VARIABLE BITRATE CONTROL FOR DISTRIBUTED VIDEO ENCODING

• US 20170078676A1
• Filed: 09/11/2015
• Published: 03/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Coward, Michael Hamilton, Puntambekar, Amit
• Granted Patent: US 10,602,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 19/132 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 19/14 Coding unit complexity, e.g. amount of activity or edge presence estimation H04N19/146 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/156 Availability of hardware or computational resources, e.g. encoding based on power-saving criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/164 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 19/436 using parallelised computational arrangements

Abstract

A method and system for allocating a variable number of bits per frame in a distributed video encoding using a complexity analyzer is disclosed. The method includes receiving an input video for allocating the number of bits for each segment based on the complexity of the segment. Further, the method includes splitting the input video into plurality of segments. Further, the method includes determining the number of bits to be allocated to the plurality of segments based on the complexity measurement of the input video. In an embodiment, single complexity analyzer can be used to determine the complexity of the plurality of segments. In another embodiment, separate complexity analyzer can be used for each segment to determine the complexity. Further, the method includes allocating the bits to the plurality of segments of the input video. Further, the method includes combining the plurality of segments to form a single output video; thereby, obtaining the encoded output video.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving an input video for allocating a variable number of bits per frame in a distributed video encoding;

splitting the input video into a plurality of segments;

determining a complexity of the plurality of segments by using a separate complexity analyzer for each segment;

determining a number of bits for allocating to each segment of the input video;

encoding the plurality of segments using the number of bits for each segment based on the complexity of the segment; and

combining the plurality of segments to obtain an output video bitstream.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the complexity includes determining a complexity of each frame of each one of the plurality of segments.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the allocating the variable number of bits to each segment includes comparing complexity of each segment with complexities of other segments in the input video.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the allocating the variable number of bits to each segment includes allocating bits to achieve a uniform average video bitrate for each segment of the input video.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the encoding the plurality of segments includes encoding at least one segment in a different format than that for other segments in the plurality of segments.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received input video is a motion compensated video in which some frames are intra encoded frames.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the allocating the variable number of bits to each segment includes allocating more bits to a first segment with higher complexity compared to a second segment with a lower complexity.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the allocating the variable number of bits to each segment includes allocating bits to segments to achieve a constant global video quality.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, upon execution, cause at least one computer processor to perform a method, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving an input video for allocating a variable number of bits per frame in a distributed video encoding;

instructions for splitting the input video into a plurality of segments;

instructions for determining a complexity of the plurality of segments by using a separate complexity analyzer for each segment;

instructions for determining a number of bits for allocating to each segment of the input video;

instructions for encoding the plurality of segments using the number of bits for each segment based on the complexity of the segment; and

instructions for combining the plurality of segments to obtain an output video bitstream.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for determining the complexity include instructions for determining complexity of each frame of each one of the plurality of segments.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for allocating VBR to each segment include instructions for comparing complexity of that segment with complexities of other segments in the input video.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions for allocating VBR to each segment include instructions for allocating a bitrate that achieves a uniform average bitrate for each segment of the input video.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the received input video is a motion compensated video in which some frames are intra encoded frames.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further include:

instructions for storing encoded video in a buffer during the transmitting operation; and

instructions for monitoring an occupancy level of the buffer during the transmitting operation.

15. A computer system, comprising;

at least one processor;

at least one memory comprising instructions configured to cause the at east one processor to perform a method comprising;

a component configured to an input video for allocating a variable number of bits per frame in a distributed video encoding;

a component configured to split the input video into a plurality of segments;

a component configured to determine a complexity of the plurality of segments by using a separate complexity analyzer for each segment;

a component configured to determine a number of bits for allocating to each segment of the input video;

a component configured to encode the plurality of segments using the number of bits for each segment based on the complexity of the segment; and

a component configured to combine the plurality of segments to obtain an output video bitstream.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the determining the complexity includes determining a complexity of each frame of each one of the plurality of segments.

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the allocating the variable number of bits to each segment includes comparing complexity of each segment with complexities of other segments in the input video.

18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the allocating the variable number of bits to each segment includes allocating bits to achieve a uniform average video bitrate for each segment of the input video.

19. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the encoding the plurality of segments includes encoding at least one segment in a different format than that for other segments in the plurality of segments.

20. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the received input video is a motion compensated video in which some frames are intra encoded frames.