Patent ID: 8983236
Filing Date: 2015-03-17
Classification: G06T,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method for up-scaling a source video having a lower, first resolution to a desired output video having a higher, second resolution, each video having a plurality of sequentially-ordered frames of images, each respective frame of images having a plurality of pixels, wherein each respective resolution is defined by the number of rows and columns of pixels in the respective frame, comprising the steps of: for each respective frame of the source video that needs to be up-scaled, using fractal zooming upon a plurality of individual source pixels of the respective frame to generate a corresponding plurality of proposed replacement pixels to replace each of the plurality of individual source pixels, wherein the number of proposed replacement pixels is based on a zoom factor X having an integer value greater than 1, wherein the proposed replacement pixels of each respective frame of the source video define a corresponding proposed replacement frame of the desired output video, each of the proposed replacement frames having a respective interim resolution greater than the first resolution; reducing noise within each of the respective proposed replacement frames; for each of the proposed replacement frames having an interim resolution greater than the second resolution, resizing the interim resolution of each of the respective, proposed replacement frames down to the second resolution; converting each of the proposed replacement frames having the second resolution into corresponding final frames; and outputting each of the respective final frames to generate, when viewed in sequential order, the desired output video, which is the up-scaled version of the source video; wherein the step of usin fractal zooming includes: identifying a plurality of candidate pixels from the source video and (ii) selecting a group of N squared pixels from the pluraliy of candidate pixels that best matches the individual source pixel to be the plurality of proposed replacement pixels, wherein the step of identifying the pluraliy of candidate pixels includes: (a) first dividing each respective frame of the source video into a plurality of non-overlapping domain blocks, each associated with at least one respective individual source pixel from the source video, (b) then defining a plurality of expanded domain blocks, each represented by a 3×3 block of pixels, by combining each respective non-overlapping domain block with a surrounding plurality of context pixels, wherein each of the plurality of expanded domain blocks is unique to its at least one respective individual source pixel of the respective frame of the source video, and thereafter (c) defining a plurality of range blocks for each of the respective frames, wherein the number of pixels in each of the plurality of range blocks is the same as the number of pixels in each of the plurality of expanded domain blocks, wherein the pixels in each range block are comptured by a filtering operation applied to the respective frame of the source video at locations spread out by a constant factor greater than 1 in both the horizontal and the vertical dimensions, each range block being comprised of nine pixel values, each pixel value representing the average of a block of