Quality controller for video image

1. A computer implemented method for creating a video image for display on at least one client within a multiparty video conferencing system, the client comprising one or more graphical user interfaces, the video data stream created to meet the perceptual requirements of a viewer within a virtual environment representing the video conferencing system, comprising the steps of:

at a processor, receiving a first client video image, associated with a first client in the multiparty video conferencing system;

receiving spatial coordinates of a video surface associated with the first client within the virtual environment;

receiving from a viewer client spatial coordinates of a viewpoint associated with the viewer client within the virtual environment;

spatially degrading the video image in dependence on the positions and orientations of the viewpoint and the video surface within the virtual environment, the step of spatially degrading the video image is performed by:

dividing the video image into portions;

calculating the size of the portions of the video image as perceived by the viewer in the virtual environment; and

spatially degrading the video image using a frequency masking method applied in the Discrete Cosine Transformation domain by setting a number of coefficients in the DCT domain to zero in dependence on the size of the portion as perceived by the viewer client within the virtual environment;

transmitting the degraded video stream to the viewer client for display within the virtual environment; and

receiving updated spatial coordinates and updating the spatial degradation of the video image in dependence on the updated spatial coordinates.

2. The method according to claim 1 the video image is spatially degraded such that the perceived quality of the image by the viewer client is maintained as the viewpoint moves with respect to the image.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein spatial degradation is applied to each portion based on the distortion of each portion as perceived at the viewpoint.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the distortion is the change in perceived size of the portion.

5. The method according to claim 3 wherein the distortion is calculated by matrix transformation.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the DCT down sampling method only requires inverse entropy coding.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the video image is a video data stream.

8. The method according to, claim 1 wherein the video surface is an avatar in the virtual environment.

9. An apparatus for creating a video data stream for display on at least one client within a multiparty video conferencing system, the client comprising one or more graphical user interfaces, the video data stream created to meet the perceptual requirements of a viewer within a virtual environment representing the video conferencing system, comprising:

a processor for receiving a first client video image, associated with a first client in the multiparty video conferencing system;

a receiver for receiving spatial coordinates of a video surface associated with the first client within the virtual environment;

a receiver for receiving from a viewer client spatial coordinates of a viewpoint associated with the viewer client within the virtual environment;

a processor for spatially degrading the video image in dependence on the positions and orientations of the viewpoint and the video surface within the virtual environment, the processor configured to spatially degrade the video image by:

dividing the video image into portions;

calculating the size of the portions of the video image as perceived by the viewer in the virtual environment; and

spatially degrading the video image using a frequency masking method applied in the Discrete Cosine Transformation domain by setting a number of coefficients in the DCT domain to zero in dependence on the size of the portion as perceived by the viewer client within the virtual environment;

a transmitter for transmitting the degraded video stream to the viewer client for display within the virtual environment,

the receiver being configured to receive updated spatial coordinates and the processor being configured to update the spatial degradation of the video image in dependence on the updated spatial coordinates.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 the processor being configured to spatially degrade the image such that the perceived quality of the image by the viewer client is maintained as the viewpoint moves with respect to the image.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 comprising means for applying spatial degradation to each portion based on the distortion of each portion as perceived by the viewer.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the distortion is the change in perceived size of the portion.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the distortion is calculated by matrix transformation.

14. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the video image is a video data stream.

15. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the video surface is an avatar in the virtual environment.