System and method for foveated compression of image frames in a system on a chip

A method for intelligent data compression in a portable computing device (“PCD”), the method comprising:

• determining a fixation point within an image frame by a fixation point sensor, wherein the fixation point sensor is configured to determine an area of user focus within a given image frame;
• sectoring the image frame into two or more sectors, wherein the two or more sectors comprises a fixation sector that includes the fixation point and one or more foveated sectors, each foveated sector does not include the fixation point, and each sector comprises a plurality of tiles;
• compressing the image frame such that the fixation sector is compressed according to a compression algorithm having a low compression factor and the one or more foveated sectors are compressed according to a compression algorithm having a high compression factor, wherein each respective tile within a particular foveated sector is subject to a different compression factor that is based on a distance between the fixation sector and the respective tile, each compression factor of a respective tile within a foveated sector having a magnitude that is assigned corresponding to the distance between the fixation sector and a respective tile;
• and
• storing the compressed image frame.

A system for intelligent data compression in a portable computing device (“PCD”), the system comprising:

• an intelligent compression module, a monitor module, a fixation point sensor, and an image CODEC module collectively configured to:
• determine a fixation point within an image frame with the fixation point sensor, wherein the fixation point sensor determines an area of user focus within a given image frame;
• sector the image frame into two or more sectors, wherein the two or more sectors comprises a fixation sector that includes the fixation point and one or more foveated sectors, each foveated sector does not include the fixation point, and each sector comprises a plurality of tiles;
• compress the image frame such that the fixation sector is compressed according to a compression algorithm having a low compression factor and the one or more foveated sectors are compressed according to a compression algorithm having a high compression factor, wherein each respective tile within a particular foveated sector is subject to a different compression factor that is based on a distance between the fixation sector and the respective tile, each compression factor of a respective tile within a foveated sector having a magnitude that is assigned corresponding to the distance between the fixation sector and the respective tile;
• and
• store the compressed image frame.

A system for intelligent data compression in a portable computing device (“PCD”), the system comprising:

• means for determining a fixation point within an image frame comprising a fixation point sensor, wherein the fixation point sensor is configured to determine an area of user focus within a given image frame;
• means for sectoring the image frame into two or more sectors, wherein the two or more sectors comprises a fixation sector that includes the fixation point and one or more foveated sectors, each foveated sector does not include the fixation point, and each sector comprises a plurality of tiles;
• means for compressing the image frame such that the fixation sector is compressed according to a compression algorithm having a low compression factor and the one or more foveated sectors are compressed according to a compression algorithm having a high compression factor, wherein each respective tile within a particular foveated sector is subject to a different compression factor that is based on a distance between the fixation sector and the respective tile, each compression factor of a respective tile within a foveated sector having a magnitude that is assigned corresponding to the distance between the fixation sector and the respective tile;
• and
• means for storing the compressed image frame.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for intelligent data compression in a portable computing device (“PCD”), said method comprising:

• determining a fixation point within an image frame by a fixation point sensor, wherein the fixation point sensor is configured to determine an area of user focus within a given image frame;
• sectoring the image frame into two or more sectors, wherein the two or more sectors comprises a fixation sector that includes the fixation point and one or more foveated sectors, each foveated sector does not include the fixation point, and each sector comprises a plurality of tiles;
• compressing the image frame such that the fixation sector is compressed according to a compression algorithm having a low compression factor and the one or more foveated sectors are compressed according to a compression algorithm having a high compression factor, wherein each respective tile within a particular foveated sector is subject to a different compression factor that is based on a distance between the fixation sector and the respective tile, each compression factor of a respective tile within a foveated sector having a magnitude that is assigned corresponding to the distance between the fixation sector and the respective tile;
• and
• storing the compressed image frame.