Method and apparatus for coding a sectional video view captured by a camera at an end-point

• US 7,679,648 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2005
• Issued: 03/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tandberg Telecom AS (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Johansen, Tom-Ivar
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, NGOC YEN T
• Application Number:
  US11/233,498
• Publication Number:
  US 20060139466A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,636 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 348/211.12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/124 Quantisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/132 Sampling, masking or truncation of coding units, e.g. adaptive resampling, frame skipping, frame interpolation or high-frequency transform coefficient masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/162 User input
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object

Abstract

The present invention utilizes video compression techniques in providing multi display and user control of picture layout with a single non-mechanical camera. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a subsection of interest within a general view captured by the camera is coded based on the prediction of the main picture. In one aspect of the embodiment, scaling of the predicted pixel values in the subsection to match with the corresponding raw pixel data of extended resolution is carried out before subtracting the prediction from the raw data to provide the residual in the coding process. In a second aspect, the frame rate and the number of quantization intervals are increased when coding the subsection relative to the coding of the general view.

Claims

1. A method for providing a sectional video view with a controllable zoom, pan and tilt defined by a boundary within a general video view captured by a first camera of an end-point comprising:

consecutively capturing, at an encoding apparatus, video images of the general view which are processed by a coding process;

creating, at the encoding apparatus, a first coded video signal representing the general view;

generating, at the encoding apparatus, a predicted video image of at least a first current video image;

subtracting, at the encoding apparatus, the predicted video image from the first current video image;

receiving, at the encoding apparatus, a control signal defining the boundary within the general video view;

extracting, at the encoding apparatus, a first set of pixel values lying within the boundary in the first current video image or in a second current video image captured by a second camera to create a sectional video view;

extracting, at the encoding apparatus, a second set of pixel values from the predicted video image corresponding to the first set of pixel values;

creating, at the encoding apparatus, a residual of the sectional video view by subtracting the second set of pixel values from said first set of pixel values; and

creating, at the encoding apparatus, a second coded video signal representing the sectional video view by further compressing the residual according to the coding process.

2. The method according claim 1, wherein said second set of pixel values are pixel values extracted from the predicted video image lying within said boundary.

3. The method according claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the first and the second coded video signal to a receiving end-point, and

decoding the first and the second coded video signal with a decoding process corresponding to the coding process, resulting in the general video view and the sectional video view.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

displaying the general video view and the sectional video view at said receiving end-point.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the coding process further includes at least one of the following steps:

scaling said first set of pixel values to match with said second set of pixel values, and

scaling said second set of pixel values to match with said first set of pixel values.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the coding process further includes adjusting a second frame rate associated with said second coded video signal relative to a first frame rate associated with the first coded video signal.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said control signal originates from a selection device connected to a transmitting end-point.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the selection device is a remote control.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said control signal originates from a selection device connected to said receiving end-point.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the selection device is a remote control.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said control signal is provided by a camera tracking mechanism in a transmitting end-point.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the coding process further includes adjusting a second number of quantization intervals associated with said second coded video signal relative to a first number of quantization intervals associated with the first coded video signal.

12. An apparatus for providing a sectional video view with a controllable zoom, pan and tilt defined by a boundary within a general video view captured by a first camera of an end-point comprising:

means for consecutively capturing video images of the general view which are being processed by a coding process,

means for creating a first coded video signal representing the general view,

means for generating a predicted video image of at least a first current video image and subtracting the predicted video image from the first current video image,

means for receiving a control signal defining the boundary within the general video view,

means for extracting a first set of pixel values lying within the boundary in the first current video image or in a second current video image captured by a second camera so as to create a sectional video view,

means for extracting a second set of pixel values from the predicted video image corresponding to the first set of pixel values,

means for creating a residual of the sectional video view by subtracting the second set of pixel values from said first set of pixel values, and

means for creating a second coded video signal representing the sectional video view by further compressing the residual according to the coding process.

14. An apparatus for providing a sectional video view with a controllable zoom, pan and tilt defined by a boundary within a general video view captured by a first camera of an end-point comprising:

an input to consecutively capture video images of the general view which are being processed by a coding process; and

a processing device to

create a first coded video signal representing the general view,

generate a predicted video image of at least a first current video image,

subtract the predicted video image from the first current video image,

receive a control signal defining the boundary within the general video view,

extract a first set of pixel values lying within the boundary in the first current video image or in a second current video image captured by a second camera so as to create a sectional video view,

extract a second set of pixel values from the predicted video image corresponding to the first set of pixel values,

create a residual of the sectional video view by subtracting the second set of pixel values from said first set of pixel values, and

create a second coded video signal representing the sectional video view by further compressing the residual according to the coding process.