Motion assisted data enhancement

• US 7,783,079 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2006
• Issued: 08/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mineral Lassen LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Essex PA LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Monro, Donald M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tabatabai; Abolfazl
• Application Number:
  US11/399,753
• Publication Number:
  US 20070258654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• Field of Search: 382/103, 382/107, 382/236, 382/254, 382/263, 382/266, 348/14.1, 348/25, 348/97, 348/137, 348/140, 348/154, 348/155, 348169-172, 348/208.1, 348/208.2, 348/208.13, 348/208.14, 348/208.16, 348/287, 348/329, 348/352, 348/407.1, 348/331
• US Class Current: 382/107
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/145 Movement estimation for video coding H04N19/51

Abstract

A method of enhancing data. A trace may be determined from a target data point in a target frame and a respective data point in an adjacent frame. At least an approximate value of the target data point may be determined from the trace.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying, by a processor, a first point for target data in a target frame;

identifying, by the processor, a second point for the target data by identifying one or more points for the target data in one or more frames adjacent to the target frame;

determining, by the processor, a value of a respective one of the one or more points within a respective one of the one or more adjacent frames;

determining, by the processor, a trace based on the first and second points; and

determining, by the processor, at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace further comprises:

generating a histogram of values of the second point from the trace; and

determining the approximate value of the target data by;

determining an average, a mean, a median, or a mode of the values of the second point;

determining a combination of two or more of an average, a mean, a median, or a mode of the values of the second point;

or

filtering the values of the second point.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace comprises:

discarding values for the approximate value outside of a specified range.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace further comprises:

using user-defined values to determine the range.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace further comprises:

using values determined from the trace to determine the range.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace further comprises:

using a mean, a median, or a mode or a combination of two or more of a mean, median, or mode of the trace to determine the range.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using one or more of image data, video data, audio data, digital image data, other data, or combinations thereof, as data forming at least one of the target frame and the adjacent frame.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the determining a trace from the first and second points is performed more than one time to determine more than one of the trace; and

the determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace comprises using the more than one of the trace.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace comprises:

using at least one stored trace as the trace to determine the approximate value of the target data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying the second point for the target data in the frame adjacent to the target frame comprises:

determining motion vectors for the first and second points.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

using block matching of the adjacent frame to perform the determining of the motion vectors.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

using an optical flow to perform the determining of the motion vectors.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

using pre-calculated motion vectors to perform the determining of the motion vectors.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

using received motion vectors to perform the determining of the motion vectors.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace comprises:

filtering values of the second point.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using image color or image intensity as the value of the target data.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a pixel as the target data.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

terminating the trace based on a certain number of frames.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a range comprised of values of the one or more points;

determining, by the processor, whether the range includes the value of the respective one of the points; and

terminating the trace at the respective one of the adjacent frames in response to determining that the range does not include the value of the respective one of the points.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the trace.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the trace includes values of the target data at the first and second points.

21. A tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions to identify a first point for the target data in a target frame;

instructions to identify a second point for the target data in a frame adjacent to the target frame by identifying one or more points for the target data in one or more frames adjacent to the target frame;

instructions to determine a value of a respective one of the one or more points within a respective one of the one or more adjacent frames;

instructions to determine a trace based on the first and second points; and

instructions to determine at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace.

22. An article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

identifying a first point for target data in a target frame;

identifying a second point for the target data in a frame adjacent to the target frame by identifying one or more points for the target data in one or more frames adjacent to the target frame;

determining a value of a respective one of the one or more points within a respective one of the one or more adjacent frames;

determining a trace based on the first and second points; and

determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace.

24. A system, comprising:

means for identifying a first point for target data in a target frame;

means for identifying a second point for the target data in a frame adjacent to the target frame comprising means for identifying one or more points for the target data in one or more frames adjacent to the target frame;

means for determining a value of a respective one of the one or more points within a respective one of the one or more adjacent frames;

means for determining a trace based on the first and second points; and

means for determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace means for determining at least an approximate value of the target data from the trace.