Patents by Inventor Saku Hiwatashi

Saku Hiwatashi 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: 11678060
    Abstract: An apparatus configured to divide a captured image into a plurality of regions and carry out imaging under a different exposure condition for each of the regions, includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire an exposure value for each of the regions in the captured image, a detection unit configured to detect a motion region based on the captured image, and a determination unit configured to determine an exposure time and a gain based on the exposure value for each of the regions and a result of detection of the motion region, wherein the determination unit sets a limitation on an adjustment range of at least any of the exposure time and the gain based on the result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Saku Hiwatashi
  • Publication number: 20220174201
    Abstract: An apparatus configured to divide a captured image into a plurality of regions and carry out imaging under a different exposure condition for each of the regions, includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire an exposure value for each of the regions in the captured image, a detection unit configured to detect a motion region based on the captured image, and a determination unit configured to determine an exposure time and a gain based on the exposure value for each of the regions and a result of detection of the motion region, wherein the determination unit sets a limitation on an adjustment range of at least any of the exposure time and the gain based on the result.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 23, 2021
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Inventor: Saku Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 10477221
    Abstract: In order to appropriately control the image quality of an intended specific region in an image without delaying an encoding process, an image processing apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine a specific region in a first image targeted for the encoding process on the basis of (a) a time difference between a first time associated with the first image and a second time associated with a second image in which an object has been detected by a detection unit before the encoding process is executed on the first image, and (b) information on a region corresponding to the object detected by the detection unit in the second image, and executes, on the first image, the encoding process of varying image quality between a region corresponding to the specific region determined by the determination unit, and any other region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Saku Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 10254543
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an image capturing unit configured to capture a real space, a detection unit configured to detect, from image data captured by the image capturing unit, feature points to be used to obtain a position and an orientation of the image capturing unit, a generation unit configured to generate compressed image data by compressing a data amount of the image data, a transmission unit configured to transmit, to an external server, the compressed image data and position information of the feature points detected by the detection unit, and a display unit configured to display composite image data generated in the external server based on the position information and the compressed image data by receiving the composite image data from the external server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Reiko Fujino, Saku Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 10129551
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus according to the present invention is configured to encode frames forming a moving image using temporal hierarchies, and includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire information related to a temporal hierarchy corresponding to an encoding target frame, a determination unit configured to determine, based on the information related to the temporal hierarchy acquired by the acquisition unit, whether to use an encoding parameter based on a bit rate of at least one past frame encoded before the encoding target frame is encoded, and an encoding unit configured to encode the encoding target frame using the encoding parameter based on the bit rate of the at least one past frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Makoto Kimura, Saku Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 10123021
    Abstract: An amount of code is reduced for blocks in which visible degradation is not easily susceptible, while a large amount of code is assigned to blocks whose degradation in image quality is easily perceptible thereby suppressing the number of blocks for which a process is performed to achieve high quality image and thus suppressing an increase in the total amount of code. An input image is encoded in units of blocks. A block evaluation value for the block is calculated. The block is divided into N sub-blocks where N is equal to or greater than 2, and a sub-block evaluation value is calculated for each sub-block. A quantization parameter for the block is controlled based on the block evaluation value and the sub-block evaluation values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Saku Hiwatashi, Koji Okawa
  • Publication number: 20180027242
    Abstract: In order to appropriately control the image quality of an intended specific region in an image without delaying an encoding process, an image processing apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine a specific region in a first image targeted for the encoding process on the basis of (a) a time difference between a first time associated with the first image and a second time associated with a second image in which an object has been detected by a detection unit before the encoding process is executed on the first image, and (b) information on a region corresponding to the object detected by the detection unit in the second image, and executes, on the first image, the encoding process of varying image quality between a region corresponding to the specific region determined by the determination unit, and any other region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 17, 2017
    Publication date: January 25, 2018
    Inventor: Saku Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 9571828
    Abstract: An image encoding apparatus includes an encoding unit which encodes an input image of a block, a calculating unit which calculates a plurality of evaluation values for the block, an identifying unit which generates identification information by comparing a plurality of evaluation values calculated by the calculating unit with a plurality of threshold values, and a controller which controls a quantization parameter on the basis of the identification information identified by the identifying unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Koji Okawa, Saku Hiwatashi
  • Publication number: 20160116737
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus comprising: an image capturing unit configured to capture a real space; a detection unit configured to detect, from image data captured by the image capturing unit, feature points to be used to obtain a position and orientation of the image capturing unit; a generation unit configured to generate compressed image data by compressing a data amount of the image data; a transmission unit configured to transmit, to an external server, the compressed image data and position information of the feature points detected by the detection unit; and a display unit configured to display composite image data generated in the external server based on the position information and the compressed image data by receiving the composite image data from the external server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2015
    Publication date: April 28, 2016
    Inventors: Reiko Fujino, Saku Hiwatashi
  • Publication number: 20160065978
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus, which is configured to code a frame included in a moving image with use of a temporal hierarchal layer, includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire information regarding the temporal hierarchal layer corresponding to the frame as a coding target, and a coding unit configured to code the frame of the coding target with use of a first coding parameter that causes a bit rate after the frame is coded to be equal to or lower than a first bit rate corresponding to the temporal hierarchal layer acquired by the acquisition unit, or a second coding parameter that causes the bit rate after the frame is coded to match a second bit rate higher than the first bit rate, based on the information regarding the temporal hierarchal layer acquired by the acquisition unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Inventor: Saku Hiwatashi
  • Publication number: 20160065977
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus according to the present invention is configured to encode frames forming a moving image using temporal hierarchies, and includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire information related to a temporal hierarchy corresponding to an encoding target frame, a determination unit configured to determine, based on the information related to the temporal hierarchy acquired by the acquisition unit, whether to use an encoding parameter based on a bit rate of at least one past frame encoded before the encoding target frame is encoded, and an encoding unit configured to encode the encoding target frame using the encoding parameter based on the bit rate of the at least one past frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Inventors: Makoto Kimura, Saku Hiwatashi
  • Patent number: 9008358
    Abstract: An image of a prescribed frame of images of respective frames is set as a target image, and an area including a prescribed pattern is detected from the target image as a specific area. An image other than the target image is set as a non-target image, and the specific area in the non-target image is predicted. The images of the respective frames are encoded so that the specific area is encoded to have higher image quality than an area other than the specific area. In encoding, the images of the respective frames are encoded so that the specific area in the non-target image is not referred to from another frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Naito, Saku Hiwatashi
  • Publication number: 20140369617
    Abstract: An amount of code is reduced for blocks in which visible degradation is not easily susceptible, while a large amount of code is assigned to blocks whose degradation in image quality is easily perceptible thereby suppressing the number of blocks for which a process is performed to achieve high quality image and thus suppressing an increase in the total amount of code. An input image is encoded in units of blocks. A block evaluation value for the block is calculated. The block is divided into N sub-blocks where N is equal to or greater than 2, and a sub-block evaluation value is calculated for each sub-block. A quantization parameter for the block is controlled based on the block evaluation value and the sub-block evaluation values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2014
    Publication date: December 18, 2014
    Inventors: Saku Hiwatashi, Koji Okawa
  • Publication number: 20120294480
    Abstract: An image of a prescribed frame of images of respective frames is set as a target image, and an area including a prescribed pattern is detected from the target image as a specific area. An image other than the target image is set as a non-target image, and the specific area in the non-target image is predicted. The images of the respective frames are encoded so that the specific area is encoded to have higher image quality than an area other than the specific area. In encoding, the images of the respective frames are encoded so that the specific area in the non-target image is not referred to from another frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 1, 2012
    Publication date: November 22, 2012
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoshi Naito, Saku Hiwatashi