Patents Examined by Jamie Atala
  • Patent number: 9630568
    Abstract: A camera system for acquiring a stereo image of the surroundings of a motor vehicle having two cameras and a control device, the camera system being arranged on the inside of a motor vehicle window and the two cameras looking outward through the motor vehicle window in order to observe the surroundings. Each of the two cameras has a camera-specific camera viewing cone which forms a penetrating cut surface with the window surface. In order to delimit the installation space of the camera system, the camera viewing cone of each camera is delimited by cropping the penetrating cut surface, the cropping of the two penetrating cut surfaces being performed symmetrically relative to the vertical plane of symmetry of the two cameras. The erroneous formation in the image of one camera viewing cone is compensated in the control device by the image information of the other camera viewing cone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: Volkswagen AG
    Inventors: Thorsten Kuhn, Alexander Kirchner, Reiner Katzwinkel
  • Patent number: 9628784
    Abstract: An autostereoscopic display for simultaneously displaying more than two different images. The display including: a pixel matrix having pixels distributed over different subsets; an optical element, which has a grid-like structure and imposes a propagation direction on light from the pixels so that a plurality of viewing zones are defined so that each of the viewing zones is associated with exactly one of the subsets and the light from each of the subsets is directed into the viewing zone associated with this subset; and a control unit for controlling the pixel matrix based on image data defining a 3D image. The control unit configured to: determine a value of a location coordinate; determine intensity values defined by the image data for an image strip corresponding to a direction of gaze from a position defined by the value; and control the pixels of this strip using the intensity values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDT FORSCHUNG E.V.
    Inventors: René de la Barré, Silvio Jurk
  • Patent number: 9621914
    Abstract: According to an embodiment, an encoding device includes a deriving unit and an encoding unit. The deriving unit is configured to derive a first reference value based on fixed point precision representing roughness of a weighting factor that is used for multiplying a reference image. The encoding unit is configured to encode a first difference value that is a difference value between the weighting factor and the first reference value and the fixed point precision. The weighting factor is included in a first range of predetermined bit precision having the first reference value at approximate center. The first difference value is in the predetermined range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Akiyuki Tanizawa, Takeshi Chujoh
  • Patent number: 9621856
    Abstract: A structure is provided which reduces erroneous estimation when a state of a work is estimated. An image processing apparatus includes: a camera which inputs an image of a work; a work state estimation unit which estimates a state of the work from the image which has been input by the camera; an occurrence probability storage unit which stores an occurrence probability that is previously associated with each state of the work; and a reliability calculation unit which calculates reliability for the estimated state of the work, based on the state of the work estimated by the work state estimation unit and the occurrence probability which corresponds to the state of the work.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Takahisa Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 9621880
    Abstract: A mode setting part 112 has a function to selectively set 2D and 3D display output modes. A play control part 132 changes the manner in which to control switching between display images in accordance with the display output mode set by the mode setting part 112. The play control part 132 changes the opacities of first and second display images with time so that when the two display images are cross-faded, the sum of the opacities of the first and second display images in a 3D display output mode is equal to or smaller than the sum of the opacities of the first and second display images in a 2D display output mode during a cross-fading period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignees: SONY CORPORATION, SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventors: Masaki Takahashi, Yoshinobu Matono, Shuji Hiramatsu
  • Patent number: 9615100
    Abstract: Second-order orthogonal spatial intra-prediction may include generating a reconstructed frame by generating a plurality of reconstructed blocks by decoding a portion of the current encoded frame, generating a decoded residual block by decoding a current block from the current encoded frame, identifying a current pixel location in the current block, identifying reconstructed pixels in respective reconstructed blocks, wherein first and second reconstructed pixels are at respective oblique angle to the current pixel location, and a third reconstructed pixel at the second oblique angle to the first reconstructed pixel or at the first oblique angle to the second reconstructed pixel, determining a predictor pixel for the current pixel location using a difference between the third reconstructed pixel and a sum of the first reconstructed pixel and the second reconstructed pixel, and identifying a reconstructed pixel as a sum of the predictor pixel and a corresponding residual pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: GOOGLE INC.
    Inventors: Qunshan Gu, Yaowu Xu
  • Patent number: 9609340
    Abstract: A method and system for just-in-time (JIT) encoding of media content is described. The JIT encoder allows a server to create one or more slices of requested portions of the media content according to one of the available quality profiles when requested without previously creating and storing different copies of the media content at the different quality profiles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.
    Inventors: David F. Brueck, C. Ryan Owen, Tyler Bye, Nathan James Edwards, Ken Brueck
  • Patent number: 9604581
    Abstract: A vision system for a vehicle includes a color camera disposed at a vehicle and having an exterior rearward field of view. The color camera includes an imaging array of photosensing pixels and at least one color filter disposed at or in front of at least some of the photosensing pixels. An image processor is operable to process image data captured by the color camera. Processing of captured image data by the image processor includes utilization of a color correction algorithm that includes a color correction matrix. The color correction matrix algorithm may utilize a 3×3 color correction matrix. The color correction algorithm may include a color correction matrix algorithm and a histogram algorithm that function to determine a color correction for the captured image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: MAGNA ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Thomas Wierich
  • Patent number: 9600897
    Abstract: A method to perform hiearchical video segmentation includes: defining voxels over a spatio-temporal video; grouping into segments contiguous voxels that display similar characteristics including similar appearance or motion; determining a trajectory-based feature that complements color and optical flow cues, wherein trajectory cues are probabilistically meaningful histograms combinable for use in a graph-based framework; and applying a max-margin module for cue combination that learns a supervised distance metric for region dissimilarity that combines color, flow and trajectory features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Manmohan Chandraker, Du Tran
  • Patent number: 9597049
    Abstract: The image display control device includes a thumbnail image display control unit that displays a thumbnail image of a tomographic image forming a three-dimensional image, a display instruction receiving unit that receives an instruction to display the three-dimensional image, and a tomographic image display control unit that displays a plurality of tomographic images on a display screen which is different from a display screen on which the thumbnail image is displayed such that the tomographic images are sequentially switchable when the instruction to display the three-dimensional image is received. The thumbnail image display control unit newly generates a thumbnail image of the tomographic image displayed immediately before the display of the tomographic image ends, changes the current thumbnail image to the new thumbnail image, and displays the new thumbnail image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Yuanzhong Li
  • Patent number: 9596387
    Abstract: A vehicular camera system includes an imager assembly that can include an imager disposed on an imager circuit board and a lens positioned to direct light to the imager. A main circuit board is operatively connected to the imager circuit board. The main circuit board can include at least one processor for processing images captured by the imager. The main circuit board has an opening, and at least a portion of the imager assembly extends through the opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: MAGNA ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Garrett Achenbach, Brian J. Winden, Christopher L. Van Dan Elzen
  • Patent number: 9596449
    Abstract: First disparity information (disparity information corresponding to the nearest object reproduction position in a certain area of a picture display screen) and second disparity information (disparity information corresponding to the farthest object reproduction position in the certain area of the picture display screen) which are obtained for each of certain pictures of image data are inserted into a video stream, and the video stream is transmitted. On the basis of the first disparity information and the second disparity information, a receiving side is capable of checking whether or not disparity angles in a same-side direction and a crossing direction are within a certain range in which viewing does not cause any health problems, and reconfiguring left-eye image data and right-eye image data which form a stereo image if necessary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Ikuo Tsukagoshi
  • Patent number: 9596475
    Abstract: An entropy decoder is configured to, for horizontal and vertical components of motion vector differences, derive a truncated unary code from the data stream using context-adaptive binary entropy decoding with exactly one context per bin position of the truncated unary code, which is common for horizontal and vertical components of the motion vector differences, and an Exp-Golomb code using a constant equi-probability bypass mode to obtain the binarizations of the motion vector differences. A desymbolizer is configured to debinarize the binarizations of the motion vector difference syntax elements to obtain integer values of the horizontal and vertical components of the motion vector differences. A reconstructor is configured to reconstruct a video based on the integer values of the horizontal and vertical components of the motion vector differences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: GE VIDEO COMPRESSION, LLC
    Inventors: Valeri George, Benjamin Bross, Heiner Kirchhoffer, Detlev Marpe, Tung Nguyen, Matthias Preiss, Mischa Siekmann, Jan Stegemann, Thomas Wiegand
  • Patent number: 9584723
    Abstract: An apparatus for creating a panorama is provided, the apparatus including an image obtainer to obtain at least two images via at least two cameras, an overlapping area analyzer to analyze an overlapping area among the at least two cameras, and extract overlapping image information, an image segmentation unit to segment the at least two images in an object unit, and generate image segmentation information, a depth value extractor to extract a depth value of an object in the at least two images, an image focus setter to set a focus value based on the depth value for the plurality of segmented objects, and a panorama creator to create panorama content of which a focus is convertible using the image segmentation information and the focus value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventors: Myung Seok Ki, Ji Sung Yoo, Seong Dae Kim
  • Patent number: 9584803
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a video bitstream is received at a video processing device. The bitstream may be decoded by the video processing device to produce a first picture data and a second picture data. The decoded first picture data and decoded second picture data may be stored in a decoded picture buffer. The first decoded picture data has a corresponding first picture rate and the second decoded picture data has a corresponding second picture rate. Auxiliary information corresponding to the bitstream may be received for the first picture data and second picture data at the video processing device. The decoded first picture data stored in the decoded picture buffer may be processed by the video processing device based on the received auxiliary information. The decoded first picture data may be processed based on the auxiliary information to produce a version of the first picture data at the second picture rate, the second picture rate being different from the first picture rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Arturo A. Rodriguez, Anil Kumar Katti, Hsiang-Yeh Hwang
  • Patent number: 9584791
    Abstract: Present novel and non-trivial system, device, and method for correcting misaligned images are disclosed. A system may be comprised of a source of first model data, a source of second model data, and an image generator (“IG”). The IG may be configured to perform a method comprised of receiving first model data representative of a first three-dimensional model; determining feature data of one or more first features located in an outside scene; receiving second model data representative of a second three-dimensional model in which one or more second features are located in the outside scene; determining differences data representative of feature differences between at least one first feature and at least one second feature; and applying the differences data to one or more pixel data sets, where such modification may be based upon a comparison between one or more first features and one or more correlating second features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Donald J. Whalen, Brad A. Walker, Scott E. Schultz
  • Patent number: 9584771
    Abstract: Systems and methods for improved thermophotonic imaging are provided in which both amplitude and phase image information is obtained with a high signal to noise ratio and depth-resolved capabilities. Image data obtained from an imaging camera is dynamically averaged and subsequently processed to extract amplitude and/or phase image data. The system may be configured for a wide range of imaging modalities, including single frequency modulation (thermophotonic lock-in imaging), Thermal-Wave Radar imaging or Thermophotonic Radar imaging involving chirp modulation, and Binary Phase Coded Modulation. Such imaging modalities may find application in many diverse areas, including non-destructive testing and biomedical diagnostic imaging including the imaging of teeth and monitoring changes in the tooth over time which are due to pathology such as dental caries or erosion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Inventors: Andreas Mandelis, Nima Tabatabaei, Stephen Abrams
  • Patent number: 9584810
    Abstract: A video encoding method includes: determining a size of a current block to be encoded and encoding information for indicating the size of the current block; encoding division information related to dividing the current block into one or more subblocks; predicting a subblock divided from the current block by using an intra prediction mode corresponding to the subblock; generating a residual block by subtracting the predicted block from the subblock; transforming the residual subblock by using a transform size identical to a size of the subblock; and encoding information on transform coefficients of the transformed residual subblock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: SK TELECOM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sunyeon Kim, Jeongyeon Lim, Yunglyul Lee, Joohee Moon, Byeungwoo Jeon, Haekwang Kim, Jeonghoon Seo, Kioh Kim, Sungwook Hong
  • Patent number: 9578348
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for inducing a merge candidate block and a device using same. An image decoding method involves decoding motion estimation region (MER) related information; determining whether or not a predicted target block and a spatial merge candidate block are included in the same MER; and determining the spatial merge candidate block to be an unavailable merge candidate block when the predicted target block and the spatial merge candidate block are included in the same MER. Accordingly, by parallely performing the method for inducing a merge candidate, parallel processing is enabled and the computation amount and implementation complexity are reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: KT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Bae Keun Lee, Jae Cheol Kwon, Joo Young Kim
  • Patent number: 9570111
    Abstract: A method for clustering images includes acquiring initial image data including a scene of interest. A 3D model is constructed of the scene of interest based on the acquired initial image data. Additional image data including the scene of interest is acquired. The additional image data is fitted to the 3D model. A line-of-sight of the additional image data is estimated based on the fitting to the 3D model. The additional image data is clustered according to the estimated line-of-sight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Arup Acharya, Kirk A. Beaty, Puneet Jain, Justin G. Manweiler