Demultiplexing for stereoplexed film and video applications

• US 8,749,615 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RealD Incorporated
• Original Assignee: RealD Incorporated
• Inventors: Lipton, Lenny, Akka, Robert, Cowan, Matt, Greer, Josh
• Primary Examiner(s): Ortiz Criado, Jorge L
• Assistant Examiner(s): HALLENBECK-HUBER, JEREMIAH CHARLES
• Application Number:
  US12/286,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20090128620A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,080 Days
• Field of Search: 348/43, 348/47, 348/49
• US Class Current: 348/43
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/161 Encoding, multiplexing or demultiplexing different image signal components for multi-view video sequence encoding H04N19/597
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/194 Transmission of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/597 specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding

Abstract

A method for demultiplexing frames of compressed image data is provided. The image data includes a series of left compressed images and a series of right compressed images, the right compressed images and left compressed images compressed using a compression function. The method includes receiving the frames of compressed image data via a medium configured to transmit images in single frame format, and performing an expansion function on frames of compressed image data, the expansion function configured to select pixels from the series of left compressed images and series of right compressed images to produce replacement pixels to form a substantially decompressed set of stereo image pairs. Additionally, a system for receiving stereo pairs, multiplexing the stereo pairs for transmission across a medium including single frame formatting, and demultiplexing received data into altered stereo pairs is provided.

Claims

1. A method for demultiplexing a multiplexed single frame divided into portions, the multiplexed single frame comprising a first image in a first portion and a second image in a second portion, wherein at least the first image is a first scaled image that was scaled from a first original image, the first scaled image having a central portion and an edge portion, the central and edge portions of the first scaled image having been downscaled by first and second scaling factors, respectively, wherein the first and second scaling factors are both less than one, and wherein an aspect ratio of the first original image and an aspect ratio of the multiplexed single frame are substantially the same, the method comprising:

receiving the multiplexed single frame comprising the first scaled image;

generating a first demultiplexed image from the first scaled image, wherein generating comprises reverse variable scaling the central portion and the edge portion of the first scaled image by a first inverse scaling factor and a second inverse scaling factor, respectively, the first and second inverse scaling factors being different; and

generating a second demultiplexed image from the second image in the multiplexed single frame;

wherein all of the reverse scaling factors are greater than one.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second image in the multiplexed single frame is a second scaled image that was scaled from a second original image, the second scaled image having a central portion and an edge portion, the central and edge portions of the second scaled image having been scaled by different amounts, and wherein:

generating the second demultiplexed image comprises reverse variable scaling the central portion and edge portion of the second scaled image by a third scaling factor and a fourth scaling factor, respectively, the third and fourth scaling factors being different.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first and third scaling factors are substantially the same.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second and fourth scaling factors are substantially the same.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first scaled image further comprises an intermediate portion between the central and edge portions, and generating the first demultiplexed image comprises reverse variable scaling the intermediate portion of the first scaled image by at least an intermediate portion scaling factor.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the scaling factor is fixed across the intermediate portion and is different from the first and second scaling factors.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the scaling factor is continuously variable across the intermediate portion.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first demultiplexed image comprises computing a plurality of output pixels in the first demultiplexed image based on a plurality of source pixels in the scaled image.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein computing comprises employing a series of weighting factors based on positions of the plurality of source pixels, the series of weighting factors comprising at least two different weighting factors.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein computing comprises selecting the plurality of source pixels aligned along one axis of the scaled image and calculating the plurality of output pixels aligned orthogonally to the one axis.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving comprises receiving the single frames divided into portions over a medium formatted to transmit single frames of image data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein reverse variable scaling comprises substantially reverting the scaled image to a state similar to that prior to being scaled.

13. A system configured to provide an image pair based on a multiplexed single frame divided into portions, the multiplexed single frame comprising a first image in a first portion and a second image in a second portion, wherein at least the first image is a first scaled image that was scaled from a first original image, the first scaled image having a central portion and an edge portion, the central and edge portions of the first scaled image having been downscaled by first and second scaling factors, respectively, wherein the first and second scaling factors are both less than one, and wherein an aspect ratio of the first original image and an aspect ratio of the multiplexed single frame are substantially the same, the system comprising:

an interface configured to receive the multiplexed single frame comprising the first scaled image; and

a demultiplexer is configured to generate

a first demultiplexed image from the first scaled image, wherein the demultiplexed image is generated by reverse variable scaling the central portion and edge portion of the first scaled image by a first inverse scaling factor and a second inverse scaling factor, respectively, the first and second inverse scaling factors being different, wherein all of the reverse scaling factors are greater than one; and

a second demultiplexed image from the second image in the multiplexed single frame.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the second image in the multiplexed single frame is a second scaled image that was scaled from a second original image, the second scaled image having a central portion and an edge portion, the central and edge portions of the second scaled image having been scaled by different amounts, and wherein:

the demultiplexer is configured to generate the second demultiplexed image by reverse variable scaling the central portion and the edge portion of the second scaled image by a third scaling factor and a fourth scaling factor, respectively, the third and fourth scaling factors being different.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first and third scaling factors are substantially the same.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the second and fourth scaling factors are substantially the same.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the first scaled image further comprises an intermediate portion between the central and edge portions, and the demultiplexer is configure to generate the first demultiplexed image by reverse variable scaling the intermediate portion of the first scaled image by at least a third scaling factor.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the third scaling factor is fixed across the intermediate portion and is different from the first and second scaling factors.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the third scaling factor is continuously variable across the intermediate portion.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the demultiplexer is configure to generate the first demultiplexed image by computing a plurality of output pixels in the first demultiplexed image based on a plurality of source pixels in the scaled image.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the demultiplexer is configure to compute the output pixels by employing a series of weighting factors based on positions of the plurality of source pixels, the series of weighting factors comprising at least two different weighting factors.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the demultiplexer is configure to compute the output pixels by selecting the plurality of source pixels aligned along one axis of the scaled image and calculating the plurality of output pixels aligned orthogonally to the one axis.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the interface is configure to receive the multiplexed single frame over a medium formatted to transmit single frames of image data.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein the demultiplexer is configure to revert the scaled image to a state similar to that prior to being scaled by reverse variable scaling.