SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR VIDEO AND AUDIO DATA DISTRIBUTION

• US 20140105270A1
• Filed: 12/19/2013
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC (Realtime Data Compression Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Realtime Data LLC (Realtime Data Compression Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: FALLON, James J., MCERLAIN, Stephen J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,867,610 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/240
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/30 Compression speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N; Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/3084 using adaptive string matching, e.g. the Lempel-Ziv method
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/6094 according to reasons other than compression rate or data type
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/103 Selection of coding mode or of prediction mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/164 Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/176 the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock

Abstract

Data compression and decompression methods for compressing and decompressing data based on an actual or expected throughput (bandwidth) of a system. In one embodiment, a controller tracks and monitors the throughput (data storage and retrieval) of a data compression system and generates control signals to enable/disable different compression algorithms when, e.g., a bottleneck occurs so as to increase the throughput and eliminate the bottleneck.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a parameter or an attribute of a data block having video or audio data;

selecting a compression algorithm from among a plurality of compression algorithms to apply to the data block based upon the determined parameter or attribute and a bandwidth of a transmission line or of a communication channel; and

compressing the data block with the selected compression algorithm after selecting the compression algorithm.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the compressed data block.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

retrieving at least some of the compressed data block based upon the bandwidth of the transmission line or of the communication channel or a user command.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of compression algorithms is asymmetric.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

decompressing the data block prior to compressing the data block with the selected compression algorithm.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting comprises:

selecting the compression algorithm to apply to the data block based upon the determined parameter or attribute, the bandwidth of the transmission line or of the communication channel, and a frequency of access of the data block.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein compressing comprises:

compressing the data block with the selected compression algorithm based upon a user command.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a controller configured to;

determine a parameter or an attribute of a data block having video or audio data, and

select a compression algorithm from among the determine plurality of compression algorithms to apply to the data block based upon the determined parameter or attribute and a bandwidth of a transmission line or of a communication channel; and

a data compression system configured to compress the data block with the selected compression algorithm.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a storage medium configured to store the compressed data block.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the data compression system is further configured to retrieve at least some of the compressed data block from the storage medium based upon the bandwidth of the transmission line or of the communication channel or a user command.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the data compression system is further configured to:

retrieve at least some of the compressed data block from the storage medium based upon the bandwidth of the transmission line or of the communication channel; and

retrieve at least some of a second compressed data block, compressed with a second compression algorithm from among the plurality of compression algorithms, from the storage medium based upon a second bandwidth of the transmission line or of communication channel,

wherein second compressed data block is different from the selected compression algorithm, and

wherein the second bandwidth of the transmission line or of communication channel is different from the bandwidth of the transmission line and of the communication channel.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of compression algorithms is asymmetric.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data compression system is further configured to decompress the data block prior compressing the data block with the selected compression algorithm.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to select a second compression algorithm from among the plurality compression algorithms to apply to the compressed data block based upon a second bandwidth of the transmission line or of communication channel, the second bandwidth of the transmission line or of communication channel differing from the bandwidth of the transmission line or of communication channel.

15. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to select the compression algorithm to apply to the data block based upon the determined parameter or attribute, the bandwidth of the transmission line or of the communication channel, and a frequency of access of the data block.

16. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data compression system is configured to compress the data block with the selected compression algorithm based upon a user command.

17. A method, comprising:

determining a plurality of compression algorithms;

selecting a compression algorithm from among the determined plurality of algorithms based upon a frequency of access of a data block; and

compressing the data block with the selected compression algorithm.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

storing the compressed data block.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of compression algorithms is asymmetric.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

decompressing the data block prior to compressing the data block with the selected compression algorithm.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

selecting a second compression algorithm from among the determined plurality compression algorithms to apply to the compressed data block based upon a bandwidth of a transmission line or of a communication channel.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

retrieving at least some of the compressed data block based upon a bandwidth of a transmission line or of a communication channel or a user command.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein compressing comprises:

compressing the data block with the selected compression algorithm based upon a user command.

30. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the data compression system is configured to compress the data block with the selected compression algorithm based upon a user command.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

a controller configured to;

determine a plurality of compression algorithms, and

select a compression algorithm from among the determined plurality of compression algorithms based upon a frequency of access of a data block; and

a data compression system configured to compress the data block with the selected compression algorithm.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

a storage medium configured to store the compressed data block.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein at least one of the plurality of compression algorithms is asymmetric.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the data compression system is further configured to decompress the data block prior to compressing the data block with the selected compression algorithm.

28. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the controller is further configured to select a second compression algorithm from among the determined plurality compression of algorithms to apply to the compressed data block based upon a bandwidth of a transmission line or of a communication channel.

29. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the data compression system is further configured to retrieve at least some of the compressed data block from the storage medium based upon a bandwidth of a transmission line or of a communication channel or a user command.