Video bandwidth optimization

• US 9,071,727 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2011
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chou, Jim
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah, Melur
• Application Number:
  US13/311,345
• Publication Number:
  US 20130141518A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,303 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401- 1416, 370260-261, 709/204
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/148 Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving at a network device, video from a first endpoint, analyzing the video received from the first endpoint, processing video received from a second endpoint based on the analyzed video to optimize bandwidth between the network device and the first endpoint, and transmitting the processed video to the first endpoint. An apparatus is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at a network device, video from a first endpoint;

analyzing the video received from said first endpoint;

processing video received from a second endpoint based on said analyzed video to optimize bandwidth between the network device and said first endpoint; and

transmitting said processed video to said first endpoint;

wherein the network device is located at an edge of a network comprising said first endpoint.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the video comprises determining if a participant is present at said first endpoint.

3. The method of claim 2 and wherein processing the video received from said second endpoint comprises decreasing a rate of the video if no participant is present at said first endpoint.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein processing the video received from said second endpoint comprises performing scalable video coding layer dropping if no participant is present at said first endpoint.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the video comprises detecting eye gaze of one or more participants at said first endpoint.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein processing the video received from said second endpoint comprises identifying a viewed portion of the video based on said eye gaze and allocating more bits to said viewed portion than a remaining portion of the video.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the network device comprises a media aware network element.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said second endpoint comprises a plurality of endpoints.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the video received from said first endpoint to said second endpoint in a video session.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a video analyzer for analyzing video received from a first endpoint; and

a processor for processing video received from a second endpoint based on said analyzed video to optimize bandwidth between the apparatus and said first endpoint, and transmitting said processed video to said first endpoint;

wherein processing comprises allocating more bits to a first portion of the video than a remaining portion of the video.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the video analyzer comprises a face detector.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein analyzing the video comprises determining if a participant is present at said first endpoint.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the processor comprises a bit-rate encoder for decreasing a rate of the video if no participant is present at said first endpoint.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the processor comprises a scalable video codec for dropping layers of the video if no participant is present at said first endpoint.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the video analyzer comprises an eye gaze detector for detecting eye gaze of one or more participants at said first endpoint.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein processing the video received from said second endpoint comprises identifying a viewed portion of the video based on said eye gaze, said first portion of the video comprising said viewed portion.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the apparatus comprises a media aware network element.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the apparatus is configured for transmitting the video received from said first endpoint to said second endpoint in a video session.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising a decoder for decoding the video received from said first endpoint before analyzing the video and an encoder for encoding the video before transmitting the video to said second endpoint.

20. Logic encoded on one or more non-transitory computer readable media for execution and when executed operable to:

analyze video received from a first endpoint to detect eye gaze of one or more participants at said first endpoint and identify a viewed portion of the video;

process video received from a second endpoint based on said analyzed video to allocate more bits to said viewed portion than a remaining portion of the video; and

transmit said processed video to said first endpoint.