DIGITAL VIDEO CONTENT CUSTOMIZATION

• US 20080062322A1
• Filed: 08/28/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Allot Communications Limited
• Original Assignee: Ortiva Wireless Incorporated (Allot Ltd.)
• Inventors: Takebuchi, Yusuke, Dey, Sujit, Wong, Douglas, Panigrahi, Debashis
• Application Number:
  US11/467,890
• Publication Number:
  US 20080062322A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/589
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/115 Selection of the code volume for a coding unit prior to coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/124 Quantisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/132 Sampling, masking or truncation of coding units, e.g. adaptive resampling, frame skipping, frame interpolation or high-frequency transform coefficient masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/156 Availability of hardware or computational resources, e.g. encoding based on power-saving criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/162 User input
• 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 19/19 using optimisation based on Lagrange multipliers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/196 being specially adapted for the computation of encoding parameters, e.g. by averaging previously computed encoding parameters processing of motion vectors H04N19/513
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234354 by altering signal-to-noise ratio parameters, e.g. requantization
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/236 Assembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. transport stream, by combining a video stream with other content or additional data, e.g. inserting a URL [Uniform Resource Locator] into a video stream, multiplexing software data into a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Insertion of stuffing bits into the multiplex stream, e.g. to obtain a constant bit-rate; Assembling of a packetised elementary stream multiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities

Abstract

A set of customizing operations for digital content is determined in accordance with network condition of a current network communication channel between a content server and one or more receiving devices, wherein the digital content is provided by the content server for transport to the receiving device and includes multiple frames of digital video data. The set of customizing operations specify multiple sequences or paths of customized video data in accordance with available video frame rates, and a customized video data sequence is selected from among the specified multiple sequences of customized video data in accordance with estimated received video quality and network condition for each receiving device.

Claims

1. A method of processing digital video content, the method comprising:

determining network conditions of a current network communication channel between a content server and a receiving device;

determining a set of available customizing operations for the digital video content, wherein the digital video content is provided by the content server for network transport to the receiving device and includes one or more frames of video data, and wherein the set of available customizing operations specify combinations of operation categories and operation parameters within the operation categories, including available video frame rates for the receiving device, to be applied to the digital video content;

estimating received video quality for each of the combinations of the available customizing operations for the receiving device based on the determined network conditions;

selecting a single one of the combinations of the available customizing operations in accordance with estimated received video quality for the receiving device.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the operations of determining, estimating, and selecting are repeated for each frame of the digital video content.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the operation categories include frame type, quantization level, and frame rate for the digital video content.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the frames of video data are associated with metadata information about the frames.

5. The method as defined in claim 4, wherein the metadata information specifies the mean squared difference between two adjacent frames of the video data.

6. The method as defined in claim 4, wherein the frames of video data comprise frames compressed with respect to original frames, and the metadata information specifies the mean squared error for each compressed frame as compared to the corresponding original frame.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, further including:

constructing a decision tree with nodes that specify the combinations of operation categories and operation parameters within the operation categories; and

determining estimated received video quality for each of the decision tree nodes.

8. The method as defined in claim 7, wherein constructing a decision tree comprises analyzing the available customizing operations for each video data frame of the digital video content by means of operations comprising:

generating child nodes comprising option nodes for the available customizing operations;

pruning the child nodes in accordance with quantization level.

9. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein pruning includes pruning the child nodes in accordance with incremental quantization level relative to a current quantization level of the video data frame.

10. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein pruning includes pruning the child nodes in accordance with a range of quantization level of the available customizing operations for the video data frame.

11. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein estimating received video quality comprises consideration of frame type, including video P-frames and I-frames.

12. The method as defined in claim 11, further including consideration of encoding distortion of the P-frames and I-frames.

13. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein estimating received video quality comprises consideration of frame rate.

14. The method as defined in claim 13, wherein the available customizing operations include skipping a video data frame in the digital video content.

15. A digital video content delivery apparatus comprising:

a network monitor module that determines available bandwidth of a current network communication channel between a content server and a receiving device;

a Content Customizer for processing digital content that is provided by the content server for network transport to the receiving device and that includes multiple frames of video data, wherein the Content Customizer determines a set of available customizing operations for the digital video content, wherein the digital video content includes one or more frames of video data, and wherein the set of available customizing operations specify combinations of operation categories and operation parameters within the operation categories, including available video frame rates for the receiving device, to be applied to the digital video content, and estimates received video quality for each of the combinations of the available customizing operations for the receiving device based on the determined network conditions, and selects a single one of the combinations of the available customizing operations in accordance with estimated received video quality for the receiving device.

16. The apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the Content Customizer operations of determining, estimating, and selecting are repeated for each frame of the digital video content.

17. The apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the Content Customizer operation categories include frame type, quantization level, and frame rate for the digital video content.

18. The apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the frames of video data are associated with metadata information about the frames.

19. The apparatus as defined in claim 18, wherein the metadata information specifies the mean squared difference between two adjacent frames of the video data.

20. The apparatus as defined in claim 18, wherein the frames of video data comprise frames compressed with respect to original frames, and the metadata information specifies the mean squared error for each compressed frame as compared to the corresponding original frame.

21. The apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the Content Customizer further constructs a decision tree with nodes that specify the combinations of operation categories and operation parameters within the operation categories, and determines estimated received video quality for each of the decision tree nodes.

22. The apparatus as defined in claim 21, wherein constructing a decision tree comprises analyzing the available customizing operations for each video data frame of the digital video content by means of operations comprising:

generating child nodes comprising option nodes for the available customizing operations;

pruning the child nodes in accordance with quantization level.

23. The apparatus as defined in claim 22, wherein pruning includes pruning the child nodes in accordance with incremental quantization level relative to a current quantization level of the video data frame.

24. The apparatus as defined in claim 22, wherein pruning includes pruning the child nodes in accordance with a range of quantization level of the available customizing operations for the video data frame.

25. The apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein estimating received video quality comprises consideration of frame type, including video P-frames and I-frames.

26. The apparatus as defined in claim 25, further including consideration of encoding distortion of the P-frames and I-frames.

27. The apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein estimating received video quality comprises consideration of frame rate.

28. The apparatus as defined in claim 27, wherein the available customizing operations include skipping a video data frame in the digital video content.

29. A program product for use in a computer system that executes program instructions recorded in a computer-readable media to perform a method for processing digital video content, the program product comprising:

a recordable media;

a program of computer-readable instructions executable by the computer system to perform operations comprising;

determining network conditions of a current network communication channel between a content server and a receiving device;

determining a set of available customizing operations for the digital video content, wherein the digital video content is provided by the content server for network transport to the receiving device and includes one or more frames of video data, and wherein the set of available customizing operations specify combinations of operation categories and operation parameters within the operation categories, including available video frame rates for the receiving device, to be applied to the digital video content;

estimating received video quality for each of the combinations of the available customizing operations for the receiving device based on the determined network conditions;

selecting a single one of the combinations of the available customizing operations in accordance with estimated received video quality for the receiving device.

30. The program product as defined in claim 29, wherein the operations of determining, estimating, and selecting are repeated for each frame of the digital video content.

31. The program product as defined in claim 29, wherein the operation categories include frame type, quantization level, and frame rate for the digital video content.

32. The program product as defined in claim 29, wherein the frames of video data are associated with metadata information about the frames.

33. The program product as defined in claim 32, wherein the metadata information specifies the mean squared difference between two adjacent frames of the video data.

34. The program product as defined in claim 32, wherein the frames of video data comprise frames compressed with respect to original frames, and the metadata information specifies the mean squared error for each compressed frame as compared to the corresponding original frame.

35. The program product as defined in claim 29, further including:

constructing a decision tree with nodes that specify the combinations of operation categories and operation parameters within the operation categories; and

determining estimated received video quality for each of the decision tree nodes.

36. The program product as defined in claim 35, wherein constructing a decision tree comprises analyzing the available customizing operations for each video data frame of the digital video content by means of operations comprising:

generating child nodes comprising option nodes for the available customizing operations;

pruning the child nodes in accordance with quantization level.

37. The program product as defined in claim 36, wherein pruning includes pruning the child nodes in accordance with incremental quantization level relative to a current quantization level of the video data frame.

38. The program product as defined in claim 36, wherein pruning includes pruning the child nodes in accordance with a range of quantization level of the available customizing operations for the video data frame.

39. The program product as defined in claim 29, wherein estimating received video quality comprises consideration of frame type, including video P-frames and I-frames.

40. The program product as defined in claim 39, further including consideration of encoding distortion of the P-frames and I-frames.

41. The program product as defined in claim 29, wherein estimating received video quality comprises consideration of frame rate.

42. The program product as defined in claim 41, wherein the available customizing operations include skipping a video data frame in the digital video content.