# US 10,771,745 B2 · Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium having program stored therein > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,771,745 B2 - Document ID: US10771745B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/327,577 - Filed: 2017-08-07 - Published: 2019-06-20 - Granted: 2020-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2016-08-23 - Assignees: NEC Corporation - Applicants: NEC Corporation - Inventors: Norio Yamagaki; Hiroaki Aminaka; Dai Kanetomo; Yasuhiko Matsunaga; Gen Motoyoshi - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10771745B2 ## CPC - H04N 7/181: {for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources} - H04N 7/18: Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast - H04N 7/183: {for receiving images from a single remote source} - H04N 19/124: Quantisation - H04N 19/167: Position within a video image, e.g. region of interest [ROI] - H04N 19/176: the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock - H04N 21/234345: {the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment} - H04N 21/2402: {Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available (traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876)} - H04N 21/2662: Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities - H04N 21/431: Generation of visual interfaces {for content selection or interaction}; Content or additional data rendering - H04N 21/6547: comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract A image processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes: determination unit 131 that determines a first region based on an occurrence position where a phenomenon is estimated to occur in an image; and setting unit 132 that sets a first condition in which the first region is encoded, and a second condition in which a second region included in the image and being a region other than the first region is encoded in such a way that the first region enhances image quality as compared with the second region. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An image processing apparatus comprising: at least one memory that stores a set of instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the set of instructions to: determine a first region based on an occurrence position where a phenomenon is estimated to occur in an image; set a first condition in which the first region is encoded, and a second condition in which a second region included in the image and being a region other than the first region is encoded in such a way that the first region enhances image quality as compared with the second region; estimate the occurrence position, based on data acquired by a sensor; and specify a direction of a sound source, based on sound data collected by two or more microphones, and determine a position in the image being indicated by the direction of the sound source, as the occurrence position. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to set the first condition and the second condition, based on a communication bandwidth usable in a communication network in which the image is distributed. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to detect an image pattern as the phenomenon in the image, and determine a position where the phenomenon is detected, as the occurrence position. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to detect a predetermined sound pattern in the sound data, and specify the direction of the sound source of the sound including the sound pattern. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to encode the first region in the first condition, and encoding the second region in the second condition. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) An image processing system including the image processing apparatus according to claim 1, and a receiving device, wherein the at least one processor is configured to transmit encoded image data of the image, and region information indicating a range of the first region, and the receiving device includes: at least one second memory that stores a second set of instructions; and at least one second processor configured to execute the second set of instructions to: receive the image data and the region information; generate a decoded image by decoding the image data; sharpen the decoded image in a region indicated by the region information; and display the sharpened decoded image. ### Claim 7 An image processing method comprising: determining a first region based on an occurrence position where a phenomenon is estimated to occur in an image; setting a first condition in which the first region is encoded, and a second condition in which a second region included in the image and being a region other than the first region is encoded in such a way that the first region enhances image quality as compared with the second region; estimating the occurrence position, based on data acquired by a sensor; and specifying a direction of a sound source, based on sound data collected by two or more microphones, and estimating a position indicated by the direction of the sound source in the image, as the occurrence position. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The image processing method according to claim 7, further comprising setting the first condition and the second condition, based on a communication bandwidth usable in a communication network in which the image is distributed. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The image processing method according to claim 7, further comprising detecting an image pattern as the phenomenon in the image, and estimating a position where the phenomenon is detected, as the occurrence position. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The image processing method according to claim 7, further comprising detecting a predetermined sound pattern in the sound data, and specifying the direction of the sound source of the sound including the sound pattern. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The image processing method according to claim 7, further comprising encoding the first region in the first condition, and encoding the second region in the second condition. ### Claim 12 A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program causing a computer to execute: determination processing of determining a first region based on an occurrence position where a phenomenon is estimated to occur in an image; setting processing of setting a first condition in which the first region is encoded, and a second condition in which a second region included in the image and being a region other than the first region is encoded in such a way that the first region enhances image quality as compared with the second region; and position estimation processing of estimating the occurrence position, based on data acquired by a sensor, wherein the position estimation processing specifies a direction of a sound source, based on sound data collected by two or more microphones, and estimates a position indicated by the direction of the sound source in the image, as the occurrence position. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the setting processing sets the first condition and the second condition, based on a communication bandwidth usable in a communication network in which the image is distributed. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the position estimation processing detects an image pattern in the image as the phenomenon, and estimates a position where the phenomenon is detected, as the occurrence position.