Texture Replacement In Video Sequences and Images

• US 20150077427A1
• Filed: 11/24/2014
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: DUMITRAS, Adriana, HASKELL, Barin Geoffry
• Granted Patent: US 10,282,866 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/582
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/40 Analysis of texture depth or shape recovery from texture G06T7/529
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/41 based on statistical description of texture
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 9/00 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 Class Codes: G06T 9/001 Model-based coding, e.g. wire frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/14 Coding unit complexity, e.g. amount of activity or edge presence estimation H04N19/146 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/167 Position within a video image, e.g. region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/186 the unit being a colour or a chrominance component
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/23 with coding of regions that are present throughout a whole video segment, e.g. sprites, background or mosaic
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/27 involving both synthetic and natural picture components, e.g. synthetic natural hybrid coding [SNHC]

Abstract

Systems and methods for reducing bit rates by replacing original texture in a video sequence with synthesized texture. Reducing the bit rate of the video sequence begins by identifying and removing selected texture from frames in a video sequence. The removed texture is analyzed to generate texture parameters. New texture is synthesized using the texture parameters in combination with a set of constraints. Then, the newly synthesized texture is mapped back into the frames of the video sequence from which the original texture was removed. The resulting frames are then encoded. The bit rate of the video sequence with the synthesized texture is less than the bit rate of the video sequence with the original texture. Also, the ability of a decoder to decode the new video sequence is not compromised because no assumptions are made about the texture synthesis capabilities of the decoder.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

removing a region of interest belonging to a background portion of an initial frame in a video sequence;

recursively decomposing the region of interest, to yield statistical texture descriptors;

synthesizing replacement texture using the texture descriptors;

modifying the replacement texture by applying a set of constraints to the replacement texture, to yield a new texture; and

inserting the new texture into the video sequence.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recursively decomposing comprises decomposing the region of interest into a highpass band and a lowpass band.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising decomposing the lowpass band into a set of oriented subbands and a lowpass residual band.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

encoding the video sequence containing the new texture, to yield an encoded video sequence.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a modified bit rate associated with the encoded video sequence is lower than an original texture bit rate associated with the video sequence.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the new texture is similar to, but distinguishable from, the region of interest.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the region of interest based on a percentage of area within the initial frame; and

wherein the first set of constraints further shares a color saturation constraint with the second set of constraints.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set has a number of constraints less than a number of constraints in the first set.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the texture parameters are determined using a parametric statistical model.

10. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in the processor performing operations comprising;

removing a region of interest belonging to a background portion of an initial frame in a video sequence;

recursively decomposing the region of interest, to yield statistical texture descriptors;

synthesizing replacement texture using the texture descriptors;

modifying the replacement texture by applying a set of constraints to the replacement texture, to yield a new texture; and

inserting the new texture into the video sequence.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the recursively decomposing comprises decomposing the region of interest into a highpass band and a lowpass band.

12. The system of claim 11, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising decomposing the lowpass band into a set of oriented subbands and a lowpass residual band.

13. The system of claim 10, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising:

encoding the video sequence containing the new texture, to yield an encoded video sequence.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein a modified bit rate associated with the encoded video sequence is lower than an original texture bit rate associated with the video sequence.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the new texture is similar to, but distinguishable from, the region of interest.

16. The system of claim 10, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising:

selecting the region of interest based on a percentage of area within the initial frame; and

wherein the first set of constraints further shares a color saturation constraint with the second set of constraints.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the second set has a number of constraints less than a number of constraints in the first set.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the texture parameters are determined using a parametric statistical model.

19. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, result in the computing device performing operations comprising:

removing a region of interest belonging to a background portion of an initial frame in a video sequence;

recursively decomposing the region of interest, to yield statistical texture descriptors;

synthesizing replacement texture using the texture descriptors;

modifying the replacement texture by applying a set of constraints to the replacement texture, to yield a new texture; and

inserting the new texture into the video sequence.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 19, wherein the recursively decomposing comprises decomposing the region of interest into a highpass band and a lowpass band.