Method and system for video stream transmission over wireless channels

• US 8,432,938 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2007
• Issued: 04/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Singh, Harkirat, Shao, Huai-Rong, Xia, Pengfei, Ngo, Chiu
• Primary Examiner(s): Chung, Hoon J
• Assistant Examiner(s): PASIA, REDENTOR M
• Application Number:
  US11/728,376
• Publication Number:
  US 20070245387A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,227 Days
• Field of Search: 370230-231, 370/235, 370/252, 370/328, 370/338, 370/389, 370/473, 370/474, 370/476, 709/231, 455/41.2, 455/426.2, 455/69, 725/10, 725/74, 725/78, 714/18, 714/47, 714/748, 714/749
• US Class Current: 370/474
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/20 Adaptations for transmission via a GHz frequency band, e.g. via satellite

Abstract

A method and system for transmitting video information from a sender to a receiver over a wireless channel, is provided. Video information bits are placed into multiple data packets, and transmitted in a burst sequence from a sender to a receiver over a wireless channel in a first time frame. Transmission of each data packet is separated from transmission of the next data packet by an inter-frame time period which is shortened by a channel switching duration. Then, selected video information bits are retransmitted to from the sender to the receiver in a second time frame.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting video information from a sender to a receiver over a wireless channel, comprising:

inputting video information bits at the sender;

packetizing the video information bits into multiple data packets;

appending beamtracking information to a last data packet of the multiple data packets, wherein the beamtracking information comprises information for tuning beamforming parameters at both the sender and the receiver in order to maintain continuous optimization of directional beams from the sender to the receiver over a high-rate data channel;

transmitting the multiple data packets in a burst sequence from the sender to the receiver over the wireless channel in a first time frame, wherein transmission of each data packet is separated from transmission of the next data packet by an inter-frame time period which is shortened by a channel switching duration comprising a time period including time for channel switching from the high-rate data channel to a low-rate control channel and associated processing delays; and

retransmitting selected video information bits from the sender to the receiver in a second time frame.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the multiple data packets at the receiver;

generating a burst acknowledgment for the multiple data packets;

transmitting the burst acknowledgment from the receiver to the sender over the wireless channel; and

receiving the burst acknowledgment (Burst-ACK) from the receiver for the multiple data packets.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the last data packet in the multiple data packets comprises the Burst-Ack appended with the beamtracking information.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the last data packet is transmitted in a current beamtracking time period.

5. The method of claim 1 further includes receiving a burst acknowledgment during said first time frame.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein receiving said burst acknowledgment further includes receiving said burst acknowledgment during said first time frame, a channel switching duration after transmitting the multiple data packets.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the inter-frame time period comprises a Shortened Inter Frame Space (SIFS) time period and the channel switching duration comprises a Medium Interface Space (MIFS) time period.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the MIFS time period is longer than the SIFS time period.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the SIFS period is used to separate multiple transmissions from a single transmitter when no transmission is expected, and the MIFS period is used when a response is expected from the receiver.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

in the second time frame, retransmitting the selected video information bits of the multiple data packets transmitted during the first time frame.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein retransmitting the selected video information bits further includes retransmitting selected video information bits based on perceptual importance of the video information bits based on type of information in said burst acknowledgment from the receiver.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein transmitting the multiple data packets further includes transmitting the multiple data packets from the sender to the receiver over a high-rate wireless channel.

13. The method of claim 12 further includes the receiver transmitting said burst acknowledgment to the sender over the wireless channel.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein:

transmitting the multiple data packets from the sender to the receiver further comprises transmitting the multiple data packets from the sender to the receiver by the directional transmission beams over the high-rate data channel; and

the receiver transmitting said burst acknowledgment to the sender over the low-rate control channel further includes the receiver transmitting the burst acknowledgement to the sender by the directional transmission beams over the low-rate control channel.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the type of information in said Burst-ACK from the receiver comprises one of beamtracking information and information of higher perceptual importance.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the burst acknowledgment identifies most significant

bits (MSBs) of data packets received by the receiver with errors.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at a beginning of a beam track period, the sender transmits a data packet that includes the MSBs received with errors at the receiver.

18. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

the receiver utilizing the retransmitted video information bits to replace video information bits in the multiple data packets that were received with errors.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein the video information bits represent video pixel components, such that retransmitting the selected video information bits in the second time frame further includes retransmitting perceptually important video information bits of the video pixel components within the multiple data packets transmitted during the first time frame from the sender to the receiver.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein retransmitting the selected video information bits in said second time frame further includes retransmitting all of the most significant bits of the video pixel components in all of the multiple data packets transmitted during the first time frame from the sender to the receiver.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein:

generating said burst acknowledgment for the multiple data packets further includes;

detecting the most significant bits in the multiple data packets transmitted during the first time frame and received by the receiver with errors, and generating said burst acknowledgment to include information identifying the most significant bits with errors; and

retransmitting the selected video information bits during the second time frame further includes retransmitting a correct copy of those most significant bits of the video pixel components in said multiple data packets that are identified by said burst acknowledgment as received with errors.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing delays comprising media access control (MAC) layer processing delays.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the processing delays comprising channel turnaround time.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein each data packet and a corresponding immediate-ACK (Imm-ACK) are spaced by the time period for channel switching from the high-rate data channel to the low-rate control channel including associated processing delays.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein appending the beamtracking information to the last data packet of the multiple data packets avoids separately transmitting the beamtracking information.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the beamtracking information is only appended to the last data packet of the multiple data packets during the burst sequence.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the beamtracking information further comprises beam searching information.

28. A communication system for transmission of video information over wireless channels, comprising:

a wireless transmitter including;

a packetizer that places video information bits into multiple data packets and appends beamtracking information to a last data packet of the multiple data packets;

a communication controller that transmits the multiple data packets in a burst sequence over a high-rate wireless channel via directional transmission beams during a first time frame, wherein transmission of each data packet is separated from transmission of the next data packet by an inter-frame time period shortened by a channel switching duration comprising a time period including time for channel switching from a high-rate data channel to a low-rate control channel and associated processing delays;

a retransmitter configured such that in a second time frame, the retransmitter retransmits selected video information bits from the transmitter to a receiver;

the receiver including;

a depacketizer configured for extracting the video information bits from the multiple packets;

an acknowledgement module configured to generate acknowledgments for the multiple data packets;

a communication module configured to transmit the acknowledgments in a burst sequence from the receiver to the transmitter over a wireless channel during a beamtracking time period,

wherein the beamtracking information comprises information for tuning beamforming parameters at both the wireless transmitter and the wireless receiver in order to maintain continuous optimization of directional beams from the sender to the receiver over the high-rate data channel.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein:

the first time frame comprises a first beamtracking time period, and the second time frame comprises a second beamtracking time period;

the communication module of the receiver is further configured to transmit the Burst-ACK during said first beamtracking time period for receipt at the transmitter within the channel switching duration after transmission of the multiple data packets.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the retransmitter configured such that in the second beamtracking time period, the retransmitter retransmits the selected video information bits of the multiple data packets transmitted during the first beamtracking time period from the transmitter to the receiver.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the retransmitter is configured to retransmit the selected video information bits based on perceptual importance of the video information bits.

32. The system of claim 30 wherein the video information bits represent video pixel components and the selected video information bits include perceptually important information bits of the multiple data packets transmitted during the first beamtracking time period from the transmitter to the receiver.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the selected video information bits include the most significant bits of the video pixel components in all of the multiple data packets transmitted during the first beamtracking time period from the transmitter to the receiver.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein:

the receiver further includes an error detection module configured to detect the perceptually important bits in the multiple data packets transmitted during the first beamtracking time period and received by the receiver with errors, such that the acknowledgment module is further configured to generate a burst acknowledgment to include information identifying the perceptually important bits received with errors; and

the retransmitter is further configured to retransmit a correct copy of perceptually important information bits identified by the burst acknowledgment as received with errors, in said second beamtracking time period.

35. The system of claim 30 wherein the receiver further includes an error detection module configured for utilizing the retransmitted video information bits to recover video information bits in the multiple data packets that were received with errors.

36. The system of claim 29 wherein the last data packet is transmitted in the first beamtracking time period.

37. The system of claim 28, wherein the last data packet in the multiple data packets comprises a Burst-Ack appended with the beamtracking information.

38. The system of claim 28 wherein the video information comprises uncompressed video information.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein the video information comprises uncompressed high-definition video information.

40. The system of claim 28 wherein the inter-frame time period comprises a SIFS time period and the channel switching duration comprises a MIFS time period.

41. A transmitter for the transmitting of video information to a receiver over wireless channels, comprising:

a packetizer that places video information bits into multiple data packets and appends beamtracking information to a last data packet of the multiple data packets, wherein the beamtracking information comprises information for tuning beamforming parameters at both the transmitter and the receiver in order to maintain continuous optimization of directional beams from the sender to the receiver over a high-rate data channel;

a communication controller configured to transmit the multiple data packets in a burst sequence over a high-rate wireless channel via directional transmission beams during a first time frame, wherein transmission of each data packet is separated from transmission of the next data packet by an inter-frame time period shortened by a channel switching duration comprising a time period including time for channel switching from the high-rate data channel to a low-rate control channel and associated processing delays; and

a retransmitter configured such that in a second time frame, the retransmitter retransmits selected video information bits of the multiple data packets transmitted during a last beamtracking time period from the transmitter to the receiver.

42. The transmitter of claim 41 wherein the first time frame comprises a first beamtracking time period, and the second time frame comprises a second beamtracking time period.

43. The transmitter of claim 42 wherein the retransmitter is configured to retransmit the selected video information bits based on perceptual importance of the video information bits.

44. The transmitter of claim 43 wherein the video information bits represent video pixel components and the selected video information bits include perceptually important information bits of the multiple data packets transmitted during the first beamtracking time period from the transmitter to the receiver.

45. The transmitter of claim 44 wherein the selected video information bits include the most significant bits of the video pixel components in all of the multiple data packets transmitted during the first beamtracking time period from the transmitter to the receiver.

46. The transmitter of claim 44 wherein the retransmitter is further configured to retransmit a correct copy of perceptually important information bits identified by a burst acknowledgment from the receiver as received with errors, in said second beamtracking time period.

47. The transmitter of claim 43 wherein the burst acknowledgment further includes beamtracking information.

48. The transmitter of claim 41 wherein a data packet in the multiple data packets further includes beamtracking information.

49. The transmitter of claim 41 wherein the video information comprises uncompressed high-definition video information.

50. The transmitter of claim 41 wherein the inter-frame time period comprises a SIFS time period and the channel switching duration comprises a MIFS time period.

51. A receiver for receiving video information from a transmitter over wireless channels, the video information including a burst of multiple video packets including information bits, the receiver comprising:

a depacketizer configured for extracting the video information bits from the multiple packets received during a first time frame and extracting beamtracking information from a last data packet of the multiple data packets, wherein the beamtracking information comprises information for tuning beamforming parameters at both the transmitter and the receiver in order to maintain continuous optimization of directional beams from the receiver to the transmitter over a high-rate data channel;

an acknowledgement module configured to generate acknowledgments for the multiple data packets; and

a communication module configured to transmit the acknowledgments in a burst sequence to the transmitter over a wireless channel during said first time frame, wherein;

said first time frame comprises a beamtracking period; and

transmission of each data packet is separated from transmission of a next data packet by an inter-frame time period shortened by a channel switching duration comprising a time period including time for channel switching from the high-rate data channel to a low-rate control channel and associated processing delays.

52. The receiver of claim 51 wherein the inter-frame time period comprises a SIFS time period and the channel-switching duration comprises a MIFS time period.

53. The receiver of claim 51 wherein the communication module is further configured to transmit the Burst-ACK during said first beamtracking time period for receipt at the transmitter within a channel switching duration after transmission of the multiple data packets.

54. The receiver of claim 53 further including an error detection module configured to detect the perceptually important bits in the multiple data packets transmitted during the first beamtracking time period and received by the receiver with errors, such that the acknowledgment module is further configured to generate a Burst-ACK to include information identifying the perceptually important bits received with errors for retransmission by the transmitter.

55. The receiver of claim 54 wherein the communication module is further configured to receive in a second beamtracking time period a retransmission of selected video information bits of the multiple data packets transmitted during the first beamtracking time period.

56. The receiver of claim 55 wherein the selected video information bits are of higher perceptual importance than other video information bits.

57. The receiver of claim 53 further including an error detection module configured for utilizing retransmitted video information bits to recover video information bits in the multiple data packets that were received with errors.

58. The receiver of claim 51 wherein the video information comprises uncompressed video information.

59. The receiver of claim 51 wherein the video information comprises uncompressed high-definition video information.