The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 01, 2011
Filed:
Dec. 11, 2006
Masaya Katsumata, Kanagawa, JP;
Osamu Konno, Saitama, JP;
Masaya Katsumata, Kanagawa, JP;
Osamu Konno, Saitama, JP;
Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The color of a measurement object, such as a vital tooth, and the color of a comparison object to be compared with the measurement object are displayed to a user in an easily comparable manner. The invention provides an image combining apparatus including an image extracting unit for extracting an image of a vital tooth (hereinafter referred to as 'measurement-object image') from a color image of the vital tooth and extracting an image of a shade guide (hereinafter referred to as 'comparison-object image') from a color image of the shade guide, a combining-reference-line setting unit for setting combining reference lines on the measurement-object image and the comparison-object image, a combining unit for combining the measurement-object image and the comparison-object image to form a combined image, and a correction unit for correcting at least one of the measurement-object image and the comparison-object image so as to align their outlines on the combining reference line in the combined image when the outlines are not aligned.