Methods and systems for content processing

A cell phone including an image data sensor, a memory, a data processor, and a screen, the data processor defining two parallel processing chains:

• a first processing chain for producing data to be rendered into perceptual form for use by human viewers, the first processing chain including at least one of a de-mosaic processor and a lossy image compressor;
• and
• a second processing chain that performs processing as part of one or more machine-implemented object-recognition algorithms, the second processing chain including at least one of a Fourier transform processor, a discrete cosine transform processor, and an eigenface processor;
• wherein said parallel arrangement couples the first processing chain to the image data sensor without passing through the second processing chain, and said parallel arrangement couples the second processing chain to the image data sensor without passing through the first processing chain.

A portable device including a microphone and a radio transceiver, and additionally comprising:

• an image sensor that senses imagery;
• a human visual system processing module, selected from the group consisting of a white balance correction module, a gamma correction module, an edge enhancement module, and a lossy image compression module;
• a machine vision processing module, selected from the group consisting of a Fourier transform module, an edge detection module, a pattern recognition module, a Fourier-Mellin transformer, a texture classifier, and a robust local feature detector, the machine vision processing module outputting processed data derived from the sensed imagery from the image sensor;
• and
• an interconnection arrangement;
• wherein the machine vision processing module employs processing circuitry integrated on a common substrate with the image sensor;
• wherein the interconnection arrangement couples image data from the image sensor to the machine vision processing module without passing through the human visual system processing module;
• and
• wherein the interconnection arrangement couples image data from the image sensor to the human visual system processing module without passing through the machine vision processing module.

A portable device including an image data sensor that senses imagery, a memory, a data processor, and a display, the data processor being adapted to process image data and defining two parallel processing chains:

• a first processing chain for receiving the sensed imagery from the image data sensor and for producing first data to be rendered into perceptual form for use by human viewers, the first processing chain including at least a first processor selected from the group consisting of a de-mosaic processor and a lossy image compressor;
• and
• a second processing chain for receiving the sensed imagery from the image data sensor and for producing second data to subsequently be analyzed by one or more machine-implemented object recognition algorithms, the second processing chain including at least a second processor selected from the group consisting of a Fourier transform processor, a discrete cosine transform processor, and an eigenface processor;
• wherein, as a consequence of the two parallel processing chains, said second data is provided for said subsequent analysis without having been impaired for said purpose by having been processed by the first processing chain.

A portable device including an image data sensor that senses imagery, a memory, a data processor, and a display, the data processor being adapted to process image data and defining two parallel processing chains:

• a first processing chain for receiving the sensed imagery from the image data sensor and for producing first data to be rendered into perceptual form for use by human viewers, the first processing chain including at least a first processor selected from the group consisting of a de-mosaic processor, a lossy image compressor, a white balance correction module, a gamma correction module, and an edge enhancement module;
• and
• a second processing chain for receiving the sensed imagery from the image data sensor and for producing second data to subsequently be analyzed by one or more machine-implemented object-recognition algorithms, the second processing chain including at least a second processor selected from the group consisting of a Fourier transform processor, a discrete cosine transform processor, an eigenface processor, an edge detection module, a pattern recognition module, a Fourier-Mellin transformer, a texture classifier, and a robust local feature detector;
• wherein, as a consequence of the two parallel processing chains, said second data is provided for said subsequent analysis without having been impaired for said purpose by having been processed by the first processing chain.

A cell phone including a microphone and a cellular radio transceiver, and additionally comprising:

• an image sensor;
• a human visual system module, selected from the group consisting of a white balance correction module, a gamma correction module, an edge enhancement module, and a lossy image compression module;
• a pattern recognition module selected from the list consisting of a barcode decoding module, a digital watermark decoding module, and an image fingerprinting module;
• said pattern recognition module employing a processing module drawn from the list consisting of:
• an edge detection module, a pattern extraction module, a Fourier-Mellin transformer, a texture classifier, a SIFT processor, and a SURF processor;
• and
• an interconnection arrangement;
• wherein the interconnection arrangement couples image data from the image sensor to said processing module without passing through the human visual system module.

A cell phone including:

• an image data sensor;
• a memory;
• a screen;
• a pattern recognition module selected from the list consisting of a barcode decoding module, a digital watermark decoding module, and an image fingerprinting module;
• a data processor including first and second processing portions in a parallel arrangement, the first processing portion producing data to be rendered into perceptual form for use by human viewers, the second processing portion producing data to be processed by the pattern recognition module;
• said first processing portion including at least one of a de-mosaic processor and a lossy image compressor;
• and
• said second processing portion including at least one of a Fourier transform processor, a discrete cosine transform processor, and an eigenface processor;
• wherein said parallel arrangement couples the first processing portion to the image data sensor without passing through the second processing portion, and said parallel arrangement couples the second processing portion to the image data sensor without passing through the first processing portion.

An apparatus comprising:

• an image sensor;
• first and second processing circuits;
• the first processing circuit being coupled to receive image data from the image sensor without passing through the second processing circuit;
• the second processing circuit being coupled to receive image data from the image sensor without passing through the first processing circuit;
• the first processing circuit being configured to perform lossy image compression;
• the second processing circuit being configured to perform one or more of:
• edge detection, pattern extraction, Fourier-Mellin transformation, texture classification, or detection of scale- and rotation-invariant feature points;
• wherein the image sensor, and the first and second processing circuits, are integrated on a common semiconductor substrate.