High resolution high-value added video transfer method system and storage medium by using pseudo natural image

• US 6,701,017 B1
• Filed: 01/14/2000
• Issued: 03/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nihon Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nihon Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Yoshioka, Suguru, Nagata, Masahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, Anh Hong
• Application Number:
  US09/402,852
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: 382/232, 382/269, 382/112, 382/282, 348/265, 250/559.44
• US Class Current: 382/232
• 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 7/24 Systems for the transmission of television signals using pulse code modulation H04N21/00 takes precedence

Abstract

There are provided a window setting means for setting a window in a high resolution picture, the window being smaller than the picture; a window moving means for moving the window set by the window setting means at such a predetermined interval that an area in which the window and at least an adjacent window overlap each other exists; an image cutout means for cutting out an image of an area defined by the window, whenever the window is moved; and a picture generation means for generating a large picture by conducting dynamic image processing on images cut out by the image cutout means. By generating an artificial dynamic image, it is made possible to handle a high resolution dynamic picture having a wide area which can be handled almost as a still picture and a frequently changing area, as a dynamic image.

Claims

1. A high resolution high value added video processing apparatus comprising:

a window setting means for setting a window in a high resolution picture, said window being smaller than the picture;

a window moving means for moving the window set by said window setting means at such a predetermined interval that an area in said window and at least an adjacent window overlap each other;

an image cutout means for cutting out an image of an area defined by said window, whenever said window is moved; and

a picture generation means for generating a large picture by conducting dynamic image processing on images cut out by said image cutout means.

2. A storage medium comprising a program for causing a computer to function is stored as each of means stated in claim 1.

3. A high resolution high value added video processing apparatus for cutting out an image of an area defined by a window from a high resolution picture, and conducting dynamic image compression, transfer and expansion on said cut out image comprising:

a window moving means for moving said window at such a predetermined interval that an area in said window and at least an adjacent window overlap each other;

an image cutout means for cutting out an image of an area defined by said window, in a position where said window has moved;

a picture generation means for generating a large picture by conducting dynamic image processing on images cut out by said image cutout means;

a changed portion detection means for detecting a changed portion included in said high resolution picture;

a window moving means for moving the window to a changed portion included in said high resolution picture and detected by said changed portion detection means; and

a moving control means for exercising control so as to cause the movement of said window to become movement over a whole picture area, when a changed portion has not been detected in said high resolution picture by said changed portion detection means, or at fixed defined periods.

4. A high resolution high value added video processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said changed portion detection means detects a changed portion by extracting a parameter linked to a picture change as regards to an overlap area of adjacent windows.

5. A high resolution high value added video processing method comprising:

window setting processing for setting a window in a high resolution picture, said window being smaller than the picture;

window moving processing for moving the window set by said window setting processing at such a predetermined interval that an area in said window and at least an adjacent window overlaps each other;

image cutout processing for cutting out an image of an area defined by said window, whenever said window is moved; and

picture generation processing for generating a large picture by conducting dynamic image processing on images cut out by said image cutout processing.

6. A storage medium comprising steps included in the method stated in claim 5 are stored so as to be readable from a computer.

7. A high resolution high value added video processing method for cutting out an image of an area defined by a window from a high resolution picture, and conducting dynamic image compression, transfer and expansion on said cut out image, comprising:

window moving processing for moving said window at such a predetermined interval that an area in which said window and at least an adjacent window overlap each other;

image cutout processing for cutting out an image of an area defined by said window, in a position where said window has moved;

picture generation processing for generating a large picture by conducting dynamic image processing on images cut out by said image cutout processing;

changed portion detection processing for detecting a changed portion included in said high resolution picture;

window moving processing for moving the window to a changed portion included in said high resolution picture and detected by said changed portion detection processing; and

moving control processing for exercising control to cause the movement of said window to become movement over a whole picture area, when a changed portion has not been detected in said high resolution picture by said changed portion detection processing, or at fixed defined periods.

8. A high resolution high value added video processing method according to claim 7, wherein said changed portion detection processing is conducted by extracting a parameter linked to a picture change as regards an overlap area between adjacent windows.

9. A high resolution high value added video transfer system for cutting out an image of an area defined by a window from a high resolution picture, and conducting dynamic image compression, transfer and expansion on said cut out image, comprising a transmission side including:

a window moving means for moving said window at such a predetermined interval that an area in said window and at least an adjacent window overlap each other;

an image cutout means for cutting out an image of an area defined by said window, in a position where said window has moved;

a picture generation means for generating a large picture by conducting dynamic image processing on images cut out by said image cutout means;

a changed portion detection means for detecting a changed portion included in said high resolution picture;

a window moving means for moving the window to a changed portion included in said high resolution picture and detected by said changed portion detection means; and

a moving control means for exercising control to cause the movement of said window to become movement over a whole picture area, when a changed portion has not been detected in said high resolution picture by said changed portion detection means, and

a reception side including a picture reconstruction means for receiving and expanding a compressed result of an image of a whole picture area cut out in a window movement position and reconstructing it as a high resolution picture in case said reception side has a high resolution picture display means, and for receiving and expanding a compressed result of an image of a window area obtained by cutting out a partial changed area in the picture or a specified window area in the picture and reconstructing it as a standard resolution picture in case said reception side has only a standard resolution picture display means.

10. A high resolution high value added video transfer system according to claim 9, wherein when moving the window over the whole picture area of said high resolution picture and cutting out an image in the window area, a pattern of said window movement is fixedly defined.

11. A high resolution high value added video transfer system according to claim 9, wherein with an overlap portion of an image within each window area cut out by moving the window on said high resolution picture while causing overlap, control information containing at least position information of said cutout window, and cryptograph information are combined, and the control information and the cryptograph information are made unrecognizable in human eyesight.

12. A high resolution high value added video transfer system according to claim 9, wherein the transmission side comprises:

a first compression and transfer means for cutting out images of areas defined by said window corresponding to the whole picture area, generating an artificial dynamic image, and compressing and transferring said artificial dynamic image; and

a second compression and transfer means for defining and cutting out only a changed portion in said high resolution picture by using said window, generating an artificial dynamic image, and compressing and transferring the artificial dynamic image, and the reception side comprises;

a high resolution picture generation means for receiving and expanding high resolution picture data corresponding to the whole picture area transferred from said first compression and transfer means and generating a high resolution picture;

a storage means for holding high resolution picture data generated by said high resolution picture generation means; and

an image data update means for replacing image data of a corresponding portion in image data stored in said storage means with image data of a changed portion in said high resolution picture transferred from said second compression and transfer means and thus conducting update.

13. A storage medium comprising a program for causing a computer to function is stored as each of means stated in claim 9.

14. A high resolution high value added video transfer method for cutting out an image of an area defined by a window from a high resolution picture, and conducting dynamic image compression, transfer and expansion on said cut out image, and a transmission side comprising the steps of:

window moving processing for moving said window at such a predetermined interval that an area in said window and at least an adjacent window overlap each other;

image cutout processing for cutting out an image of an area defined by said window, in a position where said window has moved;

picture generation processing for generating a large picture by conducting dynamic image processing on images cut out by said image cutout processing;

changed portion detection processing for detecting a changed portion included in said high resolution picture;

window moving processing for moving the window to a changed portion included in said high resolution picture and detected by said changed portion detection processing; and

moving control processing for exercising control to cause the movement of said window to become movement over a whole picture area, when a changed portion has not been detected in said high resolution picture by said changed portion detection processing, or at fixed defined periods, and a reception side comprises steps of picture reconstruction processing for receiving and expanding a compressed result of an image of a whole picture area cut out in a window movement position and reconstructing it as a high resolution picture in case said reception side has a high resolution picture display means, and for receiving and expanding a compressed result of an image of a window area obtained by cutting out a partial changed area in the picture or a specified window area in the picture and reconstructing it as standard resolution picture in case said reception side has only a standard resolution picture display means.

15. A high resolution high value added video transfer method according to claim 14, wherein when moving the window over the whole picture area of said high resolution picture and cutting out an image in the window area, a pattern of said window movement is fixedly defined.

16. A high resolution high value added video transfer method according to claim 14, wherein with an overlap portion of an image within each window area cut out by moving the window on said high resolution picture while causing overlap, control information containing at least position information of said cutout window, and cryptograph information are combined, and the control information and the cryptograph information are made unrecognizable in human eyesight.

17. A high resolution high value added video transfer method according to claim 15, wherein the transmission side conducts:

first compression and transfer processing for cutting out images of areas defined by said window corresponding to the whole picture area, generating an artificial dynamic image, and compressing and transferring said artificial dynamic image; and

second compression and transfer processing for defining and cutting out only a changed portion in said high resolution picture by using said window, generating an artificial dynamic image, and compressing and transferring the artificial dynamic image, and

the reception side conducts;

high resolution picture generation processing for receiving and expanding high resolution picture data corresponding to the whole picture area transferred by said first compression and transfer processing and generating a high resolution picture;

storage processing for holding high resolution picture data generated by said high resolution picture generation processing; and

image data update processing for updating image data stored by said storage processing with image data of a changed portion in said high resolution picture transferred by said second compression and transfer processing.

18. A storage medium comprising steps included in the method stated in claim 14 are stored so as to be readable from a computer.

19. A high resolution high value added video processing apparatus, comprising:

a shooting means for shooting a plurality of unit images forming a part of a large image to be formed;

a control means for controlling operation of said shooting means in a panning direction and a tilt direction so that a plurality of images shot by said shooting means will respectively have overlap areas; and

a picture generation means for conducting dynamic image processing on the plurality of images shot by said shooting means and generating a large picture.

20. A storage medium comprising a program for causing a computer to function is stored as each of means stated in claim 19.

21. A high resolution high value added video processing method, comprising:

shooting processing for shooting a plurality of unit images forming a part of a large image to be formed;

control processing for controlling operation of said shooting processing in a panning direction and a tilt direction so that a plurality of images shot by said shooting processing will respectively have overlap areas; and

picture generation processing for conducting dynamic image processing on the plurality of images shot by said shooting processing and generating a large picture.

22. A storage medium comprising steps included in the method stated in claim 21 are stored so as to be readable from a computer.