Patent · US Active

Face detection system for video encoders

US8270476B2 · kind B2 · utility

2Cited by
1References
13Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 31, 2008
Grant dateSep 18, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 3, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N19/85
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Embodiments include a codec for use in a videoconferencing or similar system includes a video encoder pipeline that has a pre-processor component that is optimized to detect faces and compress the facial video data in an optimum manner. The codec has a pre-processing step that analyzes each frame on a per macroblock basis to determine the mathematical activity level per block. The activity level calculation is used as a parameter to the bitrate control module of the encoder to control the quantization, and thus the fine grained quality of the output data. An object detection module (e.g., a face detector) is placed in the pre-processing step. The object detection data is then combined with the activity level and object detection certainty value through a combinatorial algorithm comprising a weighted average or normalized multiplication process.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.