Systems and methods for controlling the encoding of a media stream

• US 8,099,755 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Network Technologies India Private Limited
• Original Assignee: Sling Media Pvt Ltd. (Dish Network Corporation)
• Inventors: Bajpai, Parimal, Rajagopal, Harish Nair, Govil, Vineet, Krishnadoss, Senthilkumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Lonsberry, Hunter
• Application Number:
  US12/339,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20090103607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 725/80, 725/87, 725/93, 725/94, 725/110, 386/112
• US Class Current: 725/94
• 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 19/152 by measuring the fullness of the transmission buffer
• 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 21/23406 involving management of server-side video buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4384 involving operations to reduce the access time, e.g. fast-tuning for reducing channel switching latency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4621 Controlling the complexity of the content stream or additional data, e.g. lowering the resolution or bit-rate of the video stream for a mobile client with a small screen arrangements for using the results of monitoring on user's side in broadcast systems H04H60/65; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• 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 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for providing a media stream transmitted from an encoding system to a remotely-located media player. The media stream is encoded according to an encoding parameter. Data is gathered about a transmit buffer within the encoding system, and the gathered data is processed to arrive at an estimate of network capacity and a calculated encoder rate. The encoding parameter is adjusted during subsequent encoding in response to a change in at least one of the estimate of network capacity and the calculated encoder rate.

Claims

1. A method of encoding a media stream provided from an encoding system to a remotely-located media player, the method comprising:

encoding the media stream at the encoding system according to at least one encoding parameter;

gathering data about a transmit buffer that receives the encoded media stream within the encoding system;

processing the gathered data about the transmit buffer to determine an estimate of network capacity and a calculated encoder rate, wherein the estimate of network capacity is based upon a rate of data leaving the transmit buffer;

adjusting the at least one encoding parameter during subsequent encoding as a function of at least one of the estimate of network capacity and the calculated encoder rate; and

transmitting the encoded media stream to the remotely-located media player.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the encoding parameter is a bit rate of the media stream.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the gathering comprises monitoring the amounts of data entering and leaving the transmit buffer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the estimate of network capacity is based upon a weighted average of the rate of data leaving the transmit buffer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the calculated encoder rate is based upon a rate of data entering the transmit buffer.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the calculated encoder rate is based upon a weighted average rate of data entering the transmit buffer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting the encoding parameter in response to changes in the estimate of network capacity.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising adjusting the watermark value.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the watermark value is automatically adjusted on a regular temporal basis.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising disallowing further adjustments to the at least one encoding parameter for a time interval following a previous adjustment to the at least one encoding parameter.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising adjusting the time interval based upon the previous adjustment.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting is performed in response to a utilization of a processor associated with the encoding system.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the encoding parameter corresponds to an encoding rate and the estimate of network capacity corresponds to an estimated rate at which the network empties the transmit buffer.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the adjusting comprises setting the encoding rate to a predetermined percentage of the estimated rate at which the network empties the transmit buffer when the estimate of network capacity significantly exceeds the calculated encoder rate.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the predetermined percentage is approximately eighty percent.

16. A system for encoding a media stream provided to a remotely-located media player, the system comprising:

a transmit buffer;

means for encoding the media stream according to at least one encoding parameter and for providing the encoded media stream to the transmit buffer;

means for controlling the system, wherein the controlling means is configured to gather data about the utilization of the transmit buffer, to process the gathered data to determine an estimate of network capacity based upon a rate that the transmit buffer empties and a calculated encoder rate based upon a rate that the transmit buffer fills, and to adjust the at least one encoding parameter in the encoding means during subsequent encoding as a function of at least one of the estimate of network capacity and the calculated encoder rate; and

means for transmitting the encoded media stream to the remotely-located media player.

17. A media encoding system for providing a media stream to a remote player over a network, the media encoding system comprising:

a media encoding module configured to receiving an input signal and to encode the media stream according to at least one encoding parameter;

a network interface configured to transmit the encoded media stream to the remote player over the network;

a transmit buffer configured to be filled by the media encoding module and emptied by the network interface; and

a control module configured to gather data about the transmit buffer, to process the gathered data determine an estimate of a network capacity based upon a rate that the transmit buffer empties and a calculated encoder rate based upon a rate that the transmit buffer fills, and to adjust the at least one encoding parameter during subsequent encoding as a function of at least one of the estimate of network capacity and the calculated encoder rate.

18. The media encoding system of claim 17 wherein the processor is further configured to adjust the encoding parameter to achieve a desired value of the encoder rate based upon the estimated network capacity.