METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SWITCHING VIDEO PLAYBACK RESOLUTION

• US 20160316274A1
• Filed: 12/15/2014
• Published: 10/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Shenzhen TCL New Technology Co., Ltd. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Shenzhen TCL New Technology Co., Ltd. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Wang, Yunhua
• Application Number:
  US15/103,884
• Publication Number:
  US 20160316274A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4858 for modifying screen layout parameters, e.g. fonts, size of the windows
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6373 for rate control , e.g. request to the server to modify its transmission rate flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/816 involving special video data, e.g 3D video
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for switching video playback resolution, including: obtaining a strength of a current network signal as well as a frame rate of a currently-played video; based on the strength of the current network signal, switchable resolutions of the video, and the frame rate of the video, calculating switching time intervals of the switchable resolutions; based the strength of the current network signal, switching the resolution of the video by selecting an optimal switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution, and storing the optimal switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution in a time interval table which carries the strength of the corresponding network signal at each calculation of the switching time intervals. The present invention further discloses a system for switching video playback resolution and a television having the same.

Claims

1. A method for switching video playback resolution, comprising:

step S1, obtaining a strength of a current network signal as well as a frame rate of a currently-played video;

step S2, based on the strength of the current network signal, switchable resolutions of the video, and the frame rate of the video, calculating switching time intervals of the switchable resolutions; and

step S3, based on the strength of the current network signal, switching the resolution of the video by selecting an optimal switching time interval and the switchable resolution corresponding to the optimal switching time interval, and storing the optimal switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution in a time interval table which carries the strength of the network signal at each calculation of the switching time intervals.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein before step S1, the method further comprises:

step S0, switching the current resolution of the video to a minimum resolution of the video and playing the video at the minimum resolution when detecting that the number of video data packet in a video cache region is less than a first threshold value.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the time interval table carries data of a previous calculation of the switching time interval, the data comprises a strength of a network signal corresponding to the previous calculation of the switching time interval, and step S3 comprises:

step S31, comparing the strength of the current network signal with the strength of the network signal corresponding to the previous calculation of the switching time interval, if the strength of the current network signal is predetermined times greater than the strength of the network signal corresponding to the previous calculation of the switching time interval, turning to step S32, otherwise to step S33;

step S32, selecting the next higher resolution of the switchable resolution corresponding to the previous calculation of the switching time interval as the current video playback resolution; and

step S33, selecting the switchable resolution corresponding to the previous calculation of the switching time interval as the current video playback resolution.

4. The method according to claim 1, when the time interval table does not contain data of a previous calculation of the switching time interval, step S3 comprises:

switching the resolution of the video by selecting a minimum switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution, and storing the minimum switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution in the time interval table.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein in step S2, the switching time intervals of the switchable resolutions are calculated according to the following formula:

H=(P*F)/(K*128*1024);

wherein H is the switching time interval, P is the switchable resolution, F is the frame rate, and K is the strength of the current network signal.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein before step S1, the method further comprises:

step A1, obtaining a physical resolution of a screen; and

step A2, selecting the resolution in the switchable resolutions less than or equal to the physical resolution, selecting the resolution as the switchable resolution, turning to step S1 to calculate the switching time interval of the selected resolution.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining a physical resolution of a screen comprises:

step A101, detecting the number of three primary colors of the screen of a television in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction respectively;

step A102, calculating a resolution X of the screen in the horizontal direction according to the detected number of the three primary colors of the screen in the horizontal direction, calculating a resolution Y of the screen in the vertical direction according to the detected number of the three primary colors of the screen in the vertical direction, and the physical resolution of the screen being X*Y.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein before step S1, the method further comprises:

step B1, detecting a playback duration of the video; and

step B2, when the playback duration of the video is less than a second predetermined threshold value, keeping playing the video at the current resolution.

9. A system for switching video playback resolution, comprising:

a first obtaining module, configured for obtaining a strength of a current network signal as well as a frame rate of a currently-played video;

a calculation module, configured for, based on the strength of the current network signal, switchable resolutions of the video, and a frame rate of the video, calculating switching time intervals of the switchable resolutions; and

a first switching module, configured for switching the resolution of the video by selecting an optimal switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution, and storing the optimal switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution in a time interval table which carries the strength of the network signal at each calculation of the switching time intervals.

10. The system according to claim 9, further comprising:

a second switching module, configured for, when it is detected that the number of video data packet in a video cache region is less than a first threshold value, switching the resolution of the video to a minimum resolution of the video and playing the video at the minimum resolution.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein when the time interval table carries data at a previous calculation of the switching time interval, the data comprises a strength of a network signal at the previous calculation of the switching time interval;

and

the first switching module comprises;

a comparison unit, configured for comparing the strength of the current network signal with the strength of the network signal at the previous calculation of the switching time interval, and calling a first selecting unit if the strength of the current network signal is predetermined times greater than the strength of the network signal at the previous calculation of the switching time interval, otherwise calling a second selecting unit;

the first selecting unit, configured for selecting the next higher resolution of the one at the previous calculation of the switching time interval as the current resolution of the video; and

the second selecting unit, configured for selecting the switchable resolution corresponding to the previous calculation of the switching time interval as the current resolution of the video.

12. The system according to claim 9, wherein when the time interval table does not contain data at a previous calculation of the switching time interval, the first switching module is configured for switching the resolution of the video by selecting a minimum switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution, and storing the minimum switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution in the time interval table.

13. The system according to claim 9, wherein the calculation module calculates the switching time intervals of the switchable resolutions according to the following formula:

H=(P*F)/(K*128*1024);

wherein H is the switching time interval, P is the switchable resolution, F is the frame rate, and K is the strength of the current network signal.

14. The system according to claim 9, further comprising:

a second obtaining module, configured for obtaining a physical resolution of a screen; and

a selecting module, configured for selecting the resolution in the switchable resolutions less than or equal to the physical resolution, selecting the resolution as the switchable resolution such that the first obtaining module is capable of obtaining the strength of the current network signal as well as the frame rate of the currently-played video and the calculation module is capable of calculating the switching time interval of the selected resolution.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the second obtaining module comprises:

a physical detecting unit, configured for respectively detecting the number of three primary colors of a screen in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction; and

a calculation unit, configured for calculating a resolution X of the screen in the horizontal direction according to the detected number of the three primary colors of the screen in the horizontal direction, calculating a resolution Y of the screen in the vertical direction according to the detected number of the three primary colors of the screen in the vertical direction, and the physical resolution of the screen being X*Y.

16. A system according to claim 9, further comprising:

a video detecting module configured for detecting a playback duration of the video; and

a playing module configured for, when the playback duration of the video is less than a second predetermined threshold value, keeping playing the video at the current resolution.

17. A television, comprising a system for switching video playback resolution, wherein the system comprises:

a first obtaining module, configured for obtaining a strength of a current network signal as well as a currently-played video;

a calculation module, configured for, based on the strength of the current network signal, switchable resolutions of the video, and a frame rate of the video, calculating switching time intervals of the switchable resolutions; and

a first switching module, configured for switching the resolution of the video by selecting an optimal switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution, and storing the optimal switching time interval and the corresponding switchable resolution in a time interval table which carries the strength of the network signal at each calculation of the switching time intervals.