Wireless transmission of real-time media

• US 10,368,064 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2016
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Smadi, Mohammed Nawaf, Kezys, Vytautas Robertas, Pavel, Sandy
• Primary Examiner(s): Aynalem, Nathnael
• Application Number:
  US15/381,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20170104988A1
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: 37524001-24029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3278 Power saving in modem or I/O interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/10 using adaptive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/107 between spatial and temporal predictive coding, e.g. picture refresh
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/115 Selection of the code volume for a coding unit prior to coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/146 Data rate or code amount at the encoder output
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/164 Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/172 the region being a picture, frame or field
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/177 the unit being a group of pictures [GOP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4122 additional display device, e.g. video projector digital output for controlling a plurality of local displays G06F3/1423
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44 Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing a video clip retrieved from local storage with an incoming video stream or rendering scenes according to encoded video stream scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method, for wireless transmission of real-time media from a source to a sink over a wireless transmission channel is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises encoding media as a plurality of sets of frames, wherein each set of frames includes a key-frame, wherein the media is encoded for the wireless transmission such that a time-required for transmission of the key-frame of each set of frames is less than or equal to a time-allocation for the wireless transmission; and wirelessly transmitting the media from the source device to the sink device.

Claims

1. A method for wireless transmission of a media from a source device to a sink device over a wireless transmission channel, comprising:

encoding the real-time media as a plurality of sets of frames, wherein each set of frames includes a key-frame;

determining a time-required for wireless transmission of one or more key-frames based on a size of the one or more key-frames and an available bandwidth between the source device and the sink device for a time-allocation for wireless transmission from the source device to the sink device;

when the time-required for wireless transmission of the key-frame is greater than the time-allocation for wireless transmission from the source device to the sink device;

setting a new time-allocation for wireless transmission to have a value greater than or equal to the time-required for transmission of the one or more key-frames; and

wirelessly transmitting the encoded media from the source device to the sink device using the new time-allocation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the time-required for wireless transmission of the one or more key-frames is less than the time-allocation, wirelessly transmitting the media from the source device to the sink device using the time-allocation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the time-required for wireless transmission is based on an average size of a key-frame.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the time-required for wireless transmission is based on a maximum size of a key-frame.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the media is encoded based on a minimum of (i) an available bandwidth between the source device and the sink device for the wireless transmission based on a time-allocation of the source device for wireless transmission or (ii) a throughput constraint for the wireless transmission based on a hardware limitation associated with one or both of the source device and the sink device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each set of frames is a Group of Pictures (GOP), wherein each GOP includes at least one intra-frame (I-frame) and one or more predicted-frames (P-frames), wherein the key-frames are the I-frames of the GOPs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the media that is encoded is a video stream, a screencast or a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the media that is encoded is a Miracast video-stream.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the time-allocation for the wireless transmission is a period-of-availability defined by a Notice-of-Absence schedule.

10. A wireless communication device comprising:

a processor;

a wireless communication subsystem coupled to the processor;

a memory coupled to the processor and storing real-time media and executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the wireless communication device to;

encode the real-time media as a plurality of sets of frames, wherein each set of frames includes a key-frame;

determine a time-required for wireless transmission of one or more key-frames based on a size of the one or more key-frames and an available bandwidth between the source device and the sink device for a time-allocation for wireless transmission from the source device to the sink device;

when the time-required for wireless transmission of the key-frame is greater than the time-allocation for wireless transmission from the source device to the sink device;

set a new time-allocation for wireless transmission to have a value greater than or equal to the time-required for transmission of the one or more key-frames; and

wirelessly transmit the encoded media from the source device to the sink device using the new time-allocation.

11. A non-transitory machine readable medium having tangibly stored thereon executable instructions for execution by a processor of a wireless communication device to perform a method for encoding real-time media for wireless transmission from a source device to a sink device over a wireless transmission channel, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor of the wireless communication device, cause the processor to:

encode the real-time media as a plurality of sets of frames, wherein each set of frames includes a key-frame;

determine a time-required for wireless transmission of one or more key-frames based on a size of the one or more key-frames and an available bandwidth between the source device and the sink device for a time-allocation for wireless transmission from the source device to the sink device;

when the time-required for wireless transmission of the key-frame is greater than the time-allocation for wireless transmission from the source device to the sink device;

set a new time-allocation for wireless transmission to have a value greater than or equal to the time-required for transmission of the one or more key-frames; and

wirelessly transmit the encoded media from the source device to the sink device using the new time-allocation.