Ricoh Corporation

Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Other

Ricoh California Research Center

Steven M Blonstein

James D Allen

Robert F Miller

Martin P Boliek

Michael J Gormish

Kevin P Corcoran

An electronic paintbrush and electronic palette which allow a user to generate images on a CRT screen in a manner which imitates traditional painting with paints on a canvas. The electronic brush has fiber optic bristles which channel light from a CRT screen to optical detectors. A microprocessor in the brush utilizes pulses generated by the incidence of the raster scan on photodiodes to determine the position of the brush, the pressure of the brush against the CRT screen, and its angular orientation about the longitudinal axis of the brush. The microprocessor utilizes color information generated by a CCD array to determine the area of contact of the brush with color swatches on the palette, and the angle between the longitudinal axis of the brush and the normal vector to the CRT screen. In an alternate embodiment the palette is also displayed on the CRT screen.

Electronic paintbrush and color palette

Transforms such as the DCT are useful for image compression. One close relative of the DCT is preferred for its arithmetic simplicity. A method and apparatus is described whereby the quantization operates with speeds comparable to 16 bit transforms yet the mean squared error is comparable to that of a 32 bit transform. The factorability of the transform into a relatively rapid set of additions and a set of multiplications permits an efficient pipelined data flow wherein the addition sections of the vertical and horizontal transforms are performed by the same hardware prior to a final multiplication.

Apparatus and method for compressing still images

A motion sensor is mounted within a camera, and measures motion data such as translation, rotation, and zoom. The motion data is then associated with the video frame data captured by the camera. In some embodiments, the motion data is used to remove jitter in the frame data due to camera movement, and in some embodiments, the motion data is used to remove global motion from frame data before compression. Since the motion data is kept with the video frame data, the motion data is available during decompression of the video frames.

Sensor driven global motion compensation

In an image compression system using a typical image compression scheme, a pointer array is provided to point to each of the many MCUs in a compressed image file. From all the blocks of an image, a subset of the blocks is selected as a virtual image. The virtual image is edited, and each edited block is compressed into an edited block. The edited block is compressed into an edited MCU and placed in an edited block region, and the pointer to the original MCU is changed to point to the new MCU. In this way, the pointer array can be modified to perform an Undo operation. An edge table is provided to hold values where each value, when combined with the differential value for a block on the edge of the virtual image, provides an absolute value for the block without reference to blocks beyond the edge of the virtual image. The entries in the edge table are determined from the compressed MCUs without the blocks being fully decompressed. More than one edge table can be provided. In an image editor, a virtual image is decompressed from a compressed image, the virtual image is processed, and recompressed. The recompressed, edited blocks are then placed in an edited block memory. In an alternate embodiment, values to be combined with a differential value are held in an offset table for all the selectable blocks.

Compressed image virtual editing system

In an image compression system using a typical image compression scheme, a pointer array is provided to point to each of the many MCUs in a compressed image file. From all the blocks of an image, a subset of the blocks is selected as a virtual image. The virtual image is edited, and each edited block is compressed into an edited block. The edited block is compressed into an edited MCU and placed in an edited block region, and the pointer to the original MCU is changed to point to the new MCU. In this way, the pointer array can be modified to perform an Undo operation. An edge table is provided to hold values where each value, when combined with the differential value for a block on the edge of the virtual image, provides an absolute value for the block without reference to blocks beyond the edge of the virtual image. The entries in the edge table are determined from the compressed MCUs without the blocks being fully decompressed. More than one edge table can be provided. In an image editor, a virtual image is decompressed from a compressed image, the virtual image is processed, and recompressed. The recompressed, edited blocks are then placed in a edited block memory.

A two-dimensional shift array for use in image compression VLSI techniques. The present invention utilizes a two-dimensional shift array which provides a significant savings in terms of required silicon area over a conventional implementation.

Two dimensional shift-array for use in image compression VLSI

An improved method for converting between two color spaces such as the RGB and YIQ color on a 32 bit microprocessor. The present invention only requires in total number of operations three table look-ups, two adds, two barrel shifts and two masking operations. In terms of speed it is believed that the present invention is optimal for microprocessors such as 32 bit microprocessors.

Method to convert between 2 color space on a 32 bit .mu.-processor

A novel quantization method for use in image compression techniques provides a 3-6% improvement in compression which is achieved with minimal additional hardware or software and yet which is compatible with proposed standard techniques.

Quantization method for use in image compression

A color image compression system and method provides an improved technique of combining various image processing techniques to obtain high quality color image compression. The present invention provides color image compression, especially high quality original images that require up to 24 bits of data per pixel. The present invention utilizes a delta quantizing technique between an array of pixels to provide an improved color image compression aspect.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Steven M Blonstein