Patents Examined by William Adrovel
  • Patent number: 9787985
    Abstract: A system and a method are disclosed for encoding and decoding a video frame using spatial prediction. The video frame is separated into a plurality of image blocks, and a plurality of spatial predictors is created for an image block using methods well-known in the art. The set of predictors is reduced to a set containing fewer spatial predictors before continuing the coding process for the block. The reduction of spatial predictors involves comparing a plurality of spatial predictors and grouping or processing a subset of the spatial predictors to a set of representative spatial predictors. Because the number of spatial predictors is reduced, fewer bits may be used in a bit stream to identify a chosen spatial predictor, thus improving the efficiency of the coding process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventors: Mikhail Korman, Sergey Fedorov
  • Patent number: 9769493
    Abstract: A system comprises a phase plane correlation (PPC) processing module configured to receive video data from a video source and generate a motion vector (MV) candidate, and a three-dimensional (3D) recursive processing module configured to receive the MV candidate from the PPC processing module, perform 3D recursive processing on a number of MV candidates including the MV candidate received from the PPC processing module, and select one of the MV candidates based on the 3D recursive processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Pixelworks, Inc.
    Inventors: Minghui Yang, Guodong Liu, Neil Woodall, Bob Zhang, Qiang Li, Junhua Chen
  • Patent number: 9736475
    Abstract: A method for encoding pixels in an image, includes: encoding an offset to be applied to a reference frame; generating predicted pixels of the pixels in the image, based on interpolating pixels in the reference frame and then adding the offset to the interpolated pixels; and encoding residual signals that are differences between the pixels in the image and the predicted pixels, wherein the encoding of the residual signals comprises: skipping both transform and quantization with respect to residual signals of which an encoding scheme corresponds to skipping of both transform and quantization, the encoding scheme related to transform and quantization, skipping transform and performing quantization with respect to residual signals of which the encoding scheme corresponds to skipping of transform, and performing transform and quantization with respect to residual signals of which the encoding scheme corresponds to skipping neither transform nor quantization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hayoon Kim, Yunglyul Lee, Joohee Moon, Haekwang Kim, Byeungwoo Jeon, Daeyeon Kim, Donghoon Han, Kioh Kim
  • Patent number: 9693845
    Abstract: A system and method for real-time measurement of curing energy delivered to a simulated dental restoration from a source of curing energy. The system comprises a detector and a display. The detector measures at a location within the simulated dental restoration the amount of curing energy delivered by the curing energy source. The display displays the measured amount of curing energy in real-time. The system also comprises a temperature detector to measure temperature changes in the oral tissues during curing (teeth and gums). The system also comprises a video camera to record the operator's curing technique.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: BlueLight Analytics, Inc.
    Inventor: Richard Bengt Price
  • Patent number: 9693057
    Abstract: A video coding/decoding system, method and computer program product employ an integer transform matrix for transforming to/from transform coefficients and residual pixel data in moving pictures by a set of semi-orthonormal basis vectors. The basis vectors are derived from conventional DCT or KTL matrixes, but relaxes to some extent the requirements for orthogonality, norm equality and element size limitation. In this way improved coding efficiency and lower complexity compared to previously used integer transforms are possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Gisle Bjontegaard, Arild Fuldseth
  • Patent number: 9686549
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating a reference frame is disclosed including: an interpolation unit for interpolating a reference frame per fractional pixel; a virtual encoder for determining a block mode of a current frame and a motion vector according to the block mode by using an interpolated reference frame; an offset calculator for calculating an offset for each pixel of the interpolated reference frame by using the block mode and the motion vector; and an offset adder for generating an offset interpolated reference frame by adding the offset for each pixel to each pixel of the interpolated reference frame. By adding the offset calculated according to the block mode to the reference frame for the inter prediction and making the reference frame to be used for the motion estimation and compensation similar to the current frame to be encoded, motion prediction is accurate and compression efficiency is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: SK TELECOM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hayoon Kim, Yunglyul Lee, Joohee Moon, Haekwang Kim, Byeungwoo Jeon, Daeyeon Kim, Donghoon Han, Kioh Kim
  • Patent number: 9661351
    Abstract: A method for delivering video over a network includes encoding, by a server, a sequence of video frames as a compressed video stream comprising an initial I-frame followed by a plurality P-frames, the sequence having a skipped frame which is not encoded. The compressed video stream is transmitted over a network to a client device, the skipped frame not being transmitted. In response to detecting the skipped frame, the client device generating a predicted frame that replaces the skipped frame in the compressed video stream, the predicted frame being generated based on extending delta information from one or more previous frames decoded by the client device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC
    Inventor: Roger Van der Laan
  • Patent number: 9628722
    Abstract: A color image and a depth image of a live video are received. Each of the color image and the depth image are processed to identify the foreground and the background of the live video. The background of the live video is removed in order to create a foreground video that comprises the foreground of the live video. A control input may be received to control the embedding of the foreground video into a second background from a background feed. The background feed may also comprise virtual objects such that the foreground video may interact with the virtual objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: PERSONIFY, INC.
    Inventors: Minh N. Do, Quang Il. Nguyen, Dennis Lin, Sanjay I. Patel
  • Patent number: 9576349
    Abstract: Techniques for atmospheric and solar correction of aerial images are described. An apparatus may comprise an atmospheric and solar component arranged for execution by a logic device and operative to correct solar and atmosphere artifacts from an aerial image. The atmospheric and solar component may comprise an image information component operative to generate an image record for each aerial image of a group of aerial images, the image record comprising statistical information and image context information for each aerial image, a filter generation component operative to generate an atmospheric filter and a solar filter from the statistical information and the image context information stored in the image records, and an image correction component operative to correct atmospheric and solar artifacts from the aerial image using the respective atmospheric filter and solar filter. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Ido Omer, Yuxiang Liu, Wolfgang Schickler, Robert Ledner, Leon Rosenshein, David Simons
  • Patent number: 9557836
    Abstract: Depth image compression is described for example, to enable body-part centers of players of a game to be detected in real time from depth images or for other applications such as augmented reality, and human-computer interaction. In an embodiment, depth images which have associated body-part probabilities, are compressed using probability mass which is related to the depth of an image element and a probability of a body part for the image element. In various examples, compression of the depth images using probability mass enables body part center detection, by clustering output elements, to be speeded up. In some examples, the scale of the compression is selected according to a depth of a foreground region and in some cases different scales are used for different image regions. In some examples, certainties of the body-part centers are calculated using probability masses of clustered image elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Toby Sharp, Jamie Daniel Joseph Shotton
  • Patent number: 9523575
    Abstract: A survey apparatus includes a guide light emitting optical system emitting a fan-like visible laser light elongated in upward and downward directions as a guide light, a cylindrical part having a scanning optical system searching a corner reflector provided on a survey pole and a ranging optical system measuring a distance to the corner reflector, a driving part rotating the cylindrical part about a vertical axis in a horizontal direction and rotating the cylindrical part about a horizontal axis, and an angle measurement part measuring a direction of the cylindrical part. The guide light emitting optical system is rotated about the vertical axis in a horizontal direction integrally with the cylindrical part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Kaoru Kumagai, Minoru Chiba
  • Patent number: 9516207
    Abstract: The illustrated embodiment of the invention encompasses an apparatus for intraoral imaging of teeth of a patient which includes a camera, a robotic arm coupled to the camera which arm is capable of rotating the camera for selectively positioning the camera into the mouth of the patient, at least one sensor coupled to arm to sense the relative position of the teeth and/or mouth with respect to the camera, and a controller coupled to the at least one sensor and arm for controlling the arm to avoid any collision between the teeth or the interior of the mouth and the camera and/or arm, where the controller further selectively moves the arm to track any movement of the patient to keep the camera in a constant relative position with respect to the teeth or mouth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Inventor: Marc S. Lemchen
  • Patent number: 9503702
    Abstract: A video encoder signals, in a bitstream, a syntax element that indicates whether a current video unit is predicted from a VSP picture. The current video unit is a macroblock or a macroblock partition. The video encoder determines, based at least in part on whether the current video unit is predicted from the VSP picture, whether to signal, in the bitstream, motion information for the current video unit. A video decoder decodes the syntax element from the bitstream and determines, based at least in part on the syntax element, whether the bitstream includes the motion information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Ying Chen, Li Zhang, Marta Karczewicz
  • Patent number: 9491415
    Abstract: Three components are proposed, each having at its core a system for producing measurements of the relative motion of anatomical structures of mammals (the “measurement system”). The measurement system in this case would be comprised of an apparatus for imaging the joint of through a prescribed motion, and a process and mechanism for deriving quantitative measurement output data from the resulting images. The components of the present invention include: (1) a software device for reporting measurement output of the measurement system and for allowing users to interact with the measurement output data; (2) an apparatus and method for utilizing measurement output of the measurement system for therapeutic and surgical applications such as surgical navigation and patient positioning during a therapeutic procedure; and (3) an apparatus providing input image data for the measurement system that assists with the imaging of joints connecting anatomical regions that are in motion during operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: ORTHO KINEMATICS, INC.
    Inventors: Adam Deitz, Richard K. Grant
  • Patent number: 9453719
    Abstract: A measuring appliance in which inputted or measured spatial points and a horizontal projection representation or spatial representation of at least some spatial points from the quantity of spatial points can be displayed, said points being at least partially connected by lines. The measuring appliance has a representation-changing functionality in the framework of which, according to a line selected on the user side from the lines displayed in a horizontal projection representation or a spatial representation, in an automatically controlled manner by means of the evaluation and control unit: a virtual surface is defined by the selected line and a direction provided as the vertical; a subset of spatial points is selected from the quantity of spatial points, lying inside a buffer zone surrounding the virtual surface in a defined manner; and a vertical projection representation of exclusively such spatial points pertaining to the subset is displayed on the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignee: LEICA GEOSYSTEMS AG
    Inventors: Christian Schorr, Frank Schroeder, Romy Koch, Kurt Giger
  • Patent number: 9406112
    Abstract: A method of producing a compressed video data stream (12) by compressing a stream of relatively high dynamic range video frames (2). A bilateral filter (3) extracts a base frame (4) with luminance information. The base frame (4) and the original frame (2) are used to provide a detail frame (5) with chroma information. A tone mapping operation (6) is selected (7, 11) and applied to the base frame to generate a relatively low dynamic range base frame (8), which is then compressed (9). The detail frame (5) is compressed separately. Final frame data (12) is then created, consisting of the compressed relatively low dynamic range base frame, the compressed detail frame, and stored information in respect of the tone mapping operation that had been applied to the base frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: University of Warwick
    Inventors: Francesco Banterle, Alessandro Artusi, Kurt Debattista, Patrick Ledda, Gerhard Bonnet, Gavin John Edwards, Alan Chalmers
  • Patent number: 9357920
    Abstract: System and Method pertaining to the modification and integration of an existing consumer digital camera, for example, with an optical imaging module to enable point and shoot fundus photography of the eye. The auto-focus macro capability of existing consumer cameras is adapted to photograph the retina over an extended diopter range, eliminating the need for manual diopter focus adjustment. The thru-the-lens (TTL) auto-exposure flash capability of existing consumer cameras is adapted to photograph the retina with automatic flash exposure eliminating the need for manual flash adjustment. The consumer camera imaging sensor and flash are modified to allow the camera sensor to perform both non-mydriatic focusing of the retina using infrared illumination and standard color flash photography of the retina without the need for additional imaging sensors or mechanical filters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: University of Virginia Patent Foundation
    Inventors: Paul Andrew Yates, Kenneth Tran
  • Patent number: 9357210
    Abstract: Systems and methods for encoding multiple video streams in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a source encoder configured to encode source video as a number of alternative video streams includes a parallel processing system configured to collect statistics on source video data and write the statistics to shared memory in a first pass through received multimedia content, determine initial encoding information for source video data and write the initial encoding information to shared memory during the first pass, encode the source video data in parallel using collected statistics and initial encoding information to produce a plurality of alternative video streams during a second pass, and parallel encoding processes are configured to reuse additional encoding information that has already been determined for a portion of video and to generate additional encoding information that has not already been determined for a portion of video.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: Sonic IP, Inc.
    Inventors: Sam Orton-Jay, Ivan Vladimirovich Naletov
  • Patent number: 9350990
    Abstract: Systems and methods for encoding multiple video streams in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: Sonic IP, Inc.
    Inventors: Sam Orton-Jay, Ivan Naletov
  • Patent number: 9338429
    Abstract: In a video processing apparatus, image information relating to a graphic image corresponding to a first video is converted using difference information calculated from first view-point information relating to a first video and second view-point information relating to a second video. A graphic image corresponding to the second video is generated based on the converted image information, and the generated graphic image and an image of the second video are synthesized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Manabu Umeyama