Video game system using pre-encoded macro-blocks

• US 20070010329A1
• Filed: 07/08/2005
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ActiveVideo Networks, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sigmund, Ulrich, Craig, Robert, Mercer, Clifford
• Granted Patent: US 8,118,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/338 using television networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/355 Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements

Abstract

A method and related system of generating a frame of video is disclosed. In the method, a request is received. The frame of video is generated using a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks. The frame of video is compatible with an MPEG compression standard. The plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are pre-encoded prior to the request. In some embodiments, the request initiates a video game.

Claims

1. A method, comprising

receiving a request;

and

generating a frame of video using a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks,

wherein the frame of video is compatible with an MPEG compression standard, and wherein the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are pre-encoded prior to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a respective pre-encoded macro-block corresponds to a set of pixels, pre-encoding of the respective pre-encoded macro-block includes performing discrete cosine transformation, quantization and run-length encoding operations, and the generating includes inter-relating adjacent pre-encoded macro-blocks in the frame of video.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pre-encoding includes calculating a motion vector and correction data.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the inter-relating includes determining a first DC-coefficient value for a first block including luminance information, a second DC-coefficient value for a second block including chrominance information and a third DC-coefficient value for a third block including chrominance information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining of a respective DC-coefficient value includes determining a difference with respect to another pre-encoded macro-block in the frame of video.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the inter-relating includes determining a difference with respect to a quantization factor for another pre-encoded macro-block in the frame of video.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are stored in a bank of individually addressable pre-encoded macro-blocks and a subset of the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are shared between two or more video games.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are stored in a bank of pre-encoded macro-blocks and a subset of the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are shared between two or more frames of video.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are shared between two or more instances of a video game.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request initiates a video game.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a subset of the stored plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks include un-compressed pixel information.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising dynamically generating a plurality of macro-blocks, wherein the dynamically generated plurality of macro-blocks include a combination of the subset of the stored plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks that include un-compressed pixel information and image information corresponding to an object.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the combination includes blending of the subset of the stored plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks that includes un-compressed pixel information and the image information corresponding to the object.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the combination includes superposition of the image information corresponding to the object on a region of the frame of video corresponding to at least a portion of the subset of the stored plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks that include un-compressed pixel information.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a respective pre-encoded macro-block includes meta data, and wherein the meta data includes a quantization factor.

16. An apparatus for generating video, comprising:

a memory;

a processor; and

a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the program including;

instructions for receiving a request; and

instructions for generating a frame of video using a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks,

wherein the frame of video is compatible with an MPEG compression standard, and wherein the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are pre-encoded prior to the request.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving a request;

receiving a command; and

generating a frame of video using a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks pre-encoded prior to the request, a plurality of post-request-encoded macro-blocks encoded after the request and prior to the command, and a plurality of dynamically encoded macro-blocks encoded after the command.

18. An apparatus for generating video, comprising:

a memory;

a processor; and

a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the program including;

instructions for receiving a request;

instructions for receiving a command; and

instructions for generating a frame of video using a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks pre-encoded prior to the request, a plurality of post-request-encoded macro-blocks encoded after the request and prior to the command, and a plurality of dynamically encoded macro-blocks encoded after the command.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving a request;

receiving a command; and

generating a frame of video using a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks pre-encoded prior to the request and a plurality of post-request-encoded macro-blocks encoded after the request and prior to the command.

20. An apparatus for generating video, comprising:

a memory;

a processor; and

a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the program including;

instructions for receiving a request;

instructions for receiving a command; and

instructions for generating a frame of video using a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks pre-encoded prior to the request and a plurality of post-request-encoded macro-blocks encoded after the request and prior to the command.

21. A method, comprising:

generating a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks compatible with an MPEG compression standard; and

storing the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks in a bank of individually accessible pre-encoded macro-blocks, for use in generating multiple distinct frames of video.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating a frame of video using a subset of the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks stored in the bank.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the subset of the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are shared between two or more video games.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the subset of the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are shared between two or more frames of video.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks are shared between two or more instances of a video game.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein a subset of the stored plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks include un-compressed pixel information.

27. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory;

a processor; and

a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the program including;

instructions for generating a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks corresponding to a frame of video, wherein the frame of video is compatible with an MPEG compression standard; and

instructions for storing the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks in a bank of pre-encoded macro-blocks.

28. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory means;

a processor means; and

a program mechanism, wherein the program mechanism is stored in the memory means and configured to be executed by the processor means, the program mechanism including;

instructions for generating a plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks corresponding to a frame of video, wherein the frame of video is compatible with an MPEG compression standard; and

instructions for storing the plurality of pre-encoded macro-blocks in a bank of pre-encoded macro-blocks.