Image Processing Device and Method Smarter Coding for Sharper, Smaller Video

This patent describes an image processing device and method for encoding and decoding video more efficiently. It comes from Sony Group Corporation, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company.

The Problem

Video compression is what makes streaming, broadcasting, and video calls possible: raw video is enormous, so it must be squeezed down without visibly hurting quality. Codecs do this by predicting each part of a frame from nearby pixels or earlier frames and storing only the small differences, then transforming and quantising that data. Every step involves trade-offs between how small the file gets, how good the picture looks, and how much computation the encoder and decoder need. As resolutions and frame rates keep climbing, engineers keep refining exactly how prediction, transformation, and the surrounding control information are handled, to wring out more compression at the same quality. Small improvements in these coding tools add up to real savings in bandwidth and storage.

What This Invention Does

The patent describes an image processing device and method that refine part of the video coding process. Working within the predict-transform-quantise framework of a modern codec, the invention adjusts how certain elements are computed or signalled during encoding and decoding so that the same picture quality can be reached with fewer bits, or a given bit budget yields a better picture. The IPC classifications point to how transform coefficients and prediction blocks are handled. Because encoder and decoder must follow identical rules, the filing covers both sides: the method a decoder uses to reconstruct the image and the matching device that performs it. The aim is a measurable gain in coding efficiency that fits into the standardised pipeline used by streaming and broadcast systems.

Key Features

• Efficiency gain. The method reaches the same quality with fewer bits, or better quality for the same bits.
• Within the standard pipeline. It refines steps in the usual predict-transform-quantise coding process.
• Matched encode and decode. The device and method cover both encoding and the identical decoding rules.
• Coefficient and prediction handling. The improvements target how transform data and prediction blocks are processed.
• Scales to high resolution. The gains help manage the demands of higher resolutions and frame rates.

Who Is Behind It

The applicant is Sony Group Corporation, the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment company with a long history in imaging, cameras, and video technology. The named inventor is Takeshi Tsukuba. This filing is a divisional application from an earlier related Australian application.

Why It Matters

Video already dominates internet traffic, so even a few percent of extra compression efficiency translates into vast savings in bandwidth, storage, and energy across streaming platforms and broadcasters. Coding improvements that plug into the standard pipeline can spread widely through the devices and services people use every day. Protecting the technology in Australia supports the company’s imaging and video interests and its contributions to coding standards.

Related Concepts

• Video coding format – the standardised way video is compressed and stored.
• Data compression – the general practice of shrinking data this invention advances.
• Discrete cosine transform – the transform step behind much video coding.
• High Efficiency Video Coding – a widely used modern codec standard.
• Streaming media – the delivery method that depends on efficient coding.

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AU 2026201987 was published in the Australian Official Journal of Patents on 2 April 2026 and is open for public inspection. Patent applications represent inventions that are sought to be protected and do not necessarily reflect commercially available products.