Object of interest based image processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9247203-B2
Application number	US-201113994077-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2011
Priority date	Apr 11, 2011
Publication date	Jan 26, 2016
Grant date	Jan 26, 2016

Abstract

An apparatus, a method and a system are provided, wherein the system includes 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 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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
an encoding engine configured to:
receive a plurality of image frames of a video signal;
identify a region of interest, ROI, associated with one or more objects of interest, OOI, within respective image frames where a center point of the ROI is determined based at least in part on center points of the OOI, and where the center point of the ROI is identified as the weighted center of all of the OOI within the ROI region as identified by

P
c

=

∑

i
=
0

N

⁢

P
i

/
N

 where P i is the center position of each of the detected OOI regions, and N is the number of detected OOI regions;
encode the ROI associated with one or more OOI 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 ROI associated with the one or more OOI; 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 OOI 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 OOI 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 ROI includes at least partially the one or more OOI.

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

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the context engine is further configured to adjust the ROI to place at least one of the one or more OOI 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 ROI to place at least one of the one or more OOI in an off-center position within the respective image frames.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the one or more OOI 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 OOI and the background region separately.

10. 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 OOI and the background region separately.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the center point of the ROI is identified as the center point of the biggest OOI region within the ROI as identified by P c =arg max(size(P i )) where arg max (size(P i )) is the center point of the OOI region that has the biggest size.

12. A method comprising:
receiving a plurality of image frames of a video signal;
identifying a region of interest, ROI, associated with one or more objects of interest, OOI, within respective image frames where a center point of the ROI is determined based at least in part on center points of the OOI, and where the center point of the ROI is identified as the weighted center of all of the OOI within the ROI region as identified by

P
c

=

∑

i
=
0

N

⁢

P
i

/
N

where P i is the center position of each of the detected OOI regions, and N is the number of detected OOI regions;
encoding the ROI associated with one or more OOI 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 ROI associated with the one or more OOI; and
transmitting the encoded plurality of image frames to one or more recipients.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising identifying the one or more OOI within the respective image frames.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising identifying a ROI within the respective image frames, wherein the ROI includes at least partially the one or more OOI.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising enlarging the ROI within the respective image frames to display the ROI more prominently within the respective image frames.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising adjusting the ROI within the respective image frames to place at least one of the one or more OOI centrally within the respective image frames.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising adjusting, based on a context information, the ROI to place at least one of the one or more OOI at an off-center position within the respective image frames.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the one or more OOI 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.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the center point of the ROI is identified as the center point of the biggest OOI region within the ROI as identified by P c =arg max(size(P i )) where arg max (size(P i )) is the center point of the OOI region that has the biggest size.

20. 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;
identify a region of interest, ROI, associated with one or more objects of interest, OOI, within respective image frames where a center point of the ROI is determined based at least in part on center points of the OOI, and where the center point of the ROI is identified as the weighted center of all of the OOI within the ROI region as identified by

P
c

=

∑

i
=
0

N

⁢

P
i

Assignees

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

Inventors

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

Classifications

• 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

• H04N19/167

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