System and method for low bandwidth video streaming for face-to-face teleconferencing
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented process for low bandwidth transmission of images of a person talking, comprising the process actions of:
- inputting a captured image of a person'"'"'s face;
finding said face in said image;
dividing said face into sub-images corresponding to facial features;
comparing each sub-image to a set of previously saved images;
if a sub-image is determined to be new, adding said sub-image to said set of previously saved images;
sending said sub-images determined not to be in said set of previously saved images to a receiver with instructions for saving;
if a sub-image is determined to be similar to sub-image in said set of previously saved images,synthesizing a new image closely corresponding to the captured image of a person'"'"'s face; and
sending said receiver instructions for constructing said synthesized image from said set of saved images at said receiver.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for facilitating low bandwidth video image transmission in video conferencing systems. A target is acquired (video image of a person'"'"'s head) and processed to identify one or more sub-regions (e.g., background, eyes, mouth and head). The invention incorporates a fast feature matching methodology to match a current sub-region with previously stored sub-regions. If a match is found, an instruction is sent to the receiving computer to generate the next frame of video data from the previously stored blocks utilizing a texture synthesis technique. The invention is applicable for video conferencing in low bandwidth environments.
63 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented process for low bandwidth transmission of images of a person talking, comprising the process actions of:
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inputting a captured image of a person'"'"'s face; finding said face in said image; dividing said face into sub-images corresponding to facial features; comparing each sub-image to a set of previously saved images; if a sub-image is determined to be new, adding said sub-image to said set of previously saved images; sending said sub-images determined not to be in said set of previously saved images to a receiver with instructions for saving; if a sub-image is determined to be similar to sub-image in said set of previously saved images, synthesizing a new image closely corresponding to the captured image of a person'"'"'s face; and sending said receiver instructions for constructing said synthesized image from said set of saved images at said receiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A system for transmitting and receiving a low bandwidth video stream, the system comprising:
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a sender, comprising, a module for face detection and tracking module which detects a face in an original input image, a layer decomposition module that decomposes the detected face into regional sub-image layers, an evaluation module that examines the regional sub-image layers to determine if each of the regional sub-image layers is new, or already present in a sender reference frame database by comparing them to sub-images in the sender reference frame database, and if no matches are found, adding the sub-image layer in question to the sender reference frame database, a feature selection module that selects features to be used in comparing the regional sub-image layers to the sender'"'"'s reference frame database, a synthesis module that receives the best matching images to the original input image in the reference frame database and wherein blocks from the best matches to the original input image are synthesized into an image most closely resembling the original input image, and an encoding and transmission module that encodes new images and the instructions on how to synthesize the image and sends them to a receiver; and a receiver, comprising, a receiving and decoding module that receives and decodes said images and instructions sent from said sender; a synthesis module that draws the respective images from a receiver reference frame database and synthesizes the image that resembles the original image input at the sender according to the sender'"'"'s synthesis instructions, and a display module that displays said synthesized image at the receiver.
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23. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for transmitting a low bandwidth video stream, said computer executable instructions comprising:
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inputting a captured image of a person'"'"'s face; finding said face in said image; dividing said face into sub-images corresponding to facial features; comparing each sub-image to a set of previously saved images; if a sub-image is determined to be new, adding said new sub-image to said set of previously saved images; sending said sub-images determined to be new to a receiver; if a sub-image is determined to be similar to sub-image in said set of previously saved images, synthesizing a new image closely corresponding to the captured image of a person'"'"'s face; and sending said receiver instructions for constructing a synthesized image from said set of saved images at said receiver. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification