Method and device for video compression

• US 6,501,796 B1
• Filed: 05/20/1999
• Issued: 12/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Thomson Licensing SA (Vantiva SA)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing SA (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Dusseux, Jean-Christophe, Guillotel, Philippe
• Primary Examiner(s): BRITTON, HOWARD W
• Application Number:
  US09/308,518
• Time in Patent Office: 1,321 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.736, 348/699, 375/240.12, 375/240.16
• US Class Current: 375/240.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 9/004 Predictors, e.g. intraframe, interframe coding

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for compressing digital data of a sequence of synthesis images describing a scene which is the subject of a script, comprising a processing step for modelling the scene on the basis of mathematical data, a step of image rendering for creating a synthesis image from this modelling and a partitioning of this synthesis image into image blocks, differential coding of the current image block on the basis of a block of at least one synthesis image, this block being defined on the basis of at least one motion vector, so as to provide a residual block, characterized in that the motion vector is calculated from mathematical data emanating from the synthesis script and defining the apparent motion of the various objects constituting the scene which is the subject of the sequence. Applications are image synthesis in production. For video games, these are for example interactivity or virtual reality applications.

Claims

1. Process for compressing digital data of a sequence of synthesis images describing a scene which is the subject of a script, comprising a processing step for modelling the scene on the basis of mathematical data, a step of image rendering for creating a synthesis image from this modelling and a partitioning of this synthesis image into image blocks, a differential coding of the current image block on the basis of a block of at least one synthesis image, this block being defined on the basis of at least one motion vector, so as to provide a residual block, characterized in that the motion vector is calculated from mathematical data emanating from the synthesis script and defining the apparent motion of the various objects constituting the scene which is the subject of the sequence.

2. Process according to claim 1, wherein image rendering is performed for only one image out of N of the sequence, N being a predetermined number, this image being coded in intra mode and in that the differential coding is performed on blocks of the intermediate images.

3. Process according to claim 2, wherein the current image block to be coded of an intermediate image is identical to the synthesis image block matched by the motion vector so as to provide a block with zero residual.

4. Process according to claim 1 wherein the coding of the boundary image blocks of an image is forced to intra mode.

5. Process according to claim 1 wherein the illumination cue for calculating the synthesis image is utilized to calculate a residual block for the inter coding of the current block as a function of the disparity in luminance between the block of the previous image, matched by the motion vector associated with the current block, and the current block.

6. Process according to claim 1, wherein it effects a segmentation of the image, assigns a label to each of the blocks of the image, and modifies the quantization interval as a function of this label so as to transmit a region cue.

7. Process according to claim 6, wherein the quantization interval is increased for the blocks belonging to regions which are highly textured or have large motion and decreased for those belonging to regions which are uniform or have small motion.

8. Device for compressing digital data of a sequence of synthesis images describing a scene which is the subject of a script, comprising a processing circuit for modelling the scene, the images of which are to be synthesized on the basis of mathematical data, a circuit for image rendering and for partitioning the image into blocks which receives the cues from the processing circuit for effecting a synthesis image and partitioning the image obtained into image blocks, comprising a motion interface circuit which utilizes the mathematical data provided by the processing circuit

and representing the displacement of the modelled objects constituting the scene so as to calculate at least one motion vector associated with an image block and defining a predicted block on the basis of which the coding of the image block is performed.

9. Device according to claim 8, wherein an image blocks motion compensation circuit receiving the cues from the processing circuit and the motion vectors from the motion interface circuit so as to provide predicted blocks, a subtractor for taking the difference between the current block originating from the circuit for image rendering and for partitioning into image blocks and the predicted block originating from the motion compensation circuit so as to provide a residual block, a discrete cosine transformation circuit for the image blocks originating from the circuit for image rendering and for partitioning into image blocks or residual blocks originating from the subtractor, the choice being made by a mode selection circuit as a function of energy criteria.

10. Device according to claim 8, wherein said device transmits in intra mode one image from among N images of the sequence, N being a predetermined number, this image being that which is the subject of the rendition calculation by the circuit for rendition calculation and for partitioning into image blocks, in that other images or parts of images are transmitted in inter mode by way of just the motion vectors defining the predicted blocks and originating from the motion interface circuit, the coding on the basis of these blocks corresponding to blocks of zero value.

11. Device according to claim 8, wherein said device transmits in intra mode one image from among N images of the sequence, N being a predetermined number, this image being that which is the subject of the rendition calculation by the circuit for rendition calculation and for partitioning into image blocks, in that other images are transmitted in inter mode by way of residual blocks representing the difference between a current block and a predicted block, and which are obtained from an illumination interface circuit whose function is to calculate the difference in illumination between the current block and the block predicted on the basis of the mathematical data.

12. Device according to claim 10 further comprising an error interface circuit for detecting the error between the current block and the predicted block so as to force the coding of the current blocks to intra mode when the error with the predicted block exceeds a certain threshold.

13. Device according to claim 9, wherein the digital data are compressed according to the MPEG 2 format or a derived format.