Invalidity dossier
US 5568595
Method for generating artificial shadow
Current assignee: Kodak IL Ltd
Added 9/17/2026, 2:31:42 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US 5,568,595 A
Title: Method for generating artificial shadow
Patent number: US 5,568,595 A
Application number: US08/538,767
Inventors: Hanan Yosefi; Shimon R. Armoni
Original assignee: Scitex Corp Ltd
Current assignee (as listed): Kodak IL Ltd
Prior art date / priority date: 1993-04-30 (noted as an assumption, not a legal conclusion)
Filing date: 1995-10-05
Publication (grant) date: 1996-10-22
Legal status: Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration 2013-04-30
Classification: G06T 15/60 (Shadow generation), among related G06T classes
Purpose. The patent addresses an integrated color electronic pre-press system with a customized capability to generate artificial shadowing for images. It notes drawbacks of prior manual approaches—airbrushing by hand and the "TPVN" (two-point vignette) function on Scitex's Imager workstation—both said to require considerable artistic ability and coordination.
Plain-language scope. The disclosure describes methods and apparatus for adding an artificial shadow to an imaged object without receiving a separate image of the shadow. A shadow unprotected area and a shadow protected area are indicated together as a total shadow area; shadow values are computed from a shadow pattern covering the total area but assigned only to the unprotected area. Shadow characteristics may be user-selected (dark point, bright point, brightness curve, protected-area location, combining factor, graininess) and previewed at low resolution. Multiple objects and corresponding shadows may be handled in one scene. A mask image is generated that is transparent to underlying color values within the object area, transparent within the shadow area to the separation(s) in which shadow colors are defined, and opaque to remaining separations. Shadow protected/unprotected areas may be disjoint, comprising multiple regions. The system spans differently formatted image manipulation modes (raster; run length-encoded; layout/format unification control).
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5568595/en
Not established by this excerpt: the full claims and their exact wording; the complete specification, drawings, and omitted text; the detailed steps in the Figures 6A–6C flowchart; and whether the listed ownership changes or statuses reflect a legal conclusion (the source expressly disclaims this).
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:03:06 PM
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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