Method and apparatus for encoding cloud display screen by using application programming interface information

• US 9,053,526 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2013
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Dae-hee, Choi, Dai-woong, Cho, Dae-sung
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, Anh
• Application Number:
  US14/045,333
• Publication Number:
  US 20140099041A1
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• Field of Search: 382/232, 382/233, 382/239, 382/173, 382/190, 382/189, 382/255, 375/240, 455/414.1, 455/450, 707/827, 709/226, 709/235, 709/243, 713/165, 713/167
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 9/00 Image coding bandwidth or redundancy reduction for static pictures H04N1/41; coding or decoding of static colour picture signals H04N1/64; methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/12 Selection from among a plurality of transforms or standards, e.g. selection between discrete cosine transform [DCT] and sub-band transform or selection between H.263 and H.264
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/136 Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/167 Position within a video image, e.g. region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/20 using video object coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/85 using pre-processing or post-processing specially adapted for video compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/431 Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34

Abstract

A method and apparatus for implementing cloud computing by efficiently encoding a display screen between a cloud server and a client terminal. The method for encoding a cloud display screen in the cloud server, includes: acquiring region information of currently generated windows based on an application programming interface (API) function information of an Operating System (OS); extracting relative depth information between each of the currently generated windows from the OS; generating an encoding mode map in which an entire screen is divided into a plurality of blocks, based on the acquired region information and the extracted relative depth information; and encoding each of the plurality of blocks based on the generated encoding mode map.

Claims

1. A method for encoding a cloud display screen in a cloud server, comprising:

acquiring region information of currently generated windows based on an application programming interface (API) function information of an Operating System (OS);

extracting relative depth information between each of the currently generated windows from the OS;

generating an encoding mode map in which an entire screen is divided into a plurality of blocks, based on the acquired region information and the extracted relative depth information; and

encoding each of the plurality of blocks based on the generated encoding mode map.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the acquiring the region information comprises designating an identifier to each of the currently generated windows, and storing the region information of the currently generated windows corresponding to the identifiers.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the acquiring the region information comprises, when at least one of the currently generated windows is finished, deleting the region information corresponding to the identifier of the at least one finished currently generated window.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the identifier is a window handle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the encoding mode map comprises determining an encoding algorithm to be applied to each of the plurality of blocks, based on the acquired region information included in each of the blocks.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the generating the encoding mode map comprises, if a plurality of pieces of region information are included in each of the plurality of blocks, determining an encoding algorithm to be applied to each of the blocks based on a proportion of the plurality of pieces of region information constituting each of the blocks.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the generating the encoding mode map comprises, if a plurality of pieces of region information are included in each of the plurality of blocks, determining an encoding algorithm to be applied to each of the blocks according to preset priorities of encoding algorithms corresponding to the plurality of pieces of region information included in each of the blocks.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding each of the plurality of blocks comprises encoding each of the plurality of blocks in a raster-scan order.

9. A cloud server for encoding a cloud display screen, comprising:

a region information acquisition device which acquires region information of currently generated windows based on an application programming interface (API) function information of an Operating System (OS);

a depth information extractor which extracts relative depth information between each of the currently generated windows from the OS;

a screen region determiner which generates an encoding mode map in which an entire screen is divided into a plurality of blocks, based on the acquired region information and the extracted relative depth information; and

an encoder which encodes each of the plurality of blocks based on the generated encoding mode map.

10. The cloud server of claim 9, wherein the region information acquisition device designates an identifier to each of the currently generated windows, and comprises a region storage device which stores the region information of the currently generated windows corresponding to the identifiers.

11. The cloud server of claim 10, wherein the region information acquisition device further comprises a region management device which deletes the region information corresponding to the identifier of at least one of the currently generated windows if the at least one of the currently generated windows is finished.

12. The cloud server of claim 9, wherein the screen region determiner determines an encoding algorithm to be applied to each of the plurality of blocks, based on the acquired region information included in each of the blocks.

13. The cloud server of claim 12, wherein, if a plurality of pieces of region information are included in each of the plurality of blocks, the screen region determiner determines an encoding algorithm to be applied to each of the blocks based on a proportion of the plurality of pieces of region information constituting each of the blocks.

14. The cloud server of claim 12, wherein, if a plurality of pieces of region information are included in each of the plurality of blocks, the screen region determiner determines an encoding algorithm to be applied to each of the blocks according to preset priorities of encoding algorithms corresponding to the plurality of pieces of region information included in each of the blocks.

15. A cloud terminal for decoding a cloud display screen, comprising:

a communication device which receives an encoded cloud display screen stream from a cloud server; and

a decoder which decodes the encoded cloud display screen stream,

wherein the encoded cloud display screen stream includes data encoded by an encoding algorithm, which is selectively applied to a plurality of block units divided from the encoded cloud display screen.

16. The cloud terminal of claim 15, wherein the decoder decodes the encoded cloud display screen stream using a decoding algorithm corresponding to the encoding algorithm.

17. A method for encoding a cloud display screen in a cloud server, comprising:

acquiring region information of a plurality of windows in units of identifiers based on an application programming interface (API) function information of an operating system (OS);

acquiring relative depth information between the windows in the units of identifiers from the OS;

determining characteristics of a plurality of screen regions based on the acquired relative depth information and the acquired region information; and

encoding the cloud display screen based on the determined characteristics of the screen regions.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

generating an encoding map in which the cloud display screen is redefined into a plurality of blocks based on the determined characteristics of the screen regions.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the determined characteristics of the screen regions are determined based on identifiers in which the windows are not hidden.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the plurality of blocks are encoded using an encoding algorithm corresponding to an encoding mode allocated to each block of the plurality of blocks.