# US 2014/0152891 A1 · Method and Apparatus for Reducing Digital Video Image Data > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0152891 A1 - Document ID: US20140152891A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/738,768 - Filed: 2013-01-10 - Published: 2014-06-05 - Earliest claimed: 2012-12-05 - Assignees: Silicon Image, Inc. - Applicants: Silicon Image, Inc. - Inventors: Jeffrey M. Gilbert; Stephen Bennett; Dmitry Cherniavsky; Ting-Kuo Lo; Nishit Kumar - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140152891A1 ## CPC - H04N 7/181: {for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources} - G06V 20/46: {Extracting features or characteristics from the video content, e.g. video fingerprints, representative shots or key frames} - H03M 13/09: Error detection only, e.g. using cyclic redundancy check [CRC] codes or single parity bit - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING - H03M: CODING; DECODING; CODE CONVERSION IN GENERAL (using fluidic means F15C4/00; optical analogue/digital converters G02F7/00; coding, decoding or code conversion, specially adapted for particular applications, see the relevant subclasses, e.g. G01D, G01R, G06F, G06T, G09G, G10L, G11B, G11C, H04B, H04L, H04M, H04N; ciphering or deciphering for cryptography or other purposes involving the need for secrecy G09C) ## Abstract A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for reducing digital video image data. In one embodiment, the method comprises comparing a signature for one or more regions of a current frame of the image data to a signature of a corresponding region of one or more previous frames; and for a region of the one or more regions, sending the region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the region does not match a signature of a corresponding region of a previous frame available at the data sink. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for use by an image data source when providing frames of image data to a data sink, where each of the frames includes one or more regions, the method comprising: comparing a signature for one or more regions of a current frame of the image data to a signature of a corresponding region of one or more previous frames; and for a region of the one or more regions, sending the region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the region does not match a signature of a corresponding region of a previous frame available at the data sink. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein the signature comprises a checksum. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method defined in claim 2 wherein the checksum is a CRC. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method defined in claim 3 wherein the CRC is a 32-bit CRC. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising sending substitute data in place of the region if the signature of the region matches the signature of the corresponding region of the previous frame. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method defined in claim 5 wherein the substitute data for a region results in a smaller amount of data sent for that region than if all the data for the region is sent. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method defined in claim 6 wherein the substitute data comprises data that is more compressible than data of the region. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method defined in claim 7 wherein the substitute data is a solid color. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The method defined in claim 6 wherein the substitute data comprises data that is a smaller amount of data than data of the region. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method defined in claim 9 wherein the substitute data comprises data that is a subset of data of the region. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising sending information to the data sink indicative of which of the one or more regions has changed or has not changed. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein the one or more regions includes a first region of a left eye frame and a second region of a right eye frame, and wherein comparing a signature for one or more regions of a current frame of the image data to a signature of a corresponding region of one or more previous frames comprises comparing a signature for the first region with a signature of a corresponding region in a previous left eye frame and comparing a signature for the second region with a signature of a corresponding region in a previous right eye frame, in order to determine if a change has occurred; and further wherein sending the region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the region does not match a signature of a corresponding region of a previous frame available at the data sink comprises sending the first region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the first region does not match the signature of the corresponding region of the previous left eye frame available at the data sink; and sending the second region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the second region does not match the signature of the corresponding region of the previous right eye frame available at the data sink. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein the one or more regions includes interlaced regions with odd and even regions of the current frame, and further wherein comparing a signature for one or more regions of a current frame of the image data to a signature of a corresponding region of one or more previous frames comprises comparing a signature for an odd region with a signature of a corresponding odd region of the previous frame and comparing a signature for an even region with a signature of a corresponding even region of the previous frame, in order to determine if a change has occurred between the current frame and the previous frame; and further wherein sending the region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the region does not match a signature of a corresponding region of a previous frame available at the data sink comprises sending the odd region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the odd region does not match a signature of the corresponding odd region of the previous frame available at the data sink; and sending the even region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the even region does not match a signature of the corresponding even region of the previous frame available at the data sink. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising grouping information regarding neighboring regions of the one or more regions to form a superset region. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more regions is a slice of a plurality of pixel lines of a frame. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method defined in claim 15 wherein the slice is 8 lines. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein one region is a rectangle. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method defined in claim 17 wherein the rectangle is an 8×8 square of pixels. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein the one or more regions comprise a single region consisting of an entire frame. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein each of the one or more regions comprises a plurality of components and the signature is based on less than all components in the plurality of components. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The method defined in claim 20 wherein the plurality of components include luma and chroma components or color components. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising preventing transmission of the region if the signature of the region matches the signature of the corresponding region of the previous frame. ### Claim 23 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the region does not match a signature of the corresponding region of the previous frame available at the data sink if an acknowledgment has not been received from the data sink that the data sink had received the corresponding region of the previous frame. ### Claim 24 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising using a portion of the transmission bandwidth to transfer extra data associated with another region of the one or more regions when signatures don't match, the extra data being transferred using bandwidth that would have been used to transfer the one or more regions had signatures matched. ### Claim 25 (depends on 24) The method defined in claim 24 wherein the transmission bandwidth is predetermined. ### Claim 26 (depends on 24) The method defined in claim 24 wherein the extra data comprises finer image data associated with the another region. ### Claim 27 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 wherein pixel data of one region is split into coarse data and fine data, and further comprising comparing a first signature associated with the coarse data and a second signature associated with the fine data with signatures associated with coarse and fine data of a corresponding region of the previous frame to determine whether to transmit the region to the data sink. ### Claim 28 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising generating the signature for the region without using all data of the region. ### Claim 29 (depends on 28) The method defined in claim 28 wherein generating the signature for the region without using all data of the region comprises applying a function to image data of the region in which least significant bits have been excluded. ### Claim 30 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising sending the region to the data sink when the region has been designated prior to and irrespective of signature comparison to have its image data sent to the data sink. ### Claim 31 (depends on 30) The method defined in claim 30 wherein the frequency and amount parameters are set such that regions in a frame are transmitted irrespective of signature comparison to ensure that each region is periodically transmitted. ### Claim 32 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising reducing power consumption of one or more image data source resources including one or more of a group consisting of a radio of the data source, a PHY of the data source, and an encoder of the data source, when the region is not transmitted to the data sink. ### Claim 33 (depends on 1) The method defined in claim 1 further comprising sending information indicative of whether or not the region is transmitted to the data sink. ### Claim 34 (depends on 33) The method defined in claim 33 wherein the information indicative of the region comprises one selected from a group consisting of: one or more region serial numbers and a per-region marker. ### Claim 35 An apparatus for reducing an amount of image data that is provided by an image data source when providing frames of image data to a data sink, where each of the frames includes one or more regions, the apparatus comprising: a memory to store one or more regions of a current frame; a signature comparison logic coupled to the memory and operable to compare a signature for the one or more regions of the current frame of the image data to a signature of a corresponding region of one or more previous frames; and a controller coupled to the memory and the signature comparison logic and operable to cause, for a region of the one or more regions, the region of the image data to be sent to the data sink if the signature comparison logic determines that the signature of the region does not match a signature of a corresponding region of a previous frame available at the data sink. ### Claim 36 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein the signature comprises a checksum. ### Claim 37 (depends on 36) The apparatus defined in claim 36 wherein the checksum is a CRC. ### Claim 38 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein the controller causes substitute data to be sent in place of the region if the signature of the region matches the signature of the corresponding region of the previous frame. ### Claim 39 (depends on 38) The apparatus defined in claim 38 wherein the substitute data for a region results in a smaller amount of data sent for that region than if all the data for the region is sent. ### Claim 40 (depends on 39) The apparatus defined in claim 39 wherein the substitute data comprises data that is more compressible than data of the region. ### Claim 41 (depends on 40) The apparatus defined in claim 40 wherein the substitute data is a solid color. ### Claim 42 (depends on 39) The apparatus defined in claim 39 wherein the substitute data comprises data that is a smaller amount of data than data of the region. ### Claim 43 (depends on 42) The apparatus defined in claim 42 wherein the substitute data comprises data that is a subset of data of the region. ### Claim 44 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein the controller causes information to be sent to the data sink indicative of which of the one or more regions has changed or has not changed. ### Claim 45 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein at least one of the one or more regions is a slice of a plurality of pixel lines of a frame. ### Claim 46 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein the one region comprises a single region consisting of an entire frame. ### Claim 47 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein each of the one or more regions comprises a plurality of components and the signature is based on less than all components in the plurality of components. ### Claim 48 (depends on 47) The apparatus defined in claim 47 wherein the plurality of components include luma and chroma components or color components. ### Claim 49 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein the controller prevents transmission of the region if an acknowledgment had been received from the data sink that the data sink had received a corresponding region of the previous frame. ### Claim 50 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 further comprising signature generation logic to generate the signature for the region without using all data of the region. ### Claim 51 (depends on 50) The apparatus defined in claim 50 wherein the signature generation logic generates the signature for the region without using all data of the region by applying a function to image data of the region in which least significant bits have been excluded. ### Claim 52 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein the controller sends the region to the data sink when the region has been designated prior to and irrespective of signature comparison to have its image data sent to the data sink. ### Claim 53 (depends on 35) The apparatus defined in claim 35 wherein the controller causes information indicative of the region to be sent to the data sink if the region is not transmitted, wherein the information indicative of the region comprises one selected from a group consisting of: one or more region serial numbers and a per-region marker. ### Claim 54 An article of manufacture having one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media storing instructions which when executed by an image data source causes the image data source to perform a method when providing frames of image data to a data sink, where each of the frames includes one or more regions, the method comprising: comparing a signature for one or more regions of a current frame of the image data to a signature of a corresponding region of one or more previous frames; for a region of the one or more regions, sending the region to the data sink if comparing the signature results in determining that the signature of the region does not match a signature of a corresponding region of a previous frame available at the data sink.