Method, apparatus and computer program product for blending multimedia content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10097807-B2
Application number	US-201414506970-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 6, 2014
Priority date	Oct 10, 2013
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

In an example embodiment a method, apparatus and computer program product are provided. The method includes facilitating access to a plurality of source multimedia content, wherein at least one source multimedia of the plurality of source multimedia content comprises corresponding depth information. The method further includes generating a blend map by defining a plurality of depth layers. At least one depth layer of the plurality of depth layers is associated with a respective depth limit. Defining the at least one depth layer comprises selecting pixels of the at least one depth layer from the at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content based on the respective depth limit associated with the at least one depth layer and the corresponding depth information of the at least one source multimedia content. The method also includes blending the plurality of source multimedia content based on the blend map.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
facilitating access, using a processor, to a plurality of source multimedia content, wherein the plurality of source multimedia content comprises at least two source multimedia content, at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content comprising corresponding depth information;
generating a blend map by defining a plurality of depth layers sourced from the at least two source multimedia content, at least one depth layer of the plurality of depth layers being associated with a respective depth limit, wherein defining the plurality of depth layers comprises:
selecting, for the at least one depth layer, pixels from the at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content having a depth being within the respective depth limit associated with the at least one depth layer, wherein the plurality of depth layers comprises a background layer; and
combining the selected pixels; and

generating, using the processor, a blended multimedia content by blending the plurality of source multimedia content based on the blend map such that the blended multimedia content includes portions from the at least two source multimedia content, wherein the background layer is blended without utilizing the blend map.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least two source multimedia content comprises one or more images and at least one video.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising determining the corresponding depth information associated with the at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the corresponding depth information comprises a corresponding depth map associated with the plurality of source multimedia content.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of depth layers comprises two or more of a foreground layer, a middle-ground layer and the background layer of the blend map.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising assigning the respective depth limit to the at least one depth layer of the plurality of depth layers.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the depth of the pixels is determined based on the corresponding depth information associated with the plurality of source multimedia content.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising defining the background layer of the plurality of the depth layers based on a selection of unset pixels associated with the plurality of source multimedia content.

9. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform:
facilitate access to a plurality of source multimedia content, wherein the plurality of source multimedia content comprises at least two source multimedia content, at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content comprising corresponding depth information;
generate a blend map by defining a plurality of depth layers sourced from the at least two source multimedia content, at least one depth layer of the plurality of depth layers being associated with a respective depth limit, wherein defining the plurality of depth layers further causes the apparatus to:
select, for the at least one depth layer, pixels from the at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content having a depth being within the respective depth limit associated with the at least one depth layer, wherein the plurality of depth layers comprises a background layer; and
combine the selected pixels; and

generate a blended multimedia content by blending the plurality of source multimedia content based on the blend map such that the blended multimedia content includes portions from the at least two source multimedia content, wherein the background layer is blended without utilizing the blend map.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the at least two source multimedia content comprises one or more images and at least one video.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is further caused at least in part to determine the corresponding depth information associated with the at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the corresponding depth information comprises a corresponding depth map associated with the plurality of source multimedia content.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the plurality of depth layers comprises two or more of a foreground layer, a middle-ground layer and the background layer of the blend map.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , the apparatus is further caused at least in part to assign the respective depth limit to the at least one depth layer of the plurality of depth layers.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the depth of the pixels is determined based on the corresponding depth information associated with the plurality of source multimedia content.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising defining the background layer of the plurality of the depth layers based on a selection of unset pixels associated with the plurality of source multimedia content.

17. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform:
facilitate access to a plurality of source multimedia content, wherein the plurality of source multimedia content comprises at least two source multimedia content, at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content comprising corresponding depth information;
generate a blend map by defining a plurality of depth layers sourced from the at least two source multimedia content, at least one depth layer of the plurality of depth layers being associated with a respective depth limit, wherein defining the plurality of depth layers further causes the apparatus to:
select pixels from the at least one source multimedia content of the plurality of source multimedia content having a depth being within the respective depth limit associated with the at least one depth layer, wherein the plurality of depth layers comprises a background layer; and

generate a blended multimedia content by blending the plurality of source multimedia content based on the blend map such that the blended multimedia content includes portions from the at least two source multimedia content, wherein the background layer is blended without utilizing the blend map.

18. The computer program product as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the at least two source multimedia content comprises one or more images and at least one video.

19. The computer program product as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the plurality of depth layers comprises two or more of a foreground layer, a middle-ground layer and the background layer of the blend map.

Assignees

• Nokia Technologies Oy

Inventors

• Karlsson Tobias
• Andrae Tor
• Mustajbasic Amer

Classifications

• H04N13/156

  Mixing image signals · CPC title

• H04N13/128 Primary

  Adjusting depth or disparity · CPC title

• H04N13/0022

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N13/004

  Electricity · mapped topic