Multi-point predictive foveation for bandwidth reduction of moving images
View Patent ↗A scene of an image sequence is transmitted that has been compressed using a number of foveation zones, each foveation zone being weighted based on a probability of a viewer looking at a corresponding portion of the first scene.
1. A method comprising:
transmitting an image sequence that is compressed based on a plurality of foveation zones, wherein a first foveation zones of the plurality of foveation zones corresponds to a first view location and a second foveation zone of the plurality of foveation zones corresponds to a second view location;
wherein during a portion of the image sequence, the first and second view locations occur concurrently.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
compressing the image sequence based on the plurality of foveation zones.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining view locations within the plurality of foveation zones for a sample of viewers.
4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
estimating a probability of a viewer looking at the first view location and the second view location based at least in part on a scene type occurring during the portion of the image sequence where the first and second view locations occur concurrently; and
weighting at least the first and second foveation zones based on the probability.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of foveation zones is definable by a continuous falloff function.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of foveation zones has a corresponding half-resolution constant based on a probability of a viewer looking at the view location corresponding the foveation zone.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the probability of a viewer looking at the first view location corresponding to the first foveation zone is greater than the probability of a viewer looking at the second view location corresponding to the second foveation zone, and wherein the half-resolution constant of the first foveation zone is greater than the half-resolution constant of the second foveation zone.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of foveation zones is definable by a discrete function.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of foveation zones has a corresponding fixed resolution based on a probability of a viewer looking at a view location corresponding to the foveation zone.
10. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions to direct a computer to perform an act of:
transmitting an image sequence that is compressed based on a plurality of foveation zones, wherein a first foveation zones of the plurality of foveation zones corresponds to a first view location and a second foveation zone of the plurality of foveation zones corresponds to a second view location;
wherein during a portion of the image sequence, the first and second view locations occur concurrently.
11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising computer-readable instructions to direct the computer to perform an act of:
compressing the image sequence based on the plurality of foveation zones.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the computer-readable instructions further direct the computer to perform acts of:
estimating a probability of a viewer looking at the first view location and the second view location based at least in part on a scene type occurring during the portion of the image sequence where the first and second view locations occur concurrently; and
weighting at least the first and second foveation zones based on the probability.
13. An apparatus operable to transmit an image sequence that is compressed based on a plurality of foveation zones, wherein a first foveation zones of the plurality of foveation zones corresponds to a first view location and a second foveation zone of the plurality of foveation zones corresponds to a second view location;
wherein during a portion of the image sequence, the first and second view locations occur concurrently.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is further operable to compress the image sequence based on the plurality of foveation zones.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the apparatus comprises:
at least one eye tracking device to determine view locations for a sample of viewers; and
a processor responsive to the at least one eye tracking device to determine the plurality of foveation zones based on the view locations, to estimate a probability of a viewer looking at the view locations, and to weight each of the foveation zones based on the probability of the viewer looking at the view locations.