Make-up and fashion accessory display and marketing system and method

Abstract

A method for simulating an appearance of make-up and fashion accessories on an image of a consumer and for marketing such products includes compiling a database of a plurality of products having appearance information for each product, acquiring a base image of a consumer having a plurality of pixels, identifying a product application area in the base image having a blending region, where the product application area and blending region thereof being are by sets of pixels of said base image, receiving a product selection from a consumer, retrieving appearance information associated with a selected product from the database, modifying the appearance information of the product application area according to the appearance information of the selected product, blending the blending region with the base image by modifying appearance information of pixels of the blending region according to appearance information of the selected product and according to appearance information of associated pixels of the base image in the blending region, displaying a composite image of the base image as modified and blended in the application area and the blending region thereof, and providing means to display an alternative product within the product application area.

1 . A method for simulating an appearance of cosmetic products on an image of a consumer, comprising: 
 compiling a database of a plurality of cosmetic products, said database including appearance information for each said cosmetic product;    acquiring a base image of a consumer, said base image including a plurality of pixels;    identifying a product application area in said base image, said product application area being defined by a set of pixels of said base image;    receiving a cosmetic product selection from said consumer;    retrieving appearance information associated with said selected cosmetic product from said database;    modifying appearance information of sad pixels of said product application area according to said appearance information of said selected product, thereby generating a modified image;    blending said modified image with said base image by assigning appearance information of pixels of said product application area according to appearance information of pixels of said modified image and according to appearance information of associated pixels of said base image, thereby generating a composite image in which the product application area is substantially covered with the appearance information of said cosmetic product and substantially matches highlights and shadows of the base image; and    displaying the composite image.    
   
   
       2 . A method for simulating an appearance of cosmetic products on an image of a consumer, as in  claim 1 , further comprising assigning alpha values to pixels of said product application area, and wherein said blending further comprises weighing said appearance information of pixels of said base image and appearance information of associated pixels of said modified image according to alpha values of pixels of said product application area.  
   
   
       3 . A method for simulating an appearance of cosmetic products on an image of a consumer, as in  claim 2 , wherein said blending further comprises weighing said appearance information of pixels of said base image in reverse proportion to appearance information of said selected cosmetic product.  
   
   
       4 . A method for simulating an appearance of cosmetic products on an image of a consumer, as in  claim 3 , wherein said blending further comprises determining a red color value (Rc), a green color (Gc) and a blue color (Bc) of pixels of said product application area by the following respective formulae,  
         Rc=[Rb *Alpha+ Rp *(UpperLimit−Alpha)]/UpperLimit,    Gc=[Gb *Alpha+ Gp *(UpperLimit−Alpha)]/UpperLimit, and    Bc=[Bb *Alpha+ Bp *(UpperLimit−Alpha)]/UpperLimit,  
     where: 
 Rb, Gb and Bb are respective red, green and blue color values of a pixel in said base image;  
 Rp, Gp and Bp are respective red, green and blue color values of an associated pixel in said modified image;  
 Alpha is an alpha value of an associated pixel in said product application area; and  
 UpperLimit is a predefined upper limit of alpha values.  
 
   
   
       5 . A method for simulating an appearance of cosmetic products on an image of a consumer, as in  claim 1 , wherein said modifying appearance characteristics of pixels of said product application area further comprises: 
 assigning hue and saturation appearance values of pixels of said product application area equal to hue and saturation appearance values of said selected cosmetic product: and    assigning intensity appearance values of pixels of said product application area according to intensity appearance values of a plurality of base image pixels within said product application area and according to intensity appearance values of a plurality of base image pixels outside said product application area.    
   
   
       6 . (canceled)  
   
   
       7 . (canceled)  
   
   
       8 . (canceled)  
   
   
       9 . (canceled)  
   
   
       10 . A method for simulating an appearance of accessories on an image of a consumer, comprising: 
 compiling a database including images of a accessory products and including an anchor point associated with each image of said accessory product;    acquiring a base image of a consumer, said base image including a plurality of pixels;    defining an anchor point in said base image for location of an accessory product image;    calculating a base image size factor according to a pixel dimension of a body part of said consumer visible in said base image;    calculating a base image rotation factor according to an orientation of said body part in said base image;    receiving an accessory product selection from said consumer;    retrieving a product image from said database associated with said accessory product selection;    adjusting a size of said product image according to said base image size factor;    adjusting an orientation of said product image according to said base image rotation factor;    generating a composite image of said base image with said product image superimposed thereover, said anchor point of said product image being substantially aligned with said anchor point of said base image, and said composite image substantially preserving highlights and shadows of said base image;    providing means to allow said consumer to adjust the size or orientation of said product image; and    adjusting said size or orientation of said product image and generating an adjusted composite image in response to receiving adjustment instructions from said consumer.    
   
   
       11 . A method for simulating an appearance of accessories on an image of a consumer, as in  claim 10 , further comprising: 
 assigning alpha values for pixels of said product image; and    blending pixels of said product image having assigned alpha values with pixels of said base image according to said alpha values.    
   
   
       12 . A method for simulating an appearance of accessories in an image of a consumer, as in  claim 11 , wherein said alpha values result in certain areas of said product image being substantially fully transparent and certain areas of said product image being semi-transparent.  
   
   
       13 . A method of marketing aesthetic products, comprising: 
 compiling a database of a plurality of aesthetic products, said database including appearance information for each said aesthetic product;    acquiring a base image of a consumer, said base image including a plurality of pixels;    identifying a product application area in said base image, said product application area being defined by a set of pixels of said base image;    selecting an aesthetic product from said database;    retrieving appearance information associated with said selected aesthetic product from said database;    modifying appearance information of said pixels of said product application area according to said appearance information of said selected product, thereby generating a modified image;    blending said modified image with said base image by assigning appearance information of pixels of said product application area according to appearance information of pixels of said modified image and according to appearance information of associated pixels of said base image, thereby generating a composite image in which the product application area is substantially covered with the appearance information of said aesthetic product and substantially matches highlights and shadows of the base image;    distributing, to said consumer, the composite image.    
   
   
       14 . A method of marketing aesthetic products, as in  claim 13 , comprising distributing a sample of said selected aesthetic product with said composite image.  
   
   
       15 . A method of marketing aesthetic products, as in  claim 13 , further comprising assigning alpha channel values to each pixel of said product application area, and wherein said blending further comprises weighing said appearance information of pixels of said base image and appearance information of associated pixels of said modified image according to alpha values of pixels of said product application area.  
   
   
       16 . A method of marketing aesthetic products, as in  claim 15 , further comprising in said blending, weighing said appearance information of pixels of said base image in reverse proportion to appearance information of said selected aesthetic product.  
   
   
       17 . A method of marketing aesthetic products, as in  claim 16 , further comprising: 
 a red color value (Rc), a green color value (Gc) and a blue color value (Bc) of said pixels of said product application area subsequent to said blending being determined by the following respective formulae        Rc=[Rb *Alpha+ Rp *(UpperLimit−Alpha)]/UpperLimit,    Gc=[Gb *Alpha+ Gp *(UpperLimit−Alpha)]/UpperLimit, and    Bc=[Bb *Alpha+ Bp *(UpperLimit−Alpha)]/UpperLimit,    where:    Rb, Gb and Bb are respective red, green and blue color values of a pixel in said base image;    Rp, Gp and Bp are respective red, green and blue color values of an associated pixel in said modified image;    Alpha is an alpha value of an associated pixel in said product application area; and    UpperLimit is a predefined upper limit of alpha values.    
   
   
       18 . A method of marketing aesthetic products, as in  claim 13 , wherein said modifying appearance characteristics of said pixels of said product application area further comprises: 
 assigning hue and saturation appearance values of pixels of said product application area equal to hue and saturation appearance values of said selected aesthetic product; and    assigning intensity appearance values of pixels of said product application area according to intensity appearance values of a plurality of base image pixels within said product application area and according to intensity appearance values of a plurality of pixels outside said product application area.    
   
   
       19 . (canceled)  
   
   
       20 . (canceled)  
   
   
       21 . (canceled)  
   
   
       22 . A method for simulating an appearance of products on an image of a consumer, as in  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 interconnecting first and second user systems through a network;    receiving a product selection from a first user; and    displaying a composite image incorporating said product selected by said first user on said first and second user systems.    
   
   
       23 . A virtual make-over system for realistically simulating appearance of a make-up product applied to the face of a consumer, comprising: 
 an image pre-processor for identifying a product application area for a make-up product within a base facial image of a consumer, the base facial image including pixel color values and pixel intensities and having characteristic highlights and shadows; and    an image blender for generating a blended facial image, in which a color of the make-up product substantially covers the product application area of the blended facial image, while maintaining the characteristic highlights and shadows of the base facial image, comprising a pixel equalizer for equalizing pixel intensities within the product application area, based on a color intensity of the make-up product and based on statistics of pixel intensities of the base facial image.    
   
   
       24 . The virtual make-over system of  claim 23  further comprising a make-up applier for generating an applied facial image by combining the blended facial image with the color of the make-up product according to a transparency mask.  
   
   
       25 . The virtual make-over system of  claim 24  wherein said make-up applier further comprises an application level adjuster for adjusting the transparency mask according to a level of application of the make-up product.  
   
   
       26 . The virtual make-over system of  claim 25  wherein said application level adjuster modifies the transparency mask according to an offset value corresponding to the level of application.  
   
   
       27 . The virtual make-over system of  claim 26  further comprising a user interface for selecting the base facial image, the make-up product and the level of application.  
   
   
       28 . A method for realistically simulating appearance of a make-up product applied to the face of a consumer, comprising: 
 identifying a product application area for a make-up product within a base facial image of a consumer, the base facial image including pixel color values and pixel intensities and having characteristic highlights and shadows; and    generating a blended facial image, in which a color of the make-up product substantially covers the product application area of the blended facial image, while maintaining the characteristic highlights and shadows of the base facial image, comprising equalizing pixel intensities within the product application area, based on a color intensity of the make-up product and based on statistics of pixel intensities of the base facial image.    
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 28  further comprising generating an applied facial image comprising combining the blended facial image with the color of the make-up product according to a transparency mask.  
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 29  wherein said generating an applied facial image further comprises adjusting the transparency mask according to a level of application of the cosmetic product.  
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 30  wherein said adjusting the transparency mask comprises modifying the transparency mask according to an offset value corresponding to the level of application.  
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 31  further comprising receiving a selection for a facial image, a make-up product and a level of application.  
   
   
       33 . A marketing system for realistically simulating appearance of fashion accessories as worn by a consumer, comprising: 
 an image pre-processor for identifying a product application area within a base image of a consumer, for wearing a fashion accessory as represented by a fashion accessory image, the base image and the fashion accessory image including pixel color values and pixel intensities, and the base image having characteristic highlights and shadows; and    an image blender for generating a blended image, in which the fashion accessory substantially covers the product application area, while maintaining the characteristic highlights and shadows of the base image, comprising a pixel equalizer for equalizing pixel intensities within the product application area, based on pixel intensities of the fashion accessory image and based on statistics of pixel intensities of the base image.    
   
   
       34 . The marketing system of  claim 33  further comprising a fashion accessory adjuster for adjusting a size and orientation of the fashion accessory image according to characteristic statistics of the base image.  
   
   
       35 . The marketing system of  claim 34  further comprising a fashion accessory fitter for generating a fitted image by compositing the blended image with the fashion accessory image according to a transparency mask.  
   
   
       36 . The marketing system of  claim 35  further comprising a user interface for selecting the base image and the fashion accessory.  
   
   
       37 . A method for realistically simulating appearance of fashion accessories as worn by a consumer, comprising: 
 identifying a product application area within a base image of a consumer, for wearing a fashion accessory as represented by a fashion accessory image, the base image and the fashion accessory image including pixel color values and pixel intensities, and the base image having characteristic highlights and shadows; and    generating a blended image, in which the fashion accessory substantially covers the product application area, while maintaining the characteristic highlights and shadows of the base image, comprising a equalizing pixel intensities within the product application area, based on pixel intensities of the fashion accessory image and based on statistics of pixel intensities of the base image.    
   
   
       38 . The method of  claim 37  further comprising adjusting a size and orientation of the fashion accessory image according to characteristic statistics of the base image.  
   
   
       39 . The method of  claim 38  further comprising generating a fitted image by compositing the blended image with the fashion accessory image according to a transparency mask.  
   
   
       40 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising receiving a selection for a base image and a fashion accessory.