Efficient error recovery

• US 10,063,853 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2013
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Barco NV
• Original Assignee: Barco NV
• Inventors: Vermeir, Thijs Koen
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jay
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amr, Salame
• Application Number:
  US14/107,257
• Publication Number:
  US 20150172651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,716 Days
• Field of Search: 37524012
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/105 Selection of the reference unit for prediction within a chosen coding or prediction mode, e.g. adaptive choice of position and number of pixels used for prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/107 between spatial and temporal predictive coding, e.g. picture refresh
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/134 characterised by the element, parameter or criterion affecting or controlling the adaptive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/157 Assigned coding mode, i.e. the coding mode being predefined or preselected to be further used for selection of another element or parameter
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/176 the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/186 the unit being a colour or a chrominance component
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/507 using conditional replenishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/65 using error resilience

Abstract

The invention pertains to a method for a video encoder to select data from a set of image blocks, each block being associated with a frame, a counter value and a cost, the method comprising: calculating, for a target block from among said set of image blocks, the respective counter values and the respective costs of other blocks from among said set of image blocks, said other blocks being associated with the same frame as the target block or with a previous frame; and selecting from said other blocks a reference block having the lowest cost and counter value, according to predefined criteria. The invention also pertains to a computer program product for carrying out the method, and to a video encoder apparatus.

Claims

1. A method for a video encoder to encode data from a set of image blocks, each block being associated with a frame, a counter value and a cost, the method comprising:

for a target block of the set of image blocks, calculating the respective counter values and the respective costs of other blocks from among said set of image blocks, wherein;

said other blocks are associated with the same frame as the target block or with a previous frame; and

said other blocks neighbor the target block or are located in a same position as the target block in the previous frame;

when at least one of said other blocks satisfies a predetermined criteria;

selecting from the other blocks a reference block having the lowest cost and counter value according to the predefined criteria;

encoding predicted data for the target block based on the reference block;

when at least one of said other blocks does not satisfy the predefined criteria, encoding unpredicted data for the target block;

wherein transferring the encoded predicted data for the target block consumes less bandwidth than transferring the unpredicted data for the target block.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each block is associated with a maximum counter value and the predefined criteria for selecting the reference block limits the selection to blocks not exceeding the maximum counter value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the counter value of a block in a previous temporal position is increased by a number of counter units before calculating the counter value.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the counter value units are frame counts.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said other blocks is a block above or to the left of the target block or a counterpart of the target block in the previous frame.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the cost of a block is based on a number of colours in the block.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculation of the counter value of a block is based on statistical data pertaining to network quality and bandwidth.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the counter value for a block residing in a different frame is increased.

9. A computer program product comprising code stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the code configured to cause circuitry to carry out the method according to claim 1.

10. An apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to;

receive a video signal including image blocks;

select data from a set of the image blocks, each block being associated with a frame of the video signal, a counter value and a cost;

for a target block of the set of image blocks, calculate the respective counter values and the respective costs of other blocks from among said set of image blocks, wherein;

said other blocks are associated with the same frame as the target block or with a previous frame; and

said other blocks neighbor the target block or are located in a same position as the target block in the previous frame;

when at least one of said other blocks satisfies a predefined criteria;

select from the other blocks a reference block having the lowest cost and counter value according to the predefined criteria

encode predicted data for the target block based on the reference block; and

transmit the encoded video signal including the encoded predicted data; and

when at least one of said other blocks does not satisfy the predefined criteria;

encode unpredicted data for the target block; and

transmit the encoded video signal including the encoded unpredicted data;

wherein transmitting the encoded predicted data for the target block consumes less bandwidth than transferring the encoded unpredicted data for the target block.