Patents by Inventor Alexandros Tourapis

Alexandros Tourapis has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240129472
    Abstract: Improved lossless entropy coding techniques for coding of image data include selecting a context for entropy coding based on an ordered scan path of possible context locations. A symbol for a current location within a source image may be entropy coded based on a context of prior encoded symbols of other locations within source images, where the context is selected based on an ordered scan path enumerating a series of potential context locations within one or more source images. To select a context, a predetermined number of prior symbols may be selected by qualifying or disqualifying locations in the scan path, and then the current symbol may be encoded with a context based on prior symbols corresponding to the first qualifying context locations in the order of the scan path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2023
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Inventors: Yeqing WU, Yunfei ZHENG, Alican NALCI, Yixin DU, Hilmi Enes EGILMEZ, Guoxin JIN, Alexandros TOURAPIS, Jun XIN, Hsi-Jung WU
  • Publication number: 20240127491
    Abstract: A system receives encoded data regarding a points in a point cloud. The data includes a prediction tree having a nodes generated based on spatial information regarding the points and properties of a sensor system that obtained the spatial information. A value of each node represents first spatial coordinates of a respective one of the points according to a first coordinate system, and the value of at least a first node in the prediction tree is determined based on ancestor nodes of the first node and the properties of the sensor system. The system decodes the data to determine first data, including the first spatial coordinates of at least some of the points, and quantization parameters associated with the first spatial coordinates. The system determines second data based on the first data, including second spatial coordinates of at least some of the points according to a second coordinate system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2023
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Inventors: Khaled Mammou, David Flynn, Alexandros Tourapis
  • Patent number: 11962786
    Abstract: A multi-stage coding method includes receiving an input block of data for encoding and one or more previously coded samples associated with the input block. The input block is segmented into at least a first sub-region and a second sub-region. A prediction for the first sub-region is generated based on the one or more previously coded samples. Residual data for the first sub-region is obtained using the prediction for the first sub-region. A reconstruction of the first sub-region is generated using the residual data for the first sub-region and the prediction for the first sub-region. A prediction for the second sub-region is generated using the reconstruction of the first sub-region. Residual data for the second sub-region is obtained using the prediction for the second sub-region. The input block is encoded based in part on the residual data for the first region and the residual data for the second region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Krishnakanth Rapaka, Alexandros Tourapis, David William Singer
  • Patent number: 11962778
    Abstract: A method of signaling additional chroma QP offset values that are specific to quantization groups is provided, in which each quantization group explicitly specifies its own set of chroma QP offset values. Alternatively, a table of possible sets of chroma QP offset values is specified in the header area of the picture, and each quantization group uses an index to select an entry from the table for determining its own set of chroma QP offset values. The quantization group specific chroma QP offset values are then used to determine the chroma QP values for blocks within the quantization group in addition to chroma QP offset values already specified for higher levels of the video coding hierarchy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Alexandros Tourapis, Guy Cote
  • Patent number: 11956295
    Abstract: Techniques for multi-view video streaming are described in the present disclosure, wherein a viewport prediction may be employed at a client-end based on analysis of pre-fetched media item data and ancillary information. A streaming method may first prefetch a portion of content of a multi-view media item. The method may next identify a salient region from the prefetched content and may then download additional content of the media item that corresponds to the identified salient region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Fanyi Duanmu, Alexandros Tourapis, Jun Xin, Hsi-Jung Wu, Xiaosong Zhou
  • Publication number: 20240114128
    Abstract: Techniques for encoding video with motion compensation include a compressed bitstream syntax that includes a list of all motion prediction reference frames without distinguishing between short-term reference frame and long-term reference frames. The list of reference frames may be provided in a slice header and may apply to encoded data video data within the corresponding slice. The list may be prefaced with a single number indicating the total number of reference frames. In an aspect delta POC reference numbers may be encoded with a flag indicating the sign of the delta POC when the absolute value of the POC is not equal to zero. In another aspect, a flag may be encoded for every reference frame indicating if POC information should be used when scaling prediction references, and a weighting parameter may be included when POC information should be used.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2023
    Publication date: April 4, 2024
    Inventors: Alexandros TOURAPIS, Jungsun KIM, Krishnakanth RAPAKA, David William SINGER
  • Patent number: 11936867
    Abstract: Improved video coding and decoding techniques are described, including techniques to derive quantization step sizes adaptively with quantization step size table templates. Quantization techniques described provide finer-grained control over quantization with a more flexible quantization step size especially at higher degrees of quantization. This may result in improved overall compression quality. Other coding parameters, such as in-loop filtering parameters, may be derived based on the more flexible quantization parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Krishnakanth Rapaka, Jaehong Chon, Alexandros Tourapis, David W. Singer
  • Publication number: 20240080479
    Abstract: Sampled data is packaged in checkerboard format for encoding and decoding. The sampled data may be quincunx sampled multi-image video data (e.g., 3D video or a multi-program stream), and the data may also be divided into sub-images of each image which are then multiplexed, or interleaved, in frames of a video stream to be encoded and then decoded using a standardized video encoder. A system for viewing may utilize a standard video decoder and a formatting device that de-interleaves the decoded sub-images of each frame reformats the images for a display device. A 3D video may be encoded using a most advantageous interleaving format such that a preferred quality and compression ratio is reached. In one embodiment, the invention includes a display device that accepts data in multiple formats.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Applicant: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Alexandros Tourapis, Walter J. Husak, Peshala V. Pahalawatta, Athanasios Leontaris
  • Publication number: 20240078738
    Abstract: A system compresses and decompresses attribute information for visual volumetric content, such as a mesh representation. Attribute values are included in the visual volumetric representation, wherein at least some of the attribute values include unitary vectors, such as surface normal vectors or surface tangent vectors having a magnitude of one unit. In order to compress the attribute information the three-dimensional unit vectors are mapped into two dimensional parametric coordinates for a planar representation of a unit sphere. To reduce negative effects on compression due to distortion or discontinuities in the planar representation, mappings for compressing respective unit vectors are adaptively selected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Khaled Mammou, Deepak S. Tolani, Alexandros Tourapis
  • Patent number: 11922665
    Abstract: A system comprises an encoder configured to compress attribute information and/or spatial for a point cloud and/or a decoder configured to decompress compressed attribute and/or spatial information for the point cloud. To compress the attribute and/or spatial information, the encoder is configured to convert a point cloud into an image based representation. Also, the decoder is configured to generate a decompressed point cloud based on an image based representation of a point cloud.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Khaled Mammou, Fabrice A. Robinet, Alexandros Tourapis, Yeping Su
  • Publication number: 20240048776
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method that includes receiving an image frame having a plurality of coded blocks, determining a prediction unit (PU) from the plurality of coded blocks, determining one or more motion compensation units arranged in an array within the PU, and applying a filter to one or more boundaries of the one or more motion compensation units. Also disclosed is a method that includes receiving a reference frame that includes a reference block, determining a timing for deblocking a current block, performing motion compensation on the reference frame to obtain a predicted frame that includes a predicted block, performing reconstruction on the predicted frame to obtain a reconstructed frame that includes a reconstructed PU, and applying, at the timing for deblocking the current block, a deblocking filter based on one or more parameters to the reference block, the predicted block, or the reconstructed PU.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2022
    Publication date: February 8, 2024
    Inventors: Yixin Du, Alexandros Tourapis, Alican Nalci, Guoxin Jin, Hilmi Enes Egilmez, Hsi-Jung Wu, Jun Xin, Yeqing Wu, Yunfei Zheng
  • Patent number: 11895307
    Abstract: An encoder is configured to compress point cloud information using a blocks of nodes determined from a prediction tree. A prediction tree is generated for a point cloud. Segments of the prediction tree are identified. The segments are divided into blocks that are predicted by predecessor blocks within the segments. The blocks of the prediction tree may then be encoded and may be provided for transmission to a decoder that can regenerate the point cloud from the blocks of the prediction tree.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Khaled Mammou, David Flynn, Alexandros Tourapis, Jungsun Kim
  • Publication number: 20240040120
    Abstract: Video coders and decoders perform transform coding and decoding on blocks of video content according to an adaptively selected transform type. The transform types are organized into a hierarchy of transform sets where each transform set includes a respective number of transforms and each higher-level transform set includes the transforms of each lower-level transform set within the hierarchy. The video coders and video decoders may exchange signaling that establishes a transform set context from which a transform set that was selected for coding given block(s) may be identified. The video coders and video decoders may exchange signaling that establishes a transform decoding context from which a transform that was selected from the identified transform set to be used for decoding the transform unit. The block(s) may be coded and decoded by the selected transform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2023
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Inventors: Hilmi Enes EGILMEZ, Yunfei ZHENG, Alican NALCI, Yeqing WU, Yixin DU, Guoxin JIN, Alexandros TOURAPIS, Jun XIN, Hsi-Jung WU
  • Publication number: 20240040124
    Abstract: A flexible coefficient coding (FCC) approach is presented. In the first aspect, spatial sub-regions are defined over a transform unit (TU) or a prediction unit (PU). These sub-regions organize the coefficient samples residing inside a TU or a PU into variable coefficient groups (VCGs). Each VCG corresponds to a sub-region inside a larger TU or PU. The shape of VCGs or the boundaries between different VCGs may be irregular, determined based on the relative distance of coefficient samples with respect to each other. Alternatively, the VCG regions may be defined according to scan ordering within a TU. Each VCG can encode a 1) different number of symbols for a given syntax element, or a 2) different number of syntax elements within the same TU or PU. Whether to code more symbols or more syntax elements may depend on the type of arithmetic coding engine used in a particular coding specification. For multi-symbol arithmetic coding (MS-AC), a VCG may encode a different number of symbols for a syntax element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2023
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Inventors: Alican NALCI, Yunfei ZHENG, Hilmi Enes EGILMEZ, Yeqing WU, Yixin DU, Alexandros TOURAPIS, Jun XIN, Hsi-Jung WU, Arash VOSOUGHI, Dzung T. HOANG
  • Patent number: 11889116
    Abstract: A system comprises an encoder configured to compress attribute information and/or spatial information for volumetric visual content and/or a decoder configured to decompress compressed attribute and/or spatial information for the volumetric visual content. The encoder is configured to convert a 3D representation of the visual volumetric content into a 2D image based representation. The encoder is further configured to scale the patch in 2D space independent of any scaling in 3D space. Auxiliary information is signaled for use in identifying 2D scaled or unscaled patches in an image frame, mapping the patches into 3D space, and adjusting for any scaling factors applied at the encoder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jungsun Kim, Khaled Mammou, Alexandros Tourapis
  • Patent number: 11887345
    Abstract: A system receives encoded data regarding a points in a point cloud. The data includes a prediction tree having a nodes generated based on spatial information regarding the points and properties of a sensor system that obtained the spatial information. A value of each node represents first spatial coordinates of a respective one of the points according to a first coordinate system, and the value of at least a first node in the prediction tree is determined based on ancestor nodes of the first node and the properties of the sensor system. The system decodes the data to determine first data, including the first spatial coordinates of at least some of the points, and quantization parameters associated with the first spatial coordinates. The system determines second data based on the first data, including second spatial coordinates of at least some of the points according to a second coordinate system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Khaled Mammou, David Flynn, Alexandros Tourapis
  • Publication number: 20240022765
    Abstract: A system comprises an encoder configured to compress and encode data for a three-dimensional mesh. To compress the three-dimensional mesh, the encoder determines a compressed base mesh bit stream and a compressed motion bitstream. A network abstraction layer syntax defined for the compressed base mesh bit stream and the compressed motion bitstream, allows for various parameters to be defined and applied to both bit streams, such as timing information and faceIDs for faces of polygons of the mesh.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2023
    Publication date: January 18, 2024
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Alexandros Tourapis, Dimitri Podborski, Jungsun Kim, Khaled Mammou
  • Patent number: 11863738
    Abstract: Techniques for encoding video with motion compensation include a compressed bitstream syntax that includes a list of all motion prediction reference frames without distinguishing between short-term reference frame and long-term reference frames. The list of reference frames may be provided in a slice header and may apply to encoded data video data within the corresponding slice. The list may be prefaced with a single number indicating the total number of reference frames. In an aspect delta POC reference numbers may be encoded with a flag indicating the sign of the delta POC when the absolute value of the POC is not equal to zero. In another aspect, a flag may be encoded for every reference frame indicating if POC information should be used when scaling prediction references, and a weighting parameter may be included when POC information should be used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Alexandros Tourapis, Jungsun Kim, Krishnakanth Rapaka, David W. Singer
  • Publication number: 20230421811
    Abstract: An encoding device evaluates a plurality of processing and/or post-processing algorithms and/or methods to be applied to a video stream, and signals a selected method, algorithm, class or category of methods/algorithms either in an encoded bitstream or as side information related to the encoded bitstream. A decoding device or post-processor utilizes the signaled algorithm or selects an algorithm/method based on the signaled method or algorithm. The selection is based, for example, on availability of the algorithm/method at the decoder/post-processor and/or cost of implementation. The video stream may comprise, for example, downsampled multiplexed stereoscopic images and the selected algorithm may include any of upconversion and/or error correction techniques that contribute to a restoration of the downsampled images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2023
    Publication date: December 28, 2023
    Applicant: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Alexandros TOURAPIS, Athanasios LEONTARIS, Peshala V. PAHALAWATTA, Kevin J. STEC
  • Publication number: 20230421812
    Abstract: An encoding device evaluates a plurality of processing and/or post-processing algorithms and/or methods to be applied to a video stream, and signals a selected method, algorithm, class or category of methods/algorithms either in an encoded bitstream or as side information related to the encoded bitstream. A decoding device or post-processor utilizes the signaled algorithm or selects an algorithm/method based on the signaled method or algorithm. The selection is based, for example, on availability of the algorithm/method at the decoder/post-processor and/or cost of implementation. The video stream may comprise, for example, downsampled multiplexed stereoscopic images and the selected algorithm may include any of upconversion and/or error correction techniques that contribute to a restoration of the downsampled images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2023
    Publication date: December 28, 2023
    Applicant: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Alexandros TOURAPIS, Athanasios LEONTARIS, Peshala V. PAHALAWATTA, Kevin J. STEC