Patents by Inventor Markku Vehviläinen

Markku Vehviläinen 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).

  • Patent number: 8275200
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method, a device, an image quality evaluation module and a computer program product for determining the quality of an image. In an input image, at least one color component is iteratively restored with a deblur parameter, which deblur parameter is increased at each iteration. The iteration is stopped when an overshooting in the final image exceeds a predetermined value. After the iteration has been stopped, a number of iterations is defined and the quality of the image is determined according to the number of iterations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2012
    Assignee: Nokia Siemens Netowrks Oy
    Inventors: Radu Bilcu, Markku Vehviläinen
  • Patent number: 8103123
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for improving the image quality. The method comprises steps of producing image correcting information to decrease errors in the image to be produced by a camera module (109, 111, 112) by comparing the image taken by said camera module (109, 111, 112, 113) with a test image, storing the image correcting information produced and identifying information related to said image correcting information in the memory of an electronic peripheral device (104, 106), receiving the image produced by said camera module (109, 111, 112, 113) and a second piece of identifying information related to said image in the electronic peripheral device (104, 106), comparing said identifying information with said second piece of identifying information in said peripheral device, and performing an image improvement operation on said image in said peripheral device in response to the comparison carried out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventor: Markku Vehviläinen
  • Patent number: 7860343
    Abstract: A new method, system, apparatus and software product for constructing by an electronic device an image panorama from a plurality of images based on their visual quality is presented. The same portion of a panoramic image scene is typically captured on multiple neighborhood video frames from which one can choose the best visual representation to be pasted into the panorama. Constructing the image panorama from the plurality of captured images can comprise the following steps: a) evaluating image quality of K consecutive frames out of the captured plurality of images using a predetermined criterion, b) selecting one image out of the evaluated K frames with the best image quality using a predetermined rule, and c) appending the selected frame to previously selected frames for constructing the image panorama. On-line and off-line implementations are possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2010
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Marius Tico, Markku Vehviläinen, Jani Boutellier, Olli Silven
  • Patent number: 7728844
    Abstract: This invention relates to a method for improving image quality of a digital image captured with an imaging module comprising at least imaging optics and an image sensor, where the image is formed through the imaging optics, the image consisting of at least one color component. In the method degradation information of each color component of the image is found and is used for obtaining a degradation function. Each color component is restored by said degradation function. The image is unprocessed image data, and the degradation information of each color component can be found by a point-spread function. The invention also relates to a device, to a module, to a system and to a computer program product and to a program module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Mejdi Trimeche, Markku Vehviläinen
  • Publication number: 20090245633
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method, a device, an image quality evaluation module and a computer program product for determining the quality of an image. In an input image, at least one color component is iteratively restored with a deblur parameter, which deblur parameter is increased at each iteration. The iteration is stopped when an overshooting in the final image exceeds a predetermined value. After the iteration has been stopped, a number of iterations is defined and the quality of the image is determined according to the number of iterations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2006
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Inventors: Radu Bilcu, Markku Vehviläinen
  • Patent number: 7558405
    Abstract: For applying a motion filter of a video stabilization system to a sequence of video frames, an estimate of a motion in the current video frame compared to a first video frame of the sequence of video frames is received. Based on the received motion estimate and on at least one state variable of the motion filter, a correction value for the motion in the current video frame is computed. The at least one state variable is updated in the computation. In case the computed correction value exceeds a system constraint of the video stabilization system, the at least one state variable is adjusted in accordance with an extent by which the system constraint is exceeded. The correction value is then recomputed based on the motion estimate and on the adjusted state variable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Marius Tico, Markku Vehviläinen
  • Patent number: 7426316
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for improving the image quality. The method comprises steps of producing image correcting information to decrease errors in the image to be produced by a camera module (109, 111, 112) by comparing the image taken by said camera module (109, 111, 112, 113) with a test image, storing the image correcting information produced and identifying information related to said image correcting information in the memory of an electronic peripheral device (104, 106), receiving the image produced by said camera module (109, 111, 112, 113) and a second piece of identifying information related to said image in the electronic peripheral device (104, 106), comparing said identifying information with said second piece of identifying information in said peripheral device, and performing an image improvement operation on said image in said peripheral device in response to the comparison carried out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2008
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventor: Markku Vehviläinen
  • Patent number: 7394930
    Abstract: A method and an related apparatus for performing a white balance operation on an image with pixels, wherein global colour gain values common for substantially all pixels of the image are first determined. Then local colour gain values for individual pixels of the image are determined based on analyses of a local window comprising said individual pixel and a number of adjacent pixels. Thereafter, final colour gain values for individual pixels of the image are determined as a weighted average of the global and the local colour gain values, and a white balance operation is performed on the image using the final colour gain values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2008
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Mejdi Trimeche, Markku Vehviläinen
  • Patent number: 7237721
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an image pre-processing method for a pattern detection system, such as a bar code detection system. The method comprises the steps of: detecting a start point and an end point of a pattern on the basis of image data of at least a portion of a captured image, estimating a point spread function from the image data or a modified image data on the basis of the detected start point and the end point, and restoring the image data or the modified image data using the estimated point spread function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2007
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Radu Bilcu, Markku Vehviläinen, Adrian Burian
  • Patent number: 6504873
    Abstract: The invention relates to a filtering method used for a video signal at the receiver. It is mostly suited for video compression algorithms utilizing DCT-based video compression technology. In the invention the boundaries (49) between adjacent video blocks (B5 and B6) are filtered based on the amount of activity inside the adjacent video blocks and the activity at the boundary between the adjacent video blocks. If the filtering according to the invention is performed, it is focused to a certain number of bits (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47) close to the boundary (49). The filtering is done by adjusting the numerical values of each video pixel close to the boundary towards a reference line, which is defined as a linear equation leading from the numerical value of a first reference pixel (41) to the numerical value of a second reference pixel (48). The reference pixels (41, 48) are selected from the adjacent video blocks to present the smooth movement over the boundary between the adjacent video blocks (B5 and B6).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2003
    Assignee: Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd.
    Inventor: Markku Vehviläinen