Business method for selectable semantic codec pairs for very low data-rate video transmission

A business method for using computer image processing for selectable task-based digital video compression is described. The method is intended to reduce travel of experts and let these experts direct field agents in performing tasks remotely. The tasks to be performed in the remote field can be monitoring, manipulating, and navigating. A field agent performs the manipulation and navigation operations, this agent can be a human being or a robot. The task-based compression algorithms use computer vision techniques to extract the bare minimum amount of information from the remote field scenery to allow the task to be performed. High frame rate photo-realistic reconstruction of the remote scene is not generally necessary.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a business method using computer image processing, and, more particularly, to a computer image processing system for semantic video compression and decompression.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Digital video is seldom transmitted or stored in its raw, original form. Rather, the digital video data is compressed in some fashion. Compression of video is possible because there are, depending on the type of footage, various amounts of redundancy present in the video signal. There exists spatial redundancy because, within the video frames, the signal does not change much between most pixels (picture elements of the video frame); there exists temporal redundancy because the video signal does not change much between most frames. There also exists perceptual redundancy because the pixel value fluctuations within frames and between frames contain more information than can be perceived by the human eye.

There are many video compression techniques, among which, such as the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards, that try to exploit these redundancies in order to compress a video signal as much as possible while still maintaining the visual content of the video as well as possible. Spatial redundancy is exploited by transmitting the coefficients of the DCT transform of 8×8 image blocks. Temporal redundancy is exploited by transmitting only differences between subsequent frames, where these differences are expressed using motion compensation vectors. Perceptual redundancy is exploited by limiting the color information in the signal.

These compression standards support high resolution and high frame rate video. Lower-bandwidth video compression techniques (like H.263, H.320, and H.323) also exist, but these usually support only low resolution images (QSIF) at low frame rates (2 fps). Such compression schemes are usually designed either as general-purpose systems for any image type, or specifically as video conferencing systems.

A more recent compression standard, which is still under development, is MPEG-4. Where MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 do not take into consideration the visual content of the individual video frames, MPEG-4 does. Rather than basing the compression on image blocks, the compression is based on image regions that actually may correspond to semantically meaningful area of the 3D scene. For example, a textured region can be compressed as a representation of its boundary plus parameters that describe the texture, possibly with a residual image as well. Although MPEG4 does not prescribe how the regions are to be extracted, computer vision techniques are often used. MPEG-4 also has provisions for very high-level compression of moving faces. A general geometric face model is predefined with a number of control points. The encoder just has to set the initial location of these points and provide trajectories for them as the video progresses. It is up to the decoder then to take care of reconstructing and displaying a suitable face based on this parameter set.

A compressor and corresponding decompressor pair that can code a signal into a compressed form and then can decode a signal back into its original format is called a codec. The compression can either be lossless, in which case the decoded signal is equal to the original signal, or lossy, in which case the decoded signal is merely a “good” approximation of the original signal. In the latter case, information is lost between the original and reconstructed signal, but a good compression algirithm attempts to ensure the best possible decoded signal (usually from a human perceptual standpoint) within a given bit rate. Lossless techniques could also be applied to an image or video, but generally do not yield enough data reduction to be very useful (typically compression ratios between 1.2 and 2.5, whereas MPEG-1 usually runs at 30 to 50).

The following reference describes examples of the state of the prior art in compression technology:B. G. Haskell, A. P. Puri, and A. N. Netravali,Digital Video: An Introduction to MPEG-2, Chapman & Hall: New York, 1997

Chapter 1 pages 1-13, introduces compression, standards for video conferencing (H.320), MPEG1 and MPEG2. The low bit-rate standard, H.263, is handled on pages 370-382. MPEG4 is introduced on pages 387-388. These references are incorporated herein in their entirety.

The compression techniques proposed herein require computer vision techniques. The following computer vision techniques are especially relevant.

Edge detection: These are techniques to identify sharp discontinuities in the intensity profile of images. Edge detectors are operators that compute differences between pairs of neighboring pixels. High responses to these operators are the identified as edge pixels. Edge maps can be computed in a single scan through the image. Examples of edge detection are the Gradient- and Laplacian-type edge finders and edge templates such as Sobel.

Region finding: This is a class of techniques that identify areas of continuity within an image (in a sense, the opposite of edge detection). The areas that are to be detected are constant in some image property. This property can be intesity, color, texture, or some combination of these. Using connected components techniques, regions can be computed in a single scan. Clustering approaches have also been successfully. An example here is the detection of hands or faces in frames by finding regions with flesh tone.

Background subtraction: This is a method where two images are used to find image regions corresponding to objects. A first image is acquired without the objects present, then a second image with the objects. Subtracting the second image from the first and ignoring regions near zero results in a segmented image of the objects.

Normalized correlation: This is a technique for comparing two image patches Q1and Q2. The normalized correlation at some translation T is defined as:
NC=[E(Q1Q2)−E(Q1)E(Q2)]/Sigma(Q1)Sigma(Q2)
with E(.) the expectation and Sigma(.) the variance. High values here indicate that the patches are very similar, despite possible differences in lighting conditions.

Normalized correlation and other computer vision techniques, are described more fully in:D. Ballard and C. Brown,Computer Vision, Prentice-Hall: New Jersey, 1982.

Gradient- and Laplacian-type edge finders and edge templates can be found on pages 75-80; pages 149-155 describe region finding and connected components techniques; background subtraction on pages 72-73; and normalized correlation can be found on pages 68-70. These references are incorparted herein in their entirety.

Some of the above techniques are also used to process the frames in order to compute MPEG4 compression. However, MPEG4 (and MPEG1-2) coding techniques are, in general proprietary and hence descriptions of the actual techniques used are not available. Yet all that is important from a functional standpoint is that it is possible for decoders which adhere to the standard to decode the resulting signal.

Problems with the Prior Art

One of the concerns of this invention is the efficient use of professional's and expert's time, especially through savings on the time and money that is used for travel. Traditional means of dispersing experts to locations that can be remote is expensive and inefficient, mainly since it involves time-consuming expensive travel. Consider the following scenarios that are very costly in terms of personnel resources and travel.

A company is building a large hydroelectric dam. Sometimes life-threatening situations arise and an expert must be flown in. Typically, most work at the site stops until this individual arrives and diagnoses the problem.

High-priced service contracts for photocopiers guarantee that a technician will be on site within an hour, when needed. Such field service personnel often spend a large fraction of their time driving from site to site, not using their expertise. Other times, they sit around waiting for a call. These cases may mean idled manpower and machinery, schedule slippage, the need for a large staff and high travel costs.

There are prior art techniques that address these concerns. For example, the field of telemedicine is the practice of medicine at a distance, e.g., telepresence surgery. A military application of this is where highly qualified surgeons remotely assist battle field doctors and medics to perform delicate surgery on casualties with life threatening injuries. This work must be done in the field since the soldiers are often so injured that they cannot be easily moved. Civil applications of telemedicine, where the field doctors may be assisted by remotely controlled robot arms (by the expert surgeon), may eventually become widespread also. High quality, high-resolution cameras that record and transmit pertinent images needed for performing the medical task are of essence in telemedicine.F. Hamit, “To the Virtual Collaborative Clinic: NASA and Telemedicine's Future,”Advanced Imaging, July 1999, pp. 31-33.

This Reference is Incorporated in its Entirety

Many other types of tele-operations can be envisioned. For instance, in the civil engineering example mentioned above, an expert could remotely diagnose the problem and field personnel could then fix the problems under supervision of the expert. Similar solutions can be used in the copier repair arena. Lower paid field personnel could service and repair the copiers. When problems are difficult to diagnose or repair, the field agents could contact an expert in the office and establish a video link to let the expert direct and guide the field work.

A problem with these remotely diagnosis and repair processes is that video images of high resolution and high quality need to be transmitted. For digital video transmission this means that high bandwidth communications channels are required, even if compression is used. For analog video transmission this means that high power transmitters are required. Furthermore, hard-to-obtain licenses from the FCC need to be secured.

Compression techniques like the MPEG standards are designed to compress and decompress the video such that there is as little information loss as possible. That is, the decoded video is a faithful reconstruction of the original video, at least to the human eye. This is not always possible when there is a lot of motion in the video. For standard resolution, and in particular for HDTV, even such compressed signals are of too high a bandwidth. The bandwidth required is in the 1-20 Mbaud range depending on image resolution and quality. High bandwidth communication channels and high-bandwidth equipment are expensive, so low bandwidth is much more preferable. Also, in many remote areas such broadband links are not available. Instead there may only be a phone line (28-53 Kbaud) or cell-phone service (10-20 Kbaud).

However, while low-bandwidth codecs (like H.263) already exist, they usually support only low resolution images (QSIF) at low frame rates (2 fps or worse) over such channels. A number of tasks require better resolution. Other tasks require high update rate interaction between a field agent and the directing expert. Furthermore, these codecs are usually designed either as video conferencing products (where facial motion is paramount) or a general-purpose systems for any video type and genre. These prior art compression techniques used have no notion of what is important to a particular task and hence degrade all information uniformly. That is, prior art compression methods do not have a proper model of what information in the images in important to a given task and what is not. Hence, commonly available low bandwidth channels constrain standard video codecs to operate at too low speed to provide real-time feedback. This makes it impossible to direct some tasks remotely, an expert must be located in the field instead. In general, the problem with prior art compression is that it is not possible to transmit high-resolution, high frame rate over low bandwidth channels because these compression techniques are not designed for low bandwidth telepresence applications.

Much prior art in semantic or content-based compression concentrates on compression for video telephony and conferencing. This type of compression is highly geared to the fact that the video images contains a “talking head.” An instance is the semantic compressor described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,115 to J. R. Rosenberg. This codec uses an edge detector to produce an edge map of each frame. A set of different size pattern templates having a pair of ellipsoid face-edge contours is defined off-line. These templates are correlated with the edge map and detect size and position of the face. Block-base compression (as in the MPEG1-2 standards) are then applied preferentially to the macro blocks (2×2 blocks) within the ellipse. Here, there is strong reliance on a two-dimensional model of talking head, although presumably other object models might also be used.

A content-based compression technique that is not dependent on object models is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,171 to T. Chen. Here the frames are segmented into subjected and non-subject regions. A simple way to do this is define a color spectrum for the desired subject region, and then declare any areas which do not have suitable pixel colors relative to this to be to non-subject regions. Just the subject regions are then coded and decoded. Video telephony is one application for this compression scheme.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,856 to Moura and Jasinschi describes a motion-based codec. First, moving figure velocity and background velocity are estimated. Second, the figure velocity is compensated with relation to the background velocity. Third, the figure is segmented using a threshold to detect if a figure moves in relation to the background. Fourth, the segmented figures are tessellated into blocks. A background image is computed using out and pasted operations. Compression is then achieved by transmitting the tessellated segmented figures and, only when border updates are needed, appropriate background images.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,183 to R. K. Talluri et. al describe a similar content-based compression scheme based on MPEG1-2. Regions of change (moving objects) are detected from reconstructed frame F(N−1) to the frame F(N). The boundaries of these regions, including holes, are encoded and added to the frame. Removal of temporal redundancies is achieved by finding blocks in the previous frame that match blocks in the current frame F(N). The signal is further compressed by synthesizing F(N)′ from the previous frame and comparing F(N)′ to F(N). This is done to find frame regions that still contain significant amounts of information (residual), which is then compressed in the same way. This helps support selective encoding/decoding of objects in the bitstream sequences as well as object scalability.

For all these prior art teachings, the objective is to reconstruct the video at the receiver-end as photo-realistic images with as much information as possible, at least in the frame areas of interest. That is, in important areas the decoded video should have all the properties of the original image (such as colors, edges, textures, motion, etc.) and also be visually pleasing. This is achieved by using motion detection or motion segmentation, region (sub/object) detection, or models of the expected objects in the video. None of the above systems describes selectable codes, in the sense that the receiver has the choice of different codecs to use.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,183 to R. K. Talluri et. al describe a codec that allows that operator to choose which objects in the video are to be encoded but, still, the goal is to make these objects look close to their original appearance when decoded. None of the codecs is geared to compressing the video in such a fashion that only that information that is pertinent to a given task is encoded. In addition, none of the codecs have the capability to transmit high-fidelity frames at the request of the viewer or according to given algorithmic rules. Further, prior art encoding depends heavily on fairly complex image processing and computer vision techniques. The breakdown of these techniques results in abrupt degradation of the decoded video signals. In general, it is preferable for the encoding, and hence the decoded signal, to instead degrade gratefully when the input video degrades in quality.

OBJECTS FOR THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved business method for using task-based compression in tele-operations.

Another object of the invention is to allow the user to specify the type of task that is being performed and, based on this, automatically select an appropriate codec.

Another object of the invention is to provide a low bandwidth view finder mode to allow a remote operator to choose a specific scene to be encoded at a higher resolution.

A further object of the invention is to provide a low bandwidth the positioning mode to allow a remote operator to successfully point the camera or some other instrument at a specified object in the scene.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention describes a business method for using selectable task-based digital video codecs for very low bandwidth communication. Conventional video compression techniques have no notion of what is semantically important information in the video. The compression techniques described in this invention, on the other hand, are highly geared to the task for which the video is acquired an transmitted. Computer vision techniques are used to compute very compact representations of the video that can be transmitted at high frame rates over low bandwidth channels, even along with audio conversations on phone lines in some cases. Computer vision techniques such as edge detection, region finding, background subtraction, and normalized correlation are used to find semantically important image features. In such a way, a video representation that is meaningful within a given task domain computed.

In some preferred embodiments, the invention is intended to reduce travel of experts and let these experts guide and direct field agents in performing the operations in an office environment. The field here could be remote and dangerous locations such as space, deep sea exploration, ocean-going ships, hazardous areas, etc. The field agent could be a human being or a robot in the form of a robot arm or vehicle. The tasks to be performed in the remote field could be monitoring, manipulating, repairing, and navigating, among others.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Recruiting highly qualified personnel with advanced skills can be costly and sometimes may not even be possible. On the other hand, providing highly advanced training to current employees can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if there is a high turn-over rate. Yet, there is often excess capacity hidden within an organization. That is, it may be possible to more effectively use the skills of the experts already present by cutting out low-value activities such as travel. In this way, a genuine savings can be realized without incurring the difficulties and time lags associated with finding or training additional experts.

The idea is to just “beam in” agents (experts) to a site (the field) when needed, instead of sending them physically to the site. Sometimes a telephone conversation is just not enough: beyond audio, visual information in the form of video also needs to be transmitted. In this way, a single employee can have a nearly ubiquitous presence.

The invention involves transmitting this video information over very low bandwidth communication links by letting the expert select from a bank of special low-rate “semantic” compression modules. A semantic coder/decoder or compresssor/decompressor pair (codec) does not try to compress and decompress images in order to recreate the full scene in photo-realistic detail. Rather, it only transmits that portion of the scene information which is relevant to a particular task. By drastically cutting the amount of information transmitted, the update rate (number of “frames” per second) can be improved substantially while transmitting over low bandwidth channels. The key is to have a sophisticated, task-specific compressor (computer vision program) at the front end of the video transmission system (i.e., in the field). At the receiving site (referred to as the office), a bank of corresponding decompressor is installed. The expert in the office selects the appropriate codec pair.

Referring now to the drawings,FIG. 1shows a view of the office agent120remotely monitoring, manipulating or navigating something in the field using semantically compressed video transmitted through some low bandwidth channel130. The office100is some location where the human expert120(office agent) is located. This location basically can be anywhere where there is access to the low bandwidth channel130. This channel can be any network, including the Internet, the telephone network, or a private network. The “field” location110also has access to this same network. The field location can be some remote site somewhere on earth, or a location that is even more inaccessible such as deep space, planetary surfaces, underwater, or a location which is hazardous to access such as a nuclear power plant or a forest fire area.

The field agent140is a human agent or some robot device like a robot arm or vehicle. This field agent carries an input device150that includes a computing device155. Alternatively, the computing device155may be located somewhere in the field with wireless high-bandwidth receiving capabilities from the input device150. The input device is a generally a video camera, which is preferably head-mounted if the field agent is a human being. This video is optionally displayed on display157. The input device acquires images or moving images that are semantically compressed by computing device150based on the task that the human expert120is performing (by his remote direction of the field agent). The field agent handles the camera, but the office agent is actively involved in controlling the pointing of this camera (albeit indirectly).

Through communication channel130, the compressed signal is transmitted to another computing device160at the office site100. This computing device160decompresses the signal into visible imagery which is displayed on output device170. This image does not have to be photo-realistic. The expert120may optionally use a microphone180to verbally communicate appropriate manipulation or navigation commands to the field agent. The expert also could use some other optional input device190, like a mouse, joystick, etc., to achieve this. Alternatively this might be a device which has the capability of controlling a number of degrees of freedom. This would allow the office agent to more directly manipulate an object in the field110, or allow him to navigate an optional vehicle or arm159.

An optional secondary low bandwidth communication channel170is used for audio communication if the field agent is a human. This channel is a bi-directional communication channel between an optional audio I/O input device180at the office site100and an optional audio I/O input device185at the field site110. The base station173at office site100and the base station176at field site110are codecs for the bi-directional audio. This optional channel170could, for example, be a phone line. Base stations173and176can be optionally combined with computing device160and computing device155, respectively.

FIG. 2is a block diagram of the system showing the task-based compression, transmission, and decompression of the signal. Again, on the left, there is the office location100and, on the right, there is the (remote) field location110. There is an input device150, generally a camera, in the field. The acquired images are compressed by task-based compressor210. This compressor is selectable220, in the sense that the office expert may select the type of compression as needed for a specific task by a selector225. Hence,210is a bank of selectable compressors as shown inFIG. 4, and250is a bank of decompressor. Blocks230and240are two network interface devices (NIDs) appropriate for the particular network or channel that is used. This channel is bi-directional with compressed video transmitted from field110, and possibly audio communication from field agent140, up to office agent120in office100. In the other direction compressor selections, and possibly office agent instructions for the field agent, are transmitted down from office100to the field110. The task-based decompressor250reconstructs the compressed signal into displayable format so that it can be viewed on output device170. Task-based decompressor250and task-based compressor210are controlled in tandem by selector225.

FIG. 3shows a flow diagram of the selection of a task-based compressor followed by compression, transmission and decompression of the signal. On the left of the diagram is the office location100, and on the right is the (remote) field location110. In step310the user (the expert120in the office) requests a particular format for compression, i.e. selects the appropriate compressor from the bank of compressors shown inFIG. 4. This request315is both transmitted316to the field110and directed to the decompressor355at the office100. In the field110the request is received325and used to select330the requested compressor. That is, selectable220task-based compressor210is set to perform the proper type of compression350. At this point, the office site is ready to receive compressed video or images. The video is acquired340through some input device150and compressed350by the compressor selected from the suite of compressors shown inFIG. 4. The compressed video is formatted for transmission360in the field and then received365at the office site100. Subsequently, the compressed video is decoded355into displayable form and then sent to output device170, typically a display. Again, it should be noted that the output need not be a photo-realistic rendering of the scene acquired in the field.FIG. 4shows a block diagram of the selecting process for choosing the appropriate task-based compression of the video. The input to selector410takes is the output of camera150. The selector410then is essentially a switch420by which different semantic (task-based) compressors can be selected. Here one of a series of different compressors, compressor1(430), compressor2(432), compressor3(434), or compressor4(436) may be selected. Many more compressors438could additionally be incorporated if so desired. The compressed signals are then input to Network Interface Device (NID)230, which readies the signal for transport to the office site100.FIGS. 5-9show various semantic compressors that could be used. It is also envisioned that two or more different compression techniques could used at the same time, and that at the office site100the different decompressed signals would be displayed on a single output device170, or on two or more output devices.

FIG. 5shows an example frame500from the output video of camera150at field site110and the corresponding semantically compressed (and then decompressed) frame550received at the office site100. The compressed video is being transmitted over a low bandwidth channel130which may be some sort of network or a wireless radio connection. Frame500has been processed with an edge detector to find all the edge elements in the frame, while suppressing those in high texture areas (e.g. regions510). The longest edges (560) are then found using local contour chain-coding and are selectively transmitted to the office site. While this would not generate a “pretty” image at the office site100, it provides enough information to orient the camera while providing a high frame rate over limited bandwidth. The amount of information, represented by a set of lines or curves560, is very small for each frame. Hence, this semantic compressor can achieve very high rates of compression.

This is an example of a semantic compressor in “viewfinder” mode where the office agent can quickly see where the field agent is pointing the camera. The office agent can also, in real time (30 frames per second), direct the field agent where and how to move the camera. After the right direction has been established, or at the request of the office expert, a high-resolution “snapshot” could be uploaded at any time. Such a high-resolution image is in the form of image500—a full photo-realistic or “pretty” image. Pertinent detail520, which should be viewed at high resolution to formulate instructions on how to manipulate the environment, is then clearly visible. In this application a high frame update rate is much more important than image fidelity. Other applications for this semantic compressor include telepresence operations such as telemanipulation, telemonitoring, tele-inspection, telerepair, etc.

FIG. 5Ashows a flowchart for the compression and decompression process used in as an example inFIG. 5. This process works by selectively retaining edges as generated by a line finder. At the field location runs encoder process570shown on the left. First the field unit acquires581a scene image and then takes a spatial derivative582across the image, such as convolving it with the Sobel edge finder mask set. Next, the responses are thresholded and grouped583into linear segments with constant orientation. Step584optionally discards lines, such as diagonals, which are not in a preferred direction. Step585then sorts the remaining candidate lines by overall length, or some other measure of importance or salience relative to the task. Step586checks to see if the full inter-frame interval has elapsed yet. If not, the parameters of the most important line are sent587to the office location and the corresponding candidate is removed588from the list. Now step586once again checks if the inter-frame interval is over (e.g. 33 ms for a 30 Hz update rate). If there is more time available, the process continues around the loop several more times and transmits the parameters of the next few line segments on the sorted list. Typically, many of the detected line segments will not be transmitted since there is not enough time for such a detailed scene description. Once the time has expired, however, a special synchronization message is sent589and a new image is acquired581by the field system for analysis as before.

To receive such images, the office location runs decoder process590as shown on the right ofFIG. 5A. Although other setups could be conceived, in the example it is assumed that the office unit has two separate display areas: one for the new image being built up, and one for the last full image so built. When the office unit receives591a packet of information from the field unit it first checks whether this is a sync signal592. If it is a sync, the current working image is transferred593to the finished image display area and the working image display area is cleared594. If the received packet was not a sync signal, the parameters received are used to draw595a line in the working image display area. Once a packet is handled through one of these two pathways, the office unit returns to the initial state591and awaits the arrival of a new packet.

FIG. 6shows a different compressor useful for navigating (and possibly manipulating) in predominantly natural (outdoor) environments. An example frame600from the camera150at field site110and the corresponding semantically compressed (and decompressed) frame650at office site100are shown. Once again, the information necessary to reconstruct image650is being transmitted over a low bandwidth channel130. Here each image frame600is processed using region finding techniques. For example, a predominantly blue region610on top of the image is displayed as a sky rectangle660in the reduced image650. Other sky features such as clouds and the sun position are omitted as irrelevant to the task. Similarly, regions that satisfy color properties of surfaces that allow for traveling and maneuvering620, are indicated as schematically as paths and roads670. Generally, just the boundaries of these regions need to be transmitted; the detailed shading and texture of the road surface can be omitted. The rest of the semantically compressed image650is a visual summary. Green textured regions with boundaries, such as623(tree tops and bushes), are displayed as leafy blobs in the compressed image673. Their exact boundary details may not be important and hence additional bandwidth can be saved by sending only a parametric description (e.g., an equivalent ellipse position and dimensions). Or, alternatively, such common recognized items may be deliberately omitted if they are not relevant to the task at hand (in this case, presumably keeping the vehicle on the road). On the other hand, unknown objects such as the horses626, may be displayed as distinct blobs676to alert the office agent. Objects like the tree trunk629are also distinctly marked679—while this is information not directly needed for driving, such obstacles may present significant hazards if the operator loses control in their vicinity.

Again, this is an example of a semantic compressor in viewfinder mode where the office agent can quickly see in what direction the field agent (possibly a robot) is heading. Because the compressed frames can be easily transmitted in real time (30 frames per second), the office agent can give direct, real-time driving instructions to the field agent. As inFIG. 5, a high-resolution snapshot may optionally be uploaded at any time. Such a high-resolution images are in the form of image600, either full pixel information or compressed with a general perceptual codec like JPEG. Potentially pertinent detail, such as626, are then clearly visible. It is also possible to only transmit certain selected regions at photo-realistic quality.

FIG. 6Ashows a flowchart for the region segmentation codec used in the driving example ofFIG. 6. The field unit executes encoder process601which is based on sophisticated computer vision techniques for understanding the scene. In step635the field unit acquires an image and then optionally determines the current time and location636(perhaps from GPS) and saves this as meta-data637on an internal queue. Next, it finds the horizon line of the scene638and saves a single line approximation639on the queue. Then it looks for extended terrain features640such roads, buildings, forested areas, boundaries of large bodies of water, etc. and forms sparse polygonal approximations641to the edges of such areas. Similarly, it step642the field unit identifies compact entities such as trees, bushes, rocks, puddles, etc. and forms elliptical approximations to them643. These ellipses capture the centroid of the region, its overall orientation in the image, and its approximate spatial extents (major and minor axes). The ellipses from step643, as well as the polygonal approximations from step641, are also stored on the internal scene analysis queue.

Step644then takes the entire queue which has been developed and sorts it by each item's relevance to the overall task. In the case of driving it may critical to know the vehicle's absolute position and attitude. Thus the time/place meta-data and linear horizon approximation would be given high priority. The next most important things might be the polygonal approximation of the road boundaries, and the elliptical approximations of any rocks or other obstructions lying in the road region. All the other computed entities would be assigned lower priority. Step645checks whether there is any time left for transmitting information about the current frame. If so, the parameters of the most important item from the queue are transmitted647to the office unit and the item is removed648from the queue. Once an item is transmitted, the remaining inter-frame time is checked again645to see whether more items can be transmitted. If not, a special sync signal is sent646and a new image is acquired635for analysis. In this way the most important items are guaranteed to be sent to the office unit, with the less important scene elements being communicated as bandwidth allows.

To receive a video stream coded in this fashion, the office unit runs decoder process602shown on the right ofFIG. 6A. It first receives a packet of information685from the field unit and checks whether it is the special sync signal. As in the previous decoder detailed inFIG. 5A, we assume the office unit has two display areas. When the sync signal is received, the image which was being built is transferred687to the finished display area and the image assembly area is cleared688. If the packet was not a sync, step689checks whether is was a linear approximation. If so, it plots690the corresponding line in the image assembly area and either tags it with the appropriate type (e.g. “horizon”) or renders it in such a way that its type is evident (e.g. blue above, green below). If instead the packet is determined to be a polygonal chain code691, the polygon is rendered692in the image assembly area with an appropriate style or annotation to describe its type. If the packet is an elliptical approximation693, the received parameters are used to draw694a color-coded ellipse in the assembly area. Finally, if the packet was none of the other types, it is assumed to be meta-data and is displayed as a textual string695in some appropriate area of the reconstructed image (such as a corner).

FIG. 7shows task-based compression for manipulating known environments based on models or high-resolution images of the objects that need to be manipulated. Sometimes the office agent may need to coordinate with a field agent in field100to designate which control or subassembly of a machine should be adjusted. This might be accomplished by first sending700a high resolution image of the affected control panel, even if it takes (say) 30 seconds. This high-resolution image could be the segmented control panel image715from image710. On the instrument panel there may be both control instruments704and measuring instruments708. The received image715could then be displayed as a static snapshot on output device170in the office environment100. The field computer155at the camera end150then realigns each new720image with respect to this reference shot and finds where the field agent110is currently pointing. This might be accomplished using a combination of flesh tone and motion processing to segment the agent's hand730from the image720. Now all that needs to be up-linked130to the office agent120is the location that the field agent is pointing to750, and possibly the position and orientation of the agent's hand740. To the office expert this might be shown as a cross-hair cursor760on the saved high resolution image710. Since pointing information only requires a few bytes, the update rate could be very fast thus giving a tight response loop.

Alternatively, a model of the instrument panel710could be available to both the field computer155and the office computer160. The field computer then matches the images720to the model (as opposed to a previous image) and determines the position of the field agent's hand730with respect to the model. Again, all that needs to be up-linked130to the office agent120is the position of the agent's hand740and possibly the location that the field agent is pointing to750. To the office expert this could be shown as a cross-hair cursor760on a rendered image715of the model of the instrument panel in710.

FIG. 7Ashows the flowchart for the object tracking codec used in this example. The field unit runs encoder process780shown on the right. First it optionally grabs a reference image781and transmits it782to the office unit. This would usually be accomplished through some standard static image compression technique such as JPEG coding. Alternatively, both the field unit and office unit may have a suitable pre-stored background image (e.g. if it is a standard control panel) and hence merely need to agree on which image will be used. After the reference image is established, the system is switched over to the special object tracking codec. Here it first acquires a new scene image783and aligns it784to the known reference image to account for any camera motion. It then employs a special detector785that finds human hands (or some other designated object for which it has a detection procedure). Finally the position of the hand, or the tip of the finger if the hand is pointing, are transmitted786to the office unit and the field unit acquires another image783to repeats the cycle.

The associated decoder process790is straightforward. First, the office unit receives the static reference image791, or agrees with the field unit about which canned image will be used. It then displays792this background image to the user and awaits location packets from the field unit. When a pointer location is received793, the office unit erases794any previous pointer indication from the image and then renders795the new pointer location in some appropriate fashion on the display. To accomplish step795it might choose to use cross-hairs, an arrow, a graphical icon of a hand, etc. After this is done, the office unit awaits the receipt of another location packet793and performs a similar update of the cursor.

FIG. 8shows a related task-oriented compression technique for monitoring known environments based on models of the objects that need to be detected or based on motion detection. Camera150in the field110is monitoring an area and acquires image800. The scenery in this area contains man-made objects805, natural objects810, and walking paths (or roads)815. The system for remote low-bandwidth monitoring is intended to detect moving objects, such as people820and830. Such objects can be easily detected by motion analysis, for example, by background substraction.

First, consider the case where camera150is fixed and the area captured in image800is known and relatively unchanging. The image may also be known a priori at the office site100. To reconstruct the current scene at the office site100, all that needs to be transmitted over channel130are the locations860and870of the detected moving objects820and830, respectively, and possibly their velocities,870and890. This is enough information to construct an image like850which can then be overlaid on the known image of the field area. This resultant image gives a high-resolution image of the monitored area with symbols superimposed representing the moving objects820and830. In addition, rough two-dimensional models of the objects of interest (humans, cars) can be matched to moving object images to help visually indicate object type. When specific conditions occur, such as two people coming together then stopping, the system could be switched to another codec pair to send a high resolution snap-shot of the meeting or a short video of their interaction. Such conditions might be detected automatically, or through the intervention of a human operator.

If the camera150inFIG. 8is non-static, a high-resolution image of the monitored area800can be uploaded to the office100periodically. This image, then, is used as the background to compose a real-time video with moving objects820and830, represented by860and880, superimposed in the form of symbols like stars. A possible application for this codec is the monitoring of traffic patterns at remote roads and highways (the field, in this case).

FIG. 8Ashows the flowchart for a suitable semantic codec based on motion segmentation. In encoder process801shown on the right, the field unit first receives some sort of specification concerning the type(s) of object to track831, and possibly a restricted area of interest832as well. It then acquires a scene image833and looks for regions of high motion834. This might be done by simple image differencing, optical flow calculations, blob tracking, feature correspondence, or some other method. The detected regions are then pruned835by removing candidates which lie outside the region of interest (if supplied). Finally, the remaining regions are further filtered836to determine if they correspond to objects of the appropriate type(s). This might be based on oscillatory motion of the legs if the desired objects were humans; or large size, consistent motion direction, and low acceleration if the desired objects were vehicles. In step837the image locations of the detected targets are transmitted to the office unit and the cycle repeats. Typically there will be very few targets so all their locations can be sent. However, for very “busy” images it may be necessary to prioritize the targets so that at least the most “important” ones (as determined by the nature of the task) get transmitted.

The corresponding decoder process802is fairly simple. First the office unit transmits some specification of the type(s) of targets it is concerned with841, and possibly some constrained image region in which to look for them842. The office unit then displays to the user a background image representing the area being monitored. This may be a standard stored image acquired in the past through some other means, a high-resolution image of the scene transmitted with a different codec pair, or a symbolic graphical rendition of the remote environment. The decoder then waits for a set of object locations844. When this occurs, the decoder erases845any old object markers which might be on the display, and overlays846onto the static background image new markers for the detected objects at the image locations specified. These markers might be different colors or shapes for different object types, or have textual labels printed next to them to indicate their type. Step847then optionally modifies these marks to indicate object movement directions and speeds. This might be done either by attaching vectors to the object icons, or by some other method such as modulating the intensity of each icon in proportion to its speed.

FIG. 9shows a task-based compression for manipulating environments based on correlation and models of the object that needs to be manipulated. Here, the task is to aid the field agent in finding desired objects. Image900is from field locale110where images are acquired by camera150. The camera has a view of some man-made or natural environment that contains objects910. The view also contains the object of interest920(a radiator) and a part930of it (the thermostat) that is of particular interest. Further, this view may contain a projected laser pattern940centered at the field of view of camera150. This pattern is visible to the field agent directly—no display device is required. Ideally such pattern would have a discernible orientation and size (not just a dot) to help the field and office agents communicate about directions and distances. Alternatively, the field agent may see a similar pattern superimposed on the scene in the camera viewer.

The specific task is to help the field agent find the heater controls930so that he can be directed to adjust these controls. To do this the position of the target930is directly detected at the transmitter end110(the field) by the field computer155using a technique like normalized correlation, or region finding techniques such as were used to locate the field agent's hand inFIG. 7. The amount of information that needs to be transmitted is just the location (and possibly size) of the target970, which can be easily achieved even with severely limited bandwidth. The lower image950is the office view with a cross hair960corresponding to the center of the field of view of camera150(equivalent to the laser pattern visible to the field agent). This view further shows the location970of the target930(heater controls) with respect to the cross hair960. The office agent can then direct the field agent how to move the camera in order to make the target appear at the center of the camera view (e.g. “look higher and a little to the left”). In image950this direction is980. This interaction continues until the cross hair960in the lower image950is on top of the target location970. When this alignment is achieved, in the field110the laser marker940appears directly on the target930in (or the designated target appears in the center of the field agent's display). The office agent and the field agent thus have reached an agreement about what item is being talked about and can proceed with the assigned task.

FIG. 9Ashows a flowchart for this sort of template matching codec. Encoder process901, shown on the left, first waits to receive some sort of target specification941from the office unit. If this is determined to be a geometric specification942, an appropriate area of some image is extracted943and saved944as the target template. For instance, the office unit might transmit the center and size of a rectangle relative to the last high-resolution image transmitted (using a different codec pair). The portion of the image within this rectangle would then be cut-out and used as the target to match. If instead the field unit receives an actual image patch, it is merely stored944for later use.

In the main loop, encoder process901first grabs a scene image945. It then compares946the target template to this image at various offsets and possibly with various rotations and scales. Such comparisons might be done by normalized correlation, the generalized Hough transform, sum of absolute differences, geometric hashing, or some other technique. The maximum response(s) are then found947and the corresponding position and orientation (together called “pose”) and scaling factor are transmitted948to the office unit. There may be either a single target identified, or multiple targets (possibly of different types), depending on the task.

To reconstruct displays based on this coded video stream, the office unit executes decoder process902shown on the right side ofFIG. 9A. First, the office unit specifies991which sort of target(s) are relevant either by sending a full target image patch, a geometric sub-area specification relative to some previous image, or an agreed upon designator for some standard stored target template. The office unit then receives992the pose and scale of the detected target(s) from the field unit. If an image-like display is desired993, the received parameters are used to transform995the known target image patch to have the correct orientation and scale (and possibly shear). The transformed patch is then rendered996in the user display at the position determined by the field unit. Alternatively, for a more basic graphical mode as shown inFIG. 9, a simple target indicator might be displayed994at the appropriate location instead.

FIG. 10shows still another codec based on varying the spatial resolution of the encoder. In each input image1050the location of an anchor patch1055(some local feature) is sought by the compressor. Once this is found a grid1060with varying pixel sizes is laid over the image. There is a high resolution region1065near the position of anchor feature1055, with a surrounding region of medium resolution1070. Further from the anchor there is a region of low resolution1075and then a region of very low resolution1080. Instead of transmitting the full detail contained in the patch covered by a subregion (pixel) in this grid, only some statistical digest is sent, such as the average gray value (the patch value).

This varying spatial resolution drastically cuts down on the number of pixels sent and thereby improves frame rate for a given bandwidth. Yet this scheme still retains details in areas crucial to a particular task. For instance, the task might be to remotely drive some vehicle down a road. Here it would be beneficial to retain a constant-size rendition of the surroundings. That is, the number of pixels covering an object should depend on its true physical size. If a flat ground plane is assumed, then things near the horizon are farthest away while things below the horizon in the image are progressively closer. Thus physically big things of interest near the horizon will appear smaller (cover fewer pixels in a uniformly sampled image) than similar sized objects lower in the image (hence closer to the camera). Therefore a variable resolution resampling might be chosen that specified high resolution at the horizon with a progressive fall off (bigger sampling areas) lower in the image. Furthermore, if the overall task is to drive along a road, then image regions far from the road are less important to achieving satisfactory control and hence could also be reduced in spatial resolution.

Assigning a static grid with varying resolution may be appropriate for some applications, such as inspection. However, in general it is contemplated that the grid itself will be moved from frame to frame. In the original image1050ofFIG. 10the anchor point1055is assigned to the farthest place where the road vanishes over a hill. As the vehicle drives along the road its camera will bounce and perhaps rotate due to bumps in the road, etc. For this reason it is desirable for the codec to relocate the anchor region (patch)1055in each new image and possibly estimate its new orientation as well. Then the spatially varying sample grid1060is laid down on the image1050so that it is aligned with the new location and orientation of this designated anchor point1055.

It is contemplated that the grid subregions do not necessarily have to be square and might be some other shape more suited for the application. Also, it is contemplated that the size of the grid cells might not vary linearly with displacement from some point. First, they might vary in some other fashion such as parabolically or logarithmically. Second, the distance from something other than a point feature might be considered, such as the distance from a line segment or 2D image patch. Third, the grid cells do not necessarily have to be aligned with the coordinate axes of the original image. For instance, if the horizon line was tilted at 10 degrees, it would make sense to tilt all the grid cell boundaries by 10 degrees also. Finally, although in a preferred embodiment the varying spatial resolution is achieved by averaging values over a rectangular region (patch value), a nonblock-based method such as wavelets with varying scales could be used instead.

FIG. 10Ashows a flow chart for the codec itself. The compressor process1001starts by receiving a specification1031from the user of what type of spatial variation is appropriate. It then optionally receives some specification1032of the anchor feature used to align the resampling grid. The encoder then obtains an image1033, optionally finds1034the anchor feature for aligning the overlaid grid, then reduces the image resolution according to the grid1035. It transmits the location1036(and possibly orientation) of the found anchor feature (if any) to the receiver, then transmits the data used to fill the grid1037(the patch values). At this point the loop repeats and another image is acquired1033.

The decoder process1002first specifies the type of grid to use1041. This might be a linear horizon-type grid as shown inFIG. 10, or some other pattern such as a tunnel-like radial grid. Next it optionally transmits some characterization1042of the anchor feature used for aligning the resampling grid. This might be an image patch for correlation, a geometric specification like converging lines near a certain image position, or a standard convention like variation relative to the detected horizon. At this point the decoder waits to receive, first, the detected location of the reference anchor feature1043. At this point it can generate a grid1044in the correct location and orientation for reconstruction. Then it awaits the image patch values1045for filling in the resampled image. In step1046it uses these values to fill in the grid generated in step1044. Finally, in step1047it optionally smooths the reconstruction to eliminate annoying block boundaries, then displays the result to the office agent. After this it loops and awaits the next grid realignment packet1043from the compressor.

FIG. 11depicts a business process using switchable semantic codecs. In the process a highly skilled employee in an office location1101wishes to obtain information from a lower skilled field agent1103, or instruct him in performing some procedure such as a diagnostic or repair. The two agents are restricted to communicate over a low bandwidth link1102which is incapable of conveying full-frame rate video information. The office agent first specifies1110which codec the field agent should use. The field agent's imaging device then sends back semi-pictoral data1120(“codec 1 data”) using this compressor. In response, the office agent delivers commands1125to the field agent based on this information. Typically the initial codec selected will be some sort of semantic viewfinder to help the office agent1101determine where the field agent1103has pointed the camera. The commands he issues, perhaps over a separate audio link, are typically instructions for aiming the camera in some other direction or at some other place so that the camera ends up looking at the relevant part of the remote environment. Steps1120and1125usual cycle for quite a while until this camera positioning is satisfactory.

At some point during the interaction office agent1101specifies a new codec1130(“change mode”) for field agent1103to use. Again, there may be a cycle during which the office agent repeatedly receives semi-pictoral data from this new codec1140and issues additional instructions1145to the field agent. Typically, the second codec selected in step1130will be some still-frame compressor (such as JPEG) which will return a high-resolution image of the scene. However, it may take a number of seconds or even minutes for this single frame to be transmitted. The information that flows back1145to the field agent is then typically some recommendation for how to repair the object imaged, or some diagnosis about why the object is malfunctioning. In the course of this repair or diagnosis it may be desirable to switch to yet a different codec, or perhaps back to an earlier codec such as the viewfinder.