SNELL LIMITED Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20140355682 | IMAGE PROCESSING WITH SEGMENTATION - An image region is identified by forming difference-image pixel values from the chosen image and at least one other image in the image sequence and accumulating those difference-image pixel values horizontally and vertically. Co-located horizontal and vertical accumulations are combined and utilised in identifying the region. | 12-04-2014 |
20140200885 | AUDIO VISUAL SIGNATURE, METHOD OF DERIVING A SIGNATURE, AND METHOD OF COMPARING AUDIO-VISUAL DATA BACKGROUND - The invention relates to the analysis of characteristics of audio and/or video signals for the generation of audio-visual content signatures. To determine an audio signature a region of interest for example of high entropy—is identified in audio signature data. This region of interest is then provided as an audio signature with offset information. A video signature is also provided. | 07-17-2014 |
20130265499 | VIDEO SEQUENCE PROCESSING - In for example the assignment of motion vectors, an array of pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity values is analysed to identify a pixel which has a low pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity value and which has neighbouring pixels which have a low pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity value. The pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity values are filtered with a filter aperture decomposed into two or more sectors with partial filters applied respectively to each sector. Outputs of the partial filters are combining by a non-linear operation, for example taking the minimum from diametrically opposed sectors. | 10-10-2013 |
20130229573 | MOTION IMAGE RENDERING SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods of rendering a motion image. Input temporal image-samples are temporally interpolated to create the output sequence and an intentional, periodic motion-judder component that is visible when the output temporal image-samples are displayed is introduced. | 09-05-2013 |
20130223729 | IDENTIFYING POINTS OF INTEREST IN AN IMAGE - Points of interest are identified in an image to characterise that image by dividing the image tiles, each tile including adjacent pixels. The position of a pixel with an extremum value is determined or located within each tile and that extremal value is ascribed to the tile. A tile with an extremal value which is more extreme than that of all adjacent tiles is identified; and the position within the image of the pixel with the extremum value in that identified tile is selected as the point of interest. | 08-29-2013 |
20130194493 | DETERMINING ASPECT RATIO FOR DISPLAY OF VIDEO - The intended display aspect-ratio for video is determined automatically by analyzing an image to identify image blocks resulting from prior block-based processing of the video; comparing horizontal and vertical dimensions of those image blocks with horizontal and vertical dimensions of the image, with black border regions excluded as necessary; and determining from that comparison a display aspect ratio for the video. | 08-01-2013 |
20130129257 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESAMPLING A SPATIALLY SAMPLED ATTRIBUTE OF AN IMAGE - Resampling a spatially sampled attribute of an image, for example up- or down-conversion, in which contributions to a symmetrical FIR resampling filter from positions outside the image—that is to say where the filter aperture extends beyond an image edge—are obtained by copying values from positions inside the image. This can conveniently be done by modifying filter coefficients. | 05-23-2013 |
20130094782 | RE-SAMPLING METHOD AND APPARATUS - An image or other sample processor has a resampling filter adapted to provide output samples at an output sampling frequency which can be selected to be higher or lower than the input sampling frequency. The width of the resampling filter aperture is scaled according to either the input sampling frequency or the output sampling frequency so as to obtain the wider of the two possible filter apertures. | 04-18-2013 |
20120294486 | DETECTING STEREOSCOPIC IMAGES - To detect the presence of the left and right constituent images of a stereoscopic image packed within an image frame or within a sequence of image frames, images are unpacked according to each one of said known formats; a candidate measure is formed according to each unpacking and the candidate measures are compared to identify the presence of left and right images packed according to an identified format. The candidate measure may be a low pass filtered measure of the difference between the left and right images and may be a high pass filtered measure of the activity in either the left or the right image. | 11-22-2012 |
20120287236 | VIDEO PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE WITH A SEQUENCE OF STEREOSCOPIC IMAGES - To generate a warning that a stereoscopic image sequence has been synthesised from a 2D image sequence, a video processor correlates left-eye image data and right-eye image data to identify any sustained temporal offset between the left-eye and right-eye image data. A measure of sustained correlation between a measured spatial distribution of horizontal disparity and a spatial model can also be used to generate the warning. | 11-15-2012 |
20120268653 | CHANGING THE TEMPORAL SAMPLE RATE OF A MOTION-IMAGE SEQUENCE - A frame-rate conversion system having an interpolation mode and a synchronisation mode. The synchronisation mode is selected when temporal interpolation confidence is and images can be retimed without dropping or repeating of images. The interpolation mode is selected when the measure of temporal interpolation confidence is high or repeating of images. Images are exchanged between a temporal interpolator and a buffer at an exchange rate which is varied in the interpolation mode to optimise the buffer occupancy for retiming of images without dropping or repeating of images in s subsequent synchronisation. | 10-25-2012 |
20120230580 | ANALYSIS OF STEREOSCOPIC IMAGES - A method of processing in an image processor a pair of images intended for stereoscopic presentation to identify left-eye and right-eye images of the pair. The method includes dividing both images of the pair into a plurality of like image regions, determining for each region a disparity value between the images of the pair to produce a set of disparity values, deriving for each region a confidence factor for the disparity value, determining a correlation parameter between the set of disparity values and a corresponding set of disparity values from a disparity model, in which the contribution of the disparity value for a region to the said correlation parameter is weighted in dependence on the confidence factor for that region, and identifying from said correlation parameter the left-eye and right-eye images of the pair, wherein the left eye and right images form a stereoscopic pair. | 09-13-2012 |
20120226728 | ADAPTIVE SIGNAL PROCESSING - An adaptive low pass filtering process with a filter delay D | 09-06-2012 |
20120155548 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ANALYSING IMAGE DATA TO QUANTIFY PRIOR BLOCKBASED PROCESSING OF THE DATA - A method of analysing image data to quantify prior block-based processing comprises processing a set of pixel values derived from the image data to generate a spatial difference profile along a line perpendicular to assumed block edges, the spatial difference profile representing differences between values of pixels spaced spatially in a direction parallel to said line; summing the spatial difference profile in a direction perpendicular to that line; measuring inter-maxima distances in the spatial difference profile to a fractional precision in pixel spacing units; and aggregating measured inter-maxima distances to determine a block size. | 06-21-2012 |
20120062699 | DETECTING STEREOSCOPIC IMAGES - To detect the presence of the two constituent images of a stereoscopic image within an image frame, a row of vertically-averaged pixels is derived from the upper half of the frame and compared with a second row of vertically-averaged pixels derived from the lower half of the frame. Similarly, a column of horizontally-averaged pixels is derived from the left half of the frame and compared with a column of horizontally-averaged pixels derived from the right half of the frame. | 03-15-2012 |
20110268179 | MOTION ESTIMATION WITH VARIABLE SPATIAL RESOLUTION - A motion estimator has a spatial sub-sampler to receive input images; at least one motion estimator determining motion vectors between input images and sub-sampled motion vectors between sub-sampled images; an up-sampler for up-sampling the sub-sampled motion vectors; and a selector for providing a motion vector output by selecting between the motion vectors and the (up-sampled) sub-sampled motion vectors, according to motion vector confidence. | 11-03-2011 |
20110249187 | REPAIRING SCRATCH IMPAIRMENTS TO AN IMAGE - A method for repairing scratch impairments in which brightness values for a set of points within a narrow region of the impaired input image that is aligned with an expected scratch direction are modified in a scratch repair process; and the scratch repair process is controlled in dependence upon the relationship between the impaired brightness values and corresponding modified brightness values. | 10-13-2011 |
20110229054 | PROCESSING OF IMAGES TO REPRESENT A TRANSITION IN VIEWPOINT - When mixing cutting between video cameras viewing a common scene from different viewpoints, geometric transforms that vary from image to image are applied to one or both camera outputs so as to create an apparent point of view that moves along on a path joining the viewpoints of the cameras. | 09-22-2011 |
20110229014 | ANALYSIS OF STEREOSCOPIC IMAGES - A method of identifying the left-eye and the right-eye images of a stereoscopic pair, comprising the steps of comparing the images to locate an occluded region visible in only one of the images; detecting image edges; and identifying a right-eye image where image edges are aligned with a left hand edge of an occluded region and identifying a left-eye image where more image edges are aligned with a right hand edge of an occluded region. | 09-22-2011 |
20110205369 | OBJECTIVE PICTURE QUALITY MEASUREMENT - To assess picture impairment due to the interpolation of output images from input images, for example in standards conversion, an output image detail measure is compared with an input image detail measure. One of the image detail measures is obtained by interpolation between image detail measures for at least two images. | 08-25-2011 |
20110128441 | DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING - First image data at a lower sampling frequency is up-sampled in a sampling ratio N:M to a higher sampling frequency in an up-sampling filter; and, second image data at the said higher sampling frequency is down-sampled in a sampling ratio M:N to the said lower sampling frequency in a down-sampling filter where the combination of the up-sampling filter and the down-sampling filter is substantially transparent and every filtered sample is formed from a weighted sum of at least two input samples. | 06-02-2011 |
20110085733 | DEFINING IMAGE FEATURES AND USING FEATURES TO MONITOR IMAGE TRANSFORMATIONS - For monitoring an image transformation such as aspect ratio conversion, an image feature is defined by identifying a position in the image having a local spatial maximum value and then identifying four other positions in the image having local spatial minimum values such that the four minimum value positions surround the position of the maximum, a first pair of the minimums lie on a first line passing through maximum and a second pair of the minimums lie on a second line passing through the maximum. | 04-14-2011 |
20110044558 | CORRECTING DEFECTS IN AN IMAGE - A method of correcting dirt or other defects in video or other images in which a region is provisionally corrected, an accumulated gradient measure formed along the periphery of the region with and without correction and the region corrected or not depending on a comparison of the gradient measures. | 02-24-2011 |
20110026763 | AUDIO VISUAL SIGNATURE, METHOD OF DERIVING A SIGNATURE, AND METHOD OF COMPARING AUDIO-VISUAL DATA - The invention relates to the analysis of characteristics of audio and/or video signalsforthe generation of audio-visual content signatures.To determine an audio signature a region of interest for example of high entropy —is identified in audio signature data. This region of interest is then provided as anaudio signaturewith offset information. A video signature is also provided. | 02-03-2011 |
20100316297 | DETECTION OF NON-UNIFORM SPATIAL SCALING OF AN IMAGE - Systems and methods to detect non-uniform spatial scaling of an image in the horizontal direction (for example in 4:3 to 16:9 aspect ratio conversion). The image is divided into regions and a comparison is made between measures of horizontal spatial frequency energy for the different regions | 12-16-2010 |
20100303357 | DETERMINING A REGIONAL SHOT-CHANGE PARAMETER - To determine a regional shot-change parameter for an image identified as a whole as a shot change image, a difference is taken between each pixel in that image and a spatially equivalent pixel in an adjacent image in the sequence. A pixel is flagged as a shot-change pixel when the difference for that pixel and around three of the spatially adjacent pixels exceed a threshold. If a pixel is spatially isolated from other shot-change pixels, it is not regarded as a shot-change pixel. | 12-02-2010 |
20100260175 | ROUTER AND METHOD OF ROUTING WITH REDUNDANCY - A method of routing audio or video data. A plurality of source data inputs to input modules are divided into groups and main crosspoint modules receive one group from every input module, and destination data outputs from output modules are divided into groups and each output module receives one group from every main crosspoint module. Input modules send a duplicate of one selected group to a redundant crosspoint module and output modules receive a group from a redundant crosspoint module and can use that group in place of any group from a main crosspoint module. | 10-14-2010 |
20100225823 | REGIONAL FILM CADENCE DETECTION - The temporal sampling pattern of a sequence of images that represents a moving scene is classified into classes of temporal sampling patterns including “film”, “video” and “still”. Pixels in each image in the said sequence are classified according to the relationship between signed inter-image pixel-value differences f | 09-09-2010 |
20100141831 | MOTION IMAGE RENDERING SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods of rendering a motion image. A television signal is modified through a sine wave motion judder component to introduce intentional motion judder which can replicate the appearance of cinematic projection. To present 24 frames per second film via a 60 Hz television system with the “look” of a 72 Hz cinematic projector, a judder oscillator is set to generate a 24 Hz sinewave having a peak amplitude equal to 38.5% of the time difference between 24 Hz frames. The motion-judder component may periodically reverse the apparent direction of motion. | 06-10-2010 |
20100110298 | VIDEO TRANSMISSION CONSIDERING A REGION OF INTEREST IN THE IMAGE DATA - To enable efficient use of limited bandwidth in transmitting video, a region of interest is determined in each image. Before coding, the image is spatially scaled, with magnification applied inside that a region of interest. The scaled images are then compression encoded. Meta-data identifying the location of the region of interest accompanies the transmitted video so that, after decoding, the scaling can be reversed. | 05-06-2010 |