System and method for skip coding during video conferencing in a network environment

• US 8,599,934 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2010
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tian, Dihong, Friel, Joseph T., Weir, Andrew P.
• Primary Examiner(s): HOLDER, ANNER N
• Application Number:
  US12/877,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20120057636A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• Field of Search: 375/240.27, 348/14.07, 348/14.08, 348/14.12, 348/14.13
• US Class Current: 375/240.27
• 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 19/137 Motion inside a coding unit, e.g. average field, frame or block difference
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

A method is provided in one example and includes receiving an input video, and identifying values of pixels from noise associated with a current video image within the video input. The method also includes creating a skip-reference video image associated with the identified pixel values, and comparing a portion of the current video image to the skip-reference video image. The method also includes determining a macroblock associated with the current video image to be skipped before an encoding operation occurs.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an input video, wherein data from the input video is analyzed in a plurality of multi-stage histograms to represent variation statistics;

identifying values of pixels from noise associated with a current video image within the video input;

creating a skip-reference video image associated with the identified pixel values;

comparing a portion of the current video image to the skip-reference video image; and

determining a macroblock associated with the current video image to be skipped before an encoding operation occurs.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

encoding non-skipped macroblocks associated with the current video image based on a noise level being above a designated noise threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of multi-stage histograms represent variation statistics between a current input video frame and a temporally preceding video frame.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the multi-stage histograms include differing levels of luminance associated with the input video, and wherein if a selected one of the histograms reaches a certain level of luminance, a corresponding pixel of an associated video image is marked to be registered to a reference buffer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

aggregating non-skipped macroblocks and the skipped macroblock associated with the current video image; and

communicating the macroblocks over a network connection to an endpoint associated with a video conference.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the portion of the current video image to the skip reference video image is performed in a single reference buffer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the portion of the current video image to the skip reference video image is performed in multiple reference buffers.

8. Logic encoded in one or more non-transitory media that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor operable to perform operations comprising:

receiving an input video, wherein data from the input video is analyzed in a plurality of multi-stage histograms to represent variation statistics;

identifying values of pixels from noise associated with a current video image within the video input;

creating a skip-reference video image associated with the identified pixel values;

comparing a portion of the current video image to the skip-reference video image; and

determining a macroblock associated with the current video image to be skipped before an encoding operation occurs.

9. The logic of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

encoding non-skipped macroblocks associated with the current video image based on a noise level being above a designated noise threshold.

10. The logic of claim 8, wherein the plurality of multi-stage histograms represent variation statistics between a current input video frame and a temporally preceding video frame.

11. The logic of claim 10, wherein each of the multi-stage histograms include differing levels of luminance within the input video, and wherein if a selected one of the histograms reaches a certain level of luminance, a corresponding pixel of an associated video image is marked to be registered to a reference buffer.

12. The logic of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

aggregating non-skipped macroblocks and the skipped macroblock associated with the current video image; and

communicating the macroblocks over a network connection to an endpoint associated with a video conference.

13. The logic of claim 8, wherein comparing the portion of the current video image to the skip reference video image is performed in a single reference buffer.

14. The logic of claim 8, wherein comparing the portion of the current video image to the skip reference video image is performed in multiple reference buffers.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory element configured to store code;

a processor operable to execute instructions associated with the code; and

a skip coding module configured to interface with the memory element and the processor such that the apparatus can;

receive an input video, wherein data from the input video is analyzed in a plurality of multi-stage histograms to represent variation statistics;

identify values of pixels from noise associated with a current video image within the video input;

create a skip-reference video image associated with the identified pixel values;

compare a portion of the current video image to the skip-reference video image; and

determine a macroblock associated with the current video image to be skipped before an encoding operation occurs.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

encode non-skipped macroblocks associated with the current video image based on a noise level being above a designated noise threshold.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the

plurality of multi-stage histograms represent variation statistics between a current input video frame and a temporally preceding video frame.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein each of the multi-stage histograms include differing levels of luminance within the input video, and wherein if a selected one of the histograms reaches a certain level of luminance, a corresponding pixel of an associated video image is marked to be registered to a reference buffer.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

aggregate non-skipped macroblocks and the skipped macroblock associated with the current video image; and

communicate the macroblocks over a network connection to an endpoint associated with a video conference.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the comparison of the portion of the current video image to the skip reference video image is performed in a single reference buffer.