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Very prompt service. Order was as expected.
These razors slide easily, and they give us a really close shave. This is my favorite product in the market. I would highly recommend this razor to anyone who is having sensitive skin. This razor makes my legs silky and very smooth. It do not cause irritation to sensitive skin.
This razor smells good and it leaves my legs really soft. It is however very easy to use this razor. This razor is actually pretty good. My skin is very dry it really moisturized my skin. I would recommend this razor to any one who do not want to add shaving cream.
This razor is a good product for sensitive skin, it gives a close shave without any bother. It is faster and easier to shave with this razor. I have used this brand for so many days, it does not irritate my skin. The scent is mild and pleasant one, it is like the blade surrounded by a nice creamy soap.
As title says, I love these blades! I can no longer find them in stores local to me as everything is being replaced with the 4, 5, and 6 blade. I refuse to use others. I don't like the newer blades, how they feel, how they work, nothing. These are my absolute favorite. Thank you My OTC for carrying them!! They don't nick me like others do, even when in a rush!
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text: Stayed here based upon reviews and thought that since it is near airport it would eb reaosnable and clean. Was I ever wrong in my life this time ! It is a dump. Not trashy, not unsafe exactly... but just a dump. Dont stay unless u only have a few dollars and absolutely NEED a place to sleep and there... More

subset: commoncrawl


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Since reopening its doors in 2009, Crew has established itself as one of the Hudson Valley's leaders in eclectic European-style cuisine. Crew's menu utilizes the region's bounty of local and organic products such as goat cheese (Milton, NY), duck, rabbit (New Paltz), and the Hudson Valley Fresh Dairy. The restaurant also harvests it's own seasonal organic garden (located on the premises).
Thomas Kacherski - Culinary Institute of America (CIA) graduate and chef/owner - oversees the modern, yet casually designed restaurant accented by the majestic open kitchen. The energetic bar serves 10 rotating craft draughts, along with the wine list consisting of over 100 bottles and 30 by the glass. The CIA trained chefs and warm staff create an elegant and fun dining experience.


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Topics :: GLBT travel
Let's Travel to New York City!
New York City is at the pulse of everything American; for trends to pass down to the rest of the country, they have to be hip and cool in New York City first. Ready to take a bite of the Big Apple?
Apps Aim to Assist Gay Travelers
Inspired by the advent of the sharing economy and the LGBT community's embrace of web-based dating sites, developers of two new cellphone apps aim to assist gay travelers in connecting with local hosts and residents in cities around the world.
Big Bear ROMP
It's often said that when one door closes, another opens. In the case of a new weekend-long party slated to debut in Big Bear Lake, it is very appropriate.
Discover Gay Florida: Sarasota
There are so many great sights to see, ranging from the famed Ringling Museum to the very walkable downtown area, featuring many specialty boutiques and sidewalk cafés. Give Sarasota a chance and you'll fall in love.
Tropical Heat Key West
Tropical Heat is one of the sexiest events on the Key West gay social calendar, and any gay man who lives in Florida should experience it at least once.
Let's Travel to Montreal!
Americans tend to have an image of Montreal as a sleepy city which is more French than English.Let me tell you what you should see and do in the city the locals call "La Métropole."
Let's Travel to Toronto!
If you want to get an idea of how Canada lives today, you don't need to go any further than Toronto. Let me tell you all about the places to see and things to do in T.O.
Discover Gay Florida :: Orlando
It was the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 that would change the area forever, as it brought millions of tourists from around the world to this unassuming, simple, mid-sized American city.
BeachBear Weekend Comes to Miami Beach!
Miami was very impressed and excited with BeachBear Weekend. They are even more excited to become our partner in this event for 2016.
Let's Travel to Baltimore!
Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, is called "The Charm City" for a reason, and it will be evident once you walk the beautiful downtown avenues and the outlying streets lined with brownstones.


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| More Sports
| Where is the golf board????? - roach3 on 8/25/15 at 7:25 am
can't find it, haven't been on in a while did it get moved?...View Topic - Replies (1)
| Coaching Changes
| Steele/Orgeron win!!!!! - roach3 on 1/14/15 at 8:23 am
Man that just made my morning, ill consider this combo an upgrade over what we had especially in recruiting!!!!...View Topic - Replies (3)
| Coaching Changes
| hangriff says dc hire is immenent............ - roach3 on 1/13/15 at 3:31 pm
Lol no one knows anything!!!!! Les is the great houdini...View Topic - Replies (15)
| Coaching Changes
| it sure is gonna be interesting to hear the other side of the chavis split...... - roach3 on 1/4/15 at 4:16 pm
I don't post much I generally lurk, but this will be good. Ill have more info tomorrow...View Topic - Replies (22)
| Coaching Changes
| this is the quietest I have ever seen a coaching search on here....... - roach3 on 1/2/15 at 1:10 pm
Hope that's good news. I'm gonna have a heart attach of we make a bone head hire. ...View Topic - Replies (8)
| More Sports
| harbaugh..... - roach3 on 11/16/14 at 2:14 pm
Seems like he is on his way out in San Fran, dude is a heck of a coach they gonna regret running him out of there. ...View Topic - Replies (5)
| Tiger Rant
| for all of you attending the Alabama game...... - roach3 on 10/31/14 at 10:50 am
Make sure that stadium is absolutely rocking and deafening all night next Saturday......that is all!! :geauxtigers:...View Topic - Replies (21)
| Tiger Rant
| boy o boy o boy!!!! - roach3 on 10/27/14 at 7:45 am
These tigers are growing up quick, getting very hot right now and I would say it's a safe bet that the teams on the rest of our schedule wish they didn't have to play us right now. The future is very bright for this bunch. Can't wait for the next year's to come. Very impressed at how this team rebou...View Topic - Replies (3)
| Food and Drink
| great beer blue moon harvest pumpkin ale - roach3 on 10/13/13 at 5:16 pm
First time I have tried this it has a smooth great taste. Definitely worth a try :cheers:...
Posted on Food and DrinkView Topic - Replies (7)
| More Sports
| Robert Trent Jones golf trails.............golfers weigh in - roach3 on 10/6/13 at 6:08 pm
Have any of you played the trails? Which courses are your favorites, did you lodge there? Planning a trip need some help. There will be 4-5 of us...View Topic - Replies (7)
| Tiger Rant
| message to any tigers that read the rant!!! - roach3 on 9/29/13 at 10:26 pm
Hey just want to let y'all know that was a hell of a game and as a fan I want to say we are proud of the effort and not give up attitude. Y'all played your arse off and it just wasn't our night. With that being said its a long season and we have a real good shot at a rematch in SECCG!!!! Bcuz we are...View Topic - Replies (5)
| More Sports
| FSU VS PITT---anyone watching Jameis Winston kid? - roach3 on 9/2/13 at 8:36 pm
I know they are playing Pitt but very impressive for a freshman 17/18 240 yrds. 2tds...View Topic - Replies (11)
| SEC Rant
| ole miss.......pump the brakes!!! geez - roach3 on 8/30/13 at 4:17 am
Congrats on the win. Slow down take a deep breath. Yes you just won on a last minute play!!!! Props to ya but you beat VANDY!!! I mean Damn now y'all are first in the west?? Lol. Geez act like y'all have been there before this is the SEC!! All for y'all having some good teams I enjoy making that tri...View Topic - Replies (6)
| Tiger Rant
| How many coaches have beat Nick Saban 2 years in a row??? - roach3 on 11/6/11 at 12:42 am
LES FRICKING MILES AND OUR DAMN STRONG TIGERS !!!!!!! I love it!!! :geauxtigers:...View Topic - Replies (5)
| SEC Rant
| Just got tickets for Nov. 5th - roach3 on 10/26/11 at 8:14 pm
I'm fricking fired up!! Roll call!! My first trip to ttown! How many peaceful bammers will be there? That's not a trick question, because bammers y'all should ask that too when coming here...View Topic - Replies (3)
| SEC Rant
| First trip to town!! - roach3 on 10/25/11 at 8:26 am
Hey bama fans I have never been there before, if you can give me some advice on good places to tailgate or atmospheres that are great to experience while me and my family are there I would appreciate it. I'm looking forward to having a blast! I'm not biased on hanging out with bama fans or lsu, just...View Topic - Replies (2)
| SEC Rant
| Comments on LSU vs BAMA 2011 - roach3 on 10/23/11 at 11:28 am
I have been a huge LSU fan my whole life. What i do have to say is a comment for both fan bases! how blessed are we as an SEC nation to be able to witness the epic battle that will take place on NOV. 5th in TTown between our historic football programs! As a LSU fan i wouldn't rather the game o...View Topic - Replies (4)
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text: For the price I paid I was a little bit disappointed. It wasn't a bad hotel by any means, just a bit overpriced for what it was. The first room they gave me reeked of cigarettes so I let them know and they promptly moved me. The hotel is clean but dated. Communication was difficult as I do not speak... More


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Men.com's Big Dicks At School Present Substitute Teacher featuring Chris Tyler and Kyle King.
More Galleries from Men Click to see all 516 Galleries
There are 8 comments on this gallery
hotnerdsex September 10, 2012 - 13:30:09 (See all My Comments)
These students look like they have been held back quite a few years!Reply
Bellaco37 August 10, 2012 - 14:37:35 (See all My Comments)
Hot substitute teacher..woof!Reply
easy sniffer April 29, 2012 - 22:30:33 (See all My Comments)
Nice fat nuts and beefy hairy chest on the tattooed so called student. Pix 14 is really hot with that hairy beef on display.Reply
dairyking469 April 29, 2012 - 06:37:11 (See all My Comments)
Wow! Rocking bodies!!!!!!!!Reply
unbomec April 28, 2012 - 09:48:09 (See all My Comments)
Chris had leg hair, now chest hair; next would be his natural look. Looking forward to that. And Kyle; total hunk.Reply
bike10 April 28, 2012 - 05:48:58 (See all My Comments)
Looks like a lesson on gay sex.Reply
SJB69 April 27, 2012 - 23:21:28 (See all My Comments)
Wish I had a teacher like this growing up! HOT, HOT, HOT!Reply
marcuspig April 27, 2012 - 20:25:34 (See all My Comments)
Difficult to know who's the more beefcake of these two hairy chested studs! Hot shagging!Reply


text:
Russ Feingold is the rare person of conviction who stood alone and heroically voted against the Patriot Act when every other member of the Senate voted "aye." And his principles don't change just because there's a new resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
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text:
its kinda confusing. Normally when the durable goods miss like we had today would send the mkts into a tailspin; BUT the mkts both in Europe and the US didn't budge much. On the other hand the S&P500 has reached its resistance as well as the Russel 2000 reached 932 its resistance and there is no sign of any pullback. There is just too much cash coming into the mkts and there is just too much complancy. All this indicates to a mkt moving higher as long as the fed is accommodative and now the Bank of Japan has joined in. But the other side of the story is that the fed is talking about raising interest rates to the tune of 2-1/4 by end 2013. Right now it is 0.25 percent. Not sure how the mkt is gonna take it in a good or bad way cause again in a good way would mean is that the economy can now sustain itself and don't need the fed no more and ofcourse the Finiancials ie the Bank stocks will benefit the most wheeas the Housing could get hit which includes construction and materials stocks. There will be money rotation but couldn't tell what would the mkts reaction. Normally in the past with interest rates hikes the mkts have tanked but this time there is a possibility it could be different. What will hit the mkts for sure is when the mkts revert back to the fundamentals ie Earnings/Revenue/Profit. Goodluck
And anybody listening to a fear-mongering blog from a hack that says "don't need no more" needs to be taken out back and shot.


text: My brother and I stayed with our families and our stay was perfect. The house is beautiful and there's lots of room for the kids to play outside. The pool was definitely the focal point of our stay and it is gorgeous. I highly recommend this house for anyone with a large family looking to get away! more


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Capital Markets
Company Overview of KPCB 15
Company Overview
KPCB 15 specializes in investments in startups and early stage. The fund seeks to invest in digital enterprise, consumer and enterprise Internet, clean and green technology, and life sciences companies.
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Menlo Park, CA 94025
United States
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text:
More than 50 D.C. youths in the custody of the city's juvenile justice agency either have been killed or found guilty of killing someone else over the past five years — and the majority of them had been categorized in advance as posing a "high," "high-medium" or "medium" risk of reoffending.
Hundreds of other youths with similar risk factors remain on city streets, according to figures obtained by The Washington Times from the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), in part because of a lack of secure facilities to hold them and because officials think confining them jeopardizes their chances for rehabilitation.
Even as officials declare public safety to be their top priority, statistics provided by the agency in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show that 19 "wards" — juveniles who commit crimes and are placed in the agency's custody — have been convicted in homicide cases since 2007. An additional 34 DYRS wards were victims of homicides over the same period.
"This is an astonishing number of lives lost while under the care and custody of this, or any District agency," said D.C. Council member Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat and chairman of the committee with DYRS oversight.
City officials said separate statistics show that 39 youths have faced homicide charges with dispositions that are pending or include convictions, acquittals, dismissals or guilty pleas since 2009, when DYRS adopted its structured decision-making process to guide policies on where to place troubled juveniles. Twenty-three of them — prior to the homicides with which they were charged — were determined to pose a high, a high-medium or a medium risk.
Of the 24 wards who were victims of homicide since 2009, 18 of them posed a heightened risk by the DYRS measure.
By city officials' own assessment, hundreds more youths with similar risk levels are on the streets on a daily basis.
According to figures provided last month by DYRS officials to the D.C. Council studying a random day in 2011, 58 percent of the roughly 1,000 city wards were classified as high, high-medium or medium risk. Fewer than 200 of those youths were sent out of the city to residential treatment centers across the country. About 60 more were in New Beginnings, the city's secure detention facility for youths in Laurel, Md.
That leaves more than 300 youths classified between high and medium risk placed with relatives under supervision of community-based organizations or in one of the District's dozens of group homes scattered across the city.
"These statistics raise serious questions of DYRS' current risk-assessment model and decision-making process to place young people back into neighborhoods without rigorous rehabilitation services and monitoring," Mr. Graham said. "A young person assessed at high to medium risk should be placed in a high-to-medium secure setting for their rehabilitation."
Priorities questioned
The administration of D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray disputes the characterization.
In a recent interview with The Times, Deputy Mayor Beatriz "B.B." Otero, who oversees DYRS, questioned the effectiveness of placing youths in secure facilities and expressed a philosophical preference for working with youths outside of detention-based settings.
"I don't believe all of the [medium-risk] or even the high-risk children need to be confined," Ms. Otero said. "I believe each individual has the potential for rehabilitation."
Mr. Gray's office also insists that it remains focused on public safety, and says the percentage of homicides among committed youths is small.
"As Deputy Mayor Otero [has] noted, public safety and the safety of the children in its care are DYRS' top priority," spokesman Pedro Ribeiro said in an email. "From 2008 to 2011, there were a total of 1,928 unique youth committed to DYRS.
"This means that less than 1 percent of the youth committed to DYRS from 2008 to 2011 were found guilty of [or involved in] a homicide, and [less than 2 percent] were victims of homicide," Mr. Ribeiro said.
Mr. Graham challenged the Gray administration's stated priorities. He pointed to the three people charged with the killing of Robert Foster on the day of the Caribbean Festival in June who were either under DYRS supervision or had just completed their supervision, and another case in Ward 1, in which a DYRS ward who had just been returned to the community by the agency's Community Review Panel is said to have fatally shot another DYRS ward.
Just as disturbing, Mr. Graham found, is that more than 100 youths destined for residential treatment facilities because of risk factors, drug abuse or specialized therapy for crimes such as sex offenses were first placed in community settings.
"I am concerned that those 102 young people that were originally placed in the community prior to secure placement may have picked up new charges and in some cases adult charges," he said. "They are now in more trouble than they were when they were first placed with [DYRS]."
One or two bad cases?
Predicting outcomes for youths can be misleading, some analysts say. The Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reports that juvenile arrests for violent offenses declined 10 percent between 2008 and 2009. Between 1994 — when violent-crime arrest rates for juveniles hit a historic high — and 2009, the rate fell nearly 50 percent to its lowest level since at least 1980.
Yet the percentage of overall crime attributed to youths in general has remained problematic.
Advocates in the juvenile justice arena insist that attempts to calculate suspects or victims of youth homicides while in the custody of an agency for juveniles are misguided.
"It's like saying that people who are in the hospital are more likely to be sick than people who aren't," said Joseph B. Tulman, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia, who is a member of the advisory board to DYRS and director of the Took Crowell Institute for At-Risk Youth.
Like Ms. Otero, Mr. Tulman and his fellow advocates prefer to talk about evidence-based treatment outcomes — not the dozens of lives lost or ruined while under the care and custody of DYRS.
"We all know that one or two bad cases has the potential to tear down the greater successes of this agency," Ms. Otero told a room full of advocates in December, before a panel discussion about transforming the District's juvenile justice system from a punitive to a more rehabilitative model.
Public perception is not all that is at stake.
Last year, the family of Neil Godleski, a Catholic University student who was killed in 2010 by a DYRS ward who had walked away from a group home, sued the District for $20 million in damages. Though the District has been dropped from that lawsuit, the group home operator, Associates for Renewal in Education Inc., remains a defendant.
© Copyright 2015 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.


text:
Learn the best methods for turning website visits into online sales.
Jimdo Tip: Improve Your Online Store with Product Pages
A good product landing page can boost your online store's SEO, customer experience, and sales. Here's how to set one up successfully.
Latest Trends and Best Practices for Customer Support
What's the best way to provide customer support for your online store? Craig Borowski shares his latest findings.
Improve Your Product Photography with a DIY Light Box
Improve the product photos on your website with this step-by-step guide to build a simple light box—no expensive camera equipment required.
5 Easy Tips for Improving an Online Store's SEO (and Sales)
Use these best practices for ecommerce SEO to improve your search engine rankings and help bring more traffic and sales to your website.
7 Reasons Online Shoppers Leave Your Store
Learn how to convert a hesitant shopper into a confident buyer in time for the holiday rush.
How to Run and Promote a Sale Online
Nail down the process of running and promoting a sale on an ecommerce website with these three phases.
8 Tips to Improve Customer Service on Social Media
Social media offers a low-cost way to interact with your customers and build a reputation for quick, effective customer service.
Design Tips To Help Your Ecommerce Site Succeed
Businesses that are effective in engaging customers and stimulating growth, have one thing in common: a well-designed website. Use these web design tips to optimize your success.
Increase Online Sales with Free Shipping
Nearly half of shopping carts are abandoned due to high shipping costs. Learn how to maximize your sales by offering free shipping in your online store.
Tips for Product Photography: The Power of a Smartphone
Make your ecommerce products shine is through photography. Don`t spend a fortune on an expensive camera. Learn how a smartphone is just as powerful.
The Do's and Don'ts of Ecommerce
Want to create an online store customers will love? Improve user experience by adhering to this list of do's and don'ts of building an ecommerce website.
Making Your First Sale: Managing Orders and Inventory
This screencast shows how to process pending orders, look at orders in your archive, and manage your store's inventory using Jimdo's built-in tools.
How to Create Discount Codes for Your Online Store
This screencast explains exactly how to create discount codes in Jimdo and how customers will use them in your store during checkout.
Advanced Store Tour: Shipping Options, Sale Prices, and Item Variations
A screencast looking closer at a store item and explore shipping options, sale prices, and item variations within the Jimdo store feature.
Online Store Building Blocks: Store Items and Store Catalogs
We continue our week-long quest to become expert online store owners. This post focuses on the building blocks of your online store: store items and store catalogs.
Selling Online With Jimdo: From Beginner to Expert in One Week
Whether you've already made your first foray into ecommerce or you're looking to get started, you're going to benefit from this week of ecommerce tips.
Shape Your Customer Experience
We want to help you improve the customer experience in your online store, so we've updated our Discount Code feature and added a custom Order Confirmation Page.
How to Make an Online Store with Jimdo
Ecommerce has opened up the possibility for small businesses and freelancers to sell their products and services to customers that never could have found them in the pre-internet era.


text:
Narrow your search
Those of you who use the popular password manager should considering changing your master password following a data breach. Here are the steps.
Attackers stole usernames and clues to master passwords, the company says, but are unable to breach the vast store of encrypted passwords the service manages.
This top-rated password manager is a great solution for anyone who's still relying on sticky notes.
Every web service requires a username and password. To be more secure, try out LastPass, which does the heavy lifting of creating unique passwords and stores the data for you.
Password manager LastPass adds a Heartbleed bug vulnerability scan to its site security check.
If your heart sinks every time your favourite Web service has its passwords hacked, protect your growing list of log-ins wiith LastPass.
From the Cheapskate: Finally, a deal on my favorite password manager -- and an unbeatable deal at that. Plus: the ultimate outdoor accessory?
Those who broke into the site are reportedly threatening to post stolen user information every day the "discreet" affair network remains online.
Embracing open, cross-platform tech is how we're preparing for a world where everything is a little smarter.
The St. Louis Cardinals are under scrutiny by the FBI to determine if members of the organization hacked into the internal databases of the Houston Astros. Meanwhile, the hack of password storage site LastPass offers a lesson in two-factor authentication.


text:
2001 Ford Taurus Fuel Pump
› Change Part / Category
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Hella Fuel Pump
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Part Number: W0133-1934111
Condition: New
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Fuel Pump Reviews - 2001 Ford Taurus
Spectra Premium | SP2294M
Came as shown in picture just what we wanted as of now on car running thanks
October 6th, 2014 | Posted by fuel pump
Airtex | E2294M
The part arrived quickly to my mechanic and was 1/3 the price of a new part through the mechanic. The part worked and the car is running great again.
April 9th, 2013 | Posted by Marty
Airtex | E2294M
Excellent as Usual! Fast! Accurate!
Keep comng back!
September 24th, 2013 | Posted by Excellent as Usual!


text:
Following Grand Theft Auto's recent lawsuit with Lindsay Lohan, it looks like Activision will be facing a similar one.
According to analyst Doug Cruetz of Cowen Research, Bungie's Destiny could be the biggest game of the year. It is expected to sell between 10-15 million copies.
The Game Fanatics is a US based video game blog, by avid video game fanatics, covering geek culture and the hottest gaming news. Got a tip? We'd love to hear from you!


text:
The Art Institute of St. Louis
The Art Institute of St. Louis
The Art Institute of St. Louis is one of The Art Institutes, a system of over 50 schools throughout North America dedicated to providing hands-on education in the creative and applied arts. The Art Institute of St. Louis offers bachelor's and associate degree programs for students interested in pursuing career opportunities from among tomorrow's 15 million jobs in creative fields like design, fashion, media arts and culinary (based on information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for job growth from 2012 to 2022).
A focused education from The Art Institute of St. Louis can help students turn their creative energy into a powerful tool that can make a difference in the world. Students are part of a collaborative and supportive community, where experienced instructors provide the guidance and skills needed to pursue a career in the creative economy.
The Art Institute of St. Louis is also an important resource for creative industry leaders who value the opportunity provided students to learn by using professional-grade technology to build a portfolio of work to show potential employers after graduation.
Accreditation and Licensing
The Art Institute of St. Louis is located in the historic city of Saint Charles, just northwest of St. Louis on the banks of the Missouri River. It's the third-oldest city west of the Mississippi--its history is evident along Main Street and the Riverfront, with their various restaurants, shops, and businesses. The city also boasts a casino, an art center, and several popular minor-league sports teams.
Saint Charles offers small-town charm, yet is close to the big-city amenities and attractions of St. Louis, a city that's rich in culture with well-known attractions, museums and galleries, music, and performing arts venues.
The St. Louis area offers a fascinating mix of the traditional and contemporary, from one of the top-rated zoos to cultural attractions that rank among the finest in the United States. Destinations include the 630-foot-tall Gateway Arch, the famous monument to America's westward expansion, and The Delmar Loop, one of the city's entertainment, cultural, and restaurant districts, which has been named "One of the Ten Great Streets in America."
There's an abundance of great restaurants, hot nightclubs, and unique shops. Musically, there's everything from rock to jazz to hip-hop, and of course blues, the genre most closely associated with the city.
St. Louis offers plenty of opportunities to get out and enjoy nature, with more than 100 city parks, including Forest Park, one of the largest urban parks in the entire country. Another noteworthy park is the Missouri Botanical Garden, a private garden and botanical research facility and home to the Climatron.
St. Louis is a serious sports town. Busch Stadium is full of fans whenever the Cardinals are in town. The same goes for the Edward Jones Dome when the Rams play football, or the Scottrade Center for Blues hockey.
Considering the advantages of being able to enjoy small-city friendliness and historic charm while being within easy reach of a major U.S. city and all its sophistication and excitement, it's hard to come up with a better all-around spot to pursue one's creative education than at The Art Institute of St. Louis.
Location & Contact
The Art Institute of St. Louis
1520 South Fifth Street, Suite 107
St. Charles, MO 63303
United States
PHONE: 1.636.688.3010 or 1.855.398.9281
URL: http://www.artinstitutes.edu/st-louis
|Graphic & Web Design
|Bachelor of Arts/Associate of Applied Science*
|Interior Design
|Bachelor of Arts
|Media Arts
|Digital Filmmaking & Video Production
|Bachelor of Arts
|Digital Photography
|Bachelor of Arts
|Fashion Marketing
|Bachelor of Arts
|Culinary Arts
|Associate of Applied Science
|Culinary Management
|Bachelor of Arts
*concentration(s) available in Graphic Design Specific, Web Design Specific
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91 points Robert Parker: "The youthful 1995 Vouvray Moelleux (45 grams of residual sugar) exhibits power and acidity. The wine's high acid gives it a dry impression on the palate. A dense, pure, rich, honeyed fruit character is impressive. The wine is tightly-wound, but promises to blossom slowly over the next 10-15 years. This Vouvray could be served with a meal, especially foie gras dishes, as it has the requisite acidity to cut through the intense flavors and fat of such dishes. This is an exceptionally well-made, gorgeously clean, well-focused, 100% Chenin Blanc wine that merits considerable attention." (06/97)
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2010 Maison Idiart Blanc de Blanc Brut
2009 Domaine des Baumard "Clos Ste.-Catherine" Coteaux du Layon (Previously $50)
1989 Joël Taluau "Cuvée de Domaine" St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil
2003 Joel Taluau "Vieilles Vignes" St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil
2010 Michel Delhommeau "Monnières Saint Fiacre" Muscadet Sèvre et Maine


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Free Shipping Day
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So a few months back the test footage was 'leaked' for the upcoming deadpool movie and from the short clip the feeling is it is going to be amazing with thousands if not millions of views on YouTube it's only right that the film is in production. 151 more words
Tags » Marveluniverse
Are you as excited as these guys about The Avenger?
"Spider-Man" is now part of Marvel cinematic universe! (Sony Press Release)
via – marvel.com
Marvel's Kevin Feige to Produce Next Installment of the Spider-Man Franchise with Amy Pascal
(Culver City, California, and Burbank, California February 09, 2015) – Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced today that Sony is bringing Marvel into the amazing world of Spider-Man. 503 more words


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Police Limit Comic: August 9, 2009
Police Limit Comic is a politically-motivated, pro-law enforcement comic strip, topical in its writing and unapologetically blunt
Police Limit Comic is published on PoliceOne every Sunday. For more than a decade, the strip's cast of unnamed characters has been constantly struggling with stresses, not only from the criminal element on the street, but also from the upper echelons of the police department's top brass, clueless judges, and the liberal media.
Recommended Patrol Issues
Man convicted in Dallas officer's 2001 death faces execution
NY cops respond to viral 'choking' video: Cop was helping, not hurting suspect
Community weighs future of youth program led by fallen Ill. officer
Join the discussion
PoliceOne top 5
- 1 Video: Ohio officer shot in ballistic vest, pleads with suspect to drop the gun
- 2 Reports: Ohio cop's shooting of boy who had pellet gun justified
- 3 Former cop leads protest after 'blacklivesmatter' written on coffee cup
- 4 Tension mounts between Baltimore police, prosecutors in Freddie Gray case
- 5 Ind. woman stops intruder with medieval combat skills, sword


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|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Jul 12, 1994
|Filing date
|Oct 1, 1993
|Priority date
|Apr 1, 1992
|Fee status
|Publication number
|Michael Keith
|Original Assignee
|Intel Corporation
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (6), Non-Patent Citations (6), Referenced by (58), Classifications (32), Legal Events (5)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 07/901,499, filed Jun. 19, 1992, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/861,227 filed Apr. 1, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,126.
This invention relates to video signal processing generally and particularly to systems for providing a compressed digital video signal representative of a full color video signal.
In real time video systems, compression and decompression are typically done using the same or similar hardware at roughly the same speed. Real time video systems have often required hardware that is too expensive for a single user, or such systems have sacrificed picture quality in favor of lower cost hardware. This problem has been bypassed by the use of presentation level video systems where the compression is performed on expensive hardware, but the decompression is done by low cost hardware. This solution works only in situations where the single-user system needs only to playback compressed video which has been prepared ahead of time. One method of encoding data is the use of variable length Huffman codes. However, the overhead required for this is a code table for each frame.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for compressing and decompressing motion video in real time which may operate on lower cost hardware while maintaining acceptable picture quality.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of the invention which follows.
A method and apparatus for real time compression and decompression of a digital motion video signal is disclosed. According to the present invention, a bitstream representative of at least one digital video image is decoded in real time by first providing a code-book index from the bitstream. The code-book index is applied to an index table to determine an index value which is compared to a first predetermined threshold. A single fixed table is used for any number of different frames. If the index value is greater than the predetermined threshold, then at least one current pixel is determined by copying a corresponding previous pixel into the location of at least one current pixel; otherwise, the index value is applied to a vector table to determine at least one vector value and at least one current pixel is determined from the vector value and a corresponding previous pixel.
In accordance with the present invention, at least one digital video image is encoded in real time by selecting at least one pixel for encoding and determining at least one difference value between the selected pixel and at least one corresponding previous pixel. An index value corresponding to the location in a first table of the difference value is calculated. If the index value is equal to a first predetermined value then a run-length counter is incremented by a second predetermined value and the process is repeated until the index value is not equal to the first predetermined value. The run-length counter is then encoded. If the index value is not equal to the first predetermined value then the index value is encoded.
FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of a decoder which may decode data according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1A is a flow diagram illustrating a further aspect of the decoder of FIG. 1.
FIG. 1B is a flow diagram illustrating a system for scaling-up an image compressed at a lower level of resolution according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2A shows the use of a corresponding previous pixel to perform intra-frame decoding in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2B shows the use of a corresponding previous pixel to perform inter-frame decoding in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of an encoder according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3A is a flow diagram illustrating the vector quantization and run-length encoding procedures of the encoder of FIG. 3.
FIG. 3B is a flow diagram illustrating the Huffman encoder of FIG. 3.
FIG. 3C is a flow diagram illustrating the method of Huffman encoding of the present invention.
FIG. 4A is a flow diagram illustrating a video compression system according to the present invention.
FIG. 4B is a flow diagram illustrating a video decompression system according to the present invention.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a flow diagram illustrating the operation of a decoder for decoding a bitstream 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Bitstream 100 represents a motion video sequence of one or more images which have been encoded in real time. Encoded data from bitstream 100 is applied to Huffman decoder 110 to derive a code-book index representing the position of a code-word within a lexicographically-ordered list of code-words. The code-book index is then used as an entry point to determine an index value from look-up table 120. Comparing means 130 are provided for comparing the index value to a predetermined threshold. If the index value is greater than the predetermined threshold, then copying means 140 determines at least one current pixel by copying a corresponding previous pixel into the location of a current pixel. In a preferred embodiment, copying means 140 calculates the amount that the index value exceeds the predetermined threshold, and then determines that number of current pixels by copying that number of corresponding previous pixels into respective current pixel locations. If the index value is not greater than the predetermined threshold, then the index value is used as an entry point to determine at least one vector value from vector table 150. Means 160 then determines at least one current pixel from a vector value and a corresponding previous pixel. In the preferred embodiment, means 160 uses the index value to determine two vector values which are adjacent in vector table 150. The two vector values are then used by means 160 to determine two adjacent current pixels from two corresponding previous pixels.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention is intended for compression of 8-bit planes of an image. The present invention may also be used with 9-bit YUV images, and other image formats, including 12-bit image formats, may also be used. In the preferred embodiment, the same compression and decompression process steps are applied to each color component of each image in a sequence. As used below, the term image refers to a single color component of an image refers to a single color component of an image.
In the preferred embodiment, each image in the sequence is encoded as either a still image or by using inter-frame differences. During the encoding of an image, each pixel in the image is subtracted from a corresponding previous pixel and the differences are encoded. In intra-frame encoding, as shown in FIG. 2A, when image 200 is encoded as a still, the corresponding previous pixel 210 is preferably the pixel directly above the current pixel 220 being encoded. As shown in FIG. 2B, if image 240 is encoded using inter-frame differences, the corresponding previous pixel 232 is preferably the pixel in previous image 230 located in the same bitmap position as current pixel 234 being encoded. In either case, there is a difference image whose values tend to cluster around zero which is encoded. Difference images are preferably encoded using two-dimensional vector quantization, with some run-length encoding added to help encode large areas of zeros efficiently.
In a preferred embodiment, bitstream 100 includes the following fields for each frame in a sequence: StillFlag, DataSize, ImageHeight, ImageWidth, Flags, VectorSet, a Huffman table descriptor for the image, and Huffman encoded data for the Y, V, U planes. The StillFlag field indicates whether the image is a still, DataSize indicates the size of the bitstream in bits, and ImageHeight and ImageWidth give the size of the decoded image in pixels. The Flags field indicates whether the data in the bitstream represents an image that has been encoded at full resolution, half vertical resolution, half horizontal resolution, or half vertical and half horizontal resolution. Such half resolution images may be obtained prior to encoding by subsampling the full resolution image in one or both dimensions. In the preferred embodiment, an image for encoding is considered to be at full resolution if its height is ImageHeight pixels and it width is ImageWidth pixels; it is considered to be at half vertical resolution if its height is ImageHeight pixels and its width is ImageWidth/2 pixels; it is considered to be at half horizontal resolutions if its height is ImageHeight/2 pixels and its width is ImageWidth pixels; and it is considered to be at half vertical and half horizontal resolution if its height is ImageHeight/2 pixels and its width is ImageWidth/2 pixels.
In a preferred embodiment, the VectorSet field is a number from 0 to 7 which is used to select one of eight vector sets to use for decoding an image. Each of the vector sets contains 128 ordered pairs which may be thought of as points defined by X and Y coordinates. In all the vector sets, the ordered pairs are clustered about the point (128, 128). However, the average distance between the ordered pairs and the center point (128, 128) varies among the vectors sets. In VectorSet 0, the ordered pairs are closely clustered about (128, 128). VectorSet 0 thus corresponds to the lowest quantization level. As one moves from VectorSet 0 to VectorSet 7, the ordered pairs cluster less closely around (128, 128). VectorSet 7 thus corresponds to the highest quantization level.
The eight vector sets used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention are attached hereto as an appendix to the parent application hereto. In the preferred embodiment, the vectors have arithmetic values in the range -128 to 127. The vector values shown in the Appendix to parent application hereto have 128 added to them, so that they are in the range 0 to 255. Other vector sets may be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
In a preferred embodiment, the value of the VectorSet field may vary from image to image, thus allowing the encoder to vary the quantization level between images. In this embodiment, the vector set selected by the VectorSet field is used to decode the Y component image. The vector set selected by the value VectorSet/2 is used for the U, V components. Better quantization is normally required for encoding the U, V component images because these components are typically subsampled spatially. In an alternate embodiment, a single vector set may be used to encode and decode all images in a sequence.
A Huffman table descriptor for each image may also be included in the format of bitstream 100. The Huffman table is preferably of the form shown in Table I below:
TABLE I______________________________________ 0[xx . . . x] 10[xx . . . x] 110[xx . . . x] 1110[xx . . . x] 11110[xx . . . x] 111110[xx . . . x] 1111110[xx . . . x] 11111110[xx . . . x]______________________________________
Byte K in the Huffman table descriptor indicates how many "x bits" there are in row K of the above table. The Huffman decoding operation collects bits from the bitstream one at a time until a code word in a codebook is recognized. Huffman decoder 110 returns a code-book index representing the position of a code-words within a lexicographically-ordered list of code words.
Following the above header information in bitstream 100 is the Huffman encoded data describing the Y plane. Data representing the V and U planes immediately follow the Y plane data. In the preferred embodiment, the V and U data describe a bitmap which is 1/4 the horizontal size and 1/4 the vertical size of the Y bitmap. The final result is a YUV 4:1:1 image which may be displayed directly by a display processor, or converted to some other display format if desired.
The decoding procedure for a still image may be described by the c-language pseudo code in Table II below. In the pseudo code, the function huffdec() performs a huffman decode operation as described above and returns an unsigned integer representing the code-book index.
TABLE II______________________________________DefineWidth = ImageWidth, divided by 2 depending on the value of FlagsHeight = ImageHeight, divided by 2 depending on the value of FlagsThen:unsigned char *curr,*prev;unsigned int *vec;for (x=0; x<Width; x++) // Fill first line with 128's bitmap[0][x] = 128;for (y=0; y<Height; y++) // for each line of image// point to beginning of current line and previous linecurr = &bitmap[y][0];prev = &bitmap[y - (y != 0)][0];for (x=0; x<Width; x+=2) // for each pair of// pixels{k = index[huffdec( )];// Now do either a run-length of 0's or a single vector,// depending on the value of k.if (k > 256) // run-length of 0's?{ for (i=0; i<k-256; i++) *curr++ = *prev++; x += k-258;}else // apply a single vector{ vec = vectors + k; *curr++ = clamp (*prevv++ + *vecc++); *curr++ = clamp (*prevv++ + *vecc++);}}}where:`vectors` is a pointer to the vector set to use forthis image, and index[ ] is the following array:index [ ] = { 2, 4, 258, 6, 8, 260, 10, 12,262, 264, 14, 16, 266, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 268, 30, 32, 270, 272, 32, 36, 38, 40, 274, 42, 44, 276 46, 48, 278, 50, 52, 280, 54, 56,282, 58, 60, 284, 62, 64, 286, 66, 68, 288, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96, 98, 100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112,114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126, 128,130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142, 144,146, 148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158, 160,162, 164, 166, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176,178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192,194, 196, 198, 200, 202, 204, 206, 208,210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224,226, 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 238, 240,242, 244, 246, 248, 250, 252, 254,}and clamp(x) is a function defined as follows:clamp(x) = 0 if x<128 x-128 if 128 >= x < 384 255 if x >= 384______________________________________
after executing the above procedure, the decoder the scales the image up horizontally and/or vertically by a factor of two, according to the Flags field in the header.
The decoding procedure for an inter-frame (non-still) image is similar to that described in Table II, and is obtained by deleting the first 2 lines of code, and changing the line
______________________________________ prev = &bitmap[y - (y != 0)][0];to prev = &prev-- bitmap[y][0];______________________________________
By manipulating the Flags and StillPeriod parameters in the encoder, it is possible to create real time video files which can be sealably decoded. This permits reasonable-quality playback on a typical micro-processor and better quality on a higher-performance video signal processor chip. In a preferred embodiment, real time video files which can be scalably decoded are created by setting Flags so that half vertical and half horizontal resolution are selected. The decoder would therefore normally be expected to scale up the image by 2� both vertically and horizontally after decoding. According to the present invention, if a sequence of 256�240 images is compressed at 128�120 resolution, it can be decompressed and displayed as a sequence of 128�120 images on a typical micro-processor. By opting not to interpolate the 128�120 images back up to 256�240 images, a typical micro-processor can be used to reproduce image sequences encoded in real time with a reasonable degree of quality. The image quality level can be improved through the use of a higher-performance video signal processor which reproduces the sequence by decoding and then interpolating back up to 256�240 images. Thus, the same encoded sequence can be reproduced at different quality levels depending on the limitations of the decompression hardware. Another aspect of real time video files which can be scalably decoded allows a typical micro-processor system to use a VGA for display whereas a video signal processor system may use a 24-bit-color display. The micro-processor system might choose to display in monochrome to avoid YUV-to-VGA-clut conversion.
In a still further aspect of scalability, during compression a user may set the parameter "StillPeriod" to P, thus requiring every Pth image to be encoded as a still. The other images may then be encoded using inter-frame differences. P can typically be set quite small without adversely affecting image quality. By compressing a sequence with P=3, the processing requirements for a micro-processor type system can be reduced without adversely affecting image quality. For example, decompressing and displaying still images using a known processor may typically yield a 10fps display. This frame rate can be increased smoothly from 10fps to 30fps if P=3.
Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown an overall flow diagram for encoding an image in real time according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
The first step is determining whether to encode the image as an intra-frame (a still image) or an inter-frame (an image encoded relative to the previous image in the sequence). For this purpose, a user parameter called StillPeriod is used. The user sets StillPeriod to a value K to force every Kth image to be encoded as a still (INTRA) image. For efficiency of encoding, an encoder may use an INTRA frame even for images in between every-Kth image. For example, if there is a scene cut or if the video enters a period of very high motion, then an intra-frame image will be more efficient to encode than an inter-frame, because the correlation between adjacent images will be too small to be advantageous.
As shown in FIG. 3, means 310 first computes the absolute difference (ABSDIF) between frame N and the previous frame (N-1). This involves summing the absolute value of the differences between all pixels in the two images. For efficiency of computation it is preferable to only use a subset of the pixels in the two images for the purpose of comparison. This provides as nearly an accurate measure of the difference between the two images at a greatly reduced computational cost. After this computation, means 320 (i) compares the absolute difference between frame N and a previous frame N-1 with a predetermined threshold, and (ii) computes the value of N mod StillPeriod. If means 320 determines (i) that the absolute difference is greater than the predetermined threshold or (ii) that (N mod StillPeriod) is zero, then the frame type is set to INTRA by means 325. Otherwise, the frame type is set to INTER by means 330. In alternate embodiments, parameters other than the absolute difference between all pixels in frames N and N-1 may be used in determining how to set the frame type. For example, the mean-square error between pixels in frames N and N-1 or the relative difference between such pixels may be used.
After determining whether to encode as an INTRA or INTER image, means 340a next computes the pixel differences which are to be encoded. As described in the discussions of FIGS. 2A, 2B above, if the image is an INTRA, each pixel has subtracted from it the value of the pixel immediately above it in the same image. For the top row, a "phantom value" of 128 is used for these pixels. If the image is an INTER image, each pixel has subtracted from it the value of the pixel in the same spatial location in the previous image. The pixel differences are then vector-quantized and run-length encoded by means 340b. Further details of this vector-quantization and run-length encoding procedure are shown in FIG. 3A and will be described below. The output of means 340b is a string of bytes with values corresponding to the values in the index[] array (divided by 2). This string of bytes is Huffman encoded by means 360 into variable-length codes. Further details of Huffman encoder 360 are shown in FIG. 3B and will be described below. In the final encoding step, means 380 prepends the proper bitstream header.
Referring now to FIG. 3A, there is shown a flow diagram illustrating the operation of means 340 of FIG. 3. In particular, FIG. 3A shows the run-length encoding and vector quantization procedures of means 340b. The operation of means 340 is performed with a 2-state machine. The two states are denoted as ZERO and NONZERO. The ZERO state indicates that the system is in the middle of processing a run of 0 values. The NONZERO state indicates that non-zero values are being processed. The purpose of the two states is to allow for efficient encoding of consecutive zero differences.
In the first step of FIG. 3A, means 342 initializes the state machine to the NONZERO state. Next, means 344 computes the next pair of pixel differences. In the preferred embodiment, the image is processed in normal raster-scan order, from top to bottom and left to right within each line. The "next pair" of pixels means the next two pixels on the current scan line being processed. As stated above, the differences are taken with the pixels immediately above these pixels (if this image is being encoded as an INTRA) or with the pixels in the same spatial location in the previous image (if this image is being encoded as an INTER image). Since these two values represent pixel differences, they will typically be small, or close to zero.
In the next step, means 346 operates to 2-D vector-quantize the two pixel difference values into a single number (index) between 0 and 127. The possible index values correspond to 128 points in 2-D space known as a "vector set". Geometrically, a vector set represents 128 points in the 2-D square bounded by the values -255 and 255 which have been chosen as reasonable approximations to every point in the square. Thus, if the two pixel difference values are denoted by d1 and d2, they can be represented as a point in the 2-D square with coordinates (d1, d2). The vector quantization operation attempts to choose the closest (in Euclidean distance) of the 128 representative points to be used to encode the point (d1, d2). Since the vector set is relatively small, this choosing operation can be done quickly using a lookup table. According to this procedure, the values d1 and d2 are first limited to the range -127 to +127. Then, the quantity 128 is added to produce values in the range 0 to 255. Next, a value p is calculated according to equation (1) below wherein "|" represents a bitwise inclusive OR operation, and "<<" and ">>" indicate left and right shift operations, respectively, of the left operand by the number of bit positions given by the right operand:
p=(d1>>2)|(d2>>2<<6) (1)
The value of p is in the range 0 to 4095. The value at position `p` in a 4096-entry lookup table is then used to get the index corresponding to the closest representative point in the vector set corresponding to (d1, d2). Although a slight inaccuracy in the computation is introduced by not using the lower 2 bits of d1 and d2, without this step the lookup table would be 64K instead of 4K. A separate lookup table is required for each of the eight vector sets for a total size of 32K bytes. During encoding, the degree of quantization used (e.g., the VectorSet value chosen) is varied by known feedback processes which monitor the size of encoded images in the bitstream.
The remainder of FIG. 3A maintains the value of a variable `run` which indicates how many consecutive index values of 0 have been produced. When a run of 0 values is ended, means 350 outputs the value 128+run. For each non-zero index, means 354 outputs the index value itself. Means 358 functions to repeat the process (starting from means 344) until all pixels have been processed.
The encoding procedure shown in FIGS. 3,3A for a still (INTRA) image can be described by the c-language pseudo code in Table III below:
TABLE III______________________________________DefineWidth = ImageWidth, divided by 2 depending on the value of FlagsHeight = ImageHeight, divided by 2 depending on the value of FlagsThenunsigned char *curr, *prev,grey[XMAX];unsigned char *lookupfor (x=0; x<Width; x++) // make a line of 128's grey [x] = 128;state = NONZERO;for (y=0; y<Height; y++) // for each line of imagecurr = &bitmap[y][0];if (y > 0)prev = &bitmap[y-1][0];elseprev = &grey[0];for (x=0 ; x<Width; x+=2){d1 = clamp(*curr++ - *prev++ + 128);d2 = clamp(*curr++ - *prev++ + 128);index = lookup[ (d1 >> 2) | (d2 >> 2 << 6) ];if (state == ZERO){ if (index == 0) run++; else { huffenc(run + 128); huffenc(index); state = NONZERO; }}else if (state == NONZERO){ if (index == 0) { run = 1; state = ZERO; } else huffenc(index);}}}where`lookup` is a pointer to the 4K difference-pair-to-vector-index lookup table for the current vector set;huffenc(x) is a function to output the appropriateHuffman codeword such that index[huffdec(huffenc(x))]= x.______________________________________
The encoding procedure for an inter-frame image is similar to that described in Table III, and is obtained by deleting the first 2 lines of code, and changing the lines
______________________________________ if (y > 0) prev = &bitmap[y-1][0]; else prev = &grey[0]; to prev = &prev-- bitmap[y][0];______________________________________
Referring now to FIG. 3B, there is shown a flow diagram illustrating the Huffman encoding of the byte values output by means 340b. The Huffman encoding step replaces the fixed 8-bit codes with a statistically-optimized set of variable-length codes. Before the Huffman encoding begins, two tables (table1 and table2) are precalculated to specify, for each 8-bit value to be Huffman encoded, the number of bits in the Huffman code and the actual bits themselves. The bits are top-justified in a 16-bit value. The Huffman encoding operation is assisted by a 16-bit register called `bitbur` in which bits are collected. Another register, `rbits` is used to indicate how many unused bits there are remaining in `bitbur`. Means 361 initially sets rbits to 16, since `bitbuf` is initially empty.
Means 362 reads the next byte of data and looks up `numbits` and `bits` in the two tables. Decision block 363 determines whether there is room enough in `bitbuf` to hold the entire Huffman code word, i.e., is numbits≦rbits? If so, then `bits` is ORed into `bitbuf` by means 364, and `rbits` is reduced by the value of `numbits` by means 365. If it is determined by decision block 363 that the bits do not fit in `bitbuf`, then the encoder puts as many bits as will fit into `bitbuf` outputs `bitbuf`, puts the remaining bits into bitbuf, and sets rbits=16-diff. More particularly, means 366 determines a value diff by subtracting rbits from numbits. Means 367 puts as many bits as will fit into bitbuf by ORing (bitbuf>>rbits) with (bits>diff). Means 368 then outputs bitbuf and means 369 sets bitbur to bits and rbits to 16 minus diff.
Decision block 370 determines whether the processing of all bytes is completed. If it is determined that all bytes have not been processed, the above process (starting with means 362) is repeated.
Referring now to FIG. 3C, there is shown a flow diagram illustrating an additional preferred embodiment of the system of the present invention. In this embodiment fixed 8-bit codes are replaced with a set of statistically-optimized variable-length codes using Huffman encoding as previously described. However, in this embodiment a single fixed lookup table is provided for a plurality of images rather than using an individually optimized lookup table for each frame. This single fixed lookup table may be determined by statistical optimization performed upon a set of training images which are typical of the type of images or frames to be encoded. Thus, the lookup table used to encode a frame is not necessarily optimized for the particular frame being encoded. This may cause some inefficiency in the encoding process. However, this inefficiency is traded off for the greatly simplified processing provided by not determining and transmitting an individual lookup table for each frame.
The fixed table may be used for any number of differing frames. It is possible, for example, to determine a fixed table which is optimized for animated images and use this table for all animated images. It is also possible to determine a fixed table which is optimized for real life images and use it for all real life images. Additionally, it has been determined that the method of this embodiment provides satisfactory results if a single statistical optimization is performed to provide a single fixed Huffman table for all possible images which may be processed. For example, a training set of images may be selected to include animated images as well as real life images and the single fixed table produced thereby may be used for both types of images.
It will be understood that the system of this invention may use any method of statistical optimization which yields a fixed Huffman table which may be applied to a plurality of differing frames when the plurality of frames is encoded and decoded. One method of statistical optimization involves using the optimized tables determined for a learning set of images as shown in block 380. It is well understood by those skilled in the art how to obtain the individual optimized tables for the individual frames of the learning set. In the method of the present invention, this optimization is performed on the frames of the training set to provide an optimized lookup table for each image in the training set, thereby providing a set of lookup tables as shown in block 382. Conventional statistical methods may then be used to select that lookup table from this set of lookup tables which gives the least error when applied to all of the frames in the learning set as shown in block 384. The selected table may then be used on all images as the fixed table of the method of the present invention as shown in block 386.
Each encoded image is provided with an image header containing a flag bit indicating whether the image was encoded using a variable look-up table or a fixed look-up table. As shown in Table I, in the case of variable look-up tables the descriptor indicates how many "x bits" there are in each row of the table. The corresponding format for the number of "x bits" for the eight rows of a fixed table may be: 2,3,3,4,4,4,6,6.
Two overall system block diagrams are shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B. FIG. 4A shows a block diagram for recording and FIG. 4B shows a block diagram for playback; however, the same system can be used (even simultaneously) for either recording (encoding) or playback (decoding),
Referring now to FIG. 4A, the analog video is first digitized by video digitizer 410, and the digital images are stored in memory 420 in "YUV-9" format. This format consists of three planes of 8-bit pixels: one Y plane, one U plane, and one V plane. The U and V planes are stored at 1/4 the resolution in each dimension compared to the Y plane. Means 430 includes a set of control and synchronization routines which examine the images as they are digitized and invoke encoder 440 as appropriate in order to compress successive frames of the video. The bitstreams are then output to memory, from which they can be stored to hard disk or sent over a network.
Referring now to FIG. 4B, a playback system according to the present invention is shown. The playback diagram of FIG. 4B is the inverse of the record diagram shown in 4A. Thus, means 470 accepts as input compressed data and invokes decoder 480 as appropriate to decompress successive frames of the video. The decompressed video is stored in memory 460 in YUV-9 format. Display hardware 450 produces analog video from the YUV-9 data.
In the preferred embodiment, digitizer 410 can be programmed to digitize horizontally or vertically at any resolution. In effect, this means that the digitizer can be used to do part of the compression process. By programming the digitizer to a lower resolution, there will be less data for the encoder to compress and the final data size will be smaller. In addition, digitizer 410 may dynamically alter the digitizer resolution (either horizontally or vertically) when the video becomes "hard" to compress. A method and apparatus for dynamically altering resolution based on image complexity is implemented in U.S. patent application entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Encoding Selected Images At Lower Resolution" by A. Alattar, S. Golin and M. Keith, filed Mar. 25, 1992, the serial number of which is not yet known, which application is assigned to the assignee of the present application and the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
In the real time video system described above, the encoder takes incoming digitized images, compresses them, and outputs the compressed bitstream to a buffer in memory for extraction by the application. The simplistic view of the system assumes that everything works "ideally", so that new compressed frame is generated exactly F times per second, where F is the desired frame rate requested by the user. However, there are at least two conditions which typically occur to make the operation of the system less than ideal;
(1) The analog video source may disappear for a period, thus precluding new digitized images from being obtained by the digitizer; and
(2) The application may not extract compressed frames from the buffer fast enough, which means that the encoding system gets "stalled" by the inability to output more compressed frames (caused by the output buffer being full).
In either case, if the encoder simply fails to output frames, this will result in a loss of time synchronization. For example, if the system is encoding at 30 frames per second, the playback system would expect to get 900 frames in 30 seconds. If, due to conditions (1) or (2), less than 900 frames are generated (for example, 840), then upon playback the playback system will play these 840 frames at 30 frames per second, and the playback of these frames will occupy only 28 seconds. This is not acceptable, since the video information upon playback will not occupy the same amount of real time that it did during recording. This will be evident to the view by, for example, loss of audio/video synchronization.
A solution to this problem is presented by what will be termed "sync frames". During encoding, means 430 keeps track of real time using a clock signal. It attempts to generate F compressed data frames per second, as requested by the user, and it monitors how well it is doing. If at any point it determines that it is behind (i.e., fewer frames have been generated so far than there should be), it inserts a "sync frame" into the compressed buffer. A "sync frame" is a compressed data frame that appears in the bitstream just like a normal compressed frame (and so travels through the record and playback systems without any special handling) but which can be detected by the playback process as special.
The sync frame consists of the bitstream header (described above) with the DataSize field set to 128 and the other fields set to the appropriate values. A sync frame in effect counts the passage of time without causing a new image to appear on the screen. When the decoder encounters a sync frame, it simply copies the previous image to the current image bitmap. This results in no change to the display but the proper passage of time, so that accurate time synchronization results. Thus, if frames are created during a 30-second period, then means 430 will a system bottleneck occurs so that only 840 "real" compressed frames are created during a 30-second period, then means 430 will insert 60 sync frames. Thus, over the 30-second period there will be exactly 900 frames, as desired, but 60 of them will be sync frames. On playback, there will be some visual anomalies when the sync frames are processed, but exact time synchronization will be maintained.
The present invention may be implemented in real time (both compression and decompression) using an Intel model i750PB processor. Other processors, including Intel 386/486 processors, may be used to scalably decode video data which has been encoded accorded to the present invention.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes of the invention. Accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.
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|U.S. Classification
|International Classification
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|Jul 13, 1998
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