Patents by Inventor Guy Côté

Guy Côté 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: 8155194
    Abstract: A method for transcoding from an MPEG-2 format to an H.264 format is disclosed. The method generally comprises the steps of (A) decoding an input video stream in the MPEG-2 format to generate a plurality of macroblocks; (B) determining a plurality of indicators from a pair of the macroblocks, the pair of the macroblocks being vertically adjoining; and (C) coding the pair of the macroblocks into an output video stream in the H.264 format using one of (i) a field mode coding and (ii) a frame mode coding as determined from the indicators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Lowell L. Winger, Guy Cote
  • Publication number: 20120081553
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for applying spatial filtering to raw image data. In one embodiment, a spatial filter may identify an n×n block of pixels from the current image frame, the n×n block including a plurality of neighboring pixels being centered about a current input pixel and being of the same color component as the current input pixel. The spatial filter may include a plurality of filter taps, with one filter tap corresponding to each of the pixels within the n×n block. A set of filtering coefficients for each filter tap, which may be based on a Gaussian function, may be determined. A pixel difference value between the current input pixel and each of the plurality of neighboring pixels in the n×n block are determined, and the pixel differences may be used to determine an attenuation factor for each filter tap.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Vaughn Todd Arnold, Sumit Chawla
  • Publication number: 20120081567
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides techniques for performing audio-video synchronization using an image signal processing system. In one embodiment, a time code register provides a current time stamp when sampled. The value of the time code register may be incremented at regular intervals based on a clock of the image signal processing system. At the start of a current frame acquired by an image sensor, the time code register is sampled, and a timestamp is stored into a timestamp register associated with the image sensor. The timestamp is then read from the time stamp register and written to a set of metadata associated with the current frame. The timestamp stored in the frame metadata may then be used to synchronize the current frame with a corresponding set of audio data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen
  • Publication number: 20120081577
    Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present disclosure provide a flexible memory input/output controller that is configured to the storing and reading of multiple types of pixels and pixel memory formats. For instance, the memory I/O controller may support the storing and reading of raw image pixels at various bits of precision, such as 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 14-bit, and 16-bit. Pixel formats that are unaligned with memory bytes (e.g., not being a multiple of 8-bits) may be stored in a packed manner. The memory I/O controller may also support various formats of RGB pixel sets and YCC pixel sets.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen, Joseph P. Bratt, Jung Wook Cho
  • Publication number: 20120081578
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides techniques relates to the implementation of a raw pixel processing unit using a set of line buffers. In one embodiment, the set of line buffers may include a first subset and second subset. Various logical units of the raw pixel processing unit may be implemented using the first and second subsets of line buffers in a shared manner. For instance, in one embodiment, defective pixel correction and detection logic may be implemented using the first subset of line buffers. The second subset of line buffers may be used to implement lens shading correction logic, gain, offset, and clamping logic, and demosaicing logic. Further, noise reduction may also be implemented using at least a portion of each of the first and second subsets of line buffers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen, Joseph P. Bratt
  • Publication number: 20120081580
    Abstract: Certain embodiments disclosed herein relate to an image signal processing system includes overflow control logic that detects an overflow condition when a destination unit when a sensor input queue and/or front-end processing unit receives back pressure from a downstream destination unit. In one embodiment, pixels of a current frame are dropped when an overflow condition occurs. The number of dropped pixels may be tracked using a counter. Upon recovery of the overflow condition, the remaining pixels of the frame are received and each dropped pixel may be replaced using a replacement pixel value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen
  • Publication number: 20120081566
    Abstract: Certain aspects of this disclosure relate to an image signal processing system that includes a flash controller that is configured to activate a flash device prior to the start of a target image frame by using a sensor timing signal. In one embodiment, the flash controller receives a delayed sensor timing signal and determines a flash activation start time by using the delayed sensor timing signal to identify a time corresponding to the end of the previous frame, increasing that time by a vertical blanking time, and then subtracting a first offset to compensate for delay between the sensor timing signal and the delayed sensor timing signal. Then, the flash controller subtracts a second offset to determine the flash activation time, thus ensuring that the flash is activated prior to receiving the first pixel of the target frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen
  • Publication number: 20120081385
    Abstract: Disclosed embodiments provide for a an image signal processing system that includes back-end pixel processing unit that receives pixel data after being processed by at least one of a front-end pixel processing unit and a pixel processing pipeline. In certain embodiments, the back-end processing unit receives luma/chroma image data and may be configured to apply face detection operations, local tone mapping, bright, contrast, color adjustments, as well as scaling. Further, the back-end processing unit may also include a back-end statistics unit that may collect frequency statistics. The frequency statistics may be provided to an encoder and may be used to determine quantization parameters that are to be applied to an image frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen
  • Patent number: 8149911
    Abstract: An apparatus including a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit may be configured to generate (i) a first series of sequential frames, (ii) a plurality of local motion vectors for each of said frames, (iii) one or more global motion vectors for each of said frames, (iv) a second series of stabilized sequential frames, (v) a plurality of rough motion vectors and (vi) a digital bitstream in response to (i) a video input signal. The second circuit may be configured to store (i) the first series of sequential frames, (ii) the plurality of local motion vectors, (iii) the one or more global motion vectors, (iv) the second series of stabilized sequential frames and (v) the plurality of rough motion vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.
    Inventors: José R. Alvarez, Guy Cote, Udit Budhia
  • Patent number: 8144783
    Abstract: A method for transcoding from an H.264 format to an MPEG-2 format is disclosed. The method generally comprises the steps of (A) decoding an input video stream in the H.264 format to generate a picture having a plurality of macroblock pairs that used an H.264 macroblock adaptive field/frame coding; (B) determining a mode indicator for each of the macroblock pairs; and (C) coding the macroblock pairs into an output video stream in the MPEG-2 format using one of (i) an MPEG-2 field mode coding and (ii) an MPEG-2 frame mode coding as determined from the mode indicators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Guy Cote, Lowell L. Winger
  • Patent number: 8140078
    Abstract: A method for operating a wireless mobile device moving through different types of networks includes storing within the wireless mobile device a type of network associated with a respective access node as the wireless mobile device moves through the different types of networks. A type of connectivity available for each access node is stored within the wireless mobile device, as well as location of each access node. The wireless mobile device is operated with a current access node corresponding to one type of network based on a current location of the wireless mobile device. Handoff is initiated by the wireless mobile device from the current access node to another access node corresponding to a different type of network based on movement of the wireless mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: InterDigital Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Shamim Akbar Rahman, Guy Cote, Maged Zaki
  • Patent number: 8135062
    Abstract: A method for encoding a picture is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) generating at least one respective macroblock statistic from each of a plurality of macroblocks in the picture, (B) generating at least one global statistic from the picture and (C) generating a respective macroblock quantization parameter for each of the macroblocks based on both (i) the at least one respective macroblock statistic and (ii) said at least one global statistic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Guy Cote
  • Patent number: 8135068
    Abstract: A camera comprising a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit may be configured to perform image signal processing using encoding related information. The second circuit may be configured to encode image data using image signal processing related information. The first circuit may be further configured to pass the image signal processing related information to the second circuit. The second circuit may be further configured to pass the encoding related information to the first circuit. The second circuit may be further configured to modify one or more motion estimation processes based upon the information from the first circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.
    Inventors: José R. Alvarez, Guy Cote
  • Publication number: 20120050567
    Abstract: Various techniques are disclosed for processing statistics data in an image signal processor (ISP). In one embodiment, a statistics collection engine may be implemented in a front-end processing unit of the ISP, such that statistics are collected prior to processing by an ISP pipeline downstream from the front-end processing unit. In one embodiment, the statistics collection engine may be configured to acquire statistics relating to auto white-balance, auto-exposure, and auto-focus, as well as flicker detection. Collected statistics may be output to a memory and used by the ISP to process acquired image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen
  • Publication number: 20120051730
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for determining an optimal focal position using auto-focus statistics. In one embodiment, such techniques may include generating coarse and fine auto-focus scores for determining an optimal focal length at which to position a lens associated with the image sensor. For instance, the statistics logic may determine a coarse position that indicates an optimal focus area which, in one embodiment, may be determined by searching for the first coarse position in which a coarse auto-focus score decreases with respect to a coarse auto-focus score at a previous position. Using this position as a starting point for fine score searching, the optimal focal position may be determined by searching for a peak in fine auto-focus scores. In another embodiment, auto-focus statistics may also be determined based on each color of the Bayer RGB, such that, even in the presence of chromatic aberrations, relative auto-focus scores for each color may be used to determine the direction of focus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen
  • Publication number: 20120050563
    Abstract: Various techniques are disclosed for processing statistics data in an image signal processor (ISP). In one embodiment, a statistics collection engine may be configured to acquire statistics relating to auto white-balance. The statistics collection engine may receive raw Bayer RGB data acquired by an image sensor and may be configured to perform one or more color space conversions to obtain pixel data in other color spaces. A set of pixel filters may be configured to accumulate sums of the pixel data conditionally based upon YC1C2 characteristics, as defined by a pixel condition per pixel filter. Depending on a selected color space, the pixel filters may generate color sums, which may be used to match a current illuminant against a set of reference illuminants with which the image sensor has been previously calibrated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen, Paul Matthew Hubel, Sumit Chawla
  • Publication number: 20120050566
    Abstract: Various techniques are disclosed for collecting and processing auto-focus statistics data in an image signal processor (ISP). In one embodiment, a statistics collection engine in an ISP front-end processing unit may be configured to collect coarse (based on decimated raw data) and fine auto-focus statistics. Coarse auto-focus statistics may be collected on decimated Bayer RGB data and/or on linear camera luma values. Fine auto-focus statistics may be collected on raw Bayer RGB using a combination of a horizontal filter and edge detector, or may be collected on BayerY data (by applying a 3×1 transform to the raw Bayer RGB data). Edge sums may be accumulated using the filter outputs to determine auto-focus statistics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen
  • Publication number: 20120044372
    Abstract: Various techniques are provided for processing image data acquired using a digital image sensor. In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, one such technique may relate to the processing of image data in a system that supports multiple image sensors. In one embodiment, the image processing system may include control circuitry configured to determine whether a device is operating in a single sensor mode (one active sensor) or a dual sensor mode (two active sensors). When operating in the single sensor mode, data may be provided directly to a front-end pixel processing unit from the sensor interface of the active sensor. When operating in a dual sensor mode, the image frames from the first and second sensors are provided to the front-end pixel processing unit in an interleaved manner. For instance, in one embodiment, the image frames from the first and second sensors are written to a memory, and then read out to the front-end pixel processing unit in an interleaved manner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2010
    Publication date: February 23, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen, Joseph P. Bratt, Shun Wai Go, Timothy J. Millet
  • Publication number: 20120042793
    Abstract: A method and a press for preparing a pressed article from compressible and cohesive biomass particles are provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2011
    Publication date: February 23, 2012
    Inventors: Donald Louis MURRAY, Guy CÔTÉ
  • Publication number: 20120026368
    Abstract: Various techniques for applying binning compensation filtering to binned raw image data acquired by an image sensor are provided. In one embodiment, a binning compensation filter (BCF) includes separate digital differential analyzers (DDA) for vertical and horizontal scaling. A current position of an output pixel is determined by incrementing the DDA based upon a step size. Using the known output pixel position, a center source input pixel and an index corresponding to the between-pixel fractional position of the output pixel position relative to the input pixels may be selected for filtering. Using the selected center input pixel, one or more same-colored neighboring source pixels may be selected. The number of selected source pixels may depend on the number of taps used by the scaling logic, and may depend on whether horizontal or vertical scaling is being applied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2010
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Guy Côté, Jeffrey E. Frederiksen, Joseph P. Bratt