Method of transmitting data in a communication system

• US 9,699,099 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2009
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Skype S.Ã R.L. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Jefremov, Andrei, Wurm, Karlheinz
• Primary Examiner(s): BIAGINI, CHRISTOPHER D
• Application Number:
  US12/402,161
• Publication Number:
  US 20090234919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,037 Days
• Field of Search: 709246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0858 One way delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0894 Packet rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/26 using explicit feedback to the source, e.g. choke packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/263 Rate modification at the source after receiving feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/38 by adapting coding or compression rate

Abstract

A method of transmitting image data from a first node to a second node during a communication event, wherein the second node comprises a display for displaying image data at the second node, includes receiving at the first node, information indicating at least one display characteristic with which image data received at the second node will be displayed on the display; inputting image data at the first node; determining a processing step to be applied to the inputted image data to generate adapted image data, such that at least one characteristic of the adapted image data is optimized for the at least one display characteristic; applying the processing step to generate the adapted image data; and transmitting the adapted image data to the second terminal.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving image data, by an image input system at a first device, as part of a communication event between the first device and a second device;

receiving, at the first device, display characteristics associated with the second device including a portion of the image data displayed in a window at the second device, a proportion comprising an amount of the image data displayed in the window, and dimensions of the window;

determining, at the first device, a magnification applied to the portion of the image data based on the proportion and the dimensions of the window;

determining, at the first device, a first resolution for encoding the portion of the image data based on the determined magnification;

determining, at the first device, a second resolution for encoding another portion of the image data not displayed within the window;

encoding, at the first device for transmission to the second device, the portion of the image data displayed within the window at the first resolution and the other portion of the image data not displayed within the window at the second resolution; and

transmitting, at the first device, the encoded image data including transmitting the portion of the image data displayed in the window at the first resolution along with the other portion of the image data that is not displayed in the window at the second resolution for receipt by the second device to cause optimization of display of the portion of the image data at the second device and as part of the communication event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the display characteristics further comprise one or more of:

a colour depth of the display;

a capacity to represent light nuances on the display;

a screen depth of the display.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said adapting further comprises determining an encoding parameter for encoding the portion of the image data based at least in part on one or more of the display characteristics.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the encoding parameter comprises one or more of:

a level of colour information;

a level of light information;

a resolution value;

an aspect ratio;

a frame rate;

a compression complexity of the adapted image;

or

a bit rate.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising determining the encoding parameter according to a function of one or more of the display characteristics.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein determining the encoding parameter comprises:

querying a look up table with one or more of the display characteristics; and

retrieving the encoding parameter based at least in part on one or more of the display characteristics.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication event is a video call, the image data includes video data of a user of the first device, and said adapting is performed during the video call.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said receiving the display characteristics further comprises receiving video data of the video call from the second device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said encoding is updated with new respective first and second resolutions in response to receiving an update to one or more of the display characteristics.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first device receives an updated portion of the image data and an updated proportion received responsive to a zoom operation to the portion of the image data at the second device.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said encoding the portion of the image data achieves an acceptable level of perceived quality for the portion of the image data.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, by an input system at a first device, image data as part of a communication event between the first device and a second device;

receiving, at the first device, display characteristics associated with the second device including a portion of the image data displayed in a window at the second device, a proportion comprising an amount of the image data displayed in the window, and dimensions of the window;

determining, at the first device, a magnification applied to the portion of the image data based on the proportion and the dimensions of the window;

adapting, at the first device, the image data to generate adapted image data comprising the portion of the image data that is encoded at a first resolution determined based on the magnification and another portion of the image data that is not displayed within the window that is encoded at a second resolution; and

transmitting, at the first device, the adapted image data for receipt by the second device including transmitting the portion of the image data at the first resolution along with the other portion of the image data at the second resolution to cause optimization of display of the portion of the image data at the second device and as part of the communication event.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the image data includes images of a user of the first device input from a camera.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the image data is screen sharing data.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the adapting is updated with new first and second resolutions for encoding in response to receiving an update to the portion of the image data displayed in the window and an update to the proportion from the second device, the updates occurring responsive to a zoom operation at the second device.

16. A transmitting device comprising:

a receiver for receiving display characteristics associated with a receiving device; and

one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored on the transmitting device to perform operations including;

receiving the image data as part of a communication event between the transmitting device and the receiving device;

receiving the display characteristics that include a portion of image data displayed in a window at the receiving device, a proportion comprising an amount of the image data displayed in the window, and a window size of the window;

determining a magnification applied to the portion of the image data based on the proportion and the dimensions of the window;

determining a first resolution for encoding the portion of the image data based upon the determined magnification;

determining a second resolution for encoding another portion of the image data that is not displayed within the window;

adapting the portion of the image data and the other portion of the image data for transmission to the receiving device including encoding the portion of the image data displayed at the receiving device at the first resolution and the other portion of the image data that is not displayed at the receiving device at the second resolution; and

transmitting circuitry for transmitting the adapted portion of the image data at the first resolution along with the adapted other portion of the image data at the second resolution for receipt by the receiving device to cause optimization of display of the portion of the image data at the receiving device and as part of the communication event.

17. The transmitting device of claim 16, wherein the transmitting device comprises:

an end user node, a server relaying image data from an end user node, or a server distributing pre-stored image data.

18. A receiving device comprising:

a display for displaying a portion of image data received from a transmitting device as part of a communication event between the transmitting device and the receiving device;

one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored on the receiving device to perform operations including;

determining display characteristics including the portion of the image data displayed in a window at the receiving device, a proportion comprising an amount of the received image data displayed in the window, and dimensions of the window; and

generating a report that includes the display characteristics including the proportion and window size; and

a transmitter for transmitting the report to the transmitting device to enable the transmitting device to encode the portion of the image data displayed within the window at a first resolution based at least in part on the display characteristics and encode another portion of the image data that is not displayed within the window at a second resolution for transmission to the receiving device to cause optimization of display of the portion of the image data at the receiving device and as part of the communication event.

19. The receiving device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a zoom input;

updating the portion of the image data displayed within the window, updating the other portion of the image data that is not displayed within the window, and updating the proportion according to the zoom input; and

generating an updated report that includes the updated portion of the image data, the updated other portion of the image data, and the updated proportion; and

wherein the transmitter transmits the updated report to the transmitting device to enable the transmitting device to encode the updated portion of the image data displayed within the window at an updated first resolution determined by the updated report along with the updated other portion of the image data that is not displayed within the window at an updated second resolution.

20. A computer program product comprising program code stored on a hardware computer readable storage memory, the program code being executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

receiving, by an input system, image data as part of a communication event with a second device;

receiving display characteristics associated with the second device including a portion of the image data displayed in a window at the second device, a proportion comprising an amount of the image data displayed in the window, and dimensions of the window;

determining a magnification applied to the portion of the image data based on the proportion and the dimensions of the window;

adapting the image data based at least in part on the display characteristics to generate adapted image data including encoding the portion of the image data displayed in the window at a first resolution determined based on the magnification and encoding another portion of the image data that is not displayed in the window at a second resolution; and

transmitting the adapted image data including both the portion of the image data at the first resolution and the other portion of the image data at the second resolution for receipt by the second device to cause optimization of display of the portion of the image data at the second device and as part of the communication event.