Image Encoding via Contour Mask Enhancement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image coding technologies, such as high efficiency video coding (HEVC), struggle to improve subjective image quality due to uneven quality and unclear edges in original images, while also facing challenges in achieving a balance between coding speed and compression efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The method involves obtaining a contour mask image of the original image, enhancing the image based on this mask, and then using both the contour mask and enhancement images to generate a coding stream and reconstructing image, thereby optimizing image quality and compression efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If high efficiency video coding (HEVC) is employed to obtain higher compression ratio, then compression efficiency is improved, but subjective image quality deteriorates due to uneven quality and unclear edges
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing image enhancement on the original image before the coding process. Specifically, a contour mask is generated from the original image, and the mask is used to guide enhancement operations that clarify edges and improve local quality. This preprocessing step ensures that the input to the HEVC coder has improved quality characteristics, thereby resolving the contradiction between compression ratio and subjective image quality.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple new coding standard division modes are used to improve performance, then image quality is improved, but coding speed deteriorates significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent generates a contour mask as a preliminary structure before coding, which guides the enhancement process. This mask-based approach provides a systematic framework that improves image quality without requiring exhaustive exploration of multiple complex division modes, thereby maintaining coding speed while achieving quality improvement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by using the contour mask to identify and enhance specific regions of the image (edges and contours) rather than applying uniform processing to the entire image. This localized enhancement approach improves subjective quality where it matters most (at edges and boundaries) while avoiding unnecessary processing elsewhere, thus maintaining coding efficiency and speed.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure provides a method for coding an image. The method includes: obtaining a contour mask image of an original image; obtaining an enhancement image by performing enhancement on the original image based on the contour mask image; and obtaining a coding stream and a reconstructing image of the original image based on the contour mask image and the enhancement image.