Patents by Inventor Hironari Sakurai

Hironari Sakurai 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: 11909964
    Abstract: A depth value calculation unit (102) calculates, for an image divided into a plurality of blocks, a depth value (Da, Db) for determining presence or absence of processing of a deblocking filter and determining strength of the deblocking filter according to a division state of respective blocks adjacent to a block boundary (Bv). A filter processing execution determination unit (104) determines whether or not to cause the deblocking filter to operate on the block boundary (Bv) on the basis of the depth value (Da, Db). A filter strength setting unit (105) sets the strength of the deblocking filter to operate on the block boundary (Bv) on the basis of the depth value (Da, Db).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: SONY GROUP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hironari Sakurai, Masaru Ikeda
  • Patent number: 11601685
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure provide an image processing device that includes circuitry configured to perform a decoding process on an encoded stream for generating an image. The encoded stream is arranged into largest coding units (LCUs), and filtering parameters applicable to each LCU are provided at a beginning portion of the corresponding LCU. The circuitry is further configured to perform adaptive offset filtering on portions of the image that correspond to the LCUs using the filtering parameters set at the beginning portions of the LCUs, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hironari Sakurai, Ohji Nakagami, Takuya Kitamura, Yoichi Yagasaki
  • Patent number: 11601664
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a decoding device and a decoding method, and an encoding device and an encoding method that enable images that configure a packed image to be reliably displayed when an encoded stream is decoded and displayed. A decoding unit decodes an encoded data, the encoded data being an encoded packed image in which a plurality of images is packed, and generates the packed image. A display control unit identifies the images that configure the packed image based on packing SEI preferentially used when the packed image is displayed. The present technology can be applied to a decoding device, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hironari Sakurai, Ohji Nakagami, Yoshitomo Takahashi, Teruhiko Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20230055659
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure provide an image processing device that includes circuitry configured to perform a decoding process on an encoded stream for generating an image. The encoded stream is arranged into largest coding units (LCUs), and filtering parameters applicable to each LCU are provided at a beginning portion of the corresponding LCU. The circuitry is further configured to perform adaptive offset filtering on portions of the image that correspond to the LCUs using the filtering parameters set at the beginning portions of the LCUs, respectively.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2022
    Publication date: February 23, 2023
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Hironari SAKURAI, Ohji NAKAGAMI, Takuya KITAMURA, Yoichi YAGASAKI
  • Publication number: 20220141458
    Abstract: A depth value calculation unit (102) calculates, for an image divided into a plurality of blocks, a depth value (Da, Db) for determining presence or absence of processing of a deblocking filter and determining strength of the deblocking filter according to a division state of respective blocks adjacent to a block boundary (Bv). A filter processing execution determination unit (104) determines whether or not to cause the deblocking filter to operate on the block boundary (Bv) on the basis of the depth value (Da, Db). A filter strength setting unit (105) sets the strength of the deblocking filter to operate on the block boundary (Bv) on the basis of the depth value (Da, Db).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Inventors: HIRONARI SAKURAI, MASARU IKEDA
  • Patent number: 11272180
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an image processing apparatus and method that can keep reduction in coding efficiency to a minimum. A scaling list is set that has values appropriate to a current block size for the current block to be quantized in an image to be coded, quantization is performed using the set scaling list, and coded data is generated by coding an acquired quantization coefficient. The present disclosure is applicable, for example, to an image processing apparatus, an image coding apparatus, an image decoding apparatus, and so on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takefumi Nagumo, Hironari Sakurai
  • Patent number: 11223824
    Abstract: A reference direction determination unit 44 detects, using an input image, a scene change, a flash scene, or a monotonous luminance variation section. In a case where an encoding target image is the scene change or flash scene, the reference direction determination unit 44 determines its mode as a fixed reference direction mode in which a reference direction in a screen is fixed uniformly. Further, in a case where the encoding target image is the monotonous luminance variation section, that is, a section where luminance of an entire screen monotonously increases or monotonously decreases, the reference direction determination unit 44 determines as the fixed reference direction mode in which the reference direction in the screen is fixed uniformly. A motion prediction/compensation unit 42 performs inter prediction processing according to a determination result of the reference direction determination unit 44, thereby enabling efficient encoding while suppressing deterioration of image quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignees: SONY CORPORATION, SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Morigami, Takefumi Nagumo, Hironari Sakurai, Takashi Fukuyama
  • Publication number: 20210258597
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a decoding device and a decoding method, and an encoding device and an encoding method that enable images that configure a packed image to be reliably displayed when an encoded stream is decoded and displayed. A decoding unit decodes an encoded data, the encoded data being an encoded packed image in which a plurality of images is packed, and generates the packed image. A display control unit identifies the images that configure the packed image based on packing SEI preferentially used when the packed image is displayed. The present technology can be applied to a decoding device, for example.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2021
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hironari SAKURAI, Ohji NAKAGAMI, Yoshitomo TAKAHASHI, Teruhiko SUZUKI
  • Publication number: 20210185305
    Abstract: A reference direction determination unit 44 detects, using an input image, a scene change, a flash scene, or a monotonous luminance variation section. In a case where an encoding target image is the scene change or flash scene, the reference direction determination unit 44 determines its mode as a fixed reference direction mode in which a reference direction in a screen is fixed uniformly. Further, in a case where the encoding target image is the monotonous luminance variation section, that is, a section where luminance of an entire screen monotonously increases or monotonously decreases, the reference direction determination unit 44 determines as the fixed reference direction mode in which the reference direction in the screen is fixed uniformly. A motion prediction/compensation unit 42 performs inter prediction processing according to a determination result of the reference direction determination unit 44, thereby enabling efficient encoding while suppressing deterioration of image quality.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2018
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Applicants: SONY CORPORATION, SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshitaka MORIGAMI, Takefumi NAGUMO, Hironari SAKURAI, Takashi FUKUYAMA
  • Patent number: 11025939
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a decoding device and a decoding method, and an encoding device and an encoding method that enable images that configure a packed image to be reliably displayed when an encoded stream is decoded and displayed. A decoding unit decodes an encoded data, the encoded data being an encoded packed image in which a plurality of images is packed, and generates the packed image. A display control unit identifies the images that configure the packed image based on packing SEI preferentially used when the packed image is displayed. The present technology can be applied to a decoding device, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hironari Sakurai, Ohji Nakagami, Yoshitomo Takahashi, Teruhiko Suzuki
  • Patent number: 10743023
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus including an inter-prediction section that generates a set of reference pixels of fractional pixel positions from a reference image for motion compensation and searches an image to be encoded for a motion vector by using the set of generated reference pixels and an encoding section that encodes the image to be encoded on a basis of a result of searching for the motion vector by the inter-prediction section. The inter-prediction section includes a reference pixel at a fractional pixel position further inward than a first predetermined distance from a boundary of a partial region corresponding to a slice or a tile, in the set of reference pixels that are used for searching the partial region for a motion vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Morigami, Takefumi Nagumo, Hironari Sakurai, Shuo Lu
  • Publication number: 20200221126
    Abstract: In a sample adaptive offset (SAO), the coding efficiency is improved by selecting an optimum mode among a plurality of modes based on a technique called a band offset and an edge offset. However, a processing amount of the SAO tends to increase when an optimum mode and an offset value are set, and this may result in an increase in a circuit size or power consumption. In this regard, the present disclosure proposes to enable reducing a processing amount of a cost calculation of the sample adaptive offset. According to the present disclosure, there is provided an image processing apparatus, including: a control unit configured to set an offset value to be applied to a pixel of an image, from among candidates of the offset value restricted according to a bit depth of the image; and a filter processing section configured to perform a filter process of applying the offset value set by the control unit to the pixel of the image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2020
    Publication date: July 9, 2020
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshitaka MORIGAMI, Takefumi NAGUMO, Junichi TANAKA, Hironari SAKURAI
  • Patent number: 10666975
    Abstract: In a sample adaptive offset (SAO), the coding efficiency is improved by selecting an optimum mode among a plurality of modes based on a technique called a band offset and an edge offset. However, a processing amount of the SAO tends to increase when an optimum mode and an offset value are set, and this may result in an increase in a circuit size or power consumption. In this regard, the present disclosure proposes to enable reducing a processing amount of a cost calculation of the sample adaptive offset. According to the present disclosure, there is provided an image processing apparatus, including: a control unit configured to set an offset value to be applied to a pixel of an image, from among candidates of the offset value restricted according to a bit depth of the image; and a filter processing section configured to perform a filter process of applying the offset value set by the control unit to the pixel of the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Morigami, Takefumi Nagumo, Junichi Tanaka, Hironari Sakurai
  • Patent number: 10630980
    Abstract: The present technique relates to a decoding device and a decoding method, and an encoding device and an encoding method, capable of performing encoding and decoding independently in the time direction for each tile. A decoding unit generates a prediction image by performing, for each of tiles, motion compensation of a reference image within a co-located tile based on tile splittable information indicating that decoding is allowed for each of the tiles and motion vector information representing a motion vector used for generating encoded data of a decoding target current image when a picture of the current image is split into the tiles and decoded. The decoding unit decodes the encoded data using the prediction image. The present technique is applicable to a decoding device, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ohji Nakagami, Hironari Sakurai, Yoshitomo Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20200077121
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure provide an image processing device that includes circuitry configured to perform a decoding process on an encoded stream for generating an image. The encoded stream is arranged into largest coding units (LCUs), and filtering parameters applicable to each LCU are provided at a beginning portion of the corresponding LCU. The circuitry is further configured to perform adaptive offset filtering on portions of the image that correspond to the LCUs using the filtering parameters set at the beginning portions of the LCUs, respectively.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hironari SAKURAI, Ohji NAKAGAMI, Takuya KITAMURA, Yoichi YAGASAKI
  • Patent number: 10567805
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure provide an image processing device that includes circuitry configured to perform a decoding process on an encoded stream for generating an image. The encoded stream is arranged into largest coding units (LCUs), and filtering parameters applicable to each LCU are provided at a beginning portion of the corresponding LCU. The circuitry is further configured to perform adaptive offset filtering on portions of the image that correspond to the LCUs using the filtering parameters set at the beginning portions of the LCUs, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hironari Sakurai, Ohji Nakagami, Takuya Kitamura, Yoichi Yagasaki
  • Publication number: 20190394494
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to image processing apparatus and method that can realize the same GOP structure as AVC in a case of field coding. Fields in each GOP of interlaced images input in a reproduction order are rearranged to arrange the fields in a decoding order in order of an I picture, a leading picture that precedes the I picture in the reproduction order, and a trailing picture that follows the I picture in the reproduction order, and the fields rearranged in the decoding order are encoded. The present disclosure can be applied to, for example, an image processing apparatus, an image encoding apparatus, an image decoding apparatus, or the like.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2018
    Publication date: December 26, 2019
    Inventor: HIRONARI SAKURAI
  • Publication number: 20190356917
    Abstract: There is provided an image processing device including a decoding section that decodes an encoded stream and generates quantized transform coefficient data, and an inverse quantization section that, taking transform coefficient data as transform units to be used during inverse orthogonal transform, inversely quantizes the quantized transform coefficient data decoded by the decoding section, such that in a case where a non-square transform unit is selected, the inverse quantization section uses a non-square quantization matrix, corresponding to a non-square transform unit, that is generated from a square quantization matrix corresponding to a square transform unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: HIRONARI SAKURAI, JUNICHI TANAKA
  • Patent number: 10477207
    Abstract: There is provided an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which are capable of reducing a processing amount of a cost calculation, the image processing apparatus including: a filter processing section configured to perform a filter process of applying an offset to a pixel of a decoded image that is decoded; and a control unit configured to control a mode used when the filter process is performed and an offset for the mode according to an encoding parameter used when an image is encoded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Morigami, Takefumi Nagumo, Junichi Tanaka, Hironari Sakurai
  • Patent number: 10462460
    Abstract: The present technique relates to a decoding device and a decoding method, and an encoding device and an encoding method, capable of performing encoding and decoding independently in the time direction for each tile. A decoding unit generates a prediction image by performing, for each of tiles, motion compensation of a reference image within a co-located tile based on tile splittable information indicating that decoding is allowed for each of the tiles and motion vector information representing a motion vector used for generating encoded data of a decoding target current image when a picture of the current image is split into the tiles and decoded. The decoding unit decodes the encoded data using the prediction image. The present technique is applicable to a decoding device, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ohji Nakagami, Hironari Sakurai, Yoshitomo Takahashi