Generic adaptation layer for JVT video

• US 7,831,990 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2003
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Walker, Toby, Tabatabai, Ali, Visharam, Mohammed Zubair
• Primary Examiner(s): AN, SHAWN S
• Application Number:
  US10/425,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20040010802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,752 Days
• Field of Search: 725/95, 725/118, 725/148, 375/240.23, 375/240.24, 382/246, 382/235
• US Class Current: 725/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/00 Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/70 characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2381 Adapting the multiplex stream to a specific network, e.g. an Internet Protocol [IP] network transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4381 Recovering the multiplex stream from a specific network, e.g. recovering MPEG packets from ATM cells transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6437 Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64707 for transferring content from a first network to a second network, e.g. between IP and wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8451 using Advanced Video Coding [AVC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85406 involving a specific file format, e.g. MP4 format

Abstract

An encoding system includes a video coding layer (VCL) to generate slices when encoding multimedia data, a generic adaptation layer (GAL) to create, from the slices, a set of GAL units having a format that is generic to various transport systems, and a network adaptation layer (NAL) associated with a specific transport system to map the set of GAL units to the format of the specific transport system.

Claims

1. An encoding system comprising:

a video coding layer (VCL) to generate a plurality of slices when encoding multimedia data;

a generic adaptation layer (GAL) to create a set of GAL units using the plurality of slices, the set of GAL units having a format that is generic to a plurality of transport systems; and

a network adaptation layer (NAL) associated with one of the plurality of transport systems to map the set of GAL units to a format of said one of the plurality of transport systems.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the GAL is further to identify structure of the multimedia data.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the set of GAL units comprises a plurality of structural units providing information about the structure of the multimedia data, one or more multimedia data units including the multimedia data, and one or more parameter set units including the parameter sets associated with the multimedia data.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the set of GAL units further comprises one or more supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message units including SEI messages associated with the multimedia data.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the GAL is to identify the structure of the multimedia data based on VCL signals pertaining to the structure of the multimedia data.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the GAL is to identify the structure of the multimedia data by extracting data from headers of the plurality of slices.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the set of GAL units includes a concatenated sequence of units sharing the same timing information.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the GAL is further to order the units within the set.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the format of said one of the plurality of transport systems is defined by a descriptor of the NAL associated with the specific transport system.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the descriptor specifies a number of NAL channels used to carry the set of units and defines characteristics of each of the NAL channels.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the NAL is to map the set of GAL units by determining, for each GAL unit within the set, which of the channels is designated to carry said each GAL unit based on a unit type of said each GAL unit, and formatting the set of GAL units according to predefined syntax of corresponding channels.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the NAL associated with of one of the plurality of transport systems is any one of an IP NAL, an MPEG-2 NAL, and a media file format NAL.

13. A computerized method comprising:

receiving a plurality of slices associated with multimedia data from a video coding layer (VCL);

creating, by an encoding system, a set of units using the plurality of slices, the set of units having a format that is generic to a plurality of network adaptation layer (NAL) types; and

transmitting the set of units to a NAL of one of the plurality of NAL types for transport to a decoding system by a transport system associated with the NAL.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

identifying structure of multimedia data contained in the plurality of slices.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the set of units comprises a plurality of structural units providing information about the structure of the multimedia data, one or more multimedia data units including the multimedia data, and one or more parameter set units including parameter sets associated with the multimedia data.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the set of units further comprises one or more supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message units including SEI messages associated with the multimedia data.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the plurality of structural units are selected from the group consisting of a sequence start unit, a sequence end unit, a group-of-pictures (GOP) start unit, a GOP end unit, a picture start unit, a picture end unit, a slice begin unit, and a slice end unit.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the one or more multimedia data units are selected from the group consisting of a slice unit and a partitioned sliced unit.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein identifying structure of the multimedia data comprises receiving signals pertaining to the structure of the multimedia data from the VCL.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein identifying structure of the multimedia data comprises extracting data from headers of the plurality of slices.

21. The method of claim 13 wherein the set of units includes a concatenated sequence of units sharing the same timing information.

22. The method of claim 13 further comprising ordering the units within the set according to one or more predefined requirements.

23. A method comprising:

receiving a set of units from a generic adaptation layer (GAL); and

mapping the set of units to a format of a specific network adaptation layer (NAL) type for transport to a decoding system by a transport system associated with the NAL type.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the set of units is selected from the group consisting of a plurality of structural units, one or more multimedia data units, one or more parameter set units, and one or more supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message units.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the plurality of structural units provides information about structure of multimedia data.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the format of the specific transport system is defined by a descriptor of a network adaptation layer (NAL).

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the descriptor specifies a number of channels used to carry the set of units and defines characteristics of each of the channels.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein mapping the set of units comprises:

determining, for each unit within the set, which of the channels is designated to carry said each unit based on a unit type of said each unit; and

formatting the set of units according to predefined syntax of corresponding channels.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein the specific NAL type is any one of an IP NAL, an MPEG-2 NAL, and a media file format NAL.

30. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of slices associated with multimedia data from a video coding layer (VCL);

means for creating a set of units using the plurality of slices, the set of units having a format that is generic to a plurality of network adaptation layer (NAL) types; and

means for transmitting the set of units to a NAL of one of the plurality of NAL types.

31. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a set of units from a generic adaptation layer (GAL); and

means for mapping the set of units to a format of a specific network adaptation layer (NAL) type.

32. A system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor executing a set of instructions which cause the at least one processor to

receive a plurality of slices associated with multimedia data from a video coding layer (VCL);

create a set of units using the plurality of slices, the set of units having a format that is generic to a plurality of network adaptation layer (NAL) types; and

transmit the set of units to a NAL of one of the plurality of NAL types.

33. A system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor executing a set of instructions which cause the at least one processor to

receive a set of units from a generic adaptation layer (GAL); and

map the set of units to a format of a specific network adaptation layer (NAL) type.

34. A non-transitory computer readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed on a processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving a plurality of slices associated with multimedia data from a video coding layer (VCL);

creating, by an encoding system, a set of units using the plurality of slices, the set of units having a format that is generic to a plurality of network adaptation layer (NAL) types; and

transmitting the set of units to a NAL of one of the plurality of NAL types for transport to a decoding system by a transport system associated with the NAL.

35. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium that provides instructions, which when executed on a processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving a set of units from a generic adaptation layer (GAL); and

mapping, by an encoding system, the set of units to a format of a specific network adaptation layer (NAL) type for transport to a decoding system by a transport system associated with the NAL type.