Abstract: Apparatus and methods for providing software and hardware based solutions to the problem of synthesizing noise for a digital image. According to one aspect, a probability image is generated and noise blocks are randomly placed at locations in the probability image where the locations have probability values that are compared to a threshold criterion, creating a synthesized noise image. Embodiments include generating synthesized film grain images and synthesized digital camera noise images.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for predictive coding of spherical or 360-degree video with dynamics dominated by camera motion. To achieve efficient compression, a geodesic translation motion model is introduced to characterize the perceived motion of objects on the sphere. Pixels in the surrounding objects are perceived as translating on the sphere along their respective geodesics, which intersect at the two points where a line, determined by the motions of the camera and surrounding objects, intersects the sphere. This motion compensation perfectly models the perceived motion on the sphere, and accounts for perspective distortions due to camera and object motions. Experimental results demonstrate that the preferred embodiments of the present invention achieve significant performance gains over prevalent motion-compensated prediction techniques, across various projection geometries.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for predictive coding of spherical or 360-degree video. To achieve efficient compression, a rotational motion model is introduced to characterize motion on the sphere, specifically, in terms of sphere rotations about given axes. This model preserves an object's shape and size on the sphere. A motion vector in this model implicitly specifies an axis of rotation and the degree of rotation about that axis, to convey actual motion of the object on the sphere. Complementary to the rotational motion model, an effective location-invariant motion search technique that is agnostic of the projection format is provided that is tailored to the sphere's geometry. Experimental results demonstrate that the preferred embodiments of this invention achieve significant gains over prevalent motion models, across various projection geometries.