Method and system for encoding and decoding data in a video stream

• US 7,130,350 B1
• Filed: 02/28/2003
• Issued: 10/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VIXS Systems Incorporated (Pixelworks Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: VIXS Systems Incorporated (Pixelworks Incorporated)
• Inventors: Rault, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): VO, TUNG T
• Application Number:
  US10/376,895
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 375/240.16, 375/240.25, 375/240.01, 375/240.15, 348/473, 348/584, 348/465
• US Class Current: 375/240.15
• 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 19/467 characterised by the embedded information being invisible, e.g. watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding

Abstract

In a block-based video stream, a first bit representing video data at a predefined location is identified. The video data at the first bit is replaced with a bit of non-video data prior to being transmitted to a device used to process the block-based video stream. Additional bits of non-video information are transmitted by replacing additional bits of video data within the block based video stream. A processing device that receives the block-based video stream accesses the non-video bits to obtain the non-video data.

Claims

1. A method of including non-video data in a video stream, the method comprising:

identifying in a block-based video stream a first block of image data at a first predefined location of the block based video stream; and

replacing at least one first bit of the first block of image data with a first portion of non-image data, where the at least one first bit is at a predefined location within the first block.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein replacing comprises the first block of image data being a frequency representation of video data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a portion of a bidirectional fame of data.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a block of chrominance data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a portion of a bidirectional frame of data.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein replacing further comprises the predefined location being a portion of a last word of the first block.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein replacing comprises the portion of the last word being the last bit of the first block.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a block of luminance data.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a block of image data compliant with a Motion Picture Expert'"'"'s Group (MPEG) protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

compressing the first block of image data after replacing.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein compressing comprises compressing using run length encoding.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein compressing comprises compressing using Huffman encoding.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying in the block-based video stream a second block of image data at a second predefined location of the block based video stream;

replacing at least one second bit of the second block of image data with at least a second portion of the non-image data, where the at least one second bit is at a predefined location within the second block.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first block is at a predefined picture group location within a first picture group and the second block is at the predefined picture group location within a second picture group.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first block is at a first predefined picture group location within a first picture group and the second block is at a second predefined picture group location within the first picture group.

16. A method of receiving non-image data comprising:

identifying in a block-based video stream a first block of image data at a first predefined location of the video stream; and

storing at least one bit of the first block of image data as at least a portion of non-image data, where the at least one bit is at a predefined location within the first block.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a frequency representation of image data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a bidirectional frame of image data.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a block of chrominance data.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data further being a portion of a bidirectional frame of data.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein storing further comprises the predefined location being at least a portion of a last word of the first block.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein storing further comprises the at least a portion of the last word being the last bit of the first block.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a block of luminance data.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying comprises the first block of image data being a block of image data compliant with a Motion Picture Expert'"'"'s Group (MPEG) protocol.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

decompressing the first block of image data prior replacing.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein decompressing comprises decompressing using nm length encoding.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein compressing comprises compressing using Huffman encoding.

28. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

identifying in the block-based video stream a second block of image data at a second predefined location of the video stream;

storing at least one bit of the second block of image data as at least a portion of the non-image data, where the at least one bit is at a predefined location within the first block.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein the first block is at a predefined picture group location within a first picture group and the second block is at the predefined picture group location within a second picture group.

30. The method of claim 16, wherein the first block is at a first predefined picture group location within a first picture group and the second block is at a second predefined picture group location within a second picture group.

31. A method of encoding non-image data in a block-based video stream, the method comprising:

determining a plurality of non-image data portions, each one of the plurality of non-image data portions to be associated with a different block of data;

storing the plurality of non-image data portions in the different blocks of data, wherein the different blocks of data each represent image data in a frequency domain.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising:

compressing the different blocks of data after storing.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein storing comprises each of the different blocks of data are associated with bidirectional frames of image data.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein storing comprises each of the different blocks of data being associated with a different group of pictures than each other of the different blocks of data.

35. A system comprising:

a video data processing element;

a memory coupled to the video data processing element, the memory comprising;

a video data storage region to store a first frame of image data and a second frame of image data; and

a program storage region to store program instructions, the program instructions to facilitate;

identifying in a block-based video stream a first block of image data at a first predefined location of the video stream; and

replacing at least one bit of the first block of image data with at least a first portion of non-image data, where the at least one bit is at a predefined location within the first block.

36. A system comprising:

means for identifying, in a block-based video stream, a selected block of image data at a predefined location of the block-based video stream; and

means for replacing at least one first bit of the selected block of image data with a first portion of non-image data, where the at least one first bit is at a predefined location within the selected block.