Classifying and controlling encoding quality for textured, dark smooth and smooth video content

• US 8,189,933 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Holcomb, Thomas W., Spears, Stacey, Chang, Cheng, Lin, Chih-Lung
• Primary Examiner(s): COUSO, JOSE L
• Application Number:
  US12/080,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20090245587A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,520 Days
• Field of Search: 382/232, 382/236, 382238-239, 382244-253, 348/394.1, 348/395.1, 348/399.1, 3484001-4051, 3484091-4181, 37524001-24008, 37524012-24024
• US Class Current: 382/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/126 Details of normalisation or weighting functions, e.g. normalisation matrices or variable uniform quantisers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/136 Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• 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 19/176 the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock

Abstract

Techniques and tools for content classification and adaptive quantization are described. In an example implementation, a video encoding tool classifies blocks as textured, dark smooth or other smooth. The tool classifies a block as textured or non-textured by comparing the energy of AC coefficients for the block to a texture threshold, which can be set using a non-linear mapping of possible texture classification levels to possible texture thresholds. If a block is not textured, the tool further classifies the block as dark smooth or smooth depending on average intensity value for the block. Using the classification information and one or more control parameters to control bit allocation for dark smooth content relative to other smooth content, the tool encodes the video and outputs encoded video information. Example multi-pass approaches to setting the control parameters are also described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

for each of plural units of a picture;

analyzing content of the unit; and

using a computer, assigning a classification to the unit based at least in part on results of the analyzing the content of the unit;

using the classifications to process the plural units, wherein the classification for at least one of the plural units is a first classification type, and wherein the classification for at least one of the plural units is a second classification type indicating darker content than the first classification type; and

outputting a result of the processing;

wherein the assigning the classification to the unit includes;

comparing energy of AC coefficients for the unit to a threshold, wherein the unit is classified as a third classification type if the energy is higher than the threshold, the third classification type indicating textured content, and the first and second classification types indicating smooth content.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the assigning includes classifying the unit as the first classification type or the second classification type depending on average sample intensity value for the unit.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting the threshold using a level of texture classification specified according to user input received through a user interface control.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the setting uses a non-linear mapping of possible values of level of texture classification to possible values of the threshold.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting one or more parameters to control bit allocation for the second classification type relative to the first classification type during encoding of the plural units.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more parameters include a target AC coefficient count for the encoding of the at least one of the plural units classified as the second classification type.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more parameters include separate control parameters for luma units of the second classification type and chroma units of the second classification type.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the encoding includes:

using the one or more parameters and the classifications, determining how to quantize the plural units; and

quantizing the plural units.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the setting the one or more parameters comprises:

in a preliminary pass, encoding the plural units using initial values for the one or more parameters; and

adjusting values of the one or more parameters based at least in part upon results of the encoding using the initial values in the preliminary pass.

10. A method of encoding plural video units, the method comprising:

setting one or more parameters to control bit allocation for a first classification type relative to a second classification type during encoding of plural video units, the second classification type indicating darker content than the first classification type, wherein the setting includes;

in a first pass, encoding, using a computer, the plural video units using initial values for the one or more parameters; and

adjusting values of the one or more parameters based at least in part upon results of the encoding using the initial values in the first pass;

in a second pass, encoding the plural video units using the adjusted values; and

outputting the encoded plural video units from the second pass in a bit stream.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more parameters include a first target AC coefficient count for the first classification type and a second target AC coefficient count for the second classification type.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more parameters include a first target AC coefficient count for luma sample values of the second classification type and a second target AC coefficient count for chroma sample values the second classification type.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the adjusting the values of the one or more parameters includes changing the initial values based at least in part upon target bit rate and resulting bit rate of the encoding in the first pass.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the first classification type and the second classification type indicate non-textured content, wherein the encoding in the first pass and the encoding in the second pass include classifying the plural video units, and wherein:

the classification for at least one of the plural video units is a third classification type indicating textured content,

the classification for at least one of the plural video units is the first classification type, and

the classification for at least one of the plural video units is the second classification type.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the classifying uses a texture threshold, the method further comprising:

receiving input that specifies a level of texture classification; and

assigning a value to the texture threshold based at least in part upon the level, wherein the assigning uses a non-linear mapping of possible values of the level of texture classification to possible values of the texture threshold.

16. A video encoding system comprising:

a user interface module adapted to receive user input that indicates a level of texture classification;

an encoding control module adapted to set a texture threshold based at least in part upon the level of texture classification and using a non-linear mapping of possible values of level of texture classification to the possible values of the texture threshold, wherein the texture threshold is an AC energy threshold;

one or more video encoding modules adapted to encode video using the texture threshold.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the non-linear mapping embodies finer gradations for simpler content and coarser gradations for more complex content.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the video encoding includes:

classifying plural units of the video as textured, dark smooth or smooth; and

using the classifications to allocate bits between the plural units during the encoding.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the one or more video encoding modules include a module adapted to set parameters to control bit allocation between textured content, dark smooth content, and other smooth content during the encoding.