Method and system for classifying image elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9830535-B2
Application number	US-201715436946-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 20, 2017
Priority date	Feb 1, 2001
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A method, system, and machine-readable medium for classifying an image element as one of a plurality of categories, including assigning the image element based on a ratio between an unoccluded perimeter of the image element and an occluded perimeter of the image element and coding the image element according to a coding scheme associated with the category to which the image element is classified. Exemplary applications include image compression, where categories include image foreground and background layers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining a background layer;
determining a foreground layer having an image, the image being presented over the background layer;
calculating a perimeter of the image; and
processing, via a processor, the image based the perimeter and according to a relative occlusion between the image and the background layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the relative occlusion is determined using a color difference between the image and the background layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
encoding, via the processor, the image using a number of bits that is proportional to a length of un-occluded perimeter segments of the image relative to a length of occluded perimeter segments of the image that result from occlusion of the image by the background layer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the number of bits used for encoding the image is reduced by excluding occluded parts of the image.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the color difference is calculated using a color differential between the image and the background layer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the background layer is assigned to an occlusion category based on the relative occlusion meeting a threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a number of bits used for encoding the image is selected based on a proportionality coefficient that depends on color differences along an element boundary of the image.

8. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining a background layer;
determining a foreground layer having an image, the image being presented over the background layer;
calculating a perimeter of the image; and
processing the image based the perimeter and according to a relative occlusion between the image and the background layer.

9. The systems of claim 8 , wherein the relative occlusion is determined using a color difference between the image and the background layer.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
encoding the image using a number of bits that is proportional to a length of un-occluded perimeter segments of the image relative to a length of occluded perimeter segments of the image that result from occlusion of the image by the background layer.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the number of bits used for encoding the image is reduced by excluding occluded parts of the image.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the color difference is calculated using a color differential between the image and the background layer.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the background layer is assigned to an occlusion category based on the relative occlusion meeting a threshold.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein a number of bits used for encoding the image is selected based on a proportionality coefficient that depends on color differences along an element boundary of the image.

15. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
determining a background layer;
determining a foreground layer having an image, the image being presented over the background layer;
calculating a perimeter of the image; and
processing, via a processor, the image based the perimeter and according to a relative occlusion between the image and the background layer.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the relative occlusion is determined using a color difference between the image and the background layer.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the computer-readable storage device stores further instructions which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform further operations comprising:
encoding the image using a number of bits that is proportional to a length of un-occluded perimeter segments of the image relative to a length of occluded perimeter segments of the image that result from occlusion of the image by the background layer.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein the number of bits used for encoding the image is reduced by excluding occluded parts of the image.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16 , wherein the color difference is calculated using a color differential between the image and the background layer.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the background layer is assigned to an occlusion category based on the relative occlusion meeting a threshold.

Assignees

• At & T Ip Ii Lp

Inventors

• Bottou Leon
• Haffner Patrick Guy

Classifications

• G06F18/24

  Classification techniques · CPC title

• G06T9/00 Primary

  Image coding (bandwidth or redundancy reduction for static pictures H04N1/41; coding or decoding of static colour picture signals H04N1/64; methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/00) · CPC title

• G06K9/4652

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/6267 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/34

  Physics · mapped topic