1. A method for adapting the throughput of a video stream comprising a plurality N of compressed images Icn with a plurality of spatial resolutions andor a plurality of quality layers, said images being compressed separately from one another, said method comprising at least the following steps:
defining at least one key image I0 from among the said images that the stream comprises,
for each current compressed image Icn and for each truncation point k corresponding to a spatial resolution andor a quality layer available for this image, executing the following steps:
truncating the said current compressed image Icn at the said truncation point k so as to produce a compressed and truncated image Ickn consuming a throughput Dkn,
decompressing the compressed key image Ic0, the current compressed image Icn and the compressed and truncated image Ickn,
determining at least one information item regarding compensation of motion between the truncated key image Ik0 and the truncated current image Ikn,
applying the said motion compensation information item or items to the key image I0 so as to obtain a reconstructed image IRn with the spatial resolution andor quality layer of the key image I0, and
determining an estimate of the distortion \u0394kn between the reconstructed image IRn and the decompressed current image In,
determining for all the images In of the said video stream, except for the key image or images I0, the optimum truncation points knopt which minimize the sum of the distortions
\u2211
n
=
1
N
\u2062
\u0394
n
k
opt
n
and which comply with the following inequality
\u2211
n
=
1
N
\u2062
D
n
k
opt
n
<
D
target
–
D
I
0
with Dtarget the maximum throughput that can be consumed by the video stream and DI0, the throughput consumed by the key image or images Ic0, and
producing a throughput-adapted compressed video stream, composed of the key image or images Ic0 and of the compressed images truncated Ickn at the said optimum truncation points knopt.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the distortions \u0394kn are determined by a mean square error or PSNR calculation.
3. A throughput adaptation device adapted for receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of compressed images Icn with a plurality of spatial resolutions and for delivering a compressed video stream whose throughput is less than a target throughput and whose mean distortion is minimized, said device comprising means for implementing the method according to claim 2.
4. A throughput adaptation device adapted for receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of compressed images Icn with a plurality of spatial resolutions and for delivering a compressed video stream whose throughput is less than a target throughput and whose mean distortion is minimized, said device comprising means for implementing the method according to claim 1.
5. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the following steps:
determining, for each current compressed image Icn, for each truncation point k and for each rate Ri of corrector codes, taken from a given set of corrector codes, the throughput
D
n
i
,
k
=
D
n
k
R
i
consumed by the said compressed image Icn protected by the said corrector code of rate Ri,
determining, for each current compressed image Icn, for each truncation point k and for each rate Ri of corrector codes, an estimate of the distortion \u0394i,kn between on the one hand an image reconstructed IRn on the basis of the key image I0 and of the compressed, truncated image Ickn, protected by the said corrector code and corrupted by errors whose probability of occurrence Pae is known and on the other hand the decompressed current image In,
determining for all the images In of the said video stream, except for the key image or images I0, the corrector codes of optimum rates Rioptn which minimize the sum of the distortions
\u2211
n
=
1
N
\u2062
\u0394
n
i
opt
n
,
k
opt
n
and which comply with the following inequality
\u2211
n
=
1
N
\u2062
D
n
i
opt
n
,
k
opt
n
<
D
target
–
D
I
0
,
and
producing a throughput-adapted compressed video stream, composed of the key image or images Ic0 and of the compressed images truncated Ickn at the said optimum truncation points knopt and protected by the corrector codes of optimum rate Rioptn.
6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the distortion \u0394i,kn is determined with the aid of the following relation
\u0394i,kn=(1\u2212Paei)Tn,k,i\xb7\u0394kn+(1\u2212(1\u2212Paei)Tn,k,i)\xb7\u0394k0,n,
with Piae the given probability of error occurrence for a corrector code rate Ri and a target signal-to-noise ratio, Tn,k,i the size, in bits, of the compressed truncated image Ickn protected by the corrector code of rate Ri and \u0394k0,n the distortion engendered when the compressed truncated image Ickn is totally corrupted or lost.
7. A throughput adaptation device adapted for receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of compressed images Icn with a plurality of spatial resolutions and for delivering a compressed video stream whose throughput is less than a target throughput and whose mean distortion is minimized, said device comprising means for implementing the method according to claim 6.
8. A throughput adaptation device adapted for receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of compressed images Icn with a plurality of spatial resolutions and for delivering a compressed video stream whose throughput is less than a target throughput and whose mean distortion is minimized, said device comprising means for implementing the method according to claim 5.
9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the key image I0 is initially chosen as the first image of the said video stream and is updated to the current image In when the distortion \u0394kn, \u0394i,kn exceeds a given threshold.
10. A throughput adaptation device adapted for receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of compressed images Icn with a plurality of spatial resolutions and for delivering a compressed video stream whose throughput is less than a target throughput and whose mean distortion is minimized, said device comprising means for implementing the method according to claim 9.
11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the images of the said video stream are compressed with the aid of the M-JPEG 2000 standard.
12. A throughput adaptation device adapted for receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of compressed images Icn with a plurality of spatial resolutions and for delivering a compressed video stream whose throughput is less than a target throughput and whose mean distortion is minimized, said device comprising means for implementing the method according to claim 11.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A method of reusing a photographic processing waste solution, comprising:
preparing a solidified matter from the photographic processing waste solution by a dry-solidification according to a thin film concentration method without removing ingredients accumulated during a photographic processing;
forming the solidified matter into granules; and
reusing the granules as a solid photographic processing agent.
2. The method as described in claim 1, which further comprises gathering waste solutions discharged in individual steps of photographic processing; and mixing the gathered waste solutions without removing ingredients accumulated in the individual steps.
3. The method as described in claim 1, which further comprises adding a chemical consumed during the photographic processing.
4. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the photographic processing waste solution is a waste solution generated by a color paper processing.
5. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the solidified matter is prepared from the photographic processing waste solution by a dry-solidification according to a thin film concentration method at a temperature of 80 C. or below.
6. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the solidified matter is prepared from the photographic processing waste solution by a dry-solidification according to a thin film concentration method at a temperature of 80 C. or below under a reduced pressure.
7. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the solidified matter is prepared from the photographic processing waste solution by a dry-solidification according to a thin film concentration method without removing at least silver accumulated during the photographic processing.
8. The method as described in claim 1, wherein a reuse rate is from 70% to 90%, in which the reuse rate means a rate by weight of the amount of the solid matter obtained from the photographic waste solutions and reused as a replenishing agent to the total amount by weight of the solid matter obtained from the photographic waste solutions.
9. The method as described in claim 1, which further comprises: recovering water vapor produced at the time of the dry-solidification of the photographic waste solutions; and liquefying the water vapor to utilize the water as the water for diluting the bleach-fix processing solution or the water of the rinsing bath.
10. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the photographic processing waste solution is a mixture of processing waste solutions discharged in a development-processing step, a bleach-fix processing step and at least one of a rinse and stabilization-processing step.
11. A solid photographic replenishing agent produced in accordance with the method as described in claim 1.