Synthetic Group Selfie Composition via Distributed Background Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Capturing group selfies is challenging due to the difficulty in arranging multiple individuals within the field of view of a camera, requiring manual organization and increased processing load on individual devices.
Innovation Solution
A computing device generates a synthetic group selfie by automatically arranging and combining individual selfies from multiple devices into a single image, distributing background removal processing across devices to reduce the load on individual devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a user captures a group selfie using a single camera, then all participants must be arranged within the field of view, but this requires manual organization and coordination among participants
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the group selfie capture process into multiple independent individual selfies, each captured by a separate computing device. Instead of requiring all participants to be in one camera's field of view, each participant captures their own selfie independently, eliminating the need for manual arrangement and coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary that receives individual selfies from multiple computing devices, processes them (including background removal), and combines them into a synthetic group selfie. This intermediary handles the complex processing tasks, reducing the burden on individual devices and automating the arrangement process.
2Productivity
If a single device processes background removal for all individual selfies, then the processing load on that device increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the background removal processing task across multiple computing devices. Each device independently removes the background from its own captured selfie, rather than one device processing all images. This distribution reduces the computational burden and energy consumption on any single device while maintaining overall processing throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
Each computing device performs background removal on its own captured selfie without requiring another device to process it. This self-service approach eliminates the need for one device to bear the processing load of all participants, distributing the computational work evenly across the group.
3Ease of operation
If individual selfies are automatically arranged into a synthetic group selfie, then manual arrangement is eliminated, but the automated arrangement algorithm increases processing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a server as an intermediary to handle the complex automated arrangement algorithm. The server receives individual selfies, removes backgrounds, and automatically arranges them into a synthetic group selfie based on various criteria (face detection, positioning, composition). This moves the computational complexity from individual devices to a centralized server with greater processing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical arrangement (physically positioning people in front of a camera) with an automated digital arrangement system. The server uses image processing algorithms to detect faces, determine optimal positions, and compose the synthetic group selfie automatically, substituting computational processes for manual coordination.
Data Source
AI summary
In some implementations, a computing device can generate a synthetic group selfie. For example, a synthetic group selfie can be an arrangement or composition of individual selfies obtained from a plurality of computing devices into a single group image (e.g., synthetic group selfie). The individual selfie images can be still images, stored video images, or live streaming images. Thus, the synthetic group selfie can be a composition of still images, stored video images, or live streaming video images. The computing device can automatically arrange the individual selfies into the synthetic group selfie. The synthetic group selfie can be stored as a multi-resource object that preserves the individual selfie images so that the user who created the synthetic group selfie or a recipient of the synthetic group selfie can modify the arrangement of the individual selfies within the synthetic group selfie.