Apparatus and methods for image encoding using spatially weighted encoding quality parameters

1. A computerized apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors in operative communication with a computer readable storage apparatus having a storage medium, the storage medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors is configured to:

obtain visual content, the visual content comprised of a plurality of spatial portions;

encode each of the plurality of spatial portions of the visual content;

store the encoded plurality of spatial portions along with respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters;

retrieve the stored encoded plurality of spatial portions along with the respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters; and

encode individual spatial portions of the visual content using the respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters;

wherein the respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters are derived based on a spatial distortion introduced by an image capture device that describes a spatially weighted encoding quality over an image space of the visual content.

2. The computerized apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the spatial distortion comprises a pre-defined spatial distortion specification associated with a lens of the image capture device.

3. The computerized apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the spatial distortion comprises a user-configurable spatial distortion parameter.

4. The computerized apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the visual content comprises panoramic content that was captured using two or more image capturing devices.

5. The computerized apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters are separately retrievable so as to enable provision of the visual content to legacy display devices, the legacy display devices not being compatible with the spatially weighted encoding quality parameters.

6. The computerized apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the encoding of the individual spatial portions of the visual content using the respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters occurs prior to provision of the visual content to a display device.

7. The computerized apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the encoding of the individual spatial portions of the visual content using the respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters is dynamically determined based at least in part on a capability of differing display devices.

8. A computer readable storage apparatus having a storage medium, the storage medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions which, when executed, is configured to:

retrieve visual content, the visual content comprised of a plurality of spatial portions;

retrieve stored spatially weighted encoding quality parameters, the spatially weighted encoding quality parameters associated with respective ones of the plurality of spatial portions;

encode individual spatial portions of the plurality of spatial portions of the visual content using respective ones of the spatially weighted encoding quality parameters, the encoded individual spatial portions of the visual content being based at least in part on one or more parameters associated with a display device; encode the individual spatial; and

provide the encoded individual spatial portions of the visual content to the display device.

9. The computer readable storage apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the stored spatially weighted encoding quality parameters are determined at least in part on lens parameters associated with an image capture device utilized to capture the visual content.

10. The computer readable storage apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the image capture device comprises two or more lenses configured to capture panoramic content.

11. The computer readable storage apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising one or more computer-executable instructions which, when executed, is configured to:

receive an adjusted spatially weighted encoding quality parameter from a user subsequent to the provision of the encoded individual spatial portions of the visual content to the display device;

encode at least a portion of the individual spatial portions of the visual content using the adjusted spatially weighted encoding quality parameter; and

provide the encoded at least a portion of the individual spatial portions of the visual content using the adjusted spatially weighted encoding quality parameter to the display device.

12. The computer readable storage apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the spatially weighted encoding quality parameters are separately retrievable so as to enable provision of the visual content to legacy display devices, the legacy display devices not being compatible with the spatially weighted encoding quality parameters.

13. The computer readable storage apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the encoding of the individual spatial portions of the visual content using the spatially weighted encoding quality parameters occurs prior to provision of the visual content to the display device.

14. The computer readable storage apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the encoding of the individual spatial portions of the visual content using the spatially weighted encoding quality parameters is dynamically determined based at least in part on a capability of differing display devices.

15. A method of processing digital image data, the method comprising:

encoding each of a plurality of spatial portions of captured visual content;

storing the encoded plurality of spatial portions along with respective associated spatially weighted encoding quality parameters;

determining the stored respective associated spatially weighted encoding quality parameters based at least in part on lens parameters associated with a device utilized to capture the visual content;

retrieving the stored pre-encoded plurality of spatial portions along with the respective associated spatially weighted encoding quality parameters;

encoding individual ones of the encoded plurality of spatial portions of the visual content using the respective associated spatially weighted encoding quality parameters, the spatially weighted encoding quality parameters comprising at least a first quality parameter associated with a first spatial portion of the captured visual content and a second quality parameter associated with a second spatial portion of the captured visual content, each of the first and second quality parameters comprising information identifying computing resources required for processing the first and second spatial portions, respectively.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the encoding of the each of the plurality of spatial portions comprises compressing at least one of the plurality of spatial portions.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the captured visual content comprises capturing areas of differing measurable qualities, the plurality of spatial portions each comprising respective ones of the differing measurable qualities.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein:

the encoding of the individual ones of the encoded plurality of spatial portions comprises encoding based at least in part on one or more parameters associated with a display device; and

the method further comprises providing the encoded individual ones of the pre-encoded plurality of spatial portions of the visual content to the display device.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the encoding of the individual spatial portions of the visual content using the respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters occurs prior to providing the visual content to a display device.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the encoding of the individual spatial portions of the visual content using the respective spatially weighted encoding quality parameters is dynamically determined based at least in part on a capability of differing display devices.