Apple Inc.

Other

The 3do Company

Gregory Kent Wallace

Peter Chou

Mitchell Howard Oslick

Rainer Brodersen

Jian Lu

Haitao Guo

Ken Kengkuan Lin

Shahriar Mohammad Akramullah

Eric R Hamilton

Sachin Agarwal

Wenqing Jiang

Steve C Wasserman

Philippe M Cassareau

Curtis Pansegrau

Timothy P Bucher

Gregory G Williams

Methods and systems are provided for encoding and decoding a video stream. Each picture in a video stream can be divided into slices, each of which contains a contiguous row of macroblocks. All the blocks corresponding to a single video component within each slice can then be used as the basis for encoding the picture. By decomposing each picture into slices, the video stream can be efficiently converted for displays of varying size and/or quality. The encoded bitstream can include a slice table to allow direct access to each slice without reading the entire bitstream. Each slice can also be processed independently, allowing for parallelized encoding and/or decoding.

Method and system for video encoding and decoding

Systems and methods for editing and selectively encoding video. In general, in one implementation, the method includes generating video segments from portions of one or more video sources, at least one video source being encoded to have interframe dependencies; generating a video sequence from the video segments; scanning the generated video sequence to identify invalid interframe dependencies; and selectively reencoding portions of the generated video sequence to generate an output video sequence having valid interframe dependencies. The method may further comprise generating the output video sequence without reencoding valid portions of the video sequence. Valid portions of the video sequence may comprise portions lacking invalid interframe dependencies or buffer violations.

Selective reencoding for GOP conformity

An encoding manager facilitates robust single-pass variable bit rate video encoding of a video sequence. Before encoding the video sequence, the encoding manager determines the size of a buffer to use for keeping track of over/under used bits generated during encoding. The encoding manager uses the target bit rate for the video sequence and the length of the video sequence to determine the size of the buffer. After allocating bits to a frame of the sequence, the encoding manager determines the quant to use to encode that frame. The determination of a quant to use to encode a frame is informed by the fullness of the buffer. The encoding manager adjusts the quant to use (and thus the aggressiveness of its encoding) in response to the amount of overflow generated thus far by the encoding of the video sequence.

Robust single-pass variable bit rate encoding

Video program authoring systems and methods in a processor-based system removes an author from consideration of low-level configuration functions during authoring. The authoring systems and methods provide an authoring engine having an interactive graphical authoring interface, a data management engine, an emulator, a compiler, a multiplexer and a simulator. Using summary authoring data, the compiler builds a skeleton-faun layout structure comprising abstracted components that include movie chapters, menu buttons and command segements. The compiler then resolves abstracted connections between combinations of the abstracted components to produce a video program. Instructions associated with the command segments and a configuration of the command segments within a video program video space and domain structure are abstracted.

Video program authoring systems and methods

A storage medium is encoded with a video program created using authoring systems and methods. The processor-based authoring system removes an author from consideration of low-level configuration functions during authoring. The authoring system includes an authoring engine having an interactive graphical authoring interface, a data management engine, an emulator, a compiler, a multiplexer and a simulator. The authoring methods include the use of summary authoring data, a compiler that builds a skeleton-form layout structure comprising abstracted components that include movie chapters, menu buttons and command segements. The compiler resolves abstracted connections between combinations of the abstracted components to produce a video program. Instructions associated with the command segments and a configuration of the command segments within a video program video space and domain structure are abstracted the functional during authoring.

Authored video programs

Embodiments of the present invention provide a coding system that codes data according to a pair of coding chains. A first coding chain generates coded video data that can be decoded by itself to represent a source video sequence of a small size, such as a size sufficient to support the real time playback and display features of a video editing application. The second coding chain generates coded video data representing supplementary data, which when decoded in conjunction with the coded video data of the first coding chain, yields the source video sequence for full-size display. The output of the first coding chain may be stored in memory in a file structure that can be accessed independently of the second chain's output and, therefore, it facilitates real time decoding and playback.

Video coding system providing separate coding chains for dynamically selected small-size or full-size playback

An encoding manager performs a first-pass encoding of a video sequence, collecting modeling data concerning the sequence in the process. The encoding manager utilizes collected data to construct a model concerning the sequence, the model including bit overhead for each frame and data concerning transitions that occur during the sequence. The encoding manager uses the data model to generate a rate profile for the video sequence, avoiding buffer underflow by allocating bits from hard to easy segments as needed. The encoding manager utilizes the rate profile to perform a second-pass encoding of the video sequence, adjusting quantization and bit rate for frames as necessary to avoid underflow and conform to the bit budget for the video sequence.

Robust multi-pass variable bit rate encoding

A DVD authoring system in a processor-based system removes an author from consideration of the DVD Specification during authoring. According to a preferred embodiment, the authoring system provides an authoring engine having an interactive graphical authoring interface, a data management engine, an emulator, a compiler, a multiplexer and a simulator. Using summary authoring data, the compiler builds a skeleton-form PGC layout structure comprising control PGC abstractions and router PGC abstractions. The compiler then resolves the PGC abstractions according to source-target connections. During playback on a DVD player, the PGC abstractions form elements in a connection-switching abstraction superstructure. Accordingly, in response to DVD-consumer and other control events, a source PGC preferably determines target PGC information and then transfers control, via virtual connections through necessary router PGC abstractions, to a target PGC abstraction. The target PGC abstraction then correspondingly initiates playback of a movie chapter or displays a menu.

Menu authoring for automatically performing low-level DVD configuration functions

Menu authoring system and method for automatically performing low-level DVD configuration functions and thereby ease an author's job

A method and apparatus are provided for real time decompression and post-decompress manipulation of compressed full motion video. A decompressed play-back signal is supplied to a real-time video processing system by way of an adaptor for post-decompress manipulation. The post-decompress manipulations include real-time, interactive geometry transformations and color re-mappings. The adaptor includes a range expansion module for eliminating dead space such as found in CCIR-601 outputs. The adaptor further includes a resampling module for programmably converting the pixels-per-line format of the decompressed play-back signal. The adaptor additionally includes a clip-and-dither module for altering the bits-per-pixel format of the adaptor output signal and for applying a programmably-defined dither to the adaptor output signal.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Gregory Kent Wallace