Apparatus and method for multiple format encoding

• US 20080101455A1
• Filed: 10/25/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Resource Consortium Limited, LLC
• Original Assignee: Digital Deck, Inc.
• Inventors: Scheelke, Erik
• Application Number:
  US11/589,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20080101455A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/240.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/20 using video object coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/436 using parallelised computational arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/59 involving spatial sub-sampling or interpolation, e.g. alteration of picture size or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time

Abstract

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to system and a method that encodes a single input media stream into two or more output media streams having one or more different encoding characteristics. In one embodiment, one of the encoding characteristics which is different in the two or more output streams is the bandwidth of the encoding. In another embodiment, the different characteristic is the format of the encoding. In yet another embodiment the different characteristic is the computational complexity of the encoding. In a further development, computations which are common to the encoding process in each format may be found. The common computations may be performed only once. Once the common computations are performed in the context of encoding a media stream to a first format, the results of the common computations may be saved and used for encoding the media stream in other formats.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an input port for receiving an incoming media stream;

a first encoder, configured to encode the incoming media stream in a first format to produce a first outgoing media stream; and

a second encoder configured to encode the incoming media stream in a second format to produce a second outgoing media stream, while the first encoder is encoding the incoming media stream in the first format,

wherein the first and second formats differ.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the media stream is a video stream.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first and second formats differ in their resolution.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the first and second encoders further compress the media stream as part of encoding it.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first and second formats differ in their bandwidth.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the first and second formats differ in the complexity of their respective encoding and decoding algorithms.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an output port for sending the first outgoing media stream to a first output device and the second outgoing media stream to a second output device, wherein the first and second formats are associated with the first and second output devices, respectively.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first and second output devices are video monitors having different native resolutions, and the first and second formats are specific to the native resolutions of the first and second output devices, respectively.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first output device is a television set, and the second output device is a portable video device.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a storage device, wherein the storage device stores at least one of the media streams.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a network adapter for sending at least one of the outgoing media streams to an output device over a network.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the incoming media stream is an audio stream.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the first encoder performs a plurality of common computations to obtain a plurality of common results as part of encoding the incoming media stream, and sends the common results to the second encoder, and wherein the second encoder utilizes the common results as part of encoding the incoming media stream in the second format without performing the common computations.

14. The system of claim 14, wherein the common computations comprise the finding of similar image portions in temporally related flames for the purposes of motion compensation.

15. A system comprising:

one or more input ports for receiving one or more incoming media streams;

one or more output ports for sending one or more outgoing media streams;

a first processor having at least an encode mode of operation;

a second processor having an encode and a decode mode of operation;

wherein the system has at least two modes of operation comprising;

a first mode of operation in which the first and second processors operate in encode mode to simultaneously encode a first incoming media stream into two respective outgoing media streams having first and second formats respectively, the first and second formats being distinct;

a second mode of operation in which the first processor operates in encode mode and encodes a second incoming media stream, and the second processor operates in a decode mode and simultaneously decodes a third incoming media stream.

16. A method for encoding a media stream comprising the steps of:

receiving an incoming media stream;

encoding the incoming media stream in a first format at a first encoder to produce a first outgoing media stream; and

encoding the incoming media stream in a second format by a second encoder to produce a second outgoing media stream, while the first encoder is encoding the incoming media stream in the first format,

wherein the first and second formats differ.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the media stream is a video stream.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first and second formats differ in their resolution.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the two steps of encoding the media stream each further comprise the step of compressing the media stream.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first and second formats differ in their bandwidth.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the first and second formats differ in the complexity of their respective encoding and decoding algorithms.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

sending the first outgoing media stream to a first output device; and

sending the second outgoing media stream to a second output device,

wherein the first and second formats are associated with the first and second output devices, respectively.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the first and second output devices are video monitors having different native resolutions, and the first and second formats are specific to the native resolutions of the first and second output devices.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first output device is a television set, and the second output device is a portable video device.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of storing at least one of the media streams at a storage device.

26. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of sending at least one of the outgoing media streams to an output device over a network.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the incoming media stream is an audio stream.

28. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the step of encoding the incoming media stream in a first format at a first encoder further comprises performing a plurality of common computations to obtain a plurality of common results; and

sending the common results to the second encoder; and

encoding the incoming media stream in a second format at a second encoder comprises utilizing the common results to encode the incoming media stream in the second format without performing the common computations.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the common computations comprise the finding of similar image portions in temporally related frames for the purposes of motion compensation.

30. A method for encoding and decoding one or more media streams at a device comprising a first and second processors, the method comprising:

setting the device to a first mode;

encoding a first incoming media stream of the one or more media streams by the first processor in a first format to produce a first outgoing media stream;

encoding the first incoming media stream by the second processor in a second format to produce a second outgoing media stream, the step being performed simultaneously with the encoding a first incoming media stream by the first processor step, and the first and second formats being distinct;

setting the device to a second mode;

setting the second processor to a decode mode;

encoding a second incoming media stream of the one or more media streams by the first processor in a first format to produce a first outgoing media stream; and

decoding a third incoming media stream by the second processor to produce a second outgoing media stream, this step being performed simultaneously with the encoding a second incoming media stream by the first processor step.