JPH09233471A - Image information compression-encoder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform compression-encoding corresponding to the attention degree of an observer upon the detailed parts of a picture concerning an image information compression-encoder for compression-encoding image information for transmittipg or storing the image information. SOLUTION: A viewpoint position detecting means 2 detects the view-point position of an observer 1 who observes an image. This view-point position is found as a position on a screen from the rotating position of eyeball of the observer 1 and the position relation between the position of the screen focused by the eyeball of the observer 1 and the eyeball of the observer 1. Based on the viewpoint position detected by the viewpoint position detecting means 2, an attention degree analytic means 3 analyzes the degree of attention for each area consisting of the image. A compression-encoding means 4 compression- encodes each area of the image corresponding to the degree of attention upon the correspondent area provided by the attention degree analytic means 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information compression coding apparatus for compressing and coding image information for transmission or storage of the image information, and more particularly, to a screen detail by a viewer for a still image or a moving image. The present invention relates to an image information compression encoding device which performs compression encoding according to the degree of attention.

Generally, image information has a much larger amount of information than voice information and the like. In particular, among the image information, the moving image information has a large amount of information because a large number of still image information is continuous. If the amount of information to be transmitted or stored can be reduced (compressed) while maintaining substantially the same image quality for such image information, the merit is immeasurable. For example, in transmission, it is possible to save the frequency band used in transmission using a communication line, and in storage, recording an image for a longer time on a storage medium having the same storage capacity as before. Is possible.

When attempting to compress moving image information, since similar images continue in the same scene, the amount of information should be compressed by extracting the difference information from the first image of the scene. You can In that case, the original image is compressed at the same time because it is not compressed below the information amount of the original image.

In general, a natural image contains a lot of information that is difficult to recognize due to human visual characteristics. Therefore, the amount of information can be reduced by removing information that is less important in terms of visual characteristics. It is possible to compress and reduce the amount of moving image information while maintaining visual quality by performing encoding that saves only important information by using the redundancy of these image information. is there.

[0005]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a practical compression encoding of image data, a target information amount is determined in consideration of a transmission amount of a line and a capacity of a storage medium, and the image data to be processed is always the target. There is a method of compression coding so that the amount of information becomes. That is, the amount of information on the entire screen is adjusted regardless of the content of the image, and the quantization is performed finely if it starts to fall below the target value in the encoding process, and coarsely if it starts to exceed the target value. Is used.

Further, when an image once compressed and encoded with the amount of information is decoded and displayed on the screen, and when the image is observed to show deterioration due to compression, the compression encoding is tried again. In some cases, the deterioration may be corrected.

[0007]

However, in the conventional compression coding of image data, in addition to the above-mentioned normal compression coding of image data, the visually important parts are fine and the less important parts are less important. If it is possible to roughly quantize and adjust the amount of information, it is expected that more efficient information amount control will be realized. However, there has been no device that has realized such compression coding of image data.

Further, in the case of performing the compression coding again, it is efficient to specify a portion where deterioration is conspicuous and correct the portion, but it is particularly effective to specify which portion the deterioration is conspicuous. , It was difficult for moving images. In other words, it is meaningless to evaluate the deterioration by stopping the moving image, and the evaluation should be performed in a moving image state as much as possible, but there is no device that can meet such a request.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image information compression encoding apparatus which performs compression encoding according to the degree of attention of an observer to a screen detail. The first purpose.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide an image information compression coding apparatus capable of easily specifying a portion where deterioration of a moving image is conspicuous and performing compression coding on that portion again.

[0011]

In the present invention, in order to achieve the first object, as shown in FIG. 1, a viewpoint position detecting means 2 for detecting a viewpoint position of an observer 1 who observes an image.
Based on the viewpoint position detected by the viewpoint position detecting means 2,
Attention degree analysis means 3 for analyzing the degree of attention for each area forming the image, and compression coding for compressing and coding each area of the image according to the degree of attention of the corresponding area obtained by the attention degree analysis means 3. An image information compression encoding device is provided, which comprises:

In the above-mentioned configuration, the viewpoint position detecting means 2 detects the viewpoint position of the observer 1 who observes the image. This viewpoint position is obtained as a position on the screen from the rotational position of the eyeball of the observer 1 and the positional relationship between the position of the screen on which the eyeball of the observer 1 is focused and the eyeball of the observer 1. The attention degree analysis unit 3 analyzes the attention degree for each region forming an image based on the viewpoint position detected by the viewpoint position detection unit 2. That is, for example, it is possible to know which region the observer 1 is paying attention to and to what extent, based on the time ratio of the detection viewpoint position in each region. The compression encoding unit 4 compression-encodes each region of the image according to the attention level of the corresponding region obtained by the attention level analysis unit 3. That is, the compression encoding is performed by finely quantizing the region of high attention and coarsely quantizing the region of low attention.

As a result, compression coding is realized according to the degree of attention to the screen details by the observer 1. In addition, the second
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an image display means for displaying an image, a viewpoint position detecting means for detecting a viewpoint position of an observer observing the image displayed on the image display means, and a viewpoint detected by the viewpoint position detecting means. Based on the position, attention degree analysis means for analyzing the attention degree for each area constituting the image, storage means for storing the attention degree for each area obtained by the attention degree analysis means in association with the image, And a compression encoding unit that reads out the degree of attention for each area stored in the storage unit and compresses and encodes each area of the image displayed on the image display unit according to the degree of attention of the corresponding area. An image information compression encoding device is provided.

In the above structure, the image display means displays the image. This image is, for example, a moving image obtained by decoding what has been compression-encoded by a general method. An observer observes the image displayed on the image display means. At this time, the observer should pay attention to the part where the deterioration is noticeable. The viewpoint position detecting means detects the viewpoint position of the observer. The attention degree analysis unit analyzes the attention degree for each region forming the image based on the viewpoint position detected by the viewpoint position detection unit. The storage unit stores the attention level of each area obtained by the attention level analysis unit in association with the image.

Next, the compression encoding means reads out the degree of attention for each area stored in the storage means, and compresses and encodes each area of the corresponding image before compression encoding according to the degree of attention. .

Since the observer pays attention to the part where the deterioration is noticeable, the part where the deterioration is noticeable can be easily specified in the moving image. In addition, since the degree of attention of that portion becomes high, particularly fine quantization is performed on the deteriorated portion, and compressed encoded data in which the deteriorated portion is corrected can be obtained.

The present invention can of course be applied to still images.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the principle configuration of the first embodiment of the image information compression encoding apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the first embodiment, a viewpoint position detecting means 2 for detecting a viewpoint position of an observer 1 who observes an image,
Based on the viewpoint position detected by the viewpoint position detecting means 2, the attention degree analyzing means 3 for analyzing the attention degree of each area forming the image, and the corresponding area obtained by the attention degree analyzing means 3 for each area of the image. Compression encoding means 4 for performing compression encoding according to the degree of attention of.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the detailed structure of the first embodiment. The correspondence between the configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the configuration shown in FIG. 2 will be described after the description based on FIG. The image input unit 10 includes a video camera 11 and an eye movement detection unit 12 provided near the finder of the video camera 11. The video camera 11 photographs the target object and sends it as image data to the image encoding unit 13. The eye movement detecting unit 12 measures the rotational position of the eyeball of the observer 1 who is the operator of the video camera 11 and the positional relationship between the screen on which the eyeball of the observer 1 is in focus and the eyeball, and uses it as viewpoint data. It is sent to the attention degree analysis unit 16.

The gazing point detecting section 17 of the attention level analyzing section 16 is
The line-of-sight vector is calculated based on the viewpoint data. That is, it calculates which part of the image the observer 1 is looking at when looking at the image displayed in the viewfinder. The point on the screen pointed to by the line-of-sight vector is hereinafter referred to as the "gazing point".

The gaze frequency accumulating unit 18 of the attention degree analyzing unit 16
Accumulates the time when each pixel of the image becomes the gazing point over the unit time. Alternatively, when the eye movement detection unit 12 periodically outputs the viewpoint data of the observer 1, the number of times each pixel of the image becomes the gazing point during the unit time is obtained. It is said that a normal human can gaze at about 4 °, and therefore all pixels within this range centered on the gazing point are regarded as gazing points. The determination of the pixels within the 4 ° range is performed in consideration of the distance between the screen on which the eyeball of the observer 1 is focused and the eyeball, the resolution of the display device that displays an image on the finder, and the like.

The attention degree determination unit 19 of the attention degree analysis unit 16
Based on the gaze frequency obtained by the gaze frequency accumulating unit 18, the attention level of the block area is determined from the gaze frequency of the pixels included in each block area of the image. When encoding an image, the entire screen is not processed at once, but the screen is divided into a predetermined number of block areas, and each block area is encoded. The above-mentioned block area refers to such a block area. For example, FIG. 4 shows the gaze frequency when a screen of 128 × 128 pixels is divided into 16 × 16 block areas. The numbers shown in each block area indicate that the gazing point is 3 during the last 1 second.
This indicates the number of times that the pixel in the corresponding block area becomes the gazing point when sampling is performed 0 times. FIG. 5 shows a result obtained by normalizing the number of times with the number of times of sampling 30, which is the degree of attention of the block area.

Attention degree information management section 20 of attention degree analysis section 16
Accumulates the degree of attention of each block area obtained by the degree-of-attention determining unit 19, and the corresponding attention according to the block position information (information designating one block area) input from the block dividing unit 14 described later. The degree is output to the encoding unit 15 as gaze area information.

The block division unit 14 of the image encoding unit 13
Divides the input image data into block areas,
The block area is sent to the encoder 15 for each block area, and the sent block area identification code is sent to the attention degree information management section 20 as block position information. Attention degree information management unit 20
Outputs the attention degree of the block area corresponding to the transmitted identification code to the encoding unit 15. The encoding unit 15 compression-encodes the image data for each block area sent from the block division unit 14 based on the degree of attention of the block area. Details of the operation of the encoding unit 15 will be described later with reference to FIG.

The viewpoint position detecting means 2 in FIG. 1 corresponds to the eye movement detecting section 12 in FIG. 2, and the attention level analyzing means 3 in FIG.
2 corresponds to the attention level analysis unit 16 in FIG. 2, and the compression encoding unit 4 in FIG. 1 corresponds to the image encoding unit 13 in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the image encoding unit 13, particularly the internal configuration of the encoding unit 15. The information amount allocation unit 15a receives the attention degree of the block area to be encoded this time from the attention degree information management unit 20 of the attention degree analysis unit 16, and also the image of the previously encoded block area from the information amount detection unit 15d described below. Receives the amount of generated information after data compression. Then, the information amount allocation unit 15a sets the target information amount Ti of the current encoded block area i based on the following expression (1) using the received attention degree of the current encoded block area.

[0027]

## EQU00001 ## Ti = X / N + Y.multidot.Fi (1) where Y is the total amount of information assigned to one screen.
Partial information amount allocated according to the attention level, and X is a partial information amount allocated among all information amounts allocated to one screen regardless of the attention level. Therefore, (X +
Y) is the total amount of information assigned to one screen. N is 1
The number of block areas in the screen (for example, 256), and Fi is the attention level of the block area i. Σ (Fi) when i is added from 1 to N is 1.

In a general image compression encoding device, the encoding is started after setting the target information amount for each screen. Regarding the setting of the target information amount for each block area, basically 1
The target amount of information on the screen divided by the number of block areas in one screen is used. Therefore, according to the present invention, such 1
The target information amount for each screen is divided into partial information amounts X and Y, the above general target information amount is set for the partial information amount X, and the partial information amount Y is set according to the degree of attention. The target information amount is set differently for each block area. That is, the target information amount is increased for the block region with high attention, and conversely the target information amount is reduced for the block region with low attention.

In this setting, the above equation (1)
However, the generated information amount after compression of the image data of the previously encoded block region is reflected in the target information amount of the current block region. That is, when the previous generated information amount is large, the target information amount of the current block area is set small, and conversely, when the previous generated information amount is small, the target information amount of the present block area is set large.

The quantization step controller 15b sets the quantization step based on the target information amount Ti of the block area i sent from the information amount allocation unit 15a. That is,
When the target information amount Ti is large, the quantization step is set finely. On the contrary, when the target information amount Ti is small, the quantization step is set coarsely.

The image data quantization unit 15c quantizes the image data of the block area i by the quantization step set by the quantization step control unit 15b. As a result, the compression encoding is performed while preserving the image data of the block area having a high degree of attention as much as possible, and the entire information amount can be brought close to the target value. The data encoded by the image data quantization unit 15c is sent to the information amount detection unit 15d, where the information amount of the data is detected, and the information amount allocation unit 15 is detected.
sent to a.

In the above first embodiment, the case where a moving image is obtained by the video camera 11 has been described, but the present invention can of course be applied to a still image. Next, a second embodiment will be described.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the second embodiment. Since the configuration of the second embodiment is basically the same as the configuration of the first embodiment, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the second embodiment, the data storage device 2
The image data stored in No. 5 is read out and displayed on the image display device 24, and at the same time, sent to the block dividing unit 14. The observer 21 puts the goggles 22 on his eyes and observes the image displayed on the image display device 24. Goggles 2
2 measures the rotational position of the eyeball of the observer 21 and the positional relationship between the image display device 24 and the head of the observer 21 and sends it as viewpoint data to the gazing point detector 17 of the attention degree analyzer 16. In order to measure the positional relationship between the image display device 24 and the head of the observer 21, the magnetic field generator 23 is attached to the image display device 24.
Is provided. The goggles 22 receive the magnetism generated by the magnetism generator 23 to measure the distance between the image display device 24 and the head of the observer 21 and the angle of the observer 21 head with respect to the image display device 24. .

Thus, in the second embodiment, since the compression coding can be performed while reproducing the photographed image, it is not necessary to upsize the photographing device as compared with the first embodiment. Note that in the first embodiment, the degree of attention of the photographer who operates the video camera is reflected in the compression encoding, whereas in the second embodiment, the observation for observing the image displayed on the image display device is performed. The degree of attention of the person is reflected in the compression coding.

In the second embodiment, it is assumed that moving image data is stored in the data storage device 25 and is displayed on the image display device 24. However, still image data is stored in the data storage device 25. Image display device 2
4 may be displayed.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. 7 and 8 are configuration diagrams showing a third embodiment,
FIG. 7 shows the configuration on the photographing side, and FIG. 8 shows the configuration on the encoding side. Third
Since the configuration of the second embodiment is basically the same as the configuration of the first embodiment, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

First, in FIG. 7, in the third embodiment, the attention degree analysis unit 26 includes a gazing point detection unit 17, a gaze frequency accumulation unit 18, and an attention degree determination unit 19 which are the same as those in the first embodiment. Composed of. The attention degree for each block area output from the attention degree determination unit 19 is sent to the data multiplexing unit 27. The video camera 1 is also connected to the data multiplexing unit 27.
The image data is sent from 1, and the data multiplexing unit 27
The degree of attention is multiplexed with the image data, which is output to and stored in the data storage device 28.

Next, referring to FIG. 8, the data separation unit 29
However, the image data read from the data storage device 28 is separated from the attention level, and the image data is divided into the block dividing unit 14
To the attention degree information management unit 30. The attention degree information management unit 30 has the same function as the attention degree information management unit 20 of the first embodiment, accumulates the attention degree of each block area sent from the data separation unit 29, and the block division unit 1
According to the block position information input from 4, the corresponding attention level is output to the encoding unit 15 as gaze area information.

Thus, in the third embodiment, it is possible to compress the amount of information that reflects the intention of the photographer even for a video that has been shot and recorded. Further, since the encoding side device shown in FIG. 8 generally becomes large, by separating such a device from the imaging side device shown in FIG. 7, the imaging side device can be easily handled.

Although image data and viewpoint data are output from the video camera 11 in the third embodiment,
Instead of this, as in the second embodiment, a data storage device 25, an image display device 24, a magnetism generation device 23, goggles 22 and the like are provided, and image data is output from the data storage device 25 and output from the goggles 22. You may make it output viewpoint data.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. 9 and 10 are configuration diagrams showing the fourth embodiment. FIG. 9 shows a configuration for performing the first encoding, and FIG. 10 shows a configuration for performing the second encoding. Since the configuration of the fourth embodiment is basically the same as that of the first embodiment, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

First, in FIG. 9, the image data stored in the data storage section 32 is read out and the block division section 33 is read.
And is divided into block areas by the block division unit 33. The encoding unit 34 performs normal compression encoding on the image data of each block area regardless of the degree of attention.

The decoding unit 38 decodes the transmitted encoded data for each block area and sends it to the image display device 37, and also sends the identification number of the decoded block area as block synchronization information to the attention level analysis unit 39. .

The observer 41 puts the goggles 42 on his eyes and observes the image displayed on the image display device 37. The image display device 37 is provided with the magnetic field generator 36, and the goggles 42 are similar to the goggles 22 of the second embodiment.
The rotational position of the eyeball of the observer 41, and the image display device 37
And the positional relationship between the observer 41 and the head of the observer 41 are measured and sent to the attention degree analysis unit 39 as viewpoint data. The observer 41 particularly pays attention to the part where the image deterioration has occurred. If there is no deteriorated part, pay attention to the important part on the screen.

The attention level analysis unit 39 has the same functions as the gaze point detection unit 17, the gaze frequency accumulation unit 18, and the attention level determination unit 19 of the first embodiment, and the goggles 4
Based on the viewpoint data from 2, the attention degree for each block area is obtained. The attention degree analysis unit 39 outputs the attention degree of the block area together with the identification number of the block area to the data storage unit 40 in accordance with the decoding of each block area,
The data is stored in the data storage unit 40.

Next, referring to FIG. 10, the data storage unit 32
However, the same image data as in the case of FIG.
It is sent to the same block division unit 14 as in the embodiment. on the other hand,
The attention degree of each block area and the identification number of the corresponding block area stored in the data storage unit 40 are read out and sent to the attention degree information management unit 42. The attention degree information management unit 42 is the first
It has the same function as the attention degree information management unit 20 of the embodiment, accumulates the attention degree of each block area sent from the data storage unit 40, and responds according to the block position information input from the block division unit 14. The degree of attention of the block area is output to the encoding unit 15 as gaze area information.

In this way, it is possible to specify the moving image of the image deterioration portion due to the compression encoding as it is, and it is possible to perform the recompression encoding for performing the particularly fine quantization on the image deterioration portion, while suppressing the image quality deterioration. The amount of information is efficiently compressed.

The data compression-coded by the coding unit 15 in FIG. 10 may be sent to the decoding unit 38 in FIG. 9, and the re-compression coding may be repeated until the image deterioration is less noticeable.

Although the data storage unit 40 is provided separately from the data storage unit 32 in the fourth embodiment, instead of this, the data storage unit 40 is provided inside the data storage unit 32. It is also possible to secure a portion for storing the attention level and the like to be stored and store them in the data storage unit 32.

Furthermore, the invention shown in the fourth embodiment can be applied to a still image. Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. The fifth embodiment is an image information compression coding apparatus applied to a real-time image communication system such as a video conference system. Here, compression coding is performed on the transmission side by using the degree of attention of the observer of the image on the reception side.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the fifth embodiment. First, on the receiving side, the decoding unit 55 decodes the sent encoded data for each block area and sends it to the image display device 54, and also sends the identification number of the decoded block area to the attention level analysis unit 56.

The observer 51 puts the goggles 52 on his eyes and observes the image displayed on the image display device 54. The image display device 54 is provided with a magnetic generator 53, and the goggles 52 are similar to the goggles 22 of the second embodiment.
The rotational position of the eyeball of the observer 51 and the image display device 54
And the positional relationship between the observer 51 and the head of the observer 51 are measured and sent to the attention degree analysis unit 56 as viewpoint data.

The attention level analysis unit 56 has the same function as the gaze point detection unit 17, the gaze frequency accumulation unit 18, and the attention level determination unit 19 of the first embodiment, and the goggles 5
Based on the viewpoint data from 2, the attention degree for each block area is obtained. The attention degree analysis unit 56 transmits the attention number of the block area together with the identification number of the block area to the attention degree tracking unit 62 on the transmission side in accordance with the decoding of each block area. The attention degree analysis unit 56 also transmits the frame number of the image to be transmitted to the attention degree tracking unit 62. Here, it is assumed that the image frame to be transmitted has a frame number N.

On the transmitting side, the video camera 57 photographs the object to be photographed and sends the image data to the coding section 58 and the motion vector searching section 59. The motion vector search unit 59 obtains a motion vector between frames in block area units, and temporarily holds the obtained motion vector in the motion vector management unit 61 of the attention level estimation unit 60. This motion vector is IT
UT, H.M. It is obtained by adopting an encoding method such as H.261.

Here, the encoding unit 58 sets the number of the frame currently undergoing encoding processing to (N + X) as described later. X is usually 1, but can be larger. In the following, description will be made assuming that X is larger than 1. Since the attention degree analysis unit 56 on the receiving side sends the attention degree for each block area of the frame of the frame number N, the motion vector management unit 61 holds motion vectors for X frames.

The attention degree tracking unit 62 of the attention degree estimation unit 60
Based on the frame number N sent from the attention level analysis unit 56, of the motion vector held in the motion vector management unit 61, the frame of frame number N and the frame number (N
The motion vector between the frame +1) is extracted. Then, the attention degree tracking unit 62 uses the attention degree for each block area of the image of the frame number N sent from the attention degree analysis unit 56 and the extracted motion vector of the image of the frame number (N + 1). Estimate the degree of attention for each block area.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the attention degree tracking unit 62. That is, the frame 65 of the frame number N
It is assumed that the block areas 65a to 65c configuring the above-mentioned blocks have moved to the block areas 66a to 66c in the frame 66 of the frame number (N + 1), respectively. Therefore, motion vectors 68a to 68c are respectively detected between the block areas 65a to 65c of the frame 65 and the block areas 66a to 66c of the frame 66, and the attention degrees of the block areas 66a to 66c of the frame 66 are , The block areas 65a to 65c of the frame 65 can be regarded as the same as the respective attention degrees. Therefore,
As long as the attention levels of the block areas 66a to 66c of the frame 66 and the motion vectors 68a to 68c of the block areas 65a to 65c of the frame 65 are known,
It is possible to estimate.

Focusing on these points, the attention degree tracking unit 62
Estimates the attention degree for each block area of the image of the frame number (N + 1). The degree of attention of each of the obtained block areas 66a to 66c of the frame 66 is recreated according to the original block area arrangement 67 of the frame 66. Then, the estimated attention degree regarding the frame of the frame number (N + 1) is sent to the attention degree information management unit 63 of the attention degree estimation unit 60,
The attention level information management unit 63 holds this.

Next, the attention degree tracking unit 62 calculates the estimated attention degree regarding the frame of the frame number (N + 1) held in the attention degree information management unit 63, and the motion vector management unit 6
Based on the motion vector between the frame of frame number (N + 1) and the frame of frame number (N + 2) held at 1, the attention degree for each block area of the image of frame number (N + 2) is estimated. Then, the attention degree information management unit 63
Holds the estimation result in.

The attention degree tracking unit 62 repeats the above operation, and finally estimates the attention degree for each block area of the image of the frame number (N + X). Then, the attention degree information management unit 6
The estimation result is held in 3.

The encoding unit 58 sends the frame number (N + X) of the frame currently undergoing the encoding process to the attention degree information management unit 63, and the attention degree information management unit 63 transmits a block relating to the frame of the frame number (N + X). The estimated attention degree for each area is received. The encoding unit 58 is configured to have the functions of the block division unit 14, the encoding unit 15, and the attention degree information management unit 20 of the first embodiment. That is, the estimated attention degree for each block area regarding the frame of the frame number (N + X) sent from the attention degree information management unit 63 is accumulated, while the image data sent from the video camera 57 is divided for each block area. Then, the image data of each block area is compression-coded based on the estimated attention degree corresponding to the block area.

Thus, the degree of attention sent from the receiving side to the transmitting side is the degree of attention targeting an image frame different from the image frame that the transmitting side is currently trying to compress and encode. The attention level of the image frame to be converted is estimated by the motion vector. Thus, compression coding on the transmission side according to the degree of attention on the reception side is realized, and even if compression coding is performed,
On the receiving side, it is possible to see an image with a sufficient amount of information without deterioration in the part of interest.

[0064]

As described above, in the present invention, the rotational position of the eyeball of the observer and the positional relationship between the eyeball and the screen are measured to detect where the observer is paying attention to the image,
Each area of the image is compression-coded according to the degree of attention. As a result, we realized compression coding according to the degree of attention to the details of the screen by the observer.

The observer observes the moving image displayed on the image display means. At this time, the observer should pay attention to the part where the deterioration is noticeable. The viewpoint position of such an observer is detected, and the degree of attention for each area is analyzed. Then, the moving image displayed on the image display means is compression-coded according to the degree of attention. As a result, it is possible to easily specify a portion of the moving image where deterioration is noticeable, and to perform compression encoding on that portion again.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an image encoding unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen and a gaze frequency for each block area.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the degree of attention for each block area.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a photographing side according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing an encoding side configuration of a third embodiment.

[Fig. 9] Fig. 9 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration for performing a first encoding according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration for performing a second encoding according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram showing a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the attention degree tracking unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 observer 2 viewpoint position detecting means 3 attention degree analyzing means 4 compression encoding means

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An image information compression coding apparatus for compressing and coding image information for transmitting or storing image information, viewpoint position detecting means for detecting a viewpoint position of an observer who observes an image, and said viewpoint position. Based on the viewpoint position detected by the detection means, the attention degree analysis means for analyzing the attention degree for each area forming the image, and each area of the image as the attention degree of the corresponding area obtained by the attention degree analysis means. An image information compression encoding device, comprising: compression encoding means for performing corresponding compression encoding. 2. The image information compression encoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image to be compressed and encoded is a still image. 3. The image information compression encoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image to be compressed and encoded is a moving image. 4. The image information compression coding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attention degree analysis unit obtains the attention degree based on a time when a viewpoint position exists in each area in a unit time. 5. The viewpoint position detecting means periodically detects the viewpoint position of the observer, and the attention degree analyzing means detects the attention degree based on the number of times the viewpoint position is detected in each region in a unit time. The image information compression coding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 6. The image information compression encoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compression encoding means performs finer quantization and encoding as the degree of attention is higher. 7. The compression encoding means determines a quantization step according to the degree of attention of the corresponding region obtained by the attention degree analyzing means, and the quantization step determining means. The image information compression coding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a quantizing unit that quantizes a corresponding region of the image based on the determined quantization step. 8. The compression encoding means, based on the encoded data obtained by the quantization means,
The quantization step determining means further includes information amount detecting means for detecting the information amount of the encoded data, and the quantization step determining means obtains the attention degree of the corresponding area obtained by the attention degree analyzing means and the information amount detecting means. 8. The image information compression coding apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the quantization step is determined according to the amount of information. 9. The image information according to claim 1, wherein the viewpoint position detecting means is provided in an image capturing device, and the observer is a photographer who operates the image capturing device to capture an image. Compression coding device. 10. The image to be compressed and encoded is:
The image information compression encoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the observer is an image displayed on an image display device, and the observer is a person who views a screen of the image display device. 11. The image information compression encoding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit that stores the attention degree of each area obtained by the attention degree analysis unit together with a corresponding image. . 12. An image information compression coding apparatus for compressing and coding image information for transmitting or storing image information, viewpoint position detecting means for detecting a viewpoint position of an observer who observes an image, said viewpoint position. Based on the viewpoint position detected by the detection means, the attention degree analysis means for analyzing the attention degree for each area forming the image, and the attention degree for each area obtained by the attention degree analysis means together with the corresponding image A storage unit that stores the content, a storage unit that reads out the storage content of the storage unit, and separates the attention level of each area into a corresponding image, and each area of the image obtained by the separation unit, An image information compression encoding device, comprising: a compression encoding unit that performs compression encoding according to the degree of attention. 13. An image information compression encoding apparatus for compression encoding image information for transmission or storage of image information, wherein image display means for displaying an image and image displayed on the image display means are observed. A viewpoint position detecting means for detecting the viewpoint position of the observer, an attention degree analyzing means for analyzing the attention degree of each region constituting the image based on the viewpoint position detected by the viewpoint position detecting means, and the attention degree analysis The attention degree for each area obtained by the means is stored in association with the image, and the attention degree for each area stored in the storage means is read out, and the attention degree of the image displayed on the image display means is read. An image information compression encoding device, comprising: compression encoding means for compressing and encoding each area in accordance with the degree of attention of the corresponding area. 14. The image information compression encoding apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the image displayed on the image display means is an image displayed by decoding encoded data. 15. An image information compression encoding apparatus for compression encoding image information for transmitting moving image information, comprising: decoding means for decoding compression-encoded and transmitted image data; and the decoding means. Image display means for displaying the image decoded by, the viewpoint position detecting means for detecting the viewpoint position of an observer observing the image displayed on the image display means, and the viewpoint position detected by the viewpoint position detecting means Based on the motion vector detected by the motion vector detecting means, the attention degree analyzing means for analyzing the attention degree of each area forming the image, the motion vector detecting means for detecting the motion vector of the input moving image, , Tracking the motion vector from the frame of the image targeted by the attention level analysis means to the frame of the input moving image to be encoded this time, Based on the attention degree for each area obtained by the attention degree analysis means,
Attention degree estimation means for estimating the attention degree of each area of the current encoded frame, and compression encoding of each area of the current encoded frame according to the attention degree of the corresponding area obtained by the attention degree estimation means. A compression encoding means for outputting to the decoding means, and an image information compression encoding apparatus.