Image processing method, device, equipment, storage medium, and computer program product

Abstract

[0009] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an image processing method, apparatus, device, storage medium, and computer program product. The method includes: determining an image transformation area from a target image in response to a transformation trigger operation of a target image; if it is determined that the image transformation area includes a transformation protection area, determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the transformation protection area according to position information of the transformation protection area; and transforming and moving the image content within the transformation protection area according to the transformation movement information. The embodiments of the present disclosure can better weaken the transformation boundary between the non-protected area and the image content within the protected area within the image area to be transformed, better achieve a natural transition in the degree of transformation of the image content within the non-protected area and the protected area, enhance the realism of the beautification transformation of the image content within the image area to be transformed, achieve effective beautification transformation of the image content, and improve the user experience of image beautification transformation applications.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202211584120.1 filed on December 9, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to image processing methods, devices, equipment, storage media, and computer program products. [Background technology]

[0003] Nowadays, image beautification is popular among people, and through application software with image beautification functions, it is possible to adjust and modify selected images, for example, to beautify the entire body or face of a person in an image, or to beautify the height, etc.

[0004] In image beautification applications, beautifying a human figure in an image involves adjusting the display form of the object to be beautified. While adjusting the display form of the object to be beautified, it also affects the change in the form of the background area in the image. After the change in form, the background area often has problems with distortion or deformation on the screen, which impairs the presentation effect of the image.

[0005] Some methods to solve the above problem include users manually restoring the transition beautification area, or directly avoiding the pre-selected non-beautification area during image beautification by image processing algorithms. However, users often fail to properly restore the deformation area, resulting in poor restoration results for the deformation area. Image beautification using some image processing algorithms also has the problem of unnatural processing results. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present disclosure provides an image processing method, apparatus, device, storage medium and computer program product for effectively beautifying image content of a beautification target in an image.

[0007] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include: determining an image transformation area from the target image in response to a transformation trigger operation of the target image; determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the transformation protection area according to position information of the transformation protection area when it is determined that the transformation protection area is included in the image transformation area; and transforming and moving the image content within the transformation protection area in accordance with the transformation movement information.

[0008] In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include: a region determination module adapted to determine an image deformation region from the target image in response to a transformation trigger operation of the target image; an information determination module, when determining that a transformation protection area is included in the image transformation area, for determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the transformation protection area according to position information of the transformation protection area; a protection area transformation module used for transforming and moving the image content in the transformation protection area according to the transformation movement information.

[0009] In a third aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include: one or more processors; a storage device adapted to store one or more programs; The present disclosure further provides an electronic device that, when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to implement the image processing method described in any one of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0010] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, are used to perform the image processing method described in any one of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0011] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer program product including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the image processing method according to any one of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0012] These and other features, advantages, and aspects of each embodiment of the present disclosure will become more apparent with reference to the following specific embodiments in conjunction with the drawings. Throughout the drawings, identical or similar reference numerals refer to identical or similar elements. It should be understood that the drawings are illustrative and that elements and components are not necessarily drawn to scale. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an image processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 1a] FIG. 1a shows an example of recording an image using meshed data in the image processing method according to this embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an image processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2a] FIG. 2a shows an effect display diagram of an image deformation area after deformation processing by the image processing method according to this embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of an image processing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. Although the drawings show some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be realized in various forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein, but rather these embodiments are provided to enable a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0015] It should be understood that the steps described in the method embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in a different order and / or in parallel, and that the method embodiments may include additional steps and / or omit performing steps as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0016] As used herein, the term "comprises" and variations thereof are intended to be open inclusive, i.e., "including but not limited to." The term "based on" means "based at least in part on." The term "in one embodiment" means "at least one embodiment," the term "in another embodiment" means "at least one other embodiment," and the term "in some embodiments" means "at least some embodiments." Relevant definitions of other terms are provided below.

[0017] It should be noted that the concepts of "first," "second," etc. referred to in this disclosure are intended only to distinguish between different devices, modules, or units, and are not intended to limit the order or interdependence of the functions performed by these devices, modules, or units.

[0018] It should be understood that the modifications "one" and "multiple" referred to in this disclosure are exemplary and not limiting, and that one of ordinary skill in the art should understand "one or more" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0019] The names of messages or information exchanged between devices in embodiments of the present disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of these messages or information.

[0020] It is understood that before using the technical solutions disclosed in each embodiment of the present disclosure, it is necessary to inform users of the type, scope of use, and usage scenarios of personal information related to the present disclosure in an appropriate manner in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and obtain users' permission.

[0021] For example, in response to receiving a user's active request, prompt information may be sent to the user to clearly prompt the user that the requested operation requires the acquisition and use of the user's personal information, allowing the user to choose whether or not to provide personal information to software or hardware, such as an electronic device, application program, server, or storage medium, that performs the operation of the technical solution of the present disclosure, according to the prompt information.

[0022] In one non-limiting alternative implementation, the method for sending prompt information to the user in response to receiving the user's active request may be, for example, a pop-up window, which may display the prompt information in text format, and which may include a selection control for the user to select "agree" or "disagree" to providing personal information to the electronic device.

[0023] The above notification and user permission acquisition process is exemplary and does not limit the implementation of the present disclosure, and it is understood that other methods that comply with relevant laws and regulations may also be applied to the implementation of the present disclosure.

[0024] It is understood that the data related to this technical solution (including but not limited to the data itself, the acquisition or use of the data) must comply with the requirements of corresponding laws, regulations and related provisions.

[0025] The application scenario of this embodiment can be explained as follows: A user of an image beautification function intends to beautify the image content of a specific region in a selected image, such as slimming down the face in the selected image or slimming down the body of a person in the image, thereby adjusting the display appearance. When using some image processing methods to beautify an image, if a target region not involved in beautification is not selected in advance, beautification processing of the object to be beautified will be simultaneously performed on other background objects in the image, causing further distortion of the background region. If a target region not involved in beautification can be selected in advance, when beautification processing of the object to be beautified is performed, the image content in the target region will not be affected by the beautification processing. After processing, the pixels in the image will only have two states: modified and unmodified. This results in an unnatural processing effect, and obvious stretching of the image content is likely to be observed at the edges of the target region.

[0026] The image processing method according to this embodiment can effectively improve the problem of unnatural edge transition between the target protection area and the associated transformation area, and realize natural beautification of the image content.

[0027] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an image processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is applicable to performing transformation processing on image content in an image, and the method can be executed by an image processing device, which can be realized in the form of software and / or hardware, and optionally, by an electronic device, which can be a mobile terminal, a PC terminal, a server, etc.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 1, the method in the embodiment of the present disclosure may specifically include steps S101 to S103.

[0029] S101: In response to a trigger operation for transforming a target image, an image transformation area is determined from the target image.

[0030] In this embodiment, the target image can be understood as an image to be beautified that is pre-selected by a participant, and the target image may be a portrait image including a portrait, and the transformation trigger operation can be understood as a function trigger operation for starting the beautification process of the image content in the target image. The generation process of the transformation trigger operation can be described as follows: first, trigger the image beautification function icon to enter the image editing interface for image beautification, then receive the target image selected by the participant, and then receive the image area to be beautified and transformed in the target image selected by the participant, after which the transformation trigger operation can be generated.

[0031] For example, in terms of visualization interaction, after triggering an image beautification function image on the desktop, an image editing interface can be entered and presented, and after triggering an image selection control, a selected target image can be displayed in an area of ​​the image editing interface. After a set control (e.g., a transformation operation trigger control) is triggered, it can continuously detect whether a transformation trigger operation is received. The transformation trigger operation is generated after a participant selects an image area to be beautified on the target image. This step can determine an image transformation area from the target image in response to the received transformation trigger operation.

[0032] The image transformation area can be the image area selected in the target image for beautification transformation. In this embodiment, the participant can select the image transformation area by touch sliding or by dragging the mouse. For example, if the target image is a portrait, the image area including the person's face can be selected as the image transformation area as described above. In this embodiment, after generating the transformation trigger operation, this step can be used to respond to the transformation trigger operation, or the image transformation area can be determined from the target image after responding to the transformation trigger operation.

[0033] For example, the process of determining the image deformation area can be described as follows: First, related meshed image data can be extracted from the deformation trigger operation, including trajectory point coordinate information of the slide trajectory formed during touch sliding, rectangular area coordinate information of the drag rectangle formed during mouse dragging, etc. Then, a closed area can be determined as the image deformation area in the target image based on the meshed image data, and the image deformation area can be recorded using the corresponding area information.

[0034] It can be seen that the target image and the image deformation area can be recorded in a conventional pixel point unit format, or in a mesh format. In this embodiment, for example, meshed image data recording can be performed in a mesh format. Specifically, a target image for which image data recording is performed in a pixel point unit can be first obtained, and then mesh format conversion can be performed. Specifically, the size of the mesh unit can be determined, and each mesh can be considered to be composed of two triangular patches, and one mesh can be represented by the four vertices that make up the mesh. Compared to the conventional pixel point recording format, the mesh image data recording format can better save storage space occupied by image data recording and is convenient for subsequent data processing.

[0035] S102: When it is determined that the image transformation area includes a transformation protection area, transformation movement information corresponding to the image content within the transformation protection area is determined according to position information of the transformation protection area.

[0036] In this embodiment, the image deformation area determined in the above step is mainly used to realize beautification deformation processing of the image content within the area. At the core, before performing deformation processing on the image deformation area, it is necessary to determine whether the image deformation area includes a deformation protection area. If the deformation protection area is included, this step can perform deformation processing on the image content within the deformation protection area.

[0037] In this embodiment, the transformation protection area can be understood as an area that requires transformation protection during the image beautification transformation process. In this embodiment, determining that the image transformation area includes a transformation protection area can be explained as follows: It is determined whether a target protection area has been defined in advance in the target image. Assuming that the target protection area has been defined, it is determined whether a sub-area that fits within the target protection area exists in the image transformation area. If a sub-area exists, it can be determined that a transformation protection area exists in the image transformation area. For example, if the target image is a portrait image, the background screen area within the selected image transformation area can be considered as the transformation protection area.

[0038] In this step, after determining that the image deformation area includes a deformation protection area, meshed image data related to the deformation protection area is obtained, and the position information of the deformation protection area can be obtained using the meshed image data of the deformation protection area, and then the deformation movement information of the image content within the deformation protection area can be determined using the position information.

[0039] In one specific implementation, the position information of the deformation protection area can be used to determine the mesh area position information of each mesh area included in the deformation protection area, and the distance from the corresponding mesh area to the edge of the deformation protection area can be determined based on the position information of each mesh area. Then, the deformation movement information that the related image content in the mesh area should have can be determined according to the determined distance.

[0040] In this embodiment, the transformation information of the image content can be understood as a transformation width value or a transformation distance when the pixel points constituting the image content are transformed. The image content in different region positions may have different transformation information, or the transformation information of the image content in some regions may be a set value indicating that the image content does not change or move, that is, the image content in the region may not be transformed.

[0041] As described above, this embodiment can distinguish the degree of deformation and movement of image content within the deformation protection area, thereby realizing a gradation in the degree of deformation of image content within the non-deformation protection area and the deformation protection area, and further making the deformation of image content within the image deformation area more natural.

[0042] S103: Transform and move the image content within the transformation protection area in accordance with the transformation and movement information.

[0043] In this embodiment, after the transformation movement information of the image content in the transformation protection area is determined by the above steps, this step can control the image content in the transformation protection area to be transformed and moved according to the corresponding transformation movement information. The transformation movement can be understood as the movement of the position presenting specific pixel information in the image content, for example, the position originally presenting pixel information in the image content in one mesh area of ​​the transformation movement area is adjusted according to the transformation movement width given in the transformation movement information.

[0044] In this embodiment, the position of pixel information presented by specific image content after transformation within the transformation protection area changes from that before transformation, which corresponds to expanding or contracting the image content presentation effect in terms of visual effect.

[0045]

[0013] The above technical solution of the embodiments of the present disclosure differs from the technical solution that only beautifies and moves the content of the non-protected area within the image area to be transformed, in that when the selected image transformation area includes a transformation protected area, the technical solution can also consider transforming and moving the image content within the transformation protected area according to the determined transformation information. The above implementation of the technical solution can better weaken the transformation boundary between the image content in the non-protected area and the protected area within the image area to be transformed, better achieve a natural transition in the degree of transformation of the image content in the non-protected area and the protected area, enhance the realism of the beautification and movement of the image content within the image area to be transformed, realize effective beautification and movement of the image content, and improve the user experience of image beautification and movement applications.

[0046] As a first alternative embodiment of the present disclosure, based on the above embodiment, this first alternative embodiment is: The method may further include a step of transforming and moving image content in a non-transformation protected area within the image transformation area by a transformation movement value determined in response to the transformation trigger operation, The non-transformation protected area is an area other than the transformation protected area within the image transformation area.

[0047] In this alternative embodiment, transformation processing logic is further provided for image content within a non-transformation protected area within the image transformation area, such that an image area within the image transformation area that does not fit within a predefined target protected area may be the non-transformation protected area, or the entire image transformation area may be the non-transformation protected area when it is determined that no predefined target protected area is present in the target image.

[0048] In this embodiment, the transformation movement of the image content in the non-transformation protection area within the image protection area can be realized by the added logic steps. In one specific implementation, a transformation movement value included in the transformation trigger operation can be obtained, and the transformation movement value can be determined based on the slide width of the trigger slide performed when generating the transformation trigger operation, or based on the drag width of the mouse drag operation performed when generating the transformation trigger operation.

[0049] In accordance with the above description, in this embodiment, all image content within the non-transformation protected area can be transformed and moved by the determined transformation movement value. Similarly, the visual presentation effect of the transformation movement of the image content within the non-transformation protected area can be explained as the presentation position of pixel information included in the image content being changed by adjusting the transformation movement value.

[0050] In addition, this embodiment adopts meshed image data that records a target image in the form of a mesh area, and in this embodiment, the determination of the transformed protection area and the non-transformed protection area can both adopt meshed image data in the form of a mesh area as data support in image processing, and correspondingly, the image transformed area, transformed protection area, and non-transformed protection area can also be recorded in mesh data format.

[0051] The technical solution of the first alternative embodiment further realizes transformation and movement of image content included in a non-transformation protected area within an image transformation area. This technical solution divides the image transformation area into a transformation protected area and a non-transformation protected area, and determines different transformation and movement information for image content at different positions within the transformation protected area to realize differentiated transformation and movement of image content within the transformation protected area, reflecting the transitional transformation of edge areas within the transformation protected area while ensuring normal transformation of each image content within the non-transformation protected area. This technical solution better enhances the realism of beautification and transformation of image content within the image area to be transformed, realizes effective beautification and transformation of image content, and improves the user experience of image beautification and transformation applications.

[0052] As a second alternative embodiment of the present disclosure, based on the above embodiment, The method may be optimized to include determining a target protection area from the target image for use in determining the transformed protection area in response to an operation of acquiring a protection area of ​​the target image.

[0053] It can be seen that one of the important conditions for implementing the determination of the transformation protection area in the image transformation area is that the target protection area must be pre-defined in the target image involved in the image processing. In this second alternative embodiment, the implementation logic for the target protection area is optimized to add. Specifically, regarding the timing for determining the target protection area, after receiving a protection area acquisition operation, the steps of the second alternative embodiment can respond to the protection area acquisition operation and then determine the target protection area from the target image.

[0054] The protection area acquisition operation can be understood as a trigger operation for selecting an image area that requires deformation protection from the target image.

[0055] In one implementation form of the protection area capture operation, a protection area selection button (or protection area selection control) may be presented in an image editing interface displaying the target image, and a participant may click on the protection area selection button to trigger and generate the protection area capture operation.

[0056] In another implementation of the protection area capture operation, a participant may perform a specific touch gesture in an image editing interface displaying the target image, which may trigger and generate the protection area capture operation.

[0057] After generating the protection area acquisition operation through the above implementation, an intelligent recognition algorithm can be set to intelligently determine the screen area in the target image, and the recognized screen area can be directly set as the target protection area. For example, if the target image is a portrait, only the person in the image can be recognized, and the screen area other than the person in the image can be recognized as the target protection area. A fixed geometric shape can also be directly used to define the target protection area.

[0058] In addition, after generating the protection area acquisition operation according to the above implementation, an operation listening thread may be started to listen for whether there is a touch slide behavior for selecting the target protection area, or listen for whether there is a mouse drag behavior for selecting the target protection area, and then determine the screen area corresponding to the above behavior in the target image by recognizing the image area associated with the touch slide behavior or the mouse drag behavior, and the finally determined screen area is the target protection area.

[0059] Following the above description, after responding to the triggered protection area acquisition operation, extraction of related image data information can be performed for the target protection area determined by intelligent recognition or the target protection area determined based on listening to selected behavior, thereby obtaining meshed data recording the target protection area.

[0060] The technical solution of the second alternative embodiment provides a logic implementation of determining a target protection area, and the determined target protection area can be used as background information for the image beautification transformation process to determine a transformation protection area within the image transformation area. This technical solution provides basic data support for the logic implementation of the image processing of this embodiment, and is also an important feature that distinguishes the image beautification transformation from the implementation of some technical solutions.

[0061] Based on the above second selectable embodiment, as one implementation form of this second selectable embodiment, the step of determining a target protection area from the target image may be specifically optimized into the following steps:

[0062] a0) determining area location information associated with the protection area acquisition operation;

[0063] In this embodiment, after receiving the protection area acquisition operation, one implementation description may be as follows: listening to the selection behavior (touch slide behavior or mouse drag behavior) performed by the participant, extracting operation-related information contained in the listened selection behavior, where the operation-related information may include touch trajectory information or mouse drag trajectory information.

[0064] Another implementation description may be as follows: intelligently recognizing a protection area based on a given intelligent recognition strategy, and extracting area information of the recognized protection area, or defining a protection area with a set geometric shape, and extracting area information of the defined protection area.

[0065] According to the above implementation logic, the operation-related information or the area information can be obtained as the area position information in this step.

[0066] For example, if the selected behavior includes touch trajectory information or drag trajectory information, an image area associated with the touch or drag can be determined based on the touch or drag information, and area position information of the image area can be obtained. After intelligent recognition, area information distinguishing the recognized area can be obtained, or area information of a set geometric shape area can be obtained, and the obtained area information can be directly used as area position information. In this embodiment, the area position information can be recorded by edge coordinates constituting the selected image area.

[0067] b0) Determining protection area mesh data in accordance with the area position information in combination with mesh data of the target image.

[0068] In this embodiment, the image information recording for the target image may be optimized to be in the form of meshed data. Note that the conventional recording format for an image involves recording pixel point information for each pixel point in the image, which requires a large amount of storage space. For example, in this embodiment, a meshed recording format is adopted, i.e., an image is divided into meshes, and instead of recording all pixel points, only the coordinates of the vertices of each mesh are recorded. A mesh may be a combination of two triangular patches. To ensure the validity of the image data information, the mesh regions set for each image are very dense, and each mesh region may only contain a certain number of pixels.

[0069] For each mesh area, image information can be recorded using two sets of coordinate data, one set of coordinate data being mainly the vertex position coordinates that make up the mesh area, and the other set of coordinate data being data that mainly records color information of the mesh area.The coordinate data does not directly record color information, but rather records the position coordinates of the color information in the original image, thereby making it possible to extract color information at that coordinate position from the original image using the coordinate data.

[0070] After obtaining the region location information, the mesh area data information matching the region location information can be searched for in the mesh data of the target image, thereby obtaining the mesh data of the protection area, which in this embodiment is referred to as protection area mesh data. As can be seen from the above description, the protection area mesh data determined in this step includes the relevant mesh data of all mesh areas that actually constitute the protection area, specifically, may include the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the vertices of each mesh area in the protection area, and the horizontal and vertical coordinates are used to record the color information of each mesh area.

[0071] FIG. 1a shows an example of recording an image using meshed data in the image processing method according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1a, a mesh effect is displayed after a target image 11 is meshed. The target image 11 exhibiting the mesh effect may include many small mesh regions 12. For the target image 11, image data recording can be performed in a meshed format based on the region information of each mesh region. Note that in FIG. 1a, the mesh regions shown are relatively large for ease of effect display. In actual applications, the mesh region division of an image is very dense, and after meshing, the region size of each mesh region is relatively small.

[0072] Regarding the determination of the mesh region of the target image, the implementation steps can be described as follows: perform triangular patch division on the target image, then combine two adjacent triangular patches to form one mesh region, and finally obtain a number of mesh regions composed of two adjacent triangular patches.

[0073] Note that Figure 1a above merely illustrates the effect of one mesh region, and from the perspective of visualization interaction in image beautification processing, participants cannot intuitively see the target image for mesh region division.

[0074] c0) Obtaining a target protection area recorded as the protection area mesh data from the target image.

[0075] In this optional embodiment, the area position and area color information of the protection area can be determined based on the protection area mesh data obtained in the above step, and this embodiment can represent the target protection area with the protection area mesh data.

[0076] In this second optional embodiment, the implementation of the determination of the above target protection area takes into account recording the target image in the form of meshed data, and when determining the target protection area using meshed data, the storage space occupied by the image data recording is effectively reduced, on the premise that the accuracy of the determination of the protection area is ensured.

[0077] Based on the above embodiment, the conditions for a deformation protection area to be included in an image deformation area include, for example, a target protection area being determined in advance for the target image, and a deformation protection area belonging to the target protection area being included within the image deformation area.

[0078] In this embodiment, the core idea of ​​the processing process for beautifying a target image can be explained as follows: After determining the image modification area of ​​the target image that requires beautification, it is necessary to determine whether the image modification area includes an area that requires modification protection. If not, the image content in the image modification area can be controlled according to the determined modification movement value. If yes, the location of the modification protection area needs to be analyzed, and then the movement strength of the modification movement can be determined according to the analysis result. The beautification achieved by the above processing logic can effectively avoid the problem of unnatural beautification effects.

[0079] In this selectable embodiment, the condition for determining whether the image transformation area includes a transformation protection area may be that the target image to be beautified includes a target protection area that requires transformation protection, and the selected image transformation area includes image content that fits within the target protection area. In this embodiment, the transformation protection area within the image transformation area can be configured based on the area in which the image content is located.

[0080] Based on the above second optional embodiment of the embodiment of the present disclosure, one method for forming the protection area acquisition operation and deformation trigger operation of the method of this embodiment is further provided, which may specifically include the following steps:

[0081] a1) presenting an image editing interface, wherein the target image is displayed in a first area of ​​the image editing interface;

[0082] Illustratively, in response to triggering an image beautification application icon on the desktop, an image editing interface of the image beautification application software is entered.

[0083] A selection control for an image to be beautified can be displayed in the menu bar or control display area of ​​the image editing interface, and in response to the triggering of the beautification image selection control, the image to be beautified selected by the participant can be obtained, which in this embodiment is the target image, and in this embodiment, the target image can be displayed in the first area of ​​the image editing interface.

[0084] The first area may be an image editing area of ​​an image editing interface.

[0085] b1) displaying a protection area selection control in a second area of ​​the image editing interface, and generating a get protection area operation to determine a target protection area in the target image when the protection area selection control is triggered;

[0086] It can be seen that the image editing interface further displays a protection area selection control, which may be specifically displayed in a second area of ​​the image editing interface and can be used to guide a participant to select a protection area. Following the above description, after a participant selects a target image, the participant can trigger the protection area selection control displayed in the second area, and in this embodiment, a protection area acquisition operation can be generated in response to the trigger operation.

[0087] Based on the above description of the technical implementation of this embodiment, a target protection area can be further determined in the target image in response to the protection area acquisition operation based on the corresponding method steps.

[0088] c1) displaying a transformation operation trigger control in a third area of ​​the image editing interface, and receiving a transformation trigger operation on the target image in the first area when the transformation operation trigger control is triggered;

[0089] In this embodiment, a transformation operation trigger control can also be displayed in the image editing interface, and the transformation operation trigger control can be specifically displayed in the third area of ​​the image editing interface, and can be used to guide the participant to select a transformation area.

[0090] For example, the participant may trigger the transformation operation trigger control after determining the target protection area through the generated protection area acquisition operation. Triggering the transformation operation trigger control is considered to cause the execution subject of the method according to this embodiment to enter a transformation area selection listening mode, specifically, to listen for the reception of a transformation trigger operation generated after the participant selects a related transformation area in the target image. Upon receiving the transformation trigger operation, the execution subject can determine the image transformation area from the target image through the steps of the method according to this embodiment.

[0091] It should be noted that the explanation of each of the steps a1 to c1 in this embodiment is equivalent to explaining the implementation form of the image transformation process from the perspective of visualization. By displaying the protection area selection control and the transformation operation trigger control in the image editing interface, the participants can be better guided to perform the image beautification transformation operation. When the participants use the image beautification transformation function application, they are also given the operation hint that they should first select the protection area and then select the transformation area, thereby ensuring the image beautification transformation effect and better improving the user experience of the image transformation beautification function.

[0092] As a third selectable embodiment of the embodiment of the present disclosure, based on the above optimization, FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an image processing method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, and as shown in FIG. 2, the image processing method according to this embodiment may include the following steps S201 to S212.

[0093] S201: Respond to a trigger operation to transform a target image.

[0094] Illustratively, this step can respond to a received transformation trigger operation, which may be performed after selecting a target image or after selecting a target protection area from the target image. The target protection area may be determined after responding to a protection area acquisition operation, which may be generated after a related participant performs a related operation in the image editing interface of the selected target image, and the operation may be triggering a protection area selection button or may be triggered based on a specific touch gesture.

[0095] In the following steps S202 to S204 of this embodiment, a specific implementation of determining the image deformation area is given.

[0096] S202: Deformation area position information associated with the deformation trigger operation is determined.

[0097] In this embodiment, operation-related information contained in the responsive transformation trigger operation can be extracted, and the operation-related information may include touch trajectory information when the participant selects the transformation area by touching, or may include drag trajectory information when the participant selects the transformation area by dragging the mouse.

[0098] Illustratively, this step can extract touch trajectory information or drag trajectory information from the deformation trigger operation, thereby forming a corresponding trajectory line, and then determining the radiation area of ​​the trajectory line in the target image, and further determining the area position information of the radiation area of ​​the trajectory line, which can be regarded as the image deformation area selected by the participant, and the corresponding area position information can be the deformation area position information in this embodiment.

[0099] In this embodiment, the size of the radiation area of ​​the trajectory line can be determined by the width and length of the trajectory line, and when the trajectory line is wide and long, the corresponding radiation area is relatively large, and when the trajectory line is thin and short, the corresponding radiation area is relatively small. The width and length of the trajectory line may be determined according to the contact area when the participant performs a touch operation on the target image, or according to the thickness of the corresponding cursor point when dragging the mouse on the target image.

[0100] In this embodiment, it can be seen that the edge coordinate data constituting the image deformation area can be recorded. When recording the target image using meshed data, the edge coordinate data can be vertex coordinate information of the mesh area at the edge.

[0101] S203: Deformation area mesh data is determined in accordance with the deformation area position information, along with the meshed data of the target image.

[0102] In this embodiment, meshed data for recording the target image can be obtained. After obtaining the deformation area position information, the meshed data can be searched for data information of the meshed area that matches the deformation area position information, thereby obtaining the mesh data of the deformation area recorded in the meshed data.

[0103] As can be seen from the above description of the data content contained in the mesh regions, the deformation area mesh data determined in this step includes the relevant mesh data of all mesh areas that actually make up the deformation area, and in particular may include the vertex abscissas of each mesh area within the deformation area, and the vertex sampling ordinates that record the color information of each mesh area.

[0104] S204: The image deformation area recorded as the deformation area mesh data is obtained from the target image.

[0105] In this embodiment, the above steps are used to obtain deformation area mesh data, and the area position and area color information of the deformation area can be determined. In this embodiment, the deformation area in the deformation area mesh data table is set as the image deformation area.

[0106] In the following steps S205 to S209 of this embodiment, a specific implementation for determining whether or not a deformation protection area exists in the image deformation area is given.

[0107] S205: If a target protection area is determined in advance for the target image, obtain protection area mesh data of the determined target protection area, and execute S206.

[0108] In this embodiment, it is possible to inspect and determine whether a target protection area is provided in the target image in the determined image deformation area. The target protection area can be determined by determining whether protection area mesh data is recorded for the target image. When protection area mesh data is recorded for the target image, it is considered that a target protection area is pre-determined for the target image, and this step can obtain the recorded protection area mesh data.

[0109] Furthermore, if there is no protection area mesh data, it is considered that there is no target protection area currently present in the target image, and there is no need to perform the subsequent steps of this embodiment. The image deformation area can be directly determined as a non-deformation protection area, so that the execution logic provided for the non-deformation protection area in this embodiment can be adopted to realize the movement and deformation of the image content within the image deformation area.

[0110] S206: Divide the image deformation area into at least one deformation mesh area based on deformation area mesh data of the image deformation area.

[0111] In this embodiment, following the above steps, if a target protection area exists in the target image, this step to step S209 can further determine whether the image deformation area includes a deformation protection area that fits within the target protection area.

[0112] Specifically, this step first obtains the deformation area mesh data of the determined image deformation area, then extracts the associated data constituting each unit mesh area from the deformation area mesh data, and each unit mesh area can be regarded as one deformation mesh area. It is considered that there are as many deformation mesh areas as there are associated data of the unit mesh data included in the deformation area mesh data.

[0113] S207: For each deformed mesh region, it is determined whether the deformed mesh coordinates of the deformed mesh region fit within the protection region mesh data, and if YES, S208 is executed.

[0114] This step corresponds to processing each deformed mesh region. As can be seen from the above explanation, each deformed mesh region can be represented by two sets of coordinate data, one set being the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the vertices of the deformed mesh region, and in this embodiment, the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the vertices of this set can be used as the deformed mesh coordinates of the deformed mesh region.

[0115] In this step, the deformed mesh coordinates can be matched to each set of vertex horizontal and vertical coordinates contained in the protection area mesh data, and if each vertex horizontal and vertical coordinate in the deformed mesh coordinates is found in the protection area mesh data, the deformed mesh coordinates are considered to fit within the protection area mesh data, in which case step S208 can be executed.

[0116] If the horizontal and vertical coordinates of a vertex of a deformation mesh coordinate do not exist in the protection area mesh data, the deformation mesh coordinate is deemed not to fit within the protection area mesh data, and in this embodiment, the deformation mesh area corresponding to the deformation mesh coordinate is deemed to belong to the non-deformation protection area. In this case, there is no need to perform the subsequent steps, and the execution logic provided for the non-deformation protection area in this embodiment can be similarly adopted to realize the movement and deformation of the image content in the image deformation area.

[0117] S208: The deformed mesh region is set as a protection mesh region that belongs to the target protection region.

[0118] After the determination of S207 is satisfied, this step can determine that the deformed mesh region belongs to the target protection region. The above S207 and S208 can be applied to the processing of each deformed mesh region in the image deformation region.

[0119] S209: Obtain a modified protection region together with the protection mesh region, and obtain the protection mesh coordinates of each of the protection mesh regions.

[0120] This step can combine the protection mesh areas determined according to the above steps, and form a deformation protection area in the image deformation area according to each protection mesh area. After determining each protection mesh area, the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the vertices of each corresponding protection mesh area can be obtained, and in this embodiment, it can be understood that they can be the protection mesh coordinates of the protection mesh area.

[0121] In this embodiment, the modification movement information of the image content included in the modification protection area can be determined by the following steps S210 and S211.

[0122] S210: For the protection mesh region, determine a region relative position between the protection mesh region and the target protection region according to the corresponding protection mesh coordinates.

[0123] In this embodiment, to determine the transformation movement information of the image content included in the transformation protection area, each protection mesh area can be similarly taken as one logic processing unit, and the associated logic can be executed by this step.

[0124] For example, for each protection mesh area, the protection mesh coordinates of the protection mesh area can be obtained, and after the protection area mesh data of the target protection area is known, the mesh areas that constitute the edge area within the target protection area can be searched for, and then the distance between the protection mesh coordinates and the mesh area that is the edge area can be calculated, and the relative area positions of the protection mesh area and the target protection area can be recorded based on the distance calculation result.

[0125] Specifically, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the step of determining the relative region position between the protection mesh region and the target protection region according to the corresponding protection mesh coordinates may be further optimized as follows:

[0126] a2) Determine an edge mesh area of ​​the target protection area, and obtain edge mesh coordinates of the edge mesh area.

[0127] In this embodiment, the mesh areas at the edge of the target protection area can be determined based on the protection area mesh data of the target protection area, and in this embodiment, these are called edge mesh areas, and the edge mesh coordinates of each edge mesh area can be obtained. The edge mesh coordinates also include information on the horizontal and vertical coordinates of each vertex of the edge mesh area.

[0128] b2) determining a relative distance between the protection mesh region and the edge mesh region according to the edge mesh coordinates and the protection mesh coordinates;

[0129] In this embodiment, one target protection area may include multiple edge mesh areas, each of which corresponds to a respective edge mesh coordinate. In this step, the distance between the protection mesh coordinate and each edge mesh coordinate is calculated, so that the relative distance between the protection mesh area and each edge mesh area can be determined.

[0130] c2) It is determined whether the relative distance is greater than a set edge threshold value, and if YES, step d2) is executed, and if NO, step e2) is executed.

[0131] In this embodiment, a preset edge threshold is provided as a criterion for evaluating whether the image content in the transformation protection area is involved in transformation movement. This step may compare each relative distance with the preset edge threshold, or may compare the minimum distance value among the relative distances with the preset edge threshold, thereby determining whether the relative distance is greater than the preset edge threshold.

[0132] If the minimum relative distance is still greater than the set edge threshold, it is considered that the protection mesh area is located near the center of the target protection area, in which case step d2) can be performed; on the other hand, if the minimum relative distance is less than the set edge threshold or there are still other relative distances less than the set edge threshold, it can be understood that the protection mesh area is located near the edge position of the target protection area, in which case step e2) can be performed.

[0133] d2) The relative region position is determined as the protection mesh region being within the target protection region.

[0134] This step may be a subsequent execution logic when the relative distance is greater than the set edge threshold, and the region relative position at this time may be that the protection mesh region is within the target protection region.

[0135] e2) The relative position of the protection mesh region is determined to be at the edge of the target region.

[0136] This step is a subsequent execution logic when the relative distance is equal to or less than the set edge threshold, and the region relative position at this time may be that the protection mesh region is at the edge of the target protection region.

[0137] In this alternative embodiment, the execution of the above logic steps is mainly used to determine the relative region position between the protection mesh region and the target protection region, which can be used as the basic data support for determining the transformation movement information.

[0138] S211: Determine transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh region according to the region relative position.

[0139] In this embodiment, after obtaining the relative position between the protection mesh area and the target protection area, the matching transformation movement information can be determined according to the relative position. In this embodiment, the movement information of the image content in the transformation protection area in the image transformation area is related to the position of each protection mesh area included in the transformation protection area.

[0140] For example, in this embodiment, a deformation movement with a small deformation width is performed on protection mesh areas located at the edge positions of the target protection area, and it is taken into consideration that protection mesh areas located inside the target protection area, i.e., at the center position of the target protection area, do not need to be involved in the deformation movement.

[0141] The reason for determining the transformation movement information using the above method is that the defined target protection area within the target image can be considered an image area in the target image that the person involved does not want to be involved in the beautification transformation, and during the process of performing transformation processing on the determined image transformation area, if the image transformation area contains a transformation protection area that fits within the target protection area, controlling all image content within the transformation protection area so that it does not participate in the transformation movement will result in a clear boundary between the non-transformation area and the transformation area at the edge position of the target protection area, which will further cause the problem that the image presentation effect after the beautification transformation processing is unnatural.

[0142] According to the processing logic of this embodiment, a deformation process is performed on the protection mesh area at the edge position of the target protection area with a deformation strength gradation, and the closer the deformation strength gradation is to the non-deformed protection area, the larger the deformation width of the image content in the protection mesh area.The deformation width of the image content can be determined by searching a predetermined protection strength information table.First, the protection strength information table is searched to obtain the protection strength of the deformed protection area.The protection strength information may be a numerical value between 0 and 1.The deformation width of the deformed protection area can be determined based on the protection strength and the deformation movement value associated with the deformation trigger operation.Finally, the deformation width can be used as the deformation movement information of the image content in the protection mesh area.

[0143] Specifically, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the step of determining transformation movement information corresponding to the image content within the protection mesh area according to the area relative position may be further optimized as follows:

[0144] a3) When the protection mesh region is within the target protection region as a region relative position, it is determined that the transformation movement information corresponding to the image content within the protection mesh region remains unchanged.

[0145] In this case, the position of the protection mesh area is considered to be within the range of the central area of ​​the target protection area, and considering that the image content of the target protection area is an object that is not involved in the deformation movement, in this embodiment, it can be seen that the deformation movement information of the protection mesh area within the central area can be set to a data value such as 0 that indicates that the position will not change.

[0146] b3) When the protection mesh region is at the edge of the target protection region as the region relative position, determine transformation movement information corresponding to the image content within the protection mesh region according to the protection strength value of the protection mesh region.

[0147] In this case, considering that the position of the protection mesh area is considered to be within the edge area of ​​the target protection area, and that it is necessary to achieve the effect of naturalness and realism in the deformation and movement adjustment of the image content in the target image, even though the image content of the target protection area is an object that is not involved in the deformation and movement, it can be seen that in this embodiment, a certain deformation width can be assigned to the protection mesh area within the edge area as deformation and movement information of the protection mesh area.

[0148] The deformation width can be determined according to the protection strength value corresponding to the protection mesh area, and the protection strength value can be understood as the protection level when deformation protection is performed on the mesh area within the target protection area. The protection strength value can range from 0 to 1, where 0 is the minimum protection strength, and the closer to the edge of the protection area, the closer the protection strength value provided to the mesh area is to 0, and conversely, the farther from the edge of the protection area, the closer the protection strength value provided to the mesh area is to 1.

[0149] In this embodiment, the protection strength value of each mesh area in the target protection area can be determined in advance, and for the deformation protection area in the image deformation area, each protection mesh area in the deformation protection area can obtain the corresponding protection strength value by a lookup table, and then, together with the deformation movement value assigned to the image deformation area by the participant, the deformation movement information of the image content in each protection mesh area can be determined.

[0150] S212: The image content within the transformation protection area is transformed and moved in accordance with the transformation and movement information.

[0151] In this embodiment, for each protection mesh area within the deformation protection area, corresponding deformation movement information can be obtained, and this step can control the image content within the protection mesh area to move according to the determined deformation movement information using the deformation movement information of each protection mesh area.

[0152] When the target image is represented by meshed data, each mesh area uses one set of coordinate data to record the vertex abscissas and ordinates of the mesh area, and another set of coordinate data (vertex sampling abscissas) to record the color information of the mesh area. The process of transforming and moving the image content within the protection mesh area according to the transformation and movement information corresponds to the vertex abscissas and ordinates of the protection mesh area moving in accordance with the transformation and movement information. After the movement, the original color information within the protection mesh area is obtained by the vertex sampling abscissas, and the original color information can be associated with the adjusted vertex sampling abscissas by moving and adjusting the vertex sampling abscissas. Furthermore, the protection mesh area can retain its original color information even after the transformation and movement.

[0153] To better understand the image processing method of this embodiment, Figure 2a shows the effect of the image deformation area after deformation processing by the image processing method of this embodiment. As shown in Figure 2a, it can be considered as the processing result after further processing of the target image in Figure 1a. The target image 11 in Figure 2a also includes a cup 111 and a background image area (area other than the cup). If the background image area in the target image 11 is determined as the target protection area, it can be seen that the area close to the cup 111 in the target protection area is the edge area of ​​the target protection area.

[0154] Following the above explanation, after determining the image area within the rectangular box in the target image 11 as the image deformation area 13, it can be determined that the image deformation area 13 includes a portion of the image content of the cup 111 and a deformation protection area that fits within the target protection area other than the cup 111. As shown in Figure 2a, during the process of performing image deformation processing on the image deformation area, not only does deformation movement occur to the portion of the image content of the cup 111, but deformations of different deformation strengths also occur in the deformation protection area that fits within the target protection area, and it can be seen that the closer to the cup 111 the deformation protection area is, the greater the width of the deformation that occurs in the deformation protection area.

[0155] Unlike simply transforming the image content of the cup 111 that fits within the image transformation area 13, the present technical solution further considers transforming the image content within the transformation protection area according to the determined transformation information, thereby better weakening the boundary between the transformed and non-transformed image content of the cup 111 within the image transformation area 13 and the image content within the transformation protection area, achieving a more natural transition of the degree of transformation of the image content within the image transformation area 13, and enhancing the realism of the beautification transformation of the image content within the image transformation area 13.

[0156] The above technical solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure provides a specific implementation of image processing, first providing a specific implementation logic for the image transformation area, then providing a specific implementation logic for the transformation protection area, and also providing a specific implementation logic for the transformation movement information. The technical solution of this embodiment associates the transformation movement of the image content to be transformed with the position information of the mesh area in which the image content is located, thereby performing a transformation movement with a small deformation width on the mesh area at the edge of the protected area. This can better weaken the transformation boundary between the unprotected area within the image area to be transformed and the image content within the protected area, thereby achieving a more natural transition in the degree of transformation of the image content within the unprotected area and the protected area, enhancing the realism of the beautification transformation of the image content within the image area to be transformed, achieving effective beautification of the image content, and improving the user experience of image beautification transformation applications.

[0157] As a fourth alternative embodiment of the present disclosure, based on the above embodiment, The method is further optimized to include a step of determining a protection strength value of image content within a target protection area corresponding to the target image for use in determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the transformation protection area.

[0158] In this embodiment, after determining the target protection area from the target image, this optional embodiment can further determine a protection strength value for the image content in the target protection area, which can be understood as a protection level that can provide transformation protection to the image content and prevent the image content from being transformed when the image content in the target protection area is involved in a transformation movement process.

[0159] The protection strength value is related to the position of the image content within the target protection area, and it can be seen that the closer to the central range of the target protection area, the higher the level of protection recorded by the protection strength value associated with the image content, and the closer to the edge range of the target protection area, the lower the level of protection recorded by the protection strength value associated with the image content.

[0160] Based on the above third alternative embodiment, in one implementation form, the step of determining the protection strength value may be embodied as follows:

[0161] a4) Extracting protection area mesh data of the target protection area and forming a mask image with the same size as the target image.

[0162] In this embodiment, an initial mask image having the same size as the target image can be pre-constructed, and the color information of the initial mask image can be set to pure white or any pre-defined color. After the protection area mesh data of the target protection area is determined by the above technical solution, this step extracts the protection area mesh data, aligns the image data information contained in the protection area mesh data with the initial mask image, and uses the color information of the image content in the target protection area to perform color replacement on the content at the same position on the initial mask image, thereby obtaining a mask image including the target protection area.

[0163] The protection mesh region belongs to a mesh region within the target protection region.

[0164] b4) performing binarization on the mask image to obtain a binarized image of the mask image;

[0165] In the mask image obtained in the above step, the image content of the target protection area is presented, and the remaining image areas still have the initial color information. In this step, the mask image can be subjected to a binarization process, specifically, the color information of the image content in the target protection area can all be converted to a pixel value of 0, which corresponds to pure black in the binarized scene, and the color information in the other image areas can be a pixel value of 1, which corresponds to pure white in the binarized scene, thereby forming a binarized image of the mask image.

[0166] Following the above description, in another binarization implementation, all color information of the image content in the target protection area may be converted to a pixel value of 1, which corresponds to pure white in the binarized scene, and color information in other image areas may be a pixel value of 0, which corresponds to pure black in the binarized scene, and a binarized image of the mask image can be similarly formed. In this embodiment, the color information in the target protection area and other image areas is not particularly limited, as long as it reflects the ability to distinguish the target protection area.

[0167] It should be noted that image data information can be recorded in a similar mesh format on the formed binary image.

[0168] c4) performing feather processing on the target protection region in the binarized image to obtain a binarized feather image;

[0169] In this embodiment, the target image is simply distinguished between a deformed protection state and a non-deformed protection state in the target protection region, and in order to avoid sudden changes in state at the edge of the target protection region, in this embodiment, feather processing can be performed on the binarized image.

[0170] In this embodiment, the target protection area in the binarized image can be regarded as the target for feather processing, and the binarized image similarly records image data information in a meshed format, and the target protection area may include multiple mesh areas, and each mesh area similarly corresponds to two sets of mesh coordinates, one set being the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the mesh vertices, and the other set being the vertex sampling horizontal and vertical coordinates representing the color information of the mesh area.

[0171] The feathering of the target protection area in this step can be converted into feathering of each mesh area within the target protection area. Feathering can refer to performing a virtualization process on the internal and external connection parts of the target protection area, allowing the edges of the target protection area and other image areas to play a gradation role, thereby achieving a natural connection effect. In this embodiment, feathering can be achieved by methods such as Gaussian blurring and distance transformation using a directional distance field.

[0172] d4) Extracting an image grayscale value of each mesh region within the target protection region from the binarized feather image, and determining a protection intensity value of the image content within the corresponding mesh region.

[0173] In addition, in the binarized feather image obtained by performing feather processing, this is equivalent to performing color gradation processing on the mesh areas connected to the target protection area and other image areas, and ultimately, the pixel values ​​corresponding to the connected mesh areas are not absolute 0 or 1, but grayscale values ​​between 0 and 1.

[0174] In this step, the pixel value of each mesh region in the binarized feather image can be obtained, and the pixel value can be an image grayscale value. In one implementation, a predefined transformation function can be adopted, and the image grayscale value of the image content in each mesh region is input into the transformation function, and then the function outputs a protection intensity value.

[0175] The above technical solution of this optional embodiment provides an explanation for determining the protection intensity value within the target protection area. Specifically, it adopts mask extraction, binarization processing, and feather processing of the target protection area, which avoids the problem of abrupt changes in the deformation state of the edge of the target protection area. The protection intensity value of each image content within the determined target protection area can be stored as pre-determined protection intensity information. In actual application of image processing, the gradation of deformation movement intensity can be realized by calling the protection intensity information of the corresponding area, thereby presenting the image deformation process in a more natural and realistic state.

[0176] As a fifth optional embodiment of the embodiment of the present disclosure, based on the above embodiment, it may be further optimized to include a step of displaying the target image whose deformation movement has been completed and recording corresponding meshing data when it is detected that the deformation movement of the image deformation area in the target image has been completed.

[0177] In this fifth alternative embodiment, after the implementation logic of the transformation is executed on the image transformation area, the display logic of the target image after the transformation is further added for optimization, and the mesh data of the target image after the transformation can be recorded in real time. By recording the target image as mesh data, it is possible to achieve effective recording of target image data information with only a small amount of storage space, so that when a rollback command for the image transformation operation is received subsequently, the rollback of the image transformation can be flexibly and quickly realized based on the mesh data recorded for each image transformation.

[0178] The technical solution of the above fifth optional embodiment not only realizes the display of the visual effect of the target image after deformation and movement, but also realizes the real-time recording of meshed data corresponding to the target image. In this optional technical solution, the target image presents deformation effects of different deformation degrees of the image content at different positions in the image deformation area, thereby enhancing the naturalness and realism of the image beautification deformation. The image data recorded in meshed data format realizes flexible and fast rollback of beautification editing during image beautification editing, and better improves the user experience of the image beautification deformation application.

[0179] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of an image processing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the device includes an area determination module 31, an information determination module 32, and a protection area transformation module 33. the region determination module 31 is used to determine an image deformation region from the target image in response to a deformation trigger operation of the target image; the information determination module 32 is used to determine transformation movement information corresponding to the image content in the transformation protection area according to the position information of the transformation protection area when it is determined that the image transformation area includes a transformation protection area; The protection area transformation module 33 is used to transform and move the image content in the transformation protection area according to the transformation and movement information.

[0180]

[0013] Unlike the logic of the method executed by the image processing device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, which performs beautification transformation only on the content of the non-protected area within the image area to be transformed, the present technical solution can also consider transforming and moving the image content within the transformation protected area according to the determined transformation movement information when the selected image transformation area includes a transformation protected area. The above implementation of the present technical solution can better weaken the transformation boundary between the image content within the non-protected area and the protected area within the image area to be transformed, better achieve a natural transition in the degree of transformation of the image content within the non-protected area and the protected area, enhance the realism of the beautification transformation of the image content within the image area to be transformed, realize effective beautification of the image content, and improve the user experience of image beautification transformation applications.

[0181] Additionally, the apparatus further includes an unprotected region transformation module; the non-protected area transformation module is used to transform and move the image content in the non-transformation protected area in the image transformation area according to a transformation movement value determined in response to the transformation trigger operation; The non-transformation protected area is an area other than the transformation protected area within the image transformation area.

[0182] Additionally, the apparatus further includes a protection domain determination module; The protection area determination module is used to determine a target protection area from the target image for determining the transformed protection area in response to an operation of obtaining the protection area of ​​the target image.

[0183] Furthermore, the device a presentation module used to present an image editing interface, wherein the target image is displayed in a first area of ​​the image editing interface; a first trigger module for displaying a protection area selection control in a second area of ​​the image editing interface, and for generating a protection area capture operation to determine a target protection area in the target image when the protection area selection control is triggered; The image editing interface may further include a second trigger module for displaying a transformation operation trigger control in a third area of ​​the image editing interface and receiving a transformation trigger operation on the target image in the first area when the transformation operation trigger control is triggered.

[0184] Furthermore, the protection area determination module specifically: Responding to an operation to obtain a protected area of ​​the target image; determining region location information associated with the protected region capture operation; determining protection region mesh data in conjunction with mesh data of the target image according to the region position information; and acquiring a target protection area recorded as the protection area mesh data from the target image.

[0185] Furthermore, the region determination module 31 specifically: Responding to a triggering manipulation of the target image; determining deformation area position information associated with the deformation trigger operation; determining deformation area mesh data in conjunction with meshed data of the target image according to the deformation area position information; and acquiring an image deformation area recorded as the deformation area mesh data from the target image.

[0186] Further, the apparatus further includes a deformation area determination module, which is used for determining that the image deformation area includes a deformation protection area belonging to the target protection area; Specifically, the deformation area determination module: Obtaining protection area mesh data for a predetermined target protection area; Dividing the image deformation area into at least one deformation mesh area based on deformation area mesh data of the image deformation area; for each deformed mesh region, determining whether the deformed network coordinates of the deformed mesh region fit within the protection region mesh data; If YES, the deformed mesh region is set as a protection mesh region belonging to the target protection region; In conjunction with the protection mesh area, a modified protection area is obtained.

[0187] Furthermore, the information determination module 32 specifically: an acquisition unit used to acquire each protection mesh area constituting the deformation protection area and acquire the protection mesh coordinates of each of the protection mesh areas; A first determination unit is used for determining a relative position between the protection mesh area and the target protection area according to the corresponding protection mesh coordinates for the protection mesh area; The protection mesh area may further include a second determination unit used to determine transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh area according to the area relative position.

[0188] Furthermore, the first determination unit specifically comprises: determining an edge mesh region of the target protection region and obtaining edge mesh coordinates of the edge mesh region; determining a relative distance between the protection mesh region and the edge mesh region according to the edge mesh coordinates and the protection mesh coordinates; If the relative distance is greater than a set edge threshold, the protection mesh region is determined to be within the target protection region as a region relative position; Alternatively, the relative position of the region may be determined by the protective mesh region being at the edge of the target region.

[0189] Furthermore, the second determination unit specifically: determining that, when a protection mesh region is within the target protection region as a region relative position, transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh region remains unchanged; When the protection mesh area is at the edge of the target protection area as a region relative position, it may also be used to determine deformation movement information corresponding to the image content within the protection mesh area according to the protection strength value of the protection mesh area.

[0190] Additionally, the apparatus further includes an intensity information determination module; The intensity information determination module: extracting protection area mesh data of the target protection area and forming a mask image having the same size as the target image; performing a binarization conversion on the mask image to obtain a binarized image of the mask image; performing feather processing on the target protection region in the binarized image to obtain a binarized feather image; extracting an image grayscale value for each mesh region within the target protection region from the binarized feather image and determining a protection intensity value for the image content within the corresponding mesh region.

[0191] Additionally, the device further includes an image display module; The image display module is used to display the target image after the transformation is completed and record the corresponding mesh data when detecting that the transformation of the image transformation area in the target image is completed.

[0192] The image processing device according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can execute the image processing method according to any embodiment of the present disclosure, and includes functional modules and beneficial effects corresponding to executing the method.

[0193] Although each unit and module included in the above device is simply divided according to functional logic, it is not limited to the above division and may be any unit or module that can realize the corresponding function. Furthermore, the specific names of each functional unit are provided merely for the convenience of distinguishing them from one another and do not limit the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0194] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring now to FIG. 4, a schematic diagram of an electronic device (e.g., a terminal device or server in FIG. 4) 400 for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The terminal device in the embodiment of the present disclosure may include, but is not limited to, mobile terminals such as mobile phones, notebook computers, digital broadcast receivers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers (PADs), portable multimedia players (PMPs), and in-vehicle terminals (e.g., in-vehicle navigation terminals), as well as fixed terminals such as digital TVs and desktop computers. The electronic device shown in FIG. 4 is merely an example and does not impose any limitations on the functionality or scope of use of the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0195] 4, electronic device 400 may include a processing unit (e.g., a central processing unit, a graphics processor, etc.) 401, which can perform various appropriate operations and processes according to programs stored in read-only memory (ROM) 402 or programs loaded from storage device 408 into random access memory (RAM) 403. RAM 403 further stores various programs and data necessary for the operation of electronic device 400. Processing unit 401, ROM 402, and RAM 403 are connected to each other via bus 404. Edit / output (I / O) interface 405 is also connected to bus 404.

[0196] Devices that may be connected to the I / O interface 405 include input devices 406, such as a touch panel, touch pad, keyboard, mouse, camera, microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope, etc.; output devices 407, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), speaker, vibrator, etc.; storage devices 408, such as a tape, hard disk, etc.; and communication devices 409. The communication devices 409 enable the electronic device 400 to communicate wirelessly or via wires with other devices to exchange data. While FIG. 4 illustrates the electronic device 400 with various devices, it should be understood that it need not implement or include all of the devices shown. Instead, more or fewer devices may be implemented or included.

[0197] In particular, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the processes described above with reference to the flowcharts may be implemented as a computer software program. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure include a computer program product including a computer program embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program including program code for performing the methods illustrated in the flowcharts. In such embodiments, the computer program may be downloaded and installed from a network via the communication device 409, installed from the storage device 408, or installed from the ROM 402. When the computer program is executed by the processing device 401, the functions defined in the methods of the embodiments of the present disclosure are performed.

[0198] The names of messages or information exchanged between devices in embodiments of the present disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of these messages or information.

[0199] The electronic device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure belongs to the same inventive idea as the image processing method according to the above embodiment, and the technical details not detailed in this embodiment can be referred to the above embodiment, and this embodiment has the same beneficial effects as the above embodiment.

[0200] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the image processing method according to the embodiment.

[0201] It should be noted that the computer-readable medium of the present disclosure may be a computer-readable signal medium, a computer-readable storage medium, or any combination thereof. The computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples of the computer-readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to, an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof. In the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program, and the program can be used by or in combination with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In the present disclosure, a computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, carrying computer-readable program code. Such propagated data signals may take a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer-readable signal medium may also be any computer-readable medium other than a computer-readable storage medium, which is capable of transmitting, propagating, or transmitting a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code contained in a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any suitable medium, including, but not limited to, wire, optical cable, RF (radio frequency), etc., or any suitable combination thereof.

[0202] In some embodiments, clients and servers may communicate via any network protocol now known or later developed, such as, for example, HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), and may be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include local area networks ("LANs"), wide area networks ("WANs"), internetworks (e.g., the Internet), and peer-to-peer networks (e.g., ad hoc peer-to-peer networks), and any network now known or later developed.

[0203] The computer-readable medium may be included in the electronic device, or may exist independently without being assembled into the electronic device.

[0204] The computer-readable medium contains one or more programs, and when the one or more programs are executed by the electronic device, the electronic device performs the following steps: determining an image deformation area from the target image in response to a deformation trigger operation of the target image; if it is determined that the image deformation area includes a deformation protection area, determining deformation movement information corresponding to the image content within the deformation protection area according to position information of the deformation protection area; and transforming and moving the image content within the transformation protection area according to the transformation movement information.

[0205] Computer program code for carrying out the operations of the present disclosure can be programmed in one or more programming languages, or a combination thereof, including, but not limited to, object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Smalltalk, C++, etc., as well as conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as "C" and similar programming languages. The program code may run entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a separate software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. When remote computers are involved, the remote computers may be connected to the user's computer via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computer (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

[0206] The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functions, and operations possible for implementation by systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowcharts or block diagrams may represent a module, program segment, or portion of code, each of which includes one or more executable instructions for implementing a given logical function. It should be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions shown in the blocks may occur in an order different from that shown in the figures. For example, two successively shown blocks may in fact be executed substantially in parallel, or may even be executed in the reverse order, depending on the functionality involved. It should be noted that each block in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, may be implemented by a dedicated hardware-based system that performs a given function or operation, or by a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0207] The units described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of software or hardware. In some cases, the names of the units do not limit the units themselves, for example, the first obtaining unit may be described as "a unit for obtaining at least two internetwork protocol addresses."

[0208] The functions described herein may be performed at least in part by one or more hardware logic components. For example, without limitation, exemplary types of hardware logic components that may be used include field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application specific standard products (ASSPs), systems on chips (SOCs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), etc.

[0209] In the context of the present disclosure, a machine-readable medium may be a tangible medium that contains or stores a program usable by or in combination with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium may be, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media may include one or more wire-based electrical connections, portable computer disks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0210] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 1 comprises: determining an image transformation area from the target image in response to a transformation trigger operation of the target image; determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the transformation protection area according to position information of the transformation protection area when it is determined that the transformation protection area is included in the image transformation area; and transforming and moving the image content within the transformation protection area in accordance with the transformation movement information.

[0211] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 2 comprises: a step of transforming and moving image content in the non-transformation protected area in accordance with a transformation movement value determined in response to the transformation trigger operation, with respect to a non-transformation protected area in the image transformation area; The image processing method may further include a step in which the non-transformation protected area is an area other than the transformation protected area within the image transformation area.

[0212] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 3 comprises: The image processing method may further include determining a target protection area from the target image for determining the transformed protection area in response to an operation of obtaining the protection area of ​​the target image.

[0213] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 4 comprises: presenting an image editing interface, wherein the target image is displayed in a first area of ​​the image editing interface; displaying a protection area selection control in a second region of the image editing interface, and generating a get protection area operation upon triggering the protection area selection control that determines a target protection area in the target image; The image processing method may further include a step of displaying a transformation operation trigger control in a third area of ​​the image editing interface, and receiving a transformation trigger operation on the target image in the first area when the transformation operation trigger control is triggered.

[0214] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 5 comprises: Optionally, the step of determining a target protection region from the target image comprises: determining region location information associated with the protected region acquisition operation; determining protection region mesh data in conjunction with mesh data of the target image according to the region position information; and obtaining a target protection area recorded with the protection area mesh data from the target image.

[0215] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 6 comprises: Optionally, the step of determining an image transformation area from the target image comprises: determining deformation area position information associated with the deformation trigger operation; determining deformation area mesh data in conjunction with meshed data of the target image according to the deformation area position information; and obtaining an image deformation area recorded as the deformation area mesh data from the target image.

[0216] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 7 comprises: Optionally, determining that the image modification area includes a modification protection area includes: obtaining protection area mesh data of a predetermined target protection area; Dividing the image deformation area into at least one deformation mesh area based on deformation area mesh data of the image deformation area; for each deformed mesh region, determining whether the deformed network coordinates of the deformed mesh region fit within the protection region mesh data; If YES, the deformed mesh region is set as a protection mesh region that belongs to the target protection region; and obtaining a modified protection region in conjunction with the protection mesh region.

[0217] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 8 comprises: Optionally, the step of determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the transformation protection area according to position information of the transformation protection area includes: acquiring each protection mesh area constituting the deformed protection area, and acquiring protection mesh coordinates of each protection mesh area; determining a relative position of the protection mesh region and the target protection region according to corresponding protection mesh coordinates for the protection mesh region; and determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh region according to the region relative position.

[0218] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 9 comprises: Optionally, determining a relative region position of the protection mesh region and the target protection region according to corresponding protection mesh coordinates includes: determining an edge mesh region of the target protection region and obtaining edge mesh coordinates of the edge mesh region; determining a relative distance between the protection mesh region and the edge mesh region according to the edge mesh coordinates and the protection mesh coordinates; If the relative distance is greater than a set edge threshold, the protection mesh region is determined to be within the target protection region as a region relative position; otherwise, determining that the protection mesh region is at the edge of the target region as the region relative position.

[0219] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 10 comprises: Optionally, the step of determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh region according to the region relative position includes: determining that the transformation movement information corresponding to the image content within the protection mesh region remains unchanged when the protection mesh region is within the target protection region as a region relative position; An image processing method is provided, which includes a step of determining deformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh area according to the protection strength value of the protection mesh area when the protection mesh area is at the edge of the target protection area as a region relative position.

[0220] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 11 comprises: Optionally, the step of determining a protection strength value comprises: extracting protection area mesh data of the target protection area and forming a mask image having the same size as the target image; performing a binarization conversion on the mask image to obtain a binarized image of the mask image; performing feather processing on the target protection region in the binarized image to obtain a binarized feather image; extracting an image grayscale value of each mesh region within the target protection region from the binarized feather image and determining a protection intensity value of the image content within the corresponding mesh region.

[0221] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 12 comprises: The image processing method may further include a step of displaying the target image whose transformation has been completed and recording corresponding meshing data when it is detected that the transformation of the image transformation area in the target image has been completed.

[0222] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 13 comprises: a region determination module adapted to determine an image deformation region from the target image in response to a transformation trigger operation of the target image; an information determination module, when determining that a transformation protection area is included in the image transformation area, for determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the transformation protection area according to position information of the transformation protection area; a protection area transformation module used to transform and move the image content within the transformed protection area according to the transformation movement information.

[0223] The above description merely describes the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and the technical principles used. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the technical solution based on the specific combination of the above technical features, but also includes other technical solutions based on any combination of the above technical features or their equivalent features within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, a technical solution formed by replacing the above features with technical features having similar functions (but not limited to) disclosed in the present disclosure.

[0224] Also, although operations are shown in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that these operations be performed in the particular order or sequence shown. In certain environments, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above description, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Some features described in the context of individual embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Rather, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may be implemented in multiple embodiments alone or in any suitable subcombination.

[0225] Although the present subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or logical operations of methods, it should be understood that the subject matter defined in the claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or operations described above. Rather, the specific features and operations described above are merely example forms for implementing the claims.

Claims

1. 1. A method for processing an image, the method comprising: determining an image transformation area from the target image in response to a transformation trigger operation of the target image; determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content in the transformation protection area according to position information of the transformation protection area when determining that the image transformation area includes a transformation protection area; and transforming the image content within the transformation protection area according to the transformation information. method.

2. a step of transforming and moving image content in the non-transformation protected area in accordance with a transformation movement value determined in response to the transformation trigger operation, with respect to a non-transformation protected area in the image transformation area; The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-transformation protected area is an area other than the transformation protected area within the image transformation area.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising determining a target protection area from the target image for determining the transformed protection area in response to an operation of obtaining the protection area of ​​the target image.

4. presenting an image editing interface, the target image being displayed in a first area of ​​the image editing interface; displaying a protection area selection control in a second region of the image editing interface, and generating a get protection area operation upon triggering the protection area selection control that determines a target protection area in the target image; 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: displaying a transformation operation trigger control in a third area of ​​the image editing interface; and receiving a transformation trigger operation on the target image in the first area upon triggering the transformation operation trigger control.

5. determining a target protection region from the target image; determining region location information associated with the protected region acquisition operation; determining protection region mesh data in conjunction with mesh data of the target image according to the region position information; and obtaining a target protection area recorded in the protection area mesh data from the target image.

6. The step of determining an image deformation area from the target image comprises: determining deformation area position information associated with the deformation trigger operation; determining deformation area mesh data in conjunction with meshed data of the target image according to the deformation area position information; and obtaining an image deformation area recorded in the deformation area mesh data from the target image.

7. The step of determining that the image deformation region includes a deformation protection region comprises: obtaining protection area mesh data of a predetermined target protection area; Dividing the image deformation area into at least one deformation mesh area based on deformation area mesh data of the image deformation area; for each of the deformed mesh regions, determining whether the deformed network coordinates of the deformed mesh region fit within the protection region mesh data; If YES, the deformed mesh region is set as a protection mesh region that belongs to the target protection region; and obtaining the modified protection region in conjunction with the protection mesh region.

8. The step of determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the transformation protection area according to position information of the transformation protection area includes: acquiring a protection mesh area that constitutes the deformed protection area, and acquiring protection mesh coordinates of the protection mesh area; determining a relative position between the protection mesh region and the target protection region according to corresponding protection mesh coordinates for the protection mesh region; The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising: determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh region according to the region relative position.

9. determining a relative position between the protection mesh region and the target protection region according to corresponding protection mesh coordinates; determining an edge mesh region of the target protection region and obtaining edge mesh coordinates of the edge mesh region; determining a relative distance between the protection mesh region and the edge mesh region according to the edge mesh coordinates and the protection mesh coordinates; When the relative distance is greater than a set edge threshold, the protection mesh region is determined to be within the target protection region as the region relative position; and if not, determining that the region relative position is that the protective mesh region is at an edge of the target region.

10. The step of determining transformation movement information corresponding to image content in the protection mesh region according to the region relative position includes: determining that transformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh region remains unchanged when the protection mesh region is within the target protection region as the region relative position; A method as described in claim 8 or 9, comprising a step of determining deformation movement information corresponding to image content within the protection mesh area according to the protection strength value of the protection mesh area when the protection mesh area is at the edge of the target protection area as the area relative position.

11. The step of determining the protection strength value includes: extracting protection area mesh data of the target protection area and forming a mask image having the same size as the target image; performing a binarization conversion on the mask image to obtain a binarized image of the mask image; performing feather processing on the target protection region in the binarized image to obtain a binarized feather image; extracting an image grayscale value of each mesh region in the target protection region from the binarized feather image and determining a protection intensity value of the image content in the corresponding mesh region; The method of claim 10 , wherein the protective mesh region belongs to a mesh region within the target protective region.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising the step of: when detecting that the image deformation region in the target image has completed deformation movement, displaying the target image that has completed deformation movement and recording corresponding meshing data.

13. 1. An apparatus for processing an image, the apparatus comprising: a region determination module configured to determine an image deformation region from the target image in response to a transformation triggering operation of the target image; an information determination module configured to, when determining that the image deformation area includes a deformation protection area, determine deformation movement information corresponding to image content within the deformation protection area according to position information of the deformation protection area; a protection area transformation module configured to transform image content within the transformed protection area according to the transformation information. Device.

14. An electronic device, the electronic device comprising: one or more processors; a storage device configured to store one or more programs; An electronic device, wherein the one or more programs, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

15. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

Images