Patents by Inventor Leslie D. Kohn

Leslie D. Kohn 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: 10237571
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit may be configured to (i) fetch a reference samples from a memory to slots in a buffer, (ii) generate motion vectors by motion estimating inter-prediction candidates of a current picture relative to the reference samples in the buffer, (iii) snoop the fetches from the memory to determine if the reference samples fetched for a non-zero motion vector type of the inter-prediction candidates includes the reference samples for a zero motion vector type of the inter-prediction candidates and (iv) avoid duplication of the fetches for the zero motion vector type of the inter-prediction candidates where the snoop determines that the reference samples have already been fetched. The second circuit may be configured to evaluate the reference samples in the buffer based on the motion vectors to select a prediction sample unit made of the reference samples.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Leslie D. Kohn, Peter Verplaetse
  • Patent number: 10180913
    Abstract: An apparatus includes an arbiter circuit and a translation circuit. The arbiter circuit may be configured to generate a first address signal in a virtual memory space by arbitrating among a plurality of clients to access a physical memory space. The clients may be classified as either privileged clients or non-privileged clients. The physical memory space may comprise at least one secure space. The translation circuit may be configured to generate a second address signal by translating a page in the virtual memory space into the physical memory space based on the first address signal. The page may corresponds to a particular one of the clients that won the arbitration. The page may be translated (a) into the secure space if the particular client is one of the privileged clients and (b) outside the secure space otherwise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Kathirgamar Aingaran, Leslie D. Kohn, Robert C. Kunz, Jenn-Yuan Tsai
  • Patent number: 10165280
    Abstract: A method for motion detection based on observing several pictures. The method may include computing a first motion score of an area in a target picture of a sequence of pictures by a comparison of the area between the target picture and a first reference picture; computing a second motion score of the area by another comparison of the area between a second reference picture and a third reference picture, where the target picture is a different picture than the second reference picture and the third reference picture; and temporal filtering the target picture with the first reference picture based on the first motion score and the second motion score. At least one of the computing of the first motion score, the computing of the second motion score, and the temporal filtering is controlled by one or more gain settings applied to the sequence of pictures in a circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Elliot N. Linzer, Leslie D. Kohn
  • Patent number: 10051292
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a circuit and a processor. The circuit may be configured to (i) generate a plurality of sets of coefficients by compressing a tile in a picture in a video signal at each of a plurality of different sizes of a plurality of coding units in a coding tree unit and (ii) reconstruct the tile based on a particular one of the sets of coefficients. The sets of coefficients may be generated at two or more of the different sizes of the coding units in parallel. Each of the sets of coefficients may be generated in a corresponding one of a plurality of pipelines that operate in parallel. Each of the sets of coefficients may have a same number of the coefficients. The processor may be configured to select the particular set of coefficients in response to the compression of the tile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Leslie D. Kohn, Ellen M. Lee, Peter Verplaetse
  • Patent number: 10021396
    Abstract: A method for motion detection based on observing several pictures is disclosed. Step (A) may compute a first motion score of an area in a target picture by a comparison of the area between the target picture and a first reference picture. Step (B) may compute a second motion score of the area by another comparison of the area between the target picture or a second reference picture and a third reference picture. Step (C) may temporal filter the target picture with the first reference picture based on the first motion score and the second motion score. At least one of the computing of the first motion score, the computing of the second motion score, and the temporal filtering may be controlled by one or more gain settings in a circuit. At least two of the first, the second, and the third reference pictures may be different pictures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Elliot N. Linzer, Leslie D. Kohn
  • Patent number: 9924165
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a memory and a processor. The memory may be configured to store video data. The video data includes a plurality of sections of one or more pictures that can be processed independently. The processor generally includes a hardware pipeline. The hardware pipeline implements a number of stages of a video coding process, such that each stage performs an associated task in a substantially similar time on a different one of said plurality of sections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Leslie D. Kohn, Ellen M. Lee, Peter Verplaetse
  • Patent number: 9918102
    Abstract: An apparatus having a first circuit and a second circuit is disclosed. The first circuit may be configured to (i) fetch a plurality of reference samples from a memory to a plurality of slots in a buffer and (ii) motion estimate a plurality of current sample units of a current picture to generate a plurality of motion vectors. The motion vectors may be stored in a plurality of lines of a table. Each line generally identifies a corresponding slot in the buffer. Duplicates among the lines may be consolidated. The second circuit may be configured to evaluate the reference samples in the buffer based on the motion vectors to select a prediction sample unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Leslie D. Kohn, Peter Verplaetse
  • Patent number: 9906814
    Abstract: A method for temporal filtering based on motion detection on areas of different sizes is disclosed. Step (A) may compute a first motion score of a first area in a target picture by motion detection of the first area between the target picture and a reference picture. Step (B) may compute a second motion score of a second area in the target picture by motion detection of the second area between the target picture and the reference picture. The first area and the second area are generally of different sizes. Step (C) may temporal filter the target picture with the reference picture based on the first motion score and the second motion score to generate a filtered picture. At least one of the first motion score, the second motion score and the filtered picture may be based on one or more gain settings in a circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Elliot N. Linzer, Leslie D. Kohn
  • Patent number: 9600412
    Abstract: An arbiter circuit and a translation circuit. The arbiter circuit may be configured to generate a first address signal in a virtual memory space by arbitrating among a plurality of clients to access a physical memory space. The clients may be classified as either privileged clients or non-privileged clients. The physical memory space may comprise at least one secure space. The secure space may be used to protect data of the privileged clients from being accessed by the non-privileged clients. The translation circuit may be configured to generate a second address signal by translating a page in the virtual memory space into the physical memory space. The page may correspond to a particular one of the clients that won the arbitration. The page may translate into the secure space if the particular client is one of the privileged clients. The page may also translate outside the secure space if the particular client is one of the non-privileged clients.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Kathirgamar Aingaran, Leslie D. Kohn, Robert C. Kunz, Jenn-Yuan Tsai
  • Patent number: 9596470
    Abstract: An apparatus having a circuit and a processor is disclosed. The circuit may be configured to (i) generate a plurality of sets of coefficients by compressing a block in a picture in a video signal at a plurality of different sizes of coding units in a coding tree unit and (ii) generate an output signal by entropy encoding a particular one of the sets of coefficients. Each set of coefficients may be generated in a corresponding one of a plurality of pipelines that operate in parallel. The processor may be configured to select the particular set of coefficients in response to the compressing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Leslie D. Kohn, Ellen M. Lee, Peter Verplaetse
  • Patent number: 9445021
    Abstract: A method of pixel correction is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) calibrating a per-pixel correction model of a sensor at a plurality of different illumination levels, (B) generating a plurality of pixel values from the sensor in response to an optical signal and (C) generating a plurality of corrected values by applying the per-pixel correction model to the pixel values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Ambrella, Inc.
    Inventors: Elliot N. Linzer, Leslie D. Kohn
  • Patent number: 9426381
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising a scaling circuit, a luma circuit and a blending circuit. The scaling circuit may generate a plurality of scaled frames in response to a first plurality of frames generated by a sensor. The first plurality of frames may have a first exposure. The luma circuit may generate an average luminance value for each of a plurality of processed pixels in each of a second of the plurality of frames generated by the sensor. The second of the plurality of frames may have a second exposure and each of the average luminance values is calculated based on a plurality of neighboring pixels in a neighborhood of the processed pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Wilson Kwok, Leslie D. Kohn
  • Patent number: 9392143
    Abstract: An apparatus including a memory, a first circuit and a second circuit. The memory may be divided into eight banks. Each bank may store a portion of a three-dimensional (3D) color correction lookup table. The first circuit may be configured to address the memory in response to an index of an input point. The second circuit may be configured to arrange outputs of the eight banks for color interpolation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Leslie D. Kohn, Manish Kumar Singh
  • Patent number: 9378561
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising a decoder circuit, a memory circuit and a processing circuit. The decoder circuit may be configured to generate a first intermediate signal having a plurality of coefficients of a target layer and a plurality of coefficients of a base layer, in response to an input bitstream. The memory circuit may be configured to (i) store the first intermediate signal and (ii) present (a) a second intermediate signal comprising the plurality of coefficients of the target layer or (b) a third intermediate signal comprising the plurality of coefficients of the base layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Leslie D. Kohn, Ellen M. Lee, Peter Verplaetse
  • Patent number: 9204113
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising a scaling circuit, a luma circuit and a blending circuit. The scaling circuit may generate a plurality of scaled frames in response to a first plurality of frames generated by a sensor. The first plurality of frames may have a first exposure. The luma circuit may generate an average luminance value for each of a plurality of processed pixels in each of a second of the plurality of frames generated by the sensor. The second of the plurality of frames may have a second exposure and each of the average luminance values is calculated based on a plurality of neighboring pixels in a neighborhood of the processed pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Wilson Kwok, Leslie D. Kohn
  • Patent number: 9179046
    Abstract: A method for processing a source frame is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) generating a intermediate video frame by de-mosaicing the source frame, wherein (i) the source frame has a source resolution and has a source color space and (ii) the intermediate video frame has the source resolution and has an intermediate color space, (B) generating a video stream by compressing the intermediate video frame with a video compression technique and (C) generating a still picture from the source frame, wherein (i) the still picture has the source resolution and comprises a raw picture and (ii) generating the still picture occurs substantially simultaneously with generating the video stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Elliot N. Linzer, Leslie D. Kohn, Chi Hong John Ju
  • Patent number: 9146879
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising an arbiter circuit, a translation circuit and a controller circuit. The arbiter circuit may be configured to generate one or more first control signals and a data write signal in response to an input signal and a read data signal. The translation circuit may be configured to generate a one or more second control signals in response to the one or more first control signals and the write address signal. The controller circuit may be configured to generate an address signal in response to the one or more second control signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Kathirgamar Aingaran, Leslie D. Kohn, Robert C. Kunz, Jenn-Yuan Tsai
  • Patent number: 8970743
    Abstract: A method of pixel correction is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) calibrating a per-pixel correction model of a sensor at a plurality of different illumination levels, (B) generating a plurality of pixel values from the sensor in response to an optical signal and (C) generating a plurality of corrected values by applying the per-pixel correction model to the pixel values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Elliot N. Linzer, Leslie D. Kohn
  • Patent number: 8963809
    Abstract: A method for high performance caching is disclosed. The method generally includes steps (A) and (B). Step (A) may fetch a plurality of reference samples of a reference image from a first circuit to a cache of a second circuit. The cache may include a plurality of cache blocks and a plurality of valid bits. Each of the cache blocks generally corresponds to at most one of the valid bits. A size of the cache blocks may match a smallest read access size of the first circuit. Step (B) may transfer the reference samples having the corresponding valid bit set to valid from the cache to a processor of the second circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Leslie D. Kohn, Sydney D. Reader
  • Patent number: 8868883
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising an arbiter circuit, a translation circuit and a controller circuit. The arbiter circuit may be configured to generate one or more first control signals and a data write signal in response to an input signal and a read data signal. The translation circuit may be configured to generate a one or more second control signals in response to the one or more first control signals and the write address signal. The controller circuit may be configured to generate an address signal in response to the one or more second control signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Ambarella, Inc.
    Inventors: Kathirgamar Aingaran, Leslie D. Kohn, Robert C. Kunz, Jenn-Yuan Tsai