High quality wide-range multi-layer image compression coding system
First Claim
1. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images represented as pixels, the method including:
- applying an optimal band-split filter phase construction to a digitized video image in which low-pass bands are created in between pixels of the digitized video image.
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Abstract
Systems, methods, and computer programs for high quality wide-range multi-layer image compression coding, including consistent ubiquitous use of floating point values in essentially all computations; an adjustable floating-point deadband; use of an optimal band-split filter; use of entire SNR layers at lower resolution levels; targeting of specific SNR layers to specific quality improvements; concentration of coding bits in regions of interest in targeted band-split and SNR layers; use of statically-assigned targets for high-pass and/or for SNR layers; improved SNR by using a lower quantization value for regions of an image showing a higher compression coding error; application of non-linear functions of color when computing difference values when creating an SNR layer; use of finer overall quantization at lower resolution levels with regional quantization scaling; removal of source image noise before motion-compensated compression or film steadying; use of one or more full-range low bands; use of alternate quantization control images for SNR bands and other high resolution enhancing bands; application of lossless variable-length coding using adaptive regions; use of a folder and file structure for layers of bits; and a method of inserting new intra frames by counting the number of bits needed for a motion compensated frame.
114 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images represented as pixels, the method including:
applying an optimal band-split filter phase construction to a digitized video image in which low-pass bands are created in between pixels of the digitized video image. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images, the method including:
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applying a band-split filter structure to generate a band-split hierarchy from a digitized video image, the band-split hierarchy comprising at least two reduced resolution levels in which low-pass bands are created in between pixels of the digitized video image;
applying a different quantization parameter value to each of such at least two reduced resolution layers; and
performing subsequent encoding steps on such at least two reduced resolution layers to create a compressed output of such digitized video image. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5)
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6. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images, the method including:
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transforming each digitized video image to a floating-point numeric representation; and
performing all encoding steps prior to quantization using such floating-point numeric representation to create a compressed output.
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7. A method for removing noise from digitized video images, the method including:
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statistically characterizing at least one of temporal, spatial, and pattern noise within a source of such digitized video images as a function of at least one of color, brightness, and region; and
removing such characterized noise prior to compression or application of image steadying algorithms.
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8. A method of adding signal-to-noise improvement layers which are targeted to specific aspects of a sequence of images, the method including:
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selecting one or more aspects of a coded image to improve;
isolating those image aspects using the selection criteria;
coding a signal-to-noise layer using the isolated coded image aspects. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method for determining when to insert an intra frame within a sequence of motion-compensated compressed digitized video images, the method including:
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counting a first number of bits needed to encode an intra frame;
counting a second number of bits needed to encode a motion compensated frame subsequent to the intra frame;
comparing the second number to the first number to determine whether to recompute the motion compensated frame as an intra frame.
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12. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images, the method including:
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generating a hierarchy of processed images from a digitized video image;
determining a plurality of regions within each processed image, each region being selected based on lossless coding efficiency; and
applying a lossless variable-length coding independently to each such region. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for grouping data resulting from compressing a sequence of digitized video images, the method including:
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storing data related to an organizational aspect of the result of compression of a single image in a file data structure; and
grouping all file data structures related to each aspect within a folder data structure. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A method for decompressing a sequence of compressed digitized video images, the method including:
performing all decoding steps after dequantization using a floating-point numeric representation to create an output comprising decompressed digitized pixel values. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images represented as pixels, the method including:
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generating at least one processed layer from at least one of the digitized video images, each processed layer comprising a plurality of values; and
applying a quantization parameter to the plurality of values of such at least one processed layer using a lower quantization value for regions of such layer showing a higher compression coding error relative to a corresponding digitized video image or layer from which such processed layer was generated.
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23. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images represented as pixels, the method including:
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generating at least one processed layer from at least one of the digitized video images, each processed layer comprising a plurality of values; and
applying a quantization parameter to the plurality of values of such at least one processed layer using an adjustable size floating-point deadband for values of such processed layer near zero. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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26. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images, the method including:
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generating a band-split hierarchy from a digitized video image, the band-split hierarchy comprising at least two reduced resolution levels;
applying a quantization parameter, represented as a one of a floating-point or half floating-point numeric value, to each of such at least two reduced resolution layers; and
performing subsequent encoding steps on such at least two reduced resolution layers to create a compressed output of such digitized video image. - View Dependent Claims (27, 38)
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28. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images represented as pixels, the method including:
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generating at least one processed layer from at least one of the digitized video images, each processed layer comprising a plurality of values;
dithering the values of at least one of such processed layers with pseudo-random noise prior to quantization; and
applying a quantization parameter to the plurality of values of such at least one processed layer. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images represented as pixels, the method including:
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filtering a digitized video image using both an optimal band-split filter phase construction function or a discrete wavelet transform 9/7 bi-orthogonal sub-band wavelet function; and
selecting the function having the best coding efficiency at a common quantization level. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images represented as pixels, the method including:
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applying a filter structure to generate a hierarchy of reduced resolution layers from a digitized video image; and
generating at least one signal-to-noise layer, each such signal-to-noise layer corresponding to one of the reduced resolution layers.
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33. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video image frames represented as pixels, the method including:
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generating at least one processed layer from at least one of the digitized video image frames, each processed layer comprising a plurality of values; and
encoding at least one processed layer by preferentially allocating coding bits to regions of interest in such layer by decreasing the amplitude of pixel differences near edges of a digitized video image frame using a weighting which decreases as a function of nearness to such frame edges. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
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36. A method of using signal-to-noise improvement layers to improve compression of a sequence of images represented as pixels having a values representing different colors within a color space, the method including:
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applying a non-linear function to each color value of the pixels of an image to create a perceptually weighted image; and
generating a signal-to-noise layer from each perceptually weighted image. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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39. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images in a motion compensated compression system, the method including:
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generating a band-split hierarchy from a digitized video image, the band-split hierarchy comprising at least two different reduced resolution levels;
subtracting a previously decoded video image corresponding to a reduced resolution level from such reduced resolution level to create an intermediate frame;
generating a band-split hierarchy from the intermediate frame;
quantizing and dequantizing all levels, except the lowest level, of the intermediate frame into corresponding lower resolution images;
combined such lower resolution images and the lowest level of the intermediate frame into increasingly higher resolution coded images; and
adding the highest resolution coded image to the previously decoded video image to generate a viewable image.
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40. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images, the method including:
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generating a band-split hierarchy from a digitized video image, the band-split hierarchy comprising at least two different reduced resolution levels;
determining a quantization scale factor as the extreme pixel value from a selected reduced resolution level;
applying the determined quantization scale factor as a quantization parameter for all reduced resolution levels having a higher resolution than the selected reduced resolution level. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43)
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44. A method for generating a signal-to-noise correction layer from a digitized video image represented as pixels, the method including:
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quantizing and dequantizing the digitized video image to create a coded image;
subtracting the coded image from the digitized video image to create a signal-to-noise difference image represented as pixels; and
applying one or both of quantization weighting and pixel weighting to the signal-to-noise difference image pixel values such that larger difference image pixel values have smaller quantized values. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46)
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47. A method for compressing a sequence of digitized video images represented as pixels, the method including:
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generating a plurality of processed layers from at least one of the digitized video images; and
applying a corresponding quantization parameter to each processed layer, each corresponding quantization parameter being scaled such that lower resolution layers have lower quantization parameter values relative to higher resolution layers. - View Dependent Claims (48)
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49. A method for reproducing the appearance of film grain or camera noise in compressed digitized video images, the method including:
applying a transform amplitude histogram as a function of one or more of color, brightness, and region for at least one signal-to-noise layer generated from such compressed digitized video images.
Specification