appropriate colors,
but also has to change the software interface path of the coloring program
in order to explicitly import the features of the coloring program into
another application, such as a text-editor application. As a result, a
color professional, who is proficient at making good color selections but
who may not be proficient in computer operations, finds conventional
coloring programs cumbersome and complicated.
Currently, there are no known programs which make recommendations as to an
appropriate color scheme for a specific objective. For example, no
conventional coloring program is known which provides the user with advice
as to a color scheme which most appropriately portrays a user's color
impact objectives, such as colors which are explicitly suited for a
particular audience or which convey a particular mood or message.
Moreover, no conventional coloring application automatically selects
colors and organizes them into a color palette in such a way as to provide
flexible and intuitive guidance on how the colors should be used and how
each selected color relates to the other.
Heretofore, computer-aided color advice has not been available to assist
the professional and novice user in selecting a color scheme for inclusion
in a document or graphical image, based on the user's objectives.
Moreover, no coloring program currently provides a colorizer which
provides advice as to how to apply a generated color scheme to a document
composition by rapidly generating and displaying thumbnail sketches of the
user's documents that have been automatically colorized in various colors
using the generated color scheme. As a result, both the professional color
user and the novice color user are confronted with the problem of using
coloring programs which offer color schemes which may be unsuitable to
satisfy a particular coloring goal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses the above-mentioned drawbacks by providing
a color utility system which utilizes a computer-aided process designed to
be used in connection with other computer processes such as a page layout,
paint, or drawing programs and which provides advanced color capabilities
for selecting appropriate color schemes to be used in the document
creation process.
The present invention provides the feature of a computer-aided color
selection system for selecting a palette of colors based on user-selected
color impact objective criteria that describe the document in terms of the
user's goals, for example, the intended emotional tone, style and attitude
that it is desired for the document to convey or the audience, occasion
and style for the document, and the like. Color schemes generated in this
manner are organized into a palette in such a way as to make it
intuitively evident how each color is to be used in the composition of the
document.
In the present invention, a color selection system selects one color to be
a dominant color in the document composition. The color selection system
also selects colors which have a lesser impact in the document design so
as to coexist with the dominant color. Based on these selected dominant
and coexisting colors, a number of other colors are calculated to be
supporting colors. These are colors that have a similar hue to one of the
dominant or coexisting colors but which differ mainly in saturation and
lightness. In addition to the dominant, coexisting, and respective
supporting colors, there are provided by the color selection system a set
of highly saturated highlight colors, black and white, and gray colors,
and, at the discretion of the user, a variety of data colors.
Another feature of the computer-aided color selection system is the ability
to modify individual colors in the scheme by using a variety of
conventional color tuners or choosers. In relation to this, one feature of
the color selection system is the ability of chaining together related
colors. That is, links can be established between the dominant color and
its supporting colors and, similarly, between any of the coexisting colors
and their related supporting colors. The purpose of chaining colors is to
allow the user to modify one color in the chain and have the color
selection system modify the others in the chain so that all of the chained
colors maintain the same chromatic relationships to each other.
Accordingly, in this aspect of the present invention there is a
computer-aided method and an apparatus for selecting a color scheme. The
method and apparatus include retrieving stored user-selectable color
impact objectives which are used to define a color scheme, accessing a
computerized color knowledge-based system of colors in accordance with the
user-selectable color impact objectives for selecting the color scheme,
and displaying the selected color scheme.
In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a colorizer
for automatically displaying a plurality of thumbnail sketches of a
document page that are variably colorized abstractions of the document
page obtained by using the colors defined in the current color scheme. The
method and apparatus include retrieving a user-selected document from a
computer file and reproducing pages in that document in a reduced
abstracted "thumbnail" form. In other words, the thumbnail sketches are
generally of a smaller-size abstract view of the do | | |
