Patent ID: 9525870
Filing Date: 2016-12-20
CPC Classification: H04N

Claim Text:
1. A method of determining a quantization level for use by an encoder in encoding an image in accordance with a target number of bits, wherein the image comprises one or more image sections which each comprise a plurality of pixels, the method comprising: for each of the one or more image sections in the image, analysing the pixels in the image section to estimate an indication of the complexity of the image section; for each of a plurality of candidate quantization levels, using a relationship and the one or more estimated indications of the complexity of the one or more image sections to estimate an indication of the number of bits that would be generated by encoding the one or more image sections in the image with the encoder using the respective candidate quantization level, wherein said relationship is a function of the quantization level used by the encoder, and wherein said relationship is for use in relating:(i) an indication of the complexity of an image section, to (ii) an estimate of an indication of the number of bits that would be generated by encoding that image section with the encoder; and selecting one of the plurality of candidate quantization levels based on the target number of bits and based on the estimated indications of the number of bits that would be generated by encoding the one or more image sections in the image with the encoder using the respective candidate quantization levels, wherein said selected quantization level is for use by the encoder in encoding the image.