Patent US3101079A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US3436788A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US2644587A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US2847501A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US5333012A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5333012A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Motion compensating coder employing an image coding control method
Assignee: NTT Inc
•
Filing: 1992-10-14
•
Granted: 1994-07-26
•
Expires: 2012-10-14
Abstract
Abstract A motion compensating coder which includes a control section for setting quantizer step size accounts for both the buffer occupancy and the texture of the image being coded. The coding control method, using well-accepted assumptions relating to the human visual sensitivity to quantization distortion in an image, employs a recursive strategy that maintains a coding rate which closely approximates the number of target bits.
Inventors
- 👤 Sharad Singhal
- 👤 Hiroshi Watanabe
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 07:16
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N19/00; H04N19/10; H04N19/189; H04N19/192; H04N19/102; H04N19/124; H04N19/126; H04N19/134; H04N19/136; H04N19/14; H04N19/146; H04N19/147; H04N19/169; H04N19/17; H04N19/174; H04N19/176; H04N19/60; H04N19/61; H04N19/152
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
220 words
An image coder employing motion-compensation techniques for coding input signals having multiple textures, comprising: means for coding input signals including means for generating a prediction signal of the input signal, means, connected to said generating means, for combining the input signal and said prediction signal, first circuitry connected to said combining means and including means for transforming and means for quantizing said combined signals, said transforming means generating coefficients representing said combined signal, and second circuitry connected to said first circuitry and including means for encoding and means for buffering said transformed and quantized signal, said buffering means generating buffer occupancy information; and a control section connected to said quantizer means and said buffering means and including means for receiving the input signal, for generating a quantizer step size based upon said buffer occupancy information received from said buffering means and the texture of the input signal, and for applying said quantizer step size to said quantizing means, wherein said control section further includes means, responsive to the input signal, for transforming the input signal and generating coefficients representing the input signal and a variance processor which receives and processes said coefficients of said input signal transforming means and produces a first variance for said coefficients of the input signal, said first variance indicating the texture of the input signal.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
220 words
An image coder employing motion-compensation techniques for coding input signals having multiple textures, comprising: means for coding input signals including means for generating a prediction signal of the input signal, means, connected to said generating means, for combining the input signal and said prediction signal, first circuitry connected to said combining means and including means for transforming and means for quantizing said combined signals, said transforming means generating coefficients representing said combined signal, and second circuitry connected to said first circuitry and including means for encoding and means for buffering said transformed and quantized signal, said buffering means generating buffer occupancy information; and a control section connected to said quantizer means and said buffering means and including means for receiving the input signal, for generating a quantizer step size based upon said buffer occupancy information received from said buffering means and the texture of the input signal, and for applying said quantizer step size to said quantizing means, wherein said control section further includes means, responsive to the input signal, for transforming the input signal and generating coefficients representing the input signal and a variance processor which receives and processes said coefficients of said input signal transforming means and produces a first variance for said coefficients of the input signal, said first variance indicating the texture of the input signal.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
33 words
The image coder of claim 1 wherein said variance processor also receives and processes coefficients from said combined signal transforming means and produces a second variance for said coefficients of said combined signal.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
73 words
The image code of claim 2 wherein said control section further includes a coding controller connected to said variance processor, said buffering means, and said quantizing means, said coding controller including means for determining at least one bit allocation for the input signal, means for generating at least one quantizer step size for the input image, and means for adjusting said quantizer step size to control a coding rate of the input signal.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
283 words
An image coder employing motion-compensation techniques for coding input signals having multiple textures, comprising: means for coding input signals including means for generating a prediction signal of the input signal, means, connected to said generating means, for combining the input signal and said prediction signal, first circuitry connected to said combining means and including means for transforming and means for quantizing said combined signals, said transforming means generating coefficients representing said combined signal, and second circuitry connected to said first circuitry and including means for encoding and means for buffering said transformed and quantized signal, said buffering means generating buffer occupancy information; and a control section connected to said quantizer means and said buffering means and including means for generating a quantizer step size based upon said buffer occupancy information received from said buffering means and the texture of the input signal and for applying said quantizer step size to said quantizing means wherein said control section includes means, responsive to said input signal, for transforming the input signal and generating coefficients representing the input signal, a variance processor which receives and processes said coefficients from said input signal transforming means and coefficients from said combined signal transforming means and produces a first variance for said coefficients of said input signal and a second variance for said coefficients of said combined signal, and a coding controller connected to said variance processor, said buffering means, and said quantizing means and which includes means for determining at least one bit allocation for the input signal, means for generating at least one quantizer step size for the input image, and means for adjusting said quantizer step size to control a coding rate of the input signal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
283 words
An image coder employing motion-compensation techniques for coding input signals having multiple textures, comprising: means for coding input signals including means for generating a prediction signal of the input signal, means, connected to said generating means, for combining the input signal and said prediction signal, first circuitry connected to said combining means and including means for transforming and means for quantizing said combined signals, said transforming means generating coefficients representing said combined signal, and second circuitry connected to said first circuitry and including means for encoding and means for buffering said transformed and quantized signal, said buffering means generating buffer occupancy information; and a control section connected to said quantizer means and said buffering means and including means for generating a quantizer step size based upon said buffer occupancy information received from said buffering means and the texture of the input signal and for applying said quantizer step size to said quantizing means wherein said control section includes means, responsive to said input signal, for transforming the input signal and generating coefficients representing the input signal, a variance processor which receives and processes said coefficients from said input signal transforming means and coefficients from said combined signal transforming means and produces a first variance for said coefficients of said input signal and a second variance for said coefficients of said combined signal, and a coding controller connected to said variance processor, said buffering means, and said quantizing means and which includes means for determining at least one bit allocation for the input signal, means for generating at least one quantizer step size for the input image, and means for adjusting said quantizer step size to control a coding rate of the input signal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
45 words
The image coder of claim 4 wherein said adjusting means comprises means for recursively adjusting said quantizer step size until a maximum number of bits used for coding the input signal is generated which maximum number does not exceed a pre-determined target number of bits.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
76 words
The coder of claim 4 wherein said input signal is divisible into segments and said coding controller further comprises means for identifying segments in the input signal having a boundary between areas of differing textures and a quantizer step size below a pre-determined minimum level and means for resetting said quantizer step size of segments in proximity to said identified segments to a pre-determined reset value, such that the visible distortion at said boundary is reduced.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
The coder of claim 6 wherein said resetting means operates on segments being horizontally adjacent to said identified segments and segments being vertically adjacent to said identified segments.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
20 words
The coder of claim 6 wherein said reset value is equal to said quantizer step sizes of said identified segments.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
21 words
The coder of claim 6 wherein said reset value is equal to a minimum quantizer step size pre-determined for the coder.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
209 words
A method of coding an input signal having multiple textures and being divisible into a plurality of segments, comprising the steps of: generating a prediction signal of the input signal; combining the input signal and said prediction signal to form a combined signal; transforming said combined signal to produce coefficients of said combined signal; quantizing said combined signal; coding and buffering said quantized combined signal in a buffer; tracking buffer occupancy of said buffer; transforming the input signal to produce coefficients of said input signal; determining the texture of the segments of the input signal by processing said coefficients of said combined signal and said coefficients of said input signal and producing a first variance and a second variance, respectively for each segment; allocating a number of bits for coding each segment of the input image based upon said first and second variances corresponding to each segment and a number of bits pre-allocated for coding the input signal; assigning a quantizer step size for each segment based upon said allocated bits in said allocating step for the segment; recursively adjusting said quantizer step size of said assigning step based upon said tracked buffer occupancy; and controlling said quantizing step based upon said quantizer step size from said adjusting step.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
209 words
A method of coding an input signal having multiple textures and being divisible into a plurality of segments, comprising the steps of: generating a prediction signal of the input signal; combining the input signal and said prediction signal to form a combined signal; transforming said combined signal to produce coefficients of said combined signal; quantizing said combined signal; coding and buffering said quantized combined signal in a buffer; tracking buffer occupancy of said buffer; transforming the input signal to produce coefficients of said input signal; determining the texture of the segments of the input signal by processing said coefficients of said combined signal and said coefficients of said input signal and producing a first variance and a second variance, respectively for each segment; allocating a number of bits for coding each segment of the input image based upon said first and second variances corresponding to each segment and a number of bits pre-allocated for coding the input signal; assigning a quantizer step size for each segment based upon said allocated bits in said allocating step for the segment; recursively adjusting said quantizer step size of said assigning step based upon said tracked buffer occupancy; and controlling said quantizing step based upon said quantizer step size from said adjusting step.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
215 words
A method of controlling a coding rate of a motion compensating coder, the coder being responsive to an input, having a prediction signal and a pre-allocated number of bits for coding an input signal and tracking occupancy of a buffer holding coded signals, the input signal having multiple textures and being divisible into a plurality of segments, comprising the steps of: transforming a combined signal of the input signal and the prediction signal to produce coefficients of said combined signal; transforming the input signal to produce coefficients of said input signal; determining the texture of the segments of the input signal by processing said coefficients of said combined signal and said coefficients of said input signal and producing a first variance and a second variance, respectively for each segment; allocating a number of bits for coding each segment of the input signal based upon said first and second variances corresponding to each segment and the number of bits pre-allocated for coding the input signal; assigning a quantizer step size for each segment based upon the allocated bits in said allocating step for the segment; recursively adjusting the quantizer step sizes of said assigning step based upon the buffer occupancy; and controlling the coding rate at the coder by inputting thereto the adjusted quantizer step sizes.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
215 words
A method of controlling a coding rate of a motion compensating coder, the coder being responsive to an input, having a prediction signal and a pre-allocated number of bits for coding an input signal and tracking occupancy of a buffer holding coded signals, the input signal having multiple textures and being divisible into a plurality of segments, comprising the steps of: transforming a combined signal of the input signal and the prediction signal to produce coefficients of said combined signal; transforming the input signal to produce coefficients of said input signal; determining the texture of the segments of the input signal by processing said coefficients of said combined signal and said coefficients of said input signal and producing a first variance and a second variance, respectively for each segment; allocating a number of bits for coding each segment of the input signal based upon said first and second variances corresponding to each segment and the number of bits pre-allocated for coding the input signal; assigning a quantizer step size for each segment based upon the allocated bits in said allocating step for the segment; recursively adjusting the quantizer step sizes of said assigning step based upon the buffer occupancy; and controlling the coding rate at the coder by inputting thereto the adjusted quantizer step sizes.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 11 of controlling a coding rate of a motion compensating coder of further comprising the step of: terminating said adjusting step when a maximum number of bits used for coding the input signal is generated which maximum number does not exceed the pre-allocated number of bits.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
74 words
The method of claim 11 controlling a coding rate of a motion compensating coder further comprising the steps of: identifying segments in the input signal having boundaries between areas of differing textures and said quantizer step sizes of said assigning step below a predetermined minimum level; and resetting said quantizer step sizes of segments in proximity to said identified segments to pre-determined reset values, such that the visible distortion at said boundary is reduced.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 13 controlling a coding rate of a motion compensating coder wherein said resetting step includes operating on segments being horizontally adjacent to said identified segments and segments being vertically adjacent to said identified segments.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US5136376A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1997-07-25 | 1998-01-24 | 1998-07-26 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2001-07-25 | 2002-01-24 | 2002-07-26 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2005-07-25 | 2006-01-24 | 2006-07-26 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |