Apple Inc.

Google Inc.

Christian L Duvivier

Hsi-Jung Wu

Ionut Hristodorescu

Jochen Christian Schmidt

Xiaosong Zhou

Aram M Lindahl

Chris Yoochang Chung

James O Normile

Dazhong Zhang

Ronald Sebastiaan Bultje

Andrew Scherkus

Dillon Richard Cower

Riley Adams

Jeff Prouty

Rob Suderman

Paul Seung Ho Chang

Muthya Girish

A method includes receiving a first video stream at a playback device, the first video stream having a first quality, receiving at least two second video streams at the playback device, the at least two second video streams each corresponding to a portion of the first video stream, the at least two second video streams having a second quality, the second quality being a higher quality as compared to the first quality, playing back the first video stream at the playback device, selecting a third video stream from the at least two second video streams based on a view perspective of a user of the playback device, and playing back the third video stream together with the first video stream at the playback device.

Streaming spherical video

Scatter-based scan tables are used to encode and decode video streams. Scatter scan patterns transform coefficients between positions within a 2D array representing a block of a frame and positions within a 1D array for further encoding. By calculating a probability of whether a transform coefficient at a given position in a 2D array is non-zero, a scan order of the 2D array may be defined by a 1D array that groups the values most likely to be zero at the end of the 1D array for removal from a subsequent encoding process. This can reduce the amount of data in an encoded video stream. A decoder can use the same scatter scan pattern to rearrange a sequence of encoded transform coefficients in a 1D array into a 2D array for further decoding of an encoded block.

Video coding using scatter-based scan tables

Method for determining frame slice sizes of a frame for multithreaded decoding. The frame is encoded using at least two different slice types based on size where a large-type slice is at least two times larger than a small-type slice and/or the large-type slices comprise 70-90% of the frame. In some embodiments, the number of large-type slices is equal to the number of threads available for decoding and comprise the beginning slices of the frame to be decoded before the small-type slices. Methods for multithreaded deblocking of the frame under the H.264 codec is provided where first and second threads processes first and second sections of the frame in parallel. The first section comprises macroblocks on one side of a diagonal line and the second section comprises the remainder, the diagonal line extending from a first corner of a sub-frame to a second corner of the sub-frame.

Multithread processing of video frames

Systems, apparatuses and methods whereby a base coded video signal is provided to a decoder having a set of post-processing stages. The base coded video signal can be decoded to produce a base decoded video signal. Post-processing of the base decoded video signal can be used to produce an enhanced quality video output signal. Application of a post-processing stage can be implemented according to the capabilities of the decoder and/or the instantaneous operating parameters of the decoder and/or characteristics of a display. A control signal, communicated over a dedicated channel separate from the base coded video signal, can be used initiate and/or aid implementation of a post-processing stage. The control signal can also provide information to assist/manage the decoding of the base coded video signal. The use of additional post-processing stages increases the complexity of an overall decoding process while improving the quality of a resulting reproduced video sequence.

Post-processing for decoder complexity scalability

Some embodiments facilitate encoding/decoding of a frame by organizing frame data in a storage structure in a novel manner. Specifically, in a portion of the storage structure allocated for a frame slice, used partition entries are stored in a first section of the allocated portion and unused partition entries are stored in a second section of the allocated portion, the first and second sections each comprising a continuous area of storage in the storage structure so that used partition entries are not interspersed with nonused partition entries. In some embodiments, additional data useful in the encoding or decoding of video data is determined and stored into the unused bytes of used partition entries (such as macroblock header data or canonical reference frame index data). In some embodiments, two or more identical partitions of a macroblock are coalesced into a single partition.

Efficient use of storage in encoding and decoding video data streams

Disclosed is an exemplary video coder and video coding method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The exemplary video coder includes a scheduler, a plurality of processors and a multiplexer. The scheduler can examine processing units in an input buffer to determine an order for the processing unit to be coded by a processor. If the processing unit under examination depends on a processing unit not yet processed, the processing unit under examination can be merged with other processing units, if any, that share a similar dependency. If the processing unit under examination does not depend on any processing units not yet processed, it can be sent to a next available processor for coding. When a processing unit is sent to a processor, any merged processing units that depend on sent processing unit can also be sent to a next available processor.

High-yield multi-threading method and apparatus for video encoders/transcoders/decoders with dynamic video reordering and multi-level video coding dependency management

Growing community of inventors

Redwood City, CA, United States of America

Christian L Duvivier