Transmitting video and sharing content via a network

• US 20150186744A1
• Filed: 12/31/2013
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Personify Incorporated (Wilson Human Capital Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Personify Incorporated (Wilson Human Capital Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kowshik, Sumant, Patel, Sanjay, Nguyen, Quang, Do, Minh, Truong, Long, Lin, Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 9,386,303 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/00 Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/124 Quantisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/162 User input
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/186 the unit being a colour or a chrominance component
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/21 with binary alpha-plane coding for video objects, e.g. context-based arithmetic encoding [CAE]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence

Abstract

Embodiments disclose systems and methods for transmitting user-extracted video and content more efficiently by recognizing that user-extracted video provides the potential to treat parts of a single frame of a user-extracted video differently. An alpha mask of the image part of the user-extracted video is used when encoding the image part so that it retains a higher quality upon transmission than the remainder of the user-extracted video.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for sharing video and content comprising:

creating, with at least one computer, a user-extracted video;

creating, with the at least one computer, an alpha mask for the user-extracted video, wherein the alpha mask corresponds to an image part of the user-extracted video;

prioritizing, with the at least one computer, the image part in relation to the remainder of the user-extracted video;

encoding, with the at least one computer, the user extracted video, wherein the encoding uses the alpha mask to encode the image part and the remainder of the user-extracted video differently based in part on the prioritizing; and

sending, using the at least one computer, the encoded user-extracted video to at least one receiving computer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, with the at least one computer, content; and

combining, with the at least one computer, the content with the user-extracted video to create a composite video, wherein the prioritizing prioritizes the image part in relation to the remainder of the composite video, the encoding uses the alpha mask to encode the image part and the remainder of the composite video differently based in part on the prioritizing, and the sending sends the encoded composite video to the at least one receiving computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding further comprises using a chroma-key, the method further comprising:

decoding, with the at least one receiving computer, the user-extracted video;

re-generating, with the at least one computer, the alpha mask by dechroma-keying the decoded user-extracted video;

determining, with the at least one computer, an alpha value for a pixel of a frame of the decoded user-extracted video using the re-generated alpha mask, wherein the alpha value is based on the difference between a pixel color of the pixel of the frame and a key color; and

displaying, with the at least one computer, the pixel color by the pixel of the frame based in part on the alpha value.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the displaying further comprises blending the pixel color with a content pixel color based in part on the alpha value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding further comprises compressing the image part and the remainder of the user-extracted video, and wherein the compressing of the image part is at a higher quality than the compressing of the remainder of the user-extracted video.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, using the at least one receiving computer, a second encoded user-extracted video to the at least one computer;

decoding, with the at least one computer, the second user-extracted video; and

displaying, with the at least one computer, the user-extracted video combined with the decoded second user-extracted video.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, sending with the at least one computer, control information to the at least one receiving computer, the control information regarding a dynamic chromakey, said dynamic chromakey:

representing a first key color not found within the image part and used to replace the remainder of the user-extracted video; and

, in the event the image part changes to contain the first key color,

changing to represent a second key color not found within the image part.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for sharing videos and content, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

creating, with at least one computer, a user-extracted video;

creating, with the at least one computer, an alpha mask for the user-extracted video, wherein the alpha mask corresponds to an image part of the user-extracted video;

prioritizing, with the at least one computer, the image part in relation to the remainder of the user-extracted video;

encoding, with the at least one computer, the user extracted video, wherein the encoding uses the alpha mask to encode the image part and the remainder of the user-extracted video differently based in part on the prioritizing; and

sending, using the at least one computer, the encoded user-extracted video to at least one receiving computer.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions for:

selecting, with the at least one computer, content; and

combining, with the at least one computer, the content with the user-extracted video to create a composite video, wherein the prioritizing prioritizes the image part in relation to the remainder of the composite video, the encoding uses the alpha mask to encode the image part and the remainder of the composite video differently based in part on the prioritizing, and the sending sends the encoded composite video to the at least one receiving computer.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the encoding further comprises using a chroma-key, the storage medium further comprising instructions for:

decoding, with the at least one receiving computer, the user-extracted video;

re-generating, with the at least one computer, the alpha mask by dechroma-keying the decoded user-extracted video;

determining, with the at least one computer, an alpha value for a pixel of a frame of the decoded user-extracted video using the re-generated alpha mask, wherein the alpha value is based on the difference between a pixel color of the pixel of the frame and a key color; and

displaying, with the at least one computer, the pixel color by the pixel of the frame based in part on the alpha value.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the displaying further comprises blending the pixel color with a content pixel color based in part on the alpha value.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the encoding further comprises compressing the image part and the remainder of the user-extracted video, and wherein the compressing of the image part is at a higher quality than the compressing of the remainder of the user-extracted video.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the storage medium comprising further instructions for:

sending, using the at least one receiving computer, a second encoded user-extracted video to the at least one computer;

decoding, with the at least one computer, the second user-extracted video; and

displaying, with the at least one computer, the user-extracted video combined with the decoded second user-extracted video.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the storage medium comprising further instructions for:

sending with the at least one computer, control information to the at least one receiving computer, the control information regarding a dynamic chromakey, said dynamic chromakey;

representing a first key color not found within the image part and used to replace the remainder of the user-extracted video; and

, in the event the image part changes to contain the first key color,

changing to represent a second key color not found within the image part.

15. A system for sharing videos and content comprising:

at least one computer; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more programs, which when executed by the at least one computer, cause the at least one computer to;

create a user-extracted video;

create an alpha mask for the user-extracted video, wherein the alpha mask corresponds to an image part of the user-extracted video;

prioritize the image part in relation to the remainder of the user-extracted video;

encode the user extracted video, wherein the alpha mask is used to encode the image part and the remainder of the user-extracted video differently based in part on the image priority; and

send the encoded user-extracted video to at least one receiving computer.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising programs, which when executed by the at least one computer, cause the at least one computer to:

select content; and

combine the content with the user-extracted video to create a composite video, wherein the image part is prioritized in relation to the remainder of the composite video, the alpha mask is used to encode image part and the remainder of the composite video differently based in part on the image priority, and the encoded composite video is sent to the at least one receiving computer.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising the at least one receiving computer, wherein the encoding further comprises using a chroma-key, the system further comprising programs, which when executed by the at least one receiving computer, cause the at least one receiving computer to:

decode the user-extracted video;

re-generate the alpha mask by dechroma-keying the decoded user-extracted video;

determine an alpha value for a pixel of a frame of the decoded user-extracted video using the re-generated alpha mask, wherein the alpha value is based on the difference between a pixel color of the pixel of the frame and a key color; and

display the pixel color by the pixel of the frame based in part on the alpha value.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the display programming further causes the at least one receiving computer to blend the pixel color with a content pixel color based in part on the alpha value.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the encode programming further causes the at least one computer to compresses the image part and the remainder of the user-extracted video, and wherein the image part is compressed at a higher quality than the remainder of the user-extracted video.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising programs, which when executed by the at least one computer, cause the at least one computer to:

send control information to the at least one receiving computer, the control information regarding a dynamic chromakey, said dynamic chromakey;

representing a first key color not found within the image part and used to replace the remainder of the user-extracted video; and

, in the event the image part changes to contain the first key color,

changing to represent a second key color not found within the image part.