APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COMPRESSING PICTURES WITH ROI-DEPENDENT COMPRESSION PARAMETERS

• US 20100215098A1
• Filed: 02/23/2010
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mondo Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Mondo Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: CHUNG, Chul
• Granted Patent: US 10,027,966 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/240.80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/115 Selection of the code volume for a coding unit prior to coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/124 Quantisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/136 Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/20 using video object coding

Abstract

An apparatus and method to decrease bit rate through direct control of video compression parameters when compressing a video. The video compressing apparatus may use a Region of Interest (ROI)-dependent compression parameter and may include a ROI estimating part, a parameter allocating part, and a compression part. The ROI estimating part may estimate the

ROI of an input video. The parameter allocating part may allocate a compression parameter to each region of the input video based on the estimated ROI information. The compression part may compress the input video by applying the parameter allocated to each region. A higher compression rate may be achieved by allocating a higher bit rate to the ROI and a lower bit rate to non-ROI regions.

Claims

1. An apparatus to compress a video, the apparatus comprising:

a region of interest (ROI) estimating part to estimate ROI information associated with a first ROI in the video;

a parameter allocating part to allocate a first compression parameter to the first ROI in the video based on the ROI information; and

a compression part to compress the video by applying the first compression parameter allocated to the first ROI.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ROI estimating part estimates the first ROI by analyzing the video and/or by acquiring viewing information associated with a behavior of viewers while watching the video.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first compression parameter comprises a bit rate, quantization parameter, and/or a resolution and adjustable parameter provided by a video standard associated with the video.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the compression part comprises:

a pre-treatment part to perform pre-treatment of the video; and

an encoder to compress the video.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the pre-treatment part performs pre-treatment by blurring a non-ROI in the video, sharpening the first ROI in the video, and/or changing a resolution of at least part of the video.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ROI estimating part estimates ROI information associated with a second ROI in the video, the second ROI being different than the first ROI,

wherein the parameter allocating part allocates a second compression parameter to the second ROI in the video based on the ROI information, and

wherein the compression part compresses the video by applying the compression parameter allocated to the second ROI.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first compression parameter is the same as the second compression parameter.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first compression parameter is different than the second compression parameter.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameter allocating part allocates a non-ROI compression parameter to a non-ROI in the video, the non-ROI compression parameter being different than the first compression parameter.

10. A method to compress a video, comprising:

estimating region of interest (ROI) information associated with a first ROI in the video;

allocating a first compression parameter to the first ROI of the video based on the ROI information; and

compressing the video by applying the first compression parameter allocated to the first ROI.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein estimating ROI information comprises estimating the first ROI by analyzing the video or observing a viewer watching the video.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first compression parameter comprises a bit rate, quantization parameter, and/or a resolution and adjustable parameter provided by a video standard associated with the video.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein compressing the video comprises performing pre-treatment of the video and compressing the video after the pre-treatment.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein performing pre-treatment comprises blurring a non-ROI of the video, sharpening the first ROI of the video, and/or changing a resolution of at least part of the video.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

performing the executing, allocating, and compressing on a computer; and

storing an output of the performing in a computer-readable medium.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

estimating ROI information associated with a second ROI in the video;

allocating a second compression parameter to the second ROI of the video based on the ROI information; and

compressing the video by applying the second compression parameter allocated to the second ROI.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first compression parameter is the same as the second compression parameter.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first compression parameter is different than the second compression parameter.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

allocating a non-ROI compression parameter to a non-ROI in the video, the non-ROI compression parameter being different than the first compression parameter.