Patent US5764814A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5764814A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Representation and encoding of general arbitrary shapes
Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC
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Filing: 1996-03-22
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Granted: 1998-06-09
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Expires: 2016-03-22
Abstract
Abstract A hierarchical object encoding technique or process capable of representing general binary arbitrary shapes that include, for example, embedded or disconnected components. The method decomposes successive layers of general binary arbitrary shapes into simple arbitrary shapes. Each mask formed in this manner is a simple arbitrary shape having only a continuous outer boundary. Accordingly, each outer boundary is encoded, preferably by a contour encoding method, to provide accurate encoding of general binary shapes.
Inventors
- 👤 Wei-ge Chen
- 👤 Ming-Chieh Lee
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 22:11
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T17/00; H; H04; H04N; H04N19/00; H04N19/10; H04N19/169; H04N19/186; H04N19/20; H04N19/23; H04N19/50; H04N19/503; H04N19/51; H04N19/513; H04N19/517; H04N19/537; H04N19/54; H04N19/543; H04N19/563; H04N19/60; H04N19/61; H04N19/63; H04N19/649
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 33
Claim 1
Independent Claim
177 words
A method of encoding a general arbitrary binary image feature in an image segment of a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a binary pixel value, the image feature including a feature subcomponent with a subcomponent boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, and the image segment including the plural feature pixels and plural non-feature pixels of the image frame, the method comprising the steps: defining the image segment with a predetermined configuration about the image feature; identifying the feature boundary within the image segment and assigning a binary pixel value of a predetermined state to pixels bounded by the feature boundary to form a feature mask; determining a difference between the image feature and the feature mask to identify the feature subcomponent with the subcomponent boundary that is separate from the feature boundary; and designating the feature subcomponent as a newly designated image feature and repeating these method steps for the newly designated image feature to identify any feature subcomponent thereof.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
177 words
A method of encoding a general arbitrary binary image feature in an image segment of a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a binary pixel value, the image feature including a feature subcomponent with a subcomponent boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, and the image segment including the plural feature pixels and plural non-feature pixels of the image frame, the method comprising the steps: defining the image segment with a predetermined configuration about the image feature; identifying the feature boundary within the image segment and assigning a binary pixel value of a predetermined state to pixels bounded by the feature boundary to form a feature mask; determining a difference between the image feature and the feature mask to identify the feature subcomponent with the subcomponent boundary that is separate from the feature boundary; and designating the feature subcomponent as a newly designated image feature and repeating these method steps for the newly designated image feature to identify any feature subcomponent thereof.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising encoding each image feature separately.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising encoding each image feature with reference to its feature boundary.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 1 in which identifying the feature boundary includes identifying a first pixel within the image segment but not within the image feature.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 1 in which identifying the feature boundary includes identifying plural connected pixels that are within the image segment but not within the image feature.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
15 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-exectable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
127 words
A method of encoding a general arbitrary image feature in an image segment of a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a pixel value, the image feature including an embedded feature component with a component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, the method comprising the steps: successively identifying the boundaries of the image feature and feature component; successively forming masks in relation to the successively identified boundaries of the image feature and feature component; encoding the image feature and feature component; and successively determining differences between the masks and the corresponding image feature or feature component to identify, respectively, the feature component and any embedded feature subcomponent within the feature component.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
127 words
A method of encoding a general arbitrary image feature in an image segment of a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a pixel value, the image feature including an embedded feature component with a component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, the method comprising the steps: successively identifying the boundaries of the image feature and feature component; successively forming masks in relation to the successively identified boundaries of the image feature and feature component; encoding the image feature and feature component; and successively determining differences between the masks and the corresponding image feature or feature component to identify, respectively, the feature component and any embedded feature subcomponent within the feature component.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 7 in which encoding the image feature and feature component includes encoding them separately.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 7 in which encoding the image feature and feature component includes encoding their boundaries.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
15 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-exectable instructions for performing the method of claim 7.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 7 in which the image feature is a binary image feature that includes plural feature pixels that each have a binary pixel value.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 7 in which the image feature is a non-binary image feature that includes plural feature pixels that have non-binary pixel values.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 12 in which the non-binary pixel values represent feature transparency.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 12 in which identifying the boundaries of the image feature and feature component includes applying a threshold filter to the non-binary pixel values to form a binary representation of the pixel values.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 12 in which encoding the image feature and feature component includes encoding their boundaries and the method further comprises encoding of the non-binary pixel values of the image feature separately from the image feature boundary.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 15 in which encoding of the non-binary pixel values of the image feature separately from the image feature boundary includes extrapolation of the non-binary pixel values of the image feature to a predefined configuration to facilitate encoding.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
144 words
A method of encoding multi-bit image transparency data for a general arbitrary image feature in a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a pixel value including a multi-bit image transparency value, the image feature including an embedded feature component with a component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, the method comprising the steps: successively identifying boundaries between the image transparency values of the image feature and feature component; successively forming masks in relation to the successively identified image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component; encoding image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component; and successively determining differences between the masks and the corresponding image feature or feature component to identify, respectively, the feature component and any embedded feature subcomponent within the feature component.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
144 words
A method of encoding multi-bit image transparency data for a general arbitrary image feature in a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a pixel value including a multi-bit image transparency value, the image feature including an embedded feature component with a component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, the method comprising the steps: successively identifying boundaries between the image transparency values of the image feature and feature component; successively forming masks in relation to the successively identified image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component; encoding image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component; and successively determining differences between the masks and the corresponding image feature or feature component to identify, respectively, the feature component and any embedded feature subcomponent within the feature component.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 17 in which identifying the image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component includes applying a threshold filter to the multi-bit image transparency values to form binary representations of the values.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 17 further comprising encoding the multi-bit image transparency values of the image feature separately from the image feature boundary.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 17 in which encoding of the multi-bit image transparency values of the image feature separately from the image feature boundary includes extrapolation of the multi-bit image transparency values of the image feature to a predefined configuration to facilitate encoding.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
15 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-exectable instructions for performing the method of claim 17.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
114 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure representing multi-bit image transparency data for a general arbitrary image feature in an image segment of a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a pixel value including a multi-bit image transparency value, the image feature including an embedded discontinuous feature component with a component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, the data structure comprising: encoded binary contour representations of image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component; and encoded representations of the multi-bit image transparency values within image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
114 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure representing multi-bit image transparency data for a general arbitrary image feature in an image segment of a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a pixel value including a multi-bit image transparency value, the image feature including an embedded discontinuous feature component with a component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, the data structure comprising: encoded binary contour representations of image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component; and encoded representations of the multi-bit image transparency values within image transparency boundaries of the image feature and feature component.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
189 words
A method of encoding a general arbitrary image feature in an image segment of a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a pixel value, the image feature including at least one feature component with a component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, and the image segment including the plural feature pixels and plural non-feature pixels of the image frame, the method comprising the steps: (a) defining the image segment with a predetermined configuration about the image feature; (b) identifying the feature boundary within the image segment and assigning a binary pixel value of a predetermined state to pixels bounded by the feature boundary to form a feature mask; (c) determining a difference between the image feature and the feature mask to identify the feature component with the component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary; and (d) designating the feature component as a newly designated image feature and repeating steps (a)-(c) for the newly designated image feature; and (e) repeating step (d) for any feature component within the newly designated image feature.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
189 words
A method of encoding a general arbitrary image feature in an image segment of a video image frame, the image feature being bounded by a feature boundary and including plural feature pixels that each have a pixel value, the image feature including at least one feature component with a component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary, and the image segment including the plural feature pixels and plural non-feature pixels of the image frame, the method comprising the steps: (a) defining the image segment with a predetermined configuration about the image feature; (b) identifying the feature boundary within the image segment and assigning a binary pixel value of a predetermined state to pixels bounded by the feature boundary to form a feature mask; (c) determining a difference between the image feature and the feature mask to identify the feature component with the component boundary that is separate from the feature boundary; and (d) designating the feature component as a newly designated image feature and repeating steps (a)-(c) for the newly designated image feature; and (e) repeating step (d) for any feature component within the newly designated image feature.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 23 further comprising encoding each designated image feature separately.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 23 further comprising encoding each designated image feature with reference to its feature boundary.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 23 in which identifying the feature boundary includes identifying a first pixel within the image segment but not within the image feature.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 23 in which identifying the feature boundary includes identifying plural connected pixels that are within the image segment but not within the image feature.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
15 words
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-exectable instructions for performing the method of claim 23.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2001-06-08 | 2001-12-08 | 2002-06-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2005-06-08 | 2005-12-08 | 2006-06-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2009-06-08 | 2009-12-08 | 2010-06-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |