← Back to Patent Explorer
US5815601A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Image encoder and image decoder

Assignee: Sharp Corp
•
Filing: 1996-02-28
•
Granted: 1998-09-29
•
Expires: 2016-02-28
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract An image encoder for encoding the image data so as to make the image quality of a selected area better than that of the other areas without increasing the amount of data is disclosed. The encoder comprises an area selecting section for selecting a specific area in an image, an area position and shape encoding section for encoding the position and shape of the selected area, a coding parameter adjusting section for adjusting various parameters used to control the image quality and the amount of data in encoding a dynamic image and performing control so that the image quality of the area is encoded more preferably than the image quality of the other areas, a parameter encoding section for encoding the above parameters, a dynamic image encoding section for encoding input dynamic-image data by using the above various parameters, and an encoded data integrating section for combining encoded data by the area position and shape encoding section, the parameter encoding section and the dynamic image encoding section and transmit or store the data. An image decoder applied to the image encoder is also disclosed.

Inventors

  • 👤 Hiroyuki Katata
  • 👤 Hiroshi Kusao

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 14:19
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N19/00; H04N19/60; H04N19/649; H04N19/10; H04N19/102; H04N19/124; H04N19/126; H04N19/132; H04N19/134; H04N19/136; H04N19/14; H04N19/146; H04N19/149; H04N19/169; H04N19/17; H04N19/189; H04N19/196; H04N19/198; H04N19/46; H04N19/50; H04N19/587; H04N19/59; H04N19/593; H04N19/20; H04N19/30

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim 144 words
An image encoder for dividing input image data into a plurality of blocks and encoding the image data block by block, comprising: area selecting means for selecting an area to be encoded in high image quality from said image data; area position and shape encoding means for encoding position data and shape data of said area; parameter adjusting means for adjusting coding parameter data used for encoding said image data so as to make the image quality of said area better than that of the other areas; parameter encoding means for encoding said coding parameter data; image encoding means for encoding said image data by using the adjusted coding parameter data; and encoded data integrating means for outputting encoded data of said image by combining data encoded by said area position and shape encoding means, said parameter encoding means, and said image encoding means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 144 words
An image encoder for dividing input image data into a plurality of blocks and encoding the image data block by block, comprising: area selecting means for selecting an area to be encoded in high image quality from said image data; area position and shape encoding means for encoding position data and shape data of said area; parameter adjusting means for adjusting coding parameter data used for encoding said image data so as to make the image quality of said area better than that of the other areas; parameter encoding means for encoding said coding parameter data; image encoding means for encoding said image data by using the adjusted coding parameter data; and encoded data integrating means for outputting encoded data of said image by combining data encoded by said area position and shape encoding means, said parameter encoding means, and said image encoding means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 37 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said area is rectangular, and said area position and shape encoding means encodes each of the position data and size data from data based on the size of the block.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 39 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said area has an arbitrary shape, and said area position and shape encoding means encodes each of the position data and shape data from data based on the size of the block.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 45 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said area is rectangular, and said area position and shape encoding means encodes the position data from data based on the size of a pixel and encodes size data from data based on the size of the block.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 48 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said area has an arbitrary shape, and said area position and shape encoding means encodes the position data from data based on the size of a pixel and encodes the shape data from data based on the size of the block.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 37 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said area is rectangular, and said area position and shape encoding means encodes each of the position data and size data from data based on the size of a pixel.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 40 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said area has an arbitrary shape, and said area position and shape encoding means encodes each of the position data and the shape data from data based on the size of a pixel.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 122 words
An image decoder for decoding image data encoded for each divided blocks by the image encoder of claim 1, comprising: area position and shape decoding means for decoding the position data and the shape data of said area; parameter decoding means for decoding said coding parameter data; image decoding means for decoding image data by using said coding parameters decoded by said parameter decoding means; and data separating means for separating input data from said encoded data integrating means and outputting separated data to said area position and shape decoding means, said parameter decoding means and said image decoding means, wherein said area is decoded so as to make the image quality of said area better than that of the other areas.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 36 words
The image decoder of claim 8, wherein said area is rectangular, and said area position and shape decoding means decodes each the position data and size data from data based on the size of the block.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 40 words
The image decoder of claim 8, wherein said area has an arbitrary shape, and said area position and shape decoding means decodes each of the position data and the shape data from data based on the size of the block.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 45 words
The image decoder of claim 8, wherein said area is rectangular, and said area position and shape decoding means decodes the position data from data based on size of a pixel and decodes the size data from data based on the size of the block.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 45 words
The image decoder of claim 8, wherein said area has an arbitrary shape, and said area position and shape decoding means decodes the position data from data based on the pixels and decodes the shape data from data based on the size of the block.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 37 words
The image decoder of claim 8, wherein said area is rectangular, and said area position and shape decoding means decodes each of the position data and size data from data based on the size of a pixel.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 40 words
The image decoder of claim 8, wherein said area has an arbitrary shape, and said area position and shape decoding means decodes each of the position data and the shape data from data based on the size of a pixel.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 16 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said parameter adjusting means adjusts a quantization step size.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 24 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said parameter adjusting means adjusts one-bit data indicating whether the other areas should be encoded or not.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 19 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said parameter adjusting means adjusts sub sampling rate for the other areas.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 37 words
The image encoder of claim 1, wherein said parameter adjusting means adjusts coding parameter data such that the image quality of said area is better than that of the other areas without increasing the amount of data.
Claim 20
Independent Claim 102 words
A method for encoding input image data of an image comprising: selecting an area to be encoded in high image quality from said image data; encoding position data and shape data of said area; adjusting coding parameter data used for encoding said image data so as to make the image quality of said area better than that of the other areas; encoding said coding parameter data; encoding said image data by using the adjusted coding parameter data; and outputting encoded data of said image by combining data encoded by the position and shape data encoding, the parameter encoding and the image encoding.
Claim 21
Independent Claim 102 words
A method for encoding input image data of an image comprising: selecting an area to be encoded in high image quality from said image data; encoding position data and shape data of said area; adjusting coding parameter data used for encoding said image data so as to make the image quality of said area better than that of the other areas; encoding said coding parameter data; encoding said image data by using the adjusted coding parameter data; and outputting encoded data of said image by combining data encoded by the position and shape data encoding, the parameter encoding and the image encoding.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim 34 words
The method of claim 19, wherein said adjusting adjusts coding parameter data such that the image quality of said area is better than that of the other areas without increasing the amount of data.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US3609685A Cited
US4550438A Cited
US4573201A Cited
US4630309A Cited
US4777651A Cited
US4907282A Cited
US5304988A Cited
JPH0575867A Cited
JPH05130603A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2001-09-28 2002-03-30 2002-09-29 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2005-09-28 2006-03-30 2006-09-29 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2009-09-28 2010-03-30 2010-09-29 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag