VIDEO ENCODER, VIDEO ENCODING METHOD, VIDEO ENCODING PROGRAM, VIDEO REPRODUCTION DEVICE, VIDEO REPRODUCTION METHOD, AND VIDEO REPRODUCTION PROGRAM

• US 20130287090A1
• Filed: 02/15/2012
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Sasaki, Taiji, Yahata, Hiroshi, Ogawa, Tomoki, Toma, Tadamasa
• Granted Patent: US 9,277,217 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/240.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/30 using hierarchical techniques, e.g. scalability H04N19/63 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/597 specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding

Abstract

Provided are video encoding device that encodes high-quality video, restricting increase of the required bandwidth, while maintaining playback compatibility with playback devices conforming to MPEG-2 standard, and video playback device. Data creation device 5401 includes: 2D compatible video encoder 2602 that generates stream conforming to MPEG-2 format by compress-encoding original video of normal quality; base-view video encoder 2605 that generates stream, composed of black images, that includes the same number of pictures as stream that is obtained by compress-encoding original video; and dependent-view video encoder 5409 that generates dependent-view video stream by compress-encoding higher-quality original video, by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in stream conforming to the MPEG-2 format that have the same time information as pictures included in the base-view video stream that correspond to pictures constituting higher-quality original video.

Claims

1-16. -16. (canceled)

17. A video encoding device, comprising:

a first encoding unit configured to generate a video stream conforming to a first encoding format by compress-encoding a first video of a first quality converted from an original video;

a second encoding unit configured to generate a base-view video stream and a dependent-view video stream both conforming to a second encoding format that allows for an inter-view reference; and

an outputting unit configured to output the video streams generated by the first encoding unit and the second encoding unit,

wherein the second encoding unit generates, as the base-view video stream, a video stream that is dummy data including the same number of pictures as the video stream generated by compress-encoding the first video, and

generates the dependent-view video stream by compress-encoding a second video by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in the video stream conforming to the first encoding format that have the same time information as pictures included in the base-view video stream and corresponding to pictures constituting the second video, the second video being of a second quality higher than the first quality and being converted from the original video.

18. The video encoding device of claim 17, wherein

when generating the video streams conforming to the second encoding format, the second encoding unit inserts information indicating that the reference pictures are included in the video stream conforming to the first encoding format, into the video streams conforming to the second encoding format.

19. The video encoding device of claim 18, wherein

the second encoding unit selects, as the reference pictures, pictures having the same values of PTS (Presentation Time Stamp) as the pictures included in the base-view video stream that correspond to the pictures constituting the second video, from among pictures constituting the video stream conforming to the first encoding format.

20. The video encoding device of claim 18, wherein

the first encoding unit and the second encoding unit compress-encode the first video and the second video at the same aspect ratio, and insert information indicating the aspect ratio into the video streams generated thereby.

21. The video encoding device of claim 17, wherein

the second encoding unit uses, as the dummy data, a group of pictures that have no change over time.

22. The video encoding device of claim 17, wherein

the second encoding unit uses, as the group of pictures that have no change over time, a group of one-color images.

23. The video encoding device of claim 17, wherein

the second video represents the original video by a higher bit rate than the first video, and

the second encoding unit compress-encodes information indicating a difference in bit rate between pictures that correspond to each other, to generate the dependent-view video stream.

24. The video encoding device of claim 17, wherein

the second video represents the original video by a higher color depth than the first video,

each picture has color depth information indicating color depths of pixels constituting that picture, and

the second encoding unit compress-encodes a difference in the color depth information between pictures that correspond to each other, to generate the dependent-view video stream.

25. The video encoding device of claim 17, wherein

the second video represents the original video by a higher resolution than the first video, and

the second encoding unit uses, as the reference pictures, the pictures included in the video stream conforming to the first encoding format that have been converted to a resolution of the second video.

26. The video encoding device of claim 25, wherein

the first video represents the original video in an interlace format,

the second video represents the original video in a progressive format, and

when the second encoding unit is to use top-field pictures and bottom-field pictures as the reference pictures, the second encoding unit converts the top-field pictures and the bottom-field pictures to the resolution of the second video.

27. The video encoding device of claim 17, wherein

the second encoding unit uses, as the second video, one of a third video that represents the original video by a higher bit rate than the first video, a fourth video that represents the original video by a higher color depth than the first video, and a fifth video that represents the original video by a higher resolution than the first video, and includes a descriptor, which indicates which of the third video, the fourth video, and the fifth video is used as the second video, into at least one of the base-view video stream and the dependent-view video stream.

30. A video playback device for obtaining video streams output from the video encoding device defined in claim 17 and decoding and playing back the obtained video streams, the video playback device comprising:

a first decoding unit configured to decode the video stream conforming to the first encoding format;

a second decoding unit configured to decode the base-view video stream, and decode the dependent-view video stream by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in the video stream having been decoded by the first decoding unit that have the same time information as the pictures included in the base-view video stream that correspond to pictures constituting the dependent-view video stream; and

a playback unit configured to play back the second video that is obtained by the second decoding unit.

32. A video playback program for causing a computer to function as a video playback device for obtaining video streams output from the video encoding device defined in claim 17 and decoding and playing back the obtained video streams, the video playback program causing the computer to function as:

a first decoding unit configured to decode the video stream conforming to the first encoding format;

a second decoding unit configured to decode the base-view video stream, and decode the dependent-view video stream by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in the video stream having been decoded by the first decoding unit that have the same time information as the pictures included in the base-view video stream that correspond to pictures constituting the dependent-view video stream; and

a playback unit configured to play back the second video that is obtained by the second decoding unit.

28. A video encoding method, comprising:

a first encoding step of generating a video stream conforming to a first encoding format by compress-encoding a first video of a first quality converted from an original video;

a second encoding step of generating a base-view video stream and a dependent-view video stream both conforming to a second encoding format that allows for an inter-view reference; and

an outputting step of outputting the video streams generated in the first encoding step and the second encoding step,

wherein the second encoding step generates, as the base-view video stream, a video stream that is dummy data including the same number of pictures as the video stream generated by compress-encoding the first video, and

generates the dependent-view video stream by compress-encoding a second video by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in the video stream conforming to the first encoding format that have the same time information as pictures included in the base-view video stream and corresponding to pictures constituting the second video, the second video being of a second quality higher than the first quality and being converted from the original video.

31. A video playback method for obtaining video streams output by the video encoding method defined in claim 28 and decoding and playing back the obtained video streams, the video playback method comprising:

a first decoding step of decoding the video stream conforming to the first encoding format;

a second decoding step of decoding the base-view video stream, and decoding the dependent-view video stream by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in the video stream having been decoded in the first decoding step that have the same time information as the pictures included in the base-view video stream that correspond to pictures constituting the dependent-view video stream; and

a playback step of playing back the second video that is obtained in the second decoding step.

29. A video encoding program for causing a computer to function as a video encoding device, the video encoding program causing the computer to function as:

a first encoding unit configured to generate a video stream conforming to a first encoding format by compress-encoding a first video of a first quality converted from an original video;

a second encoding unit configured to generate a base-view video stream and a dependent-view video stream both conforming to a second encoding format that allows for an inter-view reference; and

an outputting unit configured to output the video streams generated by the first encoding unit and the second encoding unit,

wherein the second encoding unit generates, as the base-view video stream, a video stream that is dummy data including the same number of pictures as the video stream generated by compress-encoding the first video, and

generates the dependent-view video stream by compress-encoding a second video by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in the video stream conforming to the first encoding format that have the same time information as pictures included in the base-view video stream and corresponding to pictures constituting the second video, the second video being of a second quality higher than the first quality and being converted from the original video.