Object of interest based image processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016112674-A1
Application number	US-201514972821-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 17, 2015
Priority date	Apr 11, 2011
Publication date	Apr 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Various embodiments of this disclosure may describe apparatuses, methods, and systems including an encoding engine to encode and/or compress one or more objects of interest within individual image frames with higher bit densities than the bit density employed to encode and/or compress their background. The image processing system may further include a context engine to identify a region of interest including at least a part of the one or more objects of interest, and scale the region of interest within individual image frames to emphasize the objects of interest. Other embodiments may also be disclosed or claimed.

First claim

1 . An apparatus comprising:
an encoding engine configured to:
receive a plurality of image frames of a video signal; and
encode one or more regions associated with one or more objects of interest within respective image frames based on one or more bit densities that are higher than a bit density of a background region, wherein the background region surrounds the one or more regions associated with the one or more objects of interest; and
a transmitter coupled to the encoding engine and configured to transmit the encoded plurality of image frames to one or more recipients.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more objects of interest include one or more faces of participants of a video conference.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a context engine coupled to the encoding engine and configured to identify the one or more objects of interest within the respective image frames.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the context engine is further configured to identify a region of interest within the respective image frames, wherein the region of interest includes at least partially the one or more objects of interest.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the context engine is further configured to enlarge the region of interest within the respective image frames to display the region of interest more prominently within the respective image frames.

6 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the context engine is further configured to adjust the region of interest to place at least one of the one or more objects of interest centrally within the respective image frames.

7 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the context engine is further configured to adjust, based on a context information, the region of interest to place at least one of the one or more objects of interest in an off-center position within the respective image frames.

8 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the one or more objects of interest include one or more faces of participants of a video conference, and wherein the context information includes face orientations of the one or more faces.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the one or more objects of interest and the background region separately.

10 . A method comprising:
receiving a plurality of image frames of a video signal; and encoding one or more regions associated with one or more objects of interest within respective image frames based on one or more bit densities higher than a bit density of a background region, wherein the background region surrounds the one or more regions associated with the one or more objects of interest .

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising identifying the one or more objects of interest within the respective image frames.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising identifying a region of interest within the respective image frames, wherein the region of interest includes at least partially the one or more objects of interest.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising enlarging the region of interest within the respective image frames to display the region of interest more prominently within the respective image frames.

14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising adjusting the region of interest within the respective image frames to place at least one of the one or more objects of interest centrally within the respective image frames.

15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising adjusting, based on a context information, the region of interest to place at least one of the one or more objects of interest at an off-center position within the respective image frames.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more objects of interest include one or more faces of participants of a video conference, and wherein the context information includes face orientations of the one or more faces.

17 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting the encoded plurality of image frames to one or more recipients, wherein said transmitting includes transmitting the one or more objects of interest and the background region separately.

18 . A system comprising:
a camera configured to capture a video signal having a plurality of image frames; an encoding engine operatively coupled to the camera and configured to:
receive the plurality of captured image frames; and
encode one or more objects of interest in respective image frames based on one or more bit densities that are higher than a bit density of a background region of the respective image frames, wherein the background region surrounds the one or more objects of interest; and
a transmitter coupled to the encoding engine and configured to transmit the encoded-ef plurality of image frames to one or more recipients.

19 . The system of claim 18 , further comprising a context engine coupled to the camera and configured to:
receive the plurality of captured image frames; and identify the one or more objects of interest in the respective image frames.

20 . An article of manufacture comprising:
a tangible and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium; and a plurality of programming instructions stored in the storage medium, and configured to cause an apparatus, in response to execution of the programming instructions, to perform operations including: receiving a plurality of image frames of a video signal; and encoding one or more objects of interest within respective image frames based on one or more bit densities that are higher than a bit density of a background region of the respective image frames, wherein the background region surrounds the one or more objects of interest.

21 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the context engine is further configured to identify a region of interest in the respective image frames, wherein the region of interest includes at least partially the one or more objects of interest.

22 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the context engine is further configured to enlarge the region of interest within the respective image frames and to reduce areas outside of the regions of interest within the respective image frames.

23 . The system of claim 18 , wherein said transmitting includes transmitting one or more objects of interest and the background region separately, wherein said transmitting separately further includes transmitting the one or more objects of interest with each of the plurality of image frames, and transmitting the background region periodically over two or more image frames, or transmitting the background region dynamically upon a detected change of the background region from previous image frames.

24 . The article of claim 20 , wherein the operations further include:
identifying the one or more objects of interest within the respective image frames; and identifying a region of interest includes at least partially the one or more objects of interest.

25 . The article of claim 20 , wherein the operations further include adjusting the region of interest to place the one or more objects of interest centrally within the region of interest, or at an off-center position within the region of interest based on a context information.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Li Qiang
• Li Wenlong
• Wang Peng
• Wang Tao
• Du Yangzhou
• Li Jianguo

Classifications

• H04N19/167

  Position within a video image, e.g. region of interest [ROI] · CPC title

• H04N7/15 Primary

  Conference systems · CPC title

• H04N19/59

  involving spatial sub-sampling or interpolation, e.g. alteration of picture size or resolution · CPC title

• H04N19/17

  the unit being an image region, e.g. an object · CPC title

• H04N19/115 Primary

  Selection of the code volume for a coding unit prior to coding · CPC title