US5652616A
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Optimal disparity estimation for stereoscopic video coding
Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
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Filing: 1996-08-06
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Granted: 1997-07-29
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Expires: 2016-08-06
Abstract
Abstract Disparity estimation between the right and left view pixel luminance values in a stereoscopic video signal is optimized by determining the minimum least-square-error between macroblocks of the right and left view pictures. Affine transform coefficients and disparity vectors which correspond to the minimum error are also determined and transmitted in the data stream for use by a decoder in reconstructing the right view picture. The scheme can be implemented either locally, at the macroblock level, or globally, at the picture level. At the macroblock level, least-square-error optimization may occur for each individual macroblock in the right view picture. In this case, affine transform coefficients are provided for each macroblock. At the picture level, the sum of the least-square-errors is minimized after the blocks of the right view picture are matched to the left view picture. In this case, only one set of affine transform coefficients are required for the entire right view picture. Or, block matching between an affinely transformed left view picture and the right view picture may be performed after minimizing the sum of the least-square-errors. The scheme is particularly useful in minimizing the effects of cross-channel luminance imbalances due to camera variations and scenes with significant changes in brightness or contrast, and is compatible with stereoscopic video systems such as the MPEG Multi-view Profile (MVP) system.
Inventors
- 👤 Xuemin Chen
- 👤 Vincent Liu
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 18:19
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N19/00; H04N19/30; H04N19/50; H04N19/597; G; G06; G06T; G06T7/00; G06T7/50; G06T7/55; G06T7/593; G06T7/97; G06T9/00; G06T9/004; H04N13/00; H04N13/10; H04N13/194; G06T2207/00; G06T2207/10; G06T2207/10004; G06T2207/10012; H04N13/106; H04N13/133; H04N13/161; H04N13/189; H04N13/20; H04N13/204; H04N13/207; H04N13/218; H04N13/239; H04N13/296; H04N2013/0074; H04N2013/0081
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
93 words
A method for reducing cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture of a stereoscopic video signal, comprising the steps of: providing a search window which comprises at least a portion of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; providing a reference window which comprises at least a portion of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and determining affine transform coefficients a, b of said reference window which minimize the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of said search window and said reference window.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
93 words
A method for reducing cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture of a stereoscopic video signal, comprising the steps of: providing a search window which comprises at least a portion of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; providing a reference window which comprises at least a portion of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and determining affine transform coefficients a, b of said reference window which minimize the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of said search window and said reference window.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of claim 1, comprising the further step of: affinely transforming said reference window pixel data using said affine transform coefficients a, b; differentially encoding said search window pixel data using said transformed reference window pixel data; and transmitting said differentially encoded search window pixel data in conjunction with said stereoscopic video signal for use in reconstructing said enhancement layer picture.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 1, comprising the further step of: adjusting a size of at least one of said search window and said reference window and repeating said minimizing step until said least-square-error is within a target error range.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 1, comprising the further step of: transmitting said affine transform coefficients a, b in said stereoscopic video signal for use in reconstructing said enhancement layer picture.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
76 words
The method of claim 1, comprising the further steps of: providing additional search windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; providing additional corresponding reference windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in said reference picture; and for each of said additional search windows, determining a set of affine transform coefficients a, b which minimize the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of said search window and the corresponding reference.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
95 words
A method for reducing cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture of a stereoscopic video signal, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; providing a corresponding plurality of reference windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and determining affine transform coefficients a, b which minimize the sum of the least-square-errors between luminance values of pixels of said enhancement layer picture windows and said corresponding reference windows.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
95 words
A method for reducing cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture of a stereoscopic video signal, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; providing a corresponding plurality of reference windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and determining affine transform coefficients a, b which minimize the sum of the least-square-errors between luminance values of pixels of said enhancement layer picture windows and said corresponding reference windows.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 6, wherein said plurality of enhancement layer picture windows are search windows, comprising the further step of: prior to said determining step, matching said plurality of search windows to respective regions of said corresponding plurality of reference windows.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
100 words
The method of claim 6, comprising the further steps of: transforming said corresponding plurality of reference windows according to said affine transform coefficients a, b to provide a plurality of transformed reference windows; matching said plurality of enhancement layer picture windows to regions of respective ones of said transformed plurality of reference windows to provide a matched plurality of enhancement layer picture windows; and for each of said matched plurality of enhancement layer picture windows, determining a disparity vector which is indicative of a translational difference between the matched of enhancement layer picture window and the corresponding transformed reference window.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 8, comprising the further step of: transmitting the disparity vectors in said stereoscopic video signal for use in reconstructing said enhancement layer picture.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
113 words
A method for decoding a stereoscopic video signal with a reduced cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture thereof, comprising the steps of: retrieving affine transform coefficients a, b from said stereoscopic video signal; said affine transform coefficients being determined by minimizing the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of a search window and a reference window, wherein said search window comprises at least a portion of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture, and said reference window comprises at least a portion of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and using said affine transform coefficients to recover said search window pixel data.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
113 words
A method for decoding a stereoscopic video signal with a reduced cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture thereof, comprising the steps of: retrieving affine transform coefficients a, b from said stereoscopic video signal; said affine transform coefficients being determined by minimizing the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of a search window and a reference window, wherein said search window comprises at least a portion of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture, and said reference window comprises at least a portion of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and using said affine transform coefficients to recover said search window pixel data.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
88 words
The method of claim 10, wherein said search window pixel data is carried in said stereoscopic video signal as differentially encoded data, comprising the further steps of: retrieving said reference window pixel data from said stereoscopic video signal; using said reference window pixel data to provide reference window pixel prediction data; affinely transforming said reference window pixel prediction data in accordance with said affine transform coefficients; and summing said affinely transformed reference window pixel prediction data with said differentially encoded data to recover said search window pixel data.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
98 words
An encoder for reducing cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture of a stereoscopic video signal, comprising: means for providing a search window which comprises at least a portion of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; means for providing a reference window which comprises at least a portion of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and a disparity estimator for determining affine transform coefficients a, b of said reference window which minimize the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of said search window and said reference window.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
98 words
An encoder for reducing cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture of a stereoscopic video signal, comprising: means for providing a search window which comprises at least a portion of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; means for providing a reference window which comprises at least a portion of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and a disparity estimator for determining affine transform coefficients a, b of said reference window which minimize the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of said search window and said reference window.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
78 words
The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising: a predictor operatively associated with said disparity estimator for use in affinely transforming said reference window pixel data using said affine transform coefficients a, b; an adder for use in differentially encoding said search window pixel data using said transformed reference window pixel data; and a transmitter for transmitting said differentially encoded search window pixel data in conjunction with said stereoscopic video signal for use in reconstructing said enhancement layer picture.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
53 words
The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising: a motion compensator for processing said search window pixel data to provide motion compensated search window pixel data; and a switch for selecting one of said motion compensated data and said differentially encoded data for use in reconstructing said search window pixel data at a decoder.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
100 words
An encoder for reducing cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture of a stereoscopic video signal, comprising: means for providing a plurality of windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; means for providing a corresponding plurality of reference windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and a disparity estimator for determining affine transform coefficients a, b which minimize the sum of the least-square-errors between luminance values of pixels of said enhancement layer picture windows and said corresponding reference windows.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
100 words
An encoder for reducing cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture of a stereoscopic video signal, comprising: means for providing a plurality of windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture; means for providing a corresponding plurality of reference windows which comprise respective portions of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and a disparity estimator for determining affine transform coefficients a, b which minimize the sum of the least-square-errors between luminance values of pixels of said enhancement layer picture windows and said corresponding reference windows.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
116 words
A decoder apparatus for decoding a stereoscopic video signal with a reduced cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture thereof, comprising: means for retrieving affine transform coefficients a, b from said stereoscopic video signal; said affine transform coefficients being determined by minimizing the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of a search window and a reference window, wherein said search window comprises at least a portion of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture, and said reference window comprises at least a portion of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and processing means for using said affine transform coefficients to recover said search window pixel data.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
116 words
A decoder apparatus for decoding a stereoscopic video signal with a reduced cross-channel luminance imbalance in an enhancement layer picture thereof, comprising: means for retrieving affine transform coefficients a, b from said stereoscopic video signal; said affine transform coefficients being determined by minimizing the least-square-error between luminance values of pixels of a search window and a reference window, wherein said search window comprises at least a portion of the pixels in said enhancement layer picture, and said reference window comprises at least a portion of the pixels in a reference picture of a base layer of said stereoscopic video signal; and processing means for using said affine transform coefficients to recover said search window pixel data.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said search window comprises a macroblock of said enhancement layer picture.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
96 words
The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said search window pixel data is carried in said stereoscopic video signal as differentially encoded data, further comprising: means for retrieving said reference window pixel data from said stereoscopic video signal; prediction means for using said reference window pixel data to provide reference window pixel prediction data; transform means for affinely transforming said reference window pixel prediction data in accordance with said affine transform coefficients; and an adder for summing said affinely transformed reference window pixel prediction data with said differentially encoded data to recover said search window pixel data.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2000-07-28 | 2001-01-27 | 2001-07-29 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2004-07-28 | 2005-01-27 | 2005-07-29 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2008-07-28 | 2009-01-27 | 2009-07-29 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |