Raw format image data processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9106936-B2
Application number	US-201213358511-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2012
Priority date	Jan 25, 2012
Publication date	Aug 11, 2015
Grant date	Aug 11, 2015

Abstract

A raw format image representing an image received from an image capture device at an image data rate, can be compressed at least as fast as the image data rate (i.e. in real time) using compact and low cost components. The compressed image data can then be transferred across a chip-to-chip data channel to a memory system or to a host processor where it can be stored as compressed data. The host processor or other processor can read and decompress the compressed raw data and apply digital signal processing including industry-standard data compression or other image processing algorithms to the recovered raw format image without being constrained to real-time processing.

First claim

I claim:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving a raw format image from an image capture device within an image capture time window, the raw format image including a plurality of pixel samples representing an image;
compressing the raw format image using only a time domain compression process to form a compressed raw format image during a time interval that is less than or equal to the image capture time window;
transferring the compressed raw format image across a data channel to a receiving device within a transfer window having a time duration less than or equal to the image capture time window;
decompressing the compressed raw format image after said transferring to form a recovered raw format image; and
applying digital signal processing to the recovered raw format image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving device is an integrated circuit, and including transferring the compressed raw format image from the receiving device to a memory before said decompressing, and reading the compressed raw format image from the memory for decompressing, and wherein the decompressing is executed on the receiving device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving device is a memory, and including reading the compressed raw format image from the memory before said decompressing.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital signal processing includes transform domain image compression of the recovered raw format image.

5. The method of claim 1 , including applying one or more compression control parameters to said compressing, the compression control parameters being based on one or more characteristics of the compressed raw format image.

6. The method of claim 1 , including applying one or more compression control parameters to said compressing, the compression control parameters being based on one or more characteristics of the recovered raw format image.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the raw format image comprises RGB encoded data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the raw format image comprises YUV encoded data.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the raw format image comprises Bayer matrix mosaic data.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the raw format image comprises mosaiced encoded data wherein the digital signal processing includes de-mosaicing and image compression.

11. The method of claim 1 , including said compressing the plurality of pixel samples at a first integrated circuit, and wherein the receiving device is a second integrated circuit, storing the compressed raw format image in memory on the second integrated circuit.

12. The method of claim 1 , including compressing the plurality of pixel samples at a first integrated circuit, and wherein the receiving device is a second integrated circuit, and including transferring the compressed raw format image from the receiving device to a third integrated circuit including memory before said decompressing, and reading the compressed raw format image from the third integrated circuit for decompressing, and wherein the decompressing is executed by a processor or processors on the receiving device.

13. The method of claim 1 , including providing compression logic including a plurality of compression modes, identifying a particular compression mode of the plurality of compression modes, and wherein said compressing includes applying the particular compression mode.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of compression modes includes at least one lossless compression mode and at least one lossy compression mode.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of compression modes includes at least one one-dimensional compression mode and at least one two-dimensional compression mode.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of compression modes includes at least one one-dimensional compression mode and at least one three-dimensional compression mode.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the raw format image comprises a plurality of color space components, and the plurality of pixel samples comprises values of the color space components, and wherein said compressing includes classifying the pixel samples into sub-streams of color space components, and applying compression processes to the sub-streams.

18. The method of claim 17 , including applying different attenuation factors to the sub-streams.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein said compressing the raw format image is performed using block floating point compression.

20. A method, comprising:
generating a raw format image in a first integrated circuit including an image capture device within an image capture time window, the raw format image including a plurality of pixel samples representing an image;
compressing the raw format image to form a compressed raw format image during a time interval that is less than or equal to the image capture time window, wherein said compressing the raw format image is performed using only time domain compression logic;
transferring the compressed raw format image across a serial data channel or serial data channels, to a second integrated circuit within a transfer window having a time duration less than or equal to the image capture time window;
decompressing the compressed raw format image at the second integrated circuit after said transferring to form a recovered raw format image; and
applying digital signal processing at the second integrated circuit to the recovered raw format image.

21. A method, comprising:
receiving a raw format image from an image capture device within an image capture time window at an image data rate, the raw format image including a plurality of pixel samples representing multispectral coding;
compressing the raw format image using a time domain compression process to form a compressed raw format image during a time interval that is less than or equal to the image capture time window, wherein said compressing the raw format image is performed using only time main compression logic; and
transferring the compressed raw format image across a data channel to a receiving device, wherein a data transfer rate of the data channel is less than the image data rate, wherein the multispectral coding of the raw format image comprises a plurality of color space components, and the plurality of pixel samples comprises values of the color space components, and wherein said compressing includes classifying the pixel samples into sub-streams of color space components, and applying compression processes to the sub-streams.

22. The method of claim 21 , including applying different attenuation factors to the sub-streams.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein said compressing the raw format image is performed using block floating point compression.

24. An apparatus, comprising:
an image capture device including, or adapted to be coupled to, an image sensor, the image capture device configured to produce a raw format image within an image capture time window, the raw format image including a plurality of pixel samples representing an image sensed during the image capture time window, the image capture device including compression logic to compress the raw format image using only a time domain compression process to form a compressed raw format image within a first time interval having a duration equal to or less than the image capture time window, and a data transfer interface to transfer the compressed raw format image across a data channel to a receivin

Assignees

• Wegener Albert W
• Altera Corp

Inventors

• Wegener Albert W

Classifications

• H04N23/84

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• H04N5/232

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N21/2381 Primary

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