Intel Corporation

Michael J Gutmann

Stephen S Ing

Thomas R Gardos

Rohit Agarwal

Narjala Prakash Bhasker

Sudarshan Bala Cadambi

Reed J Sloss

Rama R Prasad

Peter Tung

Charles B Guy

Benjamin Vrvilo

Jim R Trethewey

Doug Brucks

Katherine Cox

Brian J McArdle

Key Phomsopha

C Chris Hansen

Karl O Lillevold

In a video image compression and transmission system, quantization parameters for a block transform based video compression algorithm can be controlled by a quantizer selector so as to control compressed video frame size. The selection of the appropriate quantization parameter for the nth macroblock of a current frame is based on the cumulative number of compressed bits appearing in the first n-1 macroblocks of a current frame and a previous frame. By controlling the quantization parameter is such a manner, the overall system reacts more quickly to changes in complexity in the video sequence and allocates bits more accurately to different parts of the video frame according to a past history of bit allocation. To efficiently utilize the bandwidth of a transmission medium (such as POTS), a bit count of the contents of the transmit buffer is sent to a buffer regulator in a video controller where it is compared to a low water mark threshold. If the bit count falls below the threshold, an uncompressed video frame is scheduled for compression by a video compressor. By using the low water mark threshold, latency in the overall system is reduced and an efficient use of transmission medium bandwidth is achieved.

Method and apparatus for bit rate control in a digital video system

An apparatus is programmed with a video service for facilitating video communication with another remote apparatus, in accordance with a video communication protocol. The video service includes a still image function with logic for providing a plurality of progressive scans of one or more still images to the remote apparatus, in accordance with a still image communication protocol defined within the video communication protocol. In one embodiment, the still image function includes logic for instructing a local video capture driver to switch to a format of the still image function's choice for capturing video image frames, holding constant video image input to a video codec to generate the plurality of progressive scans of the still images, and implementing the still image communication protocol.

Method and apparatus for providing still images in a full motion video

A method for creating a video connection between a video source for transmitting frames of video data and a video sink for receiving the frames. The video source may be a file, a camera, a computer network, and a telephony interface. The video sink may be a file, a visual display device, a computer network, and a telephony interface. The video source has a recycle framehandler function for recycling used buffers and the video sink has a process framehandler function for processing received frames. A video stream object is created having data members that include a reference to the video sink and a reference to the video source, as well as several member functions. The member functions are used to query the video sink to obtain a reference to the process framehandler function and to then provide the reference to the video source. The member functions are also used to query the video source to obtain a reference to the recycle framehandler function, which is then provided to the video sink. The reference to the process framehandler function is stored as a data member of a first framehandler object to be used by the video source, and the reference to the recycle framehandler function is stored as a data member of a second framehandler object to be used by the video sink. The video source may then directly invoke the process framehandler function and the video sink may directly invoke the recycle framehandler function.

Method and apparatus for connecting video sources and video sinks

Two sequences of signal packets are played. Each signal packet of a first type of signals has been stamped with a sequence number corresponding to the position of the signal packet in the first sequence. Each signal packet of a second type of signals has been stamped with a corresponding sequence number of the first sequence. The playing of the second sequence is synchronized with the playing of the first sequence by comparing the sequence numbers of the second sequence to the sequence numbers of the first sequence. In a preferred embodiment, the two types of signals are audio signals and video signals, and the video signal packets are stamped with sequence numbers for the audio signal packets. Each video signal packet of the video sequence is processed for display based on a comparison of the sequence number for the video signal packet and the sequence number for the current audio signal packet.

System and method for synchronizing data streams

Nodes of a computer-based teleconferencing network may be able to encode and decode video signals using different video compression/decompression algorithms with different parameters. In order to conduct a video teleconference between two (or more) such nodes, the nodes must first agree on what video algorithms to use. In the present invention, video capabilities are negotiated between nodes, where each node uses a table that identify one or more sets of video capabilities for that node. After video capabilities have been successfully negotiated, the video conferencing can proceed using the negotiated capabilities. Negotiated video capabilities may include algorithms, frame rate, frame resolution, bit rate, and bitstream format.

System for negotiating at least two sets of video capabilities between

A video system is disclosed that provides fast communication packet loss recovery. A source node generates a series of encoded video flames for a series of digitally sampled video flames by encoding each digitally sampled video frame relative to either an immediately preceding digitally sampled video frame or a previous digitally sampled video frame specified by a lost frame message received over the communication link from a destination node. The destination node receives the encoded video frames over the communication link and transfers the lost frame message to the source node if one of the encoded video frames is lost or delayed. The destination node generates the decoded version of each encoded video frame relative to either a decoded version of an immediately preceding encoded video frame or a decoded version of a last successfully received encoded video frame.

Video conferencing system with fast packet loss recovery

A method of handling processor to processor interrupt requests in a multiprocessing computer bus environment is described. This method allows a multiple-tiered, increasing priority, interrupt request scheme. This method also allows processor to processor directed interrupt requests, processor to one processor of a group of processors interrupt requests, and processor to all processors of a group of processors interrupt requests.

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Hillsboro, OR, United States of America

Michael J Gutmann