TRANSMISSION APPARATUS, TRANSMISSION METHOD, AND RECEPTION APPARATUS

• US 20090295988A1
• Filed: 05/27/2009
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: KOHNO, Michinari
• Application Number:
  US12/472,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20090295988A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/441
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6332 directed to client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6377 directed to server one-way streaming services wherein the source is controlled by the destination H04L65/613
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/654 Transmission by server directed to the client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

A transmission apparatus is disclosed. A buffer memory stores first image data and second image data having a higher resolution than the first image data as image data to be transmitted. A transmission section transmits either the first image data or the second image data as streaming data. A communication section receives from a reception terminal device a control message representing a network situation and a level of a load imposed on a processing device performing upscaling in the reception terminal device. A control section transmits the first image data when the message denotes the network situation is bad, transmits either the first image data or second image data when it denotes the network situation is good, and controls the reception terminal device not to perform the upscaling when it denotes the network situation is good and the level of the load imposed on the processing device is high.

Claims

1. A transmission apparatus, comprising:

a buffer memory which stores first image data and second image data as image data to be transmitted, the second image data having a resolution higher than that of the first image data;

a transmission section which transmits either the first image data or the second image data as streaming data;

a communication section which receives from a reception terminal device a control message representing a network situation and a level of a load imposed on a processing device which performs upscaling in the reception terminal device; and

a control section which transmits the first image data when the control message denotes that the network situation is bad, transmits either the first image data or the second image data when the control message denotes that the network situation is good, and controls the reception terminal device not to perform the upscaling when the control message denotes that the network situation is good and the level of the load imposed on the processing device is high.

2. The transmission apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control section controls the reception terminal device to perform a process of not changing a resolution of the received image data or a process of performing the upscaling when the control message denotes that the network situation is good and the level of the load imposed on the processing device is low.

3. The transmission apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein a reply to the control message contains information that designates a process performed by the reception terminal device.

4. The transmission apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein a plurality of upscaling algorithms are provided and the level of the load imposed on the processing device is changed depending on which of the algorithms is used.

5. A transmission method, comprising the steps of:

storing first image data and second image data as image data to be transmitted, the second image data having a resolution higher than that of the first image data and transmitting either the first image data or the second image data as streaming data;

receiving from a reception terminal device a control message representing a network situation and a level of a load imposed on a processing device which performs upscaling in the reception terminal device; and

transmitting the first image data when the control message denotes that the network situation is bad, transmitting either the first image data or the second image data when the control message denotes that the network situation is good, and controlling the reception terminal device not to perform the upscaling when the control message denotes that the network situation is good and the level of the load imposed on the processing device is high.

6. A reception apparatus, comprising:

a buffer memory which receives either first image data or second image data as streaming data, the second image data having a resolution higher than that of the first image data;

a monitor which monitors a level of a load imposed on a processing device which performs upscaling from the first image data to the second image data; and

a control section which causes the upscaling not to be performed when the first image data are received and the level of the load imposed on the processing device is high.