Sony United Kingdom Limited

Sony Corporation

Sony Europe Limited

Simon Dominic Haynes

Robert Mark Stefan Porter

Clive Henry Gillard

Jonathan Living

Ratna Rambaruth

Jonathan James Stone

David Berry

Henry Epsom

Mark Julian Russell

Andrew David Kydd

Henry Epson

A method and a system for generating image content. The method and system allow segments of a panoramic scene, to be generated with reduced distortion. The method and system reduce the amount of distortion by mapping pixel data onto a pseudo camera focal plane which is provided substantially perpendicularly to the focal location of the camera that captured the image. A camera arrangement can implement the method and system.

Method and an apparatus for generating image content

A method of distributing software and supplemental display data and a client device having the same. The method reduces the cost of providing software to a number of devices on a multi-cast network. The software allows the user to gain access to the multi-cast network, and the supplemental display data is transferred to the client device over the network.

Method of distributing software and supplemental display data to a client device

A video camera arrangement comprises an image capture device; a face detector for detecting human faces in the captured video material and for generating face data identifying detected occurrences of faces in the captured video material; a data handling medium by which data representing the captured images is transmitted and/or stored; and a processor for generating data to be transmitted or stored by the data handling medium in dependence on the detection of faces in the captured images.

Video camera for face detection

An image capture apparatus includes a first imaging device operable to capture an image feedback image. A generator generates a feedback image from a captured image for output to a display. A facial recognition unit operates to determine the position of a face within the feedback image. An image corruptor operates to corrupt the feedback image with respect to the position of a face within the feedback image as determined by the facial recognition unit. An image capture initiator operates to initiate the capture of an output image subsequent to corruption of the feedback image.

Apparatus and method of image capture for facial recognition

There is disclosed a content protection method and apparatus. The content protection method and apparatus further improves such related schemes by facilitating spatial as well as temporal management of content. This is achieved by storing encrypted content and a corresponding decryption key and destroying the decryption key when suitable. In order to further facilitate the content protection, the decryption key may be received periodically, which allows for a large number of people to connect to the network at different times.

Content protection method and apparatus

A camera arrangement comprising a plurality of camera elements and a corresponding method of arranging camera elements is described. The camera arrangement improves the resolution of a stitched image by maintaining a uniform overlap between the fields of view of adjacent camera element. The uniform overlap is achieved. This is because the amount of unnecessary overlap required to achieve the required degree of overlap is reduced.

Camera arrangement and method

A smoke detection method for identifying, in a current input image, an area indicative of the presence of smoke, there being a sequence of two or more input images, the method comprising the steps of: storing a background estimation for a current input image; and comparing the current input image with the background estimation to detect a partial obscuring of the background estimation indicative of the presence of smoke in the current input image.

Image analysis for smoke detection

A video data processing apparatus, that processes video data including a sequence of images, the apparatus including: an object tracker unit configured to detect a presence of one or more objects within an image and to track a detected object across successive images; an identity association unit configured to associate an identity with an object tracked by the object tracker unit; a counter unit configured to, for a first and second identity, count a number of images within which a tracked object associated with the first identity and a tracked object associated with the second identity have both been detected; and a similarity detector unit configured to determine whether two tracked objects are similar in appearance.

Object detection

An image processing method for selecting a subset of n (where n is two or more) images representative of a test set of images. The method includes detecting a degree of similarity between images in the test set of images so that the subset of images comprises those n images having substantially the lowest similarity with other images in the set.

Image processing

Image object detection apparatus in which test regions of a test image are compared with an image property model, a mask defining a subset of pixel positions within a test region, comprises means for comparing pixel properties in the test image defined by the test regions with the image property model to detect a property difference between the image property model and a test region; so that pixel property differences within the mask and pixel property differences outside the mask are combined with opposite respective polarities to form a difference value in respect of that test region, an object being detected in the test image at a test region corresponding to a lowest difference value between the image property model and pixels defined by the test region.

Object detection apparatus for detecting objects in a test image comprises means for comparing blocks of a test window of the image with reference data indicative of the presence of an object to generate index figures indicative of a degree of similarity between a region and the reference data; means for storing probability data corresponding to possible values of the index figure and the block position; means operable, in respect of a current block, for accessing a probability value from the storing means in dependence on that block's position within the test window and the index figure generated in respect of that block; and means for combining the probability values corresponding to blocks in a test window to generate a result indicative of the probability of that test window containing an object; in which the probability values in the storing means are ordered by block position then by index figure.

A system and associated methodology of detecting objects using multiple sets of object probability data relating to different respective expected object sizes relative to the image size. A list of locations in an image where an object has been detected is stored, the list defining a probability data set and a probability value for each detected object. Object locations in a set of object probability data as locations at which a local maximum probability value exceeds a threshold probability value are detected and, if that location is substantially similar to a location previously stored in the list, where the local maximum probability value exceeds that relating to the previously stored location. The storing is repeated successively in respect of each set of probability data.

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Basingstoke, United Kingdom

Simon Dominic Haynes