Fast algorithms for foveated video processing

This paper explores the problem of communicating high-quality, foveated video streams in real time. Foveated video exploits the nonuniform resolution of the human visual system by preferentially allocating bits according to the proximity to assumed visual fixation points, thus delivering perceptually high quality at greatly reduced bandwidths. Foveated video streams possess specific data density properties that can be exploited to enhance the efficiency of subsequent video processing. Here, we exploit these properties to construct several efficient foveated video processing algorithms: foveation filtering (local bandwidth reduction), motion estimation, motion compensation, video rate control, and video postprocessing. Our approach leads to enhanced computational efficiency by interpreting nonuniform-density foveated images on the uniform domain and by using a foveation protocol between the encoder and the decoder.