Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems for upsampling filter design and applications.

Abstract: Adjacent regions are identified in an image. Coding parameters for the adjacent regions are identified. Selective filtering is performed at the region between the identified adjacent regions.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for frame capture and redisplay in a stand-alone television. The method comprises: down-converting a television signal including a plurality of frames; selecting an accepted frame; capturing the selected frame; storing the captured frame; selecting a stored frame; and, displaying the selected frame. Some aspects of the method further comprise: storing auxiliary information with the stored frame, such as time, date, or channel. Then, displaying the frame includes displaying the frame with the auxiliary information. Other aspects of the method further comprise: accepting a remote capture and remote display signals from a television remote control. Down-converted frames are selected for storage, and stored frames are selected for display in response to the remote signals. In other aspects, stored frames are displayed as thumbnail displays. For example, a single thumbnail display, or a group of thumbnail displays can be presented overlying the down-converted television signal.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for modification of motion vectors in spatial scalable video coding. Some embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems designed for use with the Scalable Video Coding extension of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.

Abstract: A Residual Color Transform (RCT) technique directly encodes raw Red-Green-Blue (RGB) data directly without first performing a color transform. After transmission or storage, the coded raw RGB data is directly decoded and then interpolated to generate missing RGB data.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for picture up-sampling using direct interpolation. Some embodiments of the present invention provide an up-sampling procedure designed for the Scalable Video Coding extension of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.

Abstract: A Residual Color Transform (RCT) technique directly encodes 4:2:0 Red-Green-Blue (RGB) data without data loss prior to compression. After transmission or storage, the coded 4:2:0 RGB data is directly decoded and interpolated to generate missing RGB data prior to display.

Abstract: Adjacent regions are identified in an image. Coding parameters for the adjacent regions are identified. Selective filtering is performed at the region between the identified adjacent regions.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for characterization of block boundaries for filtering operations in spatial scalable video coding. Some embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems designed for use with the Scalable Video Coding extension of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.

Abstract: A global motion vector coding scheme is used for coding or decoding an image. Global motion parameters are associated with a current image frame. Local motion vectors are derived from the global motion parameters for individual macroblocks in the current image frame. The local motion vectors are then used to identify reference blocks in a current reference frame. The reference blocks are then used to either encode or decode the macroblocks in the current image frame.

Abstract: A deblocking filtering technique gracefully degrades the quality of a decoded video image by selecting boundaries in each macroblock (MB) of the video image that are not to be filtered in response to a predetermined condition. The predetermined condition could be that the video image cannot be decoded by a predetermined time indicated by a time code contained in the bitstream, a manual indication by one of a user and an application, a decoder configuration having insufficient computational power to correctly decode the video image and/or a near buffer overflow condition. When a predetermined condition occurs, a coded-block-pattern parameter for each inter-coded macroblock of the bitstream is set to zero for filtering. A boundary strength is derived for each macroblock based the coded-block-pattern parameters for the macroblock. Each macroblock is filtered based on the boundary strength for the macroblock.

Abstract: Errors are concealed in a decoded bitstream, such as a bitstream based on an H.264 protocol, by detecting macroblocks in the bitstream containing data errors. Each detected macroblock containing a data error is filled with prediction data. Each macroblock, whether containing no errors or containing prediction data, is then reconstructed by the same macroblock reconstruction module.

Abstract: A method for reducing visual artifacts in reconstructed images. One embodiment of the method determines edge energy for each pixel in the image and then compares the edge energy for each pixel to a threshold, producing an edge map. A distance transform is then used to produce a filter map and a filter is applied to pixel in the image, such that the filter applied is dependent upon a filter map value for each pixel. An output value for each pixel is then produced.

Abstract: An integer transform matrix is used for implementing a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). Optimized values for the integer transform matrix are derived that satisfy certain normalization constraints and that also minimize the frequency distortion in the transform matrix.

Abstract: A temporally scalable video coding method is provided to interleave pictures from all layers of a video sequence including video sub-sequences organized using enhancement layers following a set of rules: (1) pictures in each layer are to be coded sequentially within the layer; (2) a picture from an upper layer should be coded when its temporally closest neighboring pictures among all lower layers (in both forward and backward directions if available) have been already coded; in other words, coding of an upper-layer picture requires the temporally closest neighboring pictures among all lower layers (in both forward and backward directions if available) be coded before hand. To ensure a reasonable coding efficiency, for each picture, its qualified reference pictures may be reordered so that the reference pictures are ordered using their relative temporal distance from the current picture instead of the default picture coding order.

Abstract: A stereo-view image sequence is coded in an H.264-based sub-sequence coding by coding a first view of the stereo-view image sequence into a base layer of a sub-sequence coding. The second view of the stereo-view image sequence is coded into an enhancement layer of the sub-sequence coding. Accordingly, the sub-sequence coding can be decoded by a baseline-profile-compliant H.264 decoder. In one exemplary embodiment of the decoder, the decoder decodes both the base layer and the enhanced layer of the sub-sequence coding. In another exemplary embodiment, the decoder decodes one of the base layer and the enhanced layer of the sub-sequence coding. Additionally, a Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) payload could be used for each frame to signal the relationship between the current view and the secondary view.

Abstract: A video coding algorithm supports both lossy and lossless coding of video while maintaining high color fidelity and coding efficiency using an in-loop, reversible color transform. Accordingly, a method is provided to encode video data and decode the generated bitstream. The method includes generating a prediction-error signal by performing intra/inter-frame prediction on a plurality of video frames; generating a color-transformed, prediction-error signal by performing a reversible color-space transform on the prediction-error signal; and forming a bitstream based on the color-transformed prediction-error signal. The method may further include generating a color-space transformed error residual based on a bitstream; generating an error residual by performing a reversible color-space transform on the color-space transformed error residual; and generating a video frame based on the error residual.

Abstract: A method of coding a quality scalable video sequence is provided. An N-bit input frame is converted to an M-bit input frame, where M is an integer between 1 and N. To be backwards compatible with existing 8-bit video systems, M would be selected to be 8. The M-bit input frame would be encoded to produce a base-layer output bitstream. An M-bit output frame would be reconstructed from the base-layer output bitstream and converted to a N-bit output frame. The N-bit output frame would be compared to the N-bit input frame to derive an N-bit image residual that could be encoded to produce an enhancement layer bitstream.

Abstract: Adjacent blocks are identified in an image. Coding parameters for the adjacent blocks are identified. Deblock filtering between the identified adjacent blocks is skipped if the coding parameters for the identified adjacent blocks are similar and not skipped if the coding parameters for the identified adjacent blocks are substantially different.

Abstract: Adjacent blocks are identified in an image. Coding parameters for the adjacent blocks are identified. Deblock filtering between the identified adjacent blocks is skipped if the coding parameters for the identified adjacent blocks are similar and not skipped if the coding parameters for the identified adjacent blocks are substantially different.