Patent ID: 8588309

Claim:
A processor programmed to perform a video compression method, the method comprising: determining with the processor any first pixels in a frame having color in a predetermined tone region; determining with the processor any second pixels in the frame that are part of at least one facial feature; for each pixel in the frame: assigning a first value to the respective pixel if a location of the pixel is within a specified threshold distance to any of the first pixels, but the pixel is not one of the second pixels; assigning a second value to the respective pixel if the pixel is one of the second pixels but is not located within a specified threshold distance to any of the first pixels; assigning a third value to the respective pixel if the location of the pixel is within a specified threshold distance to any first pixel and the pixel is a second pixel; assigning a fourth value to the respective pixel if the pixel is not located within a specified threshold distance to any first pixel and not one of the second pixels; averaging the assigned pixel values on a block by block basis within the frame to generate respective block scores; compressing with the processor the video frame using coding parameters selected based on the block scores.