US 12,413,752 B2
Image processing
Ivan Makeev, London (GB); Balázs Keszthelyi, London (GB); Stergios Poularakis, London (GB); Michele Sanna, London (GB); and Robert Ettinger, London (GB)
Assigned to V-NOVA INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, London (GB)
Appl. No. 16/769,798
Filed by V-NOVA INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, London (GB)
PCT Filed Dec. 6, 2018, PCT No. PCT/GB2018/053556
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 4, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/111014, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 13, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 17386047 (EP), filed on Dec. 6, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2021/0176484 A1, Jun. 10, 2021
Int. Cl. H04N 19/33 (2014.01); H04N 19/154 (2014.01); H04N 19/167 (2014.01); H04N 19/17 (2014.01); H04N 19/187 (2014.01); H04N 19/46 (2014.01)
CPC H04N 19/33 (2014.11) [H04N 19/154 (2014.11); H04N 19/167 (2014.11); H04N 19/17 (2014.11); H04N 19/187 (2014.11); H04N 19/46 (2014.11)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for facilitating a progressive reconstruction chain of an image by processing a single compressed data stream for the image in a manner so as to progressively derive different quality representations of the image and in a manner so as to enable different regions of one or more of the representations of the image to be reconstructed at different levels of quality, such that the one or more representations of the image are reconstructed during the reconstruction chain to include non-uniform levels of quality, the method being performed by a browser engine and comprising:
receiving, within the single compressed data stream, first compressed data that, when decoded, is useable to obtain a first representation of the image at a first level of quality having a first image resolution, wherein the first representation of the image includes a thumbnail version of the image;
decoding the first compressed data to obtain the first representation of the image at the first level of quality such that the thumbnail version of the image is obtained;
causing the thumbnail version of the image to be displayed on a webpage and at a particular size;
decoding second compressed data to obtain first reconstruction data usable to generate a preliminary representation of the image, wherein:
the preliminary representation of the image includes a first original subpart and a second original subpart,
the first and second original subparts are reconstructed and displayed at a second level of quality such that the preliminary representation of the image has a uniform level of quality, and
the second compressed data is (i) downloaded in response to a predetermined trigger event comprising a user selection of the displayed thumbnail version of the image and then subsequently decoded or, alternatively, (ii) received prior to the predetermined trigger event and then decoded after the predetermined trigger event;
decoding third compressed data to obtain second reconstruction data useable to enhance the second original subpart of the preliminary representation of the image from the second level of quality to a third, higher level of quality comprising a higher image resolution, wherein the second original subpart is less than an entirety of the preliminary representation of the image, resulting in generation of an enhanced representation of the image; and
using the second reconstruction data to enhance said second original subpart of the preliminary representation of the image to create the enhanced representation of the image, which includes an enhanced subpart;
causing the enhanced representation of the image to be displayed on the webpage,
wherein:
the enhanced subpart is displayed at the higher image resolution in place of the second original subpart of the preliminary representation of the image, such that the enhanced representation of the image is a subsequently reconstructed version of the preliminary representation of the image and is displayed in a manner so as to include non-uniform levels of quality, and
as a result of using the single compressed data stream, the thumbnail version of the image is a part of the reconstruction chain of the enhanced representation of the image as opposed to the thumbnail version of the image being streamed separately.