Abstract: Various embodiments of separating a picture part of interest from an arbitrary background are described. The background may be a moving or still frame. The picture part of interest and background frames may be in or out of focus. One separation approach employs the difference between luminance and chrominance values of the input and background frames where changes in luminance from frame to frame are compensated for. In another approach, picture part of interest separation is based on spatial resolution differences between the background and the picture part of interest frames. Parameter matching can also be performed for the picture part of interest and the basic picture into which the picture part of interest is embedded. Further, a separated picture part of interest can be embedded into a basic picture containing text.

Abstract: A method includes analyzing an input image at least to determine locations of human skin in the input image and processing the input image at least to improve, on a per pixel basis, the areas of human skin of the input image. Another method included in the present invention includes measuring blurriness levels in an input image; and processing the input image with the blurriness levels at least to sharpen the input image. A third method includes identifying areas of at least bright light in an input image and changing the sharpness of the input image as a function of exposure level of different areas of the input image.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for enhancing video quality by adaptively removing distortions and ringing effects embedded in decompressed video signals. The apparatus can operate in conjunction with decoder devices installed in set-top boxes, satellite receivers, TV broadcast channel servers, digital still cameras, DVD players and recorders, large screen TV sets, media players, and the like.

Abstract: Various embodiments of separating a picture part of interest from an arbitrary background are described. The background may be a moving or still frame. The picture part of interest and background frames may be in or out of focus. One separation approach employs the difference between luminance and chrominance values of the input and background frames where changes in luminance from frame to frame are compensated for. In another approach, picture part of interest separation is based on spatial resolution differences between the background and the picture part of interest frames. Parameter matching can also be performed for the picture part of interest and the basic picture into which the picture part of interest is embedded. Further, a separated picture part of interest can be embedded into a basic picture containing text.

Abstract: Methods and systems for separating a picture part of interest from an arbitrary background in real time videos are presented. The background may be a moving or still frame. The picture part of interest and background frames may be in or out of focus. One separation approach employs the difference between luminance and chrominance values of the input and background frames where changes in luminance from frame to frame are compensated for. In another approach, picture part of interest separation is based solely on spatial resolution differences between the background and the picture part of interest frames. The present invention also teaches a method and system for parameter matching of the picture part of interest and the basic picture into which the picture part of interest is embedded. The invention further teaches a method and system for embedding a separated picture part of interest into a basic picture containing text.

Abstract: A method includes improving an input image generally to compensate for the differences between how an image sensor views an object and how the human visual system views the object and generating a printout of the improved image at a faster print speed than that which would generate a printout of the input image. The improved image printout has at least the same or better visual quality than the input image printout. Improving the image includes analyzing an input image, reducing saturation levels for areas of human skin under low light exposures and improving the visual resolution of the input image.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for enhancing video quality by adaptively removing distortions and ringing effects embedded in decompressed video signals. The apparatus can operate in conjunction with decoder devices installed in set-top boxes, satellite receivers, TV broadcast channel servers, digital still cameras, DVD players and recorders, large screen TV sets, media players, and the like.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for enhancing the video quality of compressed video signals adaptively removes distortions and ringing effects embedded in the decompressed images. The apparatus operates in conjunction with decoder devices installed in set-top boxes, satellite receivers, TV broadcast channel servers, digital still cameras, DVD players and recorders, large screen TV sets, media players, and the like.

Abstract: Methods and systems for separating a picture part of interest from an arbitrary background in real time videos are presented. The background may be a moving or still frame. The picture part of interest and background frames may be in or out of focus. One separation approach employs the difference between luminance and chrominance values of the input and background frames where changes in luminance from frame to frame are compensated for. In another approach, picture part of interest separation is based solely on spatial resolution differences between the background and the picture part of interest frames. The present invention also teaches a method and system for parameter matching of the picture part of interest and the basic picture into which the picture part of interest is embedded. The invention further teaches a method and system for embedding a separated picture part of interest into a basic picture containing text.

Abstract: A processor changes frames of a videostream according to how an MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group) encoder will encode them so that the output of the MPEG encoder has a minimal number of bits but a human eye generally does not detect distortion of the image in the frame.

Abstract: Methods and systems for separating a picture part of interest from an arbitrary background in real time videos are presented. The background may be a moving or still frame. The picture part of interest and background frames may be in or out of focus. One separation approach employs the difference between luminance and chrominance values of the input and background frames where changes in luminance from frame to frame are compensated for. In another approach, picture part of interest separation is based solely on spatial resolution differences between the background and the picture part of interest frames. The present invention also teaches a method and system for parameter matching of the picture part of interest and the basic picture into which the picture part of interest is embedded. The invention further teaches a method and system for embedding a separated picture part of interest into a basic picture containing text.

Abstract: A video encoding system includes a visual perception estimator, an encoder, a compression dependent threshold estimator and a filter unit. The visual perception estimator estimates a perception threshold for a pixel of a current frame of a videostream. The encoder encodes the current frame. The compression dependent threshold estimator estimates a compression dependent threshold for the pixel at least from the perception threshold and information from the encoder. The filter unit filters the pixel at least according to the compression dependent threshold.

Abstract: A video encoding system includes a visual perception estimator, an encoder, a compression dependent threshold estimator and a filter unit. The visual perception estimator estimates a perception threshold for a pixel of a current frame of a videostream. The encoder encodes the current frame. The compression dependent threshold estimator estimates a compression dependent threshold for the pixel at least from the perception threshold and information from the encoder. The filter unit filters the pixel at least according to the compression dependent threshold.