Method and apparatus for providing scalable pre-compressed digital video with reduced quantization based artifacts
First Claim
1. An apparatus for interframe coding a video signal comprising:
- a first interframe coder operative to receive and interframe code an input video signal to generate a first interframe coded bitstream having a first bit rate;
a second or an additional interframe coder operative to receive the video signal and interframe code the input video signal to generate a second interframe or an additionally coded bitstream having a second bit rate which is different than the first bit rate, such that each of the first and second bitstreams is an independently viewable version of the video signal; and
a switch frame coder that interframe codes transition data that, when decoded by an interframe decoder that was used to decode the first bitstream immediately prior thereto, compensates for visual discrepancies between a decoded version of the first bitstream and a decoded version of the second bitstream, such that decoding of the second bitstream with said decoder immediately after decoding the transition data provides a continuous video sequence without visual artifacts that would otherwise be present due to the difference in the bit rates of the first and second bitstreams.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for generating a digital motion video sequence at a plurality of bit rates uses a transitional coding source when switching between bitstreams having different bit rates during transmission of a video sequence. The transitional data may be frames coded using reconstructed frames reconstructed for a first bitstream using the characteristics of the second bitstream. These “low bit rate insert frames,” or LBIFs, contain the image characteristics of a signal coded at the lower bit rate. With a bitstream having a higher bit rate being periodically coded using an LBIF, a point of image continuity between the two bitstreams is provided. Thus, switching from one bitstream to the other at this point in the video sequence minimizes the production of artifacts caused by differences in bit rate. In another embodiment of the invention, a separate set of transitional data is created, taking the form of “switch” frames, or S-frames. The S-frames are typically the difference between a frame of a first bitstream and a frame of a second bitstream. These frames are inserted into the decoded bitstream during the transition from one bitstream to the other, and compensate for any visual artifacts that might otherwise occur due to the difference in bit rate of the two bitstreams.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for interframe coding a video signal comprising:
-
a first interframe coder operative to receive and interframe code an input video signal to generate a first interframe coded bitstream having a first bit rate; a second or an additional interframe coder operative to receive the video signal and interframe code the input video signal to generate a second interframe or an additionally coded bitstream having a second bit rate which is different than the first bit rate, such that each of the first and second bitstreams is an independently viewable version of the video signal; and a switch frame coder that interframe codes transition data that, when decoded by an interframe decoder that was used to decode the first bitstream immediately prior thereto, compensates for visual discrepancies between a decoded version of the first bitstream and a decoded version of the second bitstream, such that decoding of the second bitstream with said decoder immediately after decoding the transition data provides a continuous video sequence without visual artifacts that would otherwise be present due to the difference in the bit rates of the first and second bitstreams. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A video decoder apparatus for providing digital motion video at a plurality of different bit rates, the apparatus comprising:
-
a video interframe decoder that decodes interframe coded video data to a viewable video sequence; and a switching module that selects the source of said interframe coded video data during a transition from one bitstream to another, the switching module selecting; a first bitstream that was interframe coded from an input video signal to allow transmission at a first bit rate and that, when decoded, corresponds to a predetermined video sequence; a second bitstream, after selection of the first bitstream, that was interframe coded from said input video signal to allow transmission at a second bit rate different than the first bit rate, the second bitstream comprising video data that, when decoded, provides a continuation of said predetermined video sequence; and transition data that is decoded after decoding the first bitstream and before decoding the second bitstream, the decoded transition data compensating for visual discrepancies between a decoded version of the first bitstream and a decoded version of the second bitstream, such that decoding of the second bitstream immediately after decoding the transition data provides a continuation of the predetermined video sequence without visual artifacts that would otherwise be present due to the difference in the bit rates of the first and second bitstreams. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A video decoder for providing digital motion video at a plurality of different bit rates, the decoder having a computer readable medium comprising:
-
a first instruction set that requests a first bitstream that was interframe coded from an input video signal, the first bitstream comprising video data that, when decoded, corresponds to a first predetermined video sequence; a second instruction set that requests a second bitstream that was interframe coded from said input video signal and that has a second bit rate different than the first bit rate, the second bitstream comprising video data that, when decoded, provides a continuation of said predetermined video sequence; and a third instruction set that requests transition data to be decoded after decoding the first bitstream and before decoding the second bitstream, the transition data compensating for visual discrepancies between a decoded version of the first bitstream and a decoded version of the second bitstream, such that decoding of the second bitstream immediately after decoding the transition data provides a continuation of the predetermined video sequence without visual artifacts that would otherwise be present due to the difference in the bit rates of the first and second bitstreams. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. An apparatus for interframe coding a video sequence, comprising:
-
a first interframe coder that receives and interframe codes an input video signal with a first spatial resolution to generate a first interframe coded bitstream having a first bit rate; a second interframe coder that receives the video signal and interframe codes the input video signal with a second spatial resolution to generate a second interframe coded bitstream having a second bit rate which is different than the first bit rate, such that each of the first and second bitstreams is an independently viewable version of the video signal at a different spatial resolution; and a switch frame coder that interframe codes transition data that, when decoded by an interframe decoder that was used to decode the first bitstream immediately prior thereto, compensate for visual discrepancies between a decoded version of the first bitstream and a decoded version of the second bitstream, such that decoding of the second bitstream with said decoder immediately after decoding the transition data provides a continuation of the video sequence without visual artifacts that would otherwise be present due to the difference in the spatial resolutions of the first and second bitstreams. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method of providing digital motion video at a plurality of different bit rates, the method comprising:
-
decoding a first bitstream that was interframe coded from an input video signal, the first bitstream comprising video data that, when decoded, corresponds to a first predetermined video sequence; decoding a second bitstream that was interframe coded from said input video signal and that has a second bit rate different than the first bit rate, the second bitstream comprising video data that, when decoded, provides a continuation of said predetermined video sequence; and decoding transition data after decoding the first bitstream and before decoding the second bitstream, the transition data compensating for visual discrepancies between a decoded version of the first bitstream and a decoded version of the second bitstream, such that decoding of the second bitstream immediately after decoding the transition data provides a continuation of the predetermined video sequence without visual artifacts that would otherwise be present due to the difference in the bit rates of the first and second bitstreams. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification