Single-pass multilevel method for applying morphological operators in multiple dimensions

• US 6,978,053 B1
• Filed: 10/26/2000
• Issued: 12/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MK Systems USA Inc.
• Original Assignee: GoldPocket Interactive, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Dakss, Jon, Sarachik, Karen, Bove, V. Michael Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, KANJIBHAI B
• Application Number:
  US09/697,479
• Time in Patent Office: 1,881 Days
• Field of Search: 382/168, 382/171, 382/257, 382/282, 382/283, 382/285, 382/308, 345679-680
• US Class Current: 382/308
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/748 Hypervideo linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object in the context of video distribution systems H04N21/858
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/64 Systems for the transmission or the storage of the colour picture signal; Details therefor, e.g. coding or decoding means therefor H04N19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/93 Run-length coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234318 by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4725 using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4728 for selecting a Region Of Interest [ROI], e.g. for requesting a higher resolution version of a selected region
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/854 Content authoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8583 by creating hot-spots
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02

Abstract

A system and method of adding hyperlinked information to a television broadcast. The broadcast material is analyzed and one or more regions within a frame are identified. Additional information can be associated with a region, and can be transmitted in encoded form, using timing information to identify the frame with which the information is associated. The system comprising a video source and an encoder that produces a transport stream in communication with the video source, an annotation source, a data packet stream generator that produces encoded annotation data packets in communication with the annotation source and the encoder, and a multiplexer system in communication with the encoder and the data packet stream generator. The encoder provides timestamp information to the data packet stream generator and the data packet stream generator synchronizes annotation data from the annotation source with a video signal from the video source in response to the timestamp information. The multiplexer generates a digital broadcast signal that includes an augmented transport stream from the transport stream and the encoded data packets. A receiver displays the annotation information associated with the video signal in response to a viewer request on a frame by frame basis. A viewer can respond interactively to the material, including performing commercial transactions, by using a backchannel that is provided for interactive communication.

Claims

1. A method of analyzing elements of a three-dimensional array, comprising the steps of:

(a) defining a subset of a three-dimensional array, said subset having a plurality of sequential two-dimensional arrays containing elements for analysis, wherein said elements within the two-dimensional arrays are represented by a first axis and a second axis, said first and second axes being two non-collinear axes and said third dimension corresponding to an axis orthogonal to the first and second axes;

(b) defining at least one region within a two-dimensional array, said at least one region having at least one element for analysis;

(c) defining a morphological mask having two dimensions and having at least one element, said morphological mask having at least one set element and at least one test element;

(d) defining a two-dimensional output array corresponding to a selected two-dimensional array containing elements for analysis;

(e) orienting said morphological mask with respect to said selected two-dimensional array containing said region having elements for analysis and with respect to at least one of a predecessor two-dimensional array and a successor two-dimensional array;

(f) computing, using a mathematical operation, a result based on the properties of said at least one set element and the corresponding elements of said selected two-dimensional array containing elements for analysis and said at least one of a predecessor two-dimensional array and a successor two-dimensional array;

(g) plotting the computed result in the two-dimensional output array at one or more elements corresponding to said at least one test element of said morphological mask; and

(h) repeating steps (e), (f) and (g) while moving said morphological mask stepwise along said first axis and said second axis over said region having elements for analysis until every element of said region has been analyzed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating steps (d) through (h) until every region within successive two-dimensional arrays of said three-dimensional subset has been analyzed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first axis and said second axis representing elements within the two-dimensional arrays are rows and columns.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said two-dimensional arrays are video frames.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said third dimension corresponding to an axis orthogonal to the first and second axes represents time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said third dimension corresponding to an axis orthogonal to the first and second axes represents frame sequence numbers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mathematical operation corresponds to taking the highest incidence of occurrence in a histogram.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mathematical operation corresponds to assigning a value if and only if the value is the only value that appears at elements corresponding to the at least one test element of the morphological mask.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording the plotted result as a computer-readable file.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the plotted result.