Video encoding control method and apparatus

• US 9,179,154 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2011
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
• Inventors: Shimizu, Atsushi, Ono, Naoki, Kitahara, Masaki
• Primary Examiner(s): ELAHI, SHAN E
• Application Number:
  US13/695,768
• Publication Number:
  US 20130058396A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,658 Days
• Field of Search: 375/240.25
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/124 Quantisation
• 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 19/152 by measuring the fullness of the transmission buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/164 Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/172 the region being a picture, frame or field
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding

Abstract

A video encoding control method for controlling encoding of an input video signal. The method includes the steps of detecting an underflow of a decoder buffer; if the underflow of the decoder buffer has been detected, suppressing an amount of generated code by skipping an encoding target picture or by encoding the encoding target picture so as to produce a minimum amount of generated code; after suppressing the amount of generated code, comparing a current rate of occupancy in the decoder buffer with a predetermined threshold for the rate of occupancy in the decoder buffer; and performing a control for continuously suppressing the amount of code generated for each encoding target image by using the above step of suppressing the amount of generated code until the rate of occupancy in the decoder buffer exceeds the threshold based on a result of the above comparison.

Claims

1. A video encoding control method performed by a microprocessor operating on executable program steps stored in memory for controlling encoding of an input video signal, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting an underflow of a decoder buffer;

if the underflow of the decoder buffer has been detected, computing a period of time for suppressing an amount of generated code based on a predetermined threshold for a rate of occupancy in the decoder buffer and an encoding bit rate; and

performing a control for continuously suppressing the amount of code generated for each encoding target picture during the computed period of time, by skipping the encoding target picture or by encoding the encoding target picture so as to produce a minimum amount of generated code.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein:

the threshold for the rate of occupancy in the decoder buffer is one of substantially half the size of the decoder buffer and a level of the decoder buffer immediately before the decoding side receives encoded data of a head picture and starts decoding thereof.

3. A video encoding control apparatus for controlling encoding of an input video signal, the apparatus comprising:

a device that detects an underflow of a decoder buffer;

a device that suppresses an amount of generated code by skipping an encoding target picture or by encoding the encoding target picture so as to produce a minimum amount of generated code;

a device that computes a period of time for suppressing an amount of generated code based on a predetermined threshold for a rate of occupancy in the decoder buffer and an encoding bit rate; and

a device that performs, if the underflow of the decoder buffer has been detected, a control for continuously suppressing the amount of code generated for each encoding target picture during the computed period of time, by using the above device that suppresses the amount of generated code.

4. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium which stores a video encoding control program by which a computer executes the video encoding control method comprising the steps of:

detecting an underflow of a decoder buffer;

if the underflow of the decoder buffer has been detected, computing a period of time for suppressing an amount of generated code based on a predetermined threshold for a rate of occupancy in the decoder buffer and an encoding bit rate; and

performing a control for continuously suppressing the amount of code generated for each encoding target picture during the computed period of time, by skipping the encoding target picture or by encoding the encoding target picture so as to produce a minimum amount of generated code.