Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc

Intel Corporation

Microsoft Corporation

Regis J Crinon

Warren Vincent Barkley

Jingyu Qiu

Tim M Moore

Philip Andrew Chou

Muhammed Ibrahim Sezan

Shankar Lakshmi Regunathan

Timothy Mark Moore

Humayun Mukhtar Khan

Sridhar Srinivasan

Thomas W Holcomb

James C Stanley

Shiwei Wang

Dalibor Kukoleca

Zong Zong Yuan

Michael Dean Stokes

Jason White

Min Liu

Charles Finkelstein

Walid Ali

Guo-Wei Shieh

Timothy E Onders

Ling Niu

Shipeng Li

Chih-Lung Lin

Martin Taillefer

Eran Shtiegman

Guobin Shen

M Ibrahim Sezan

Hua Cai

Jie Liang

Jordi Ribas-Corbera

Edwin Arturo Heredia

Wei Zhong

Chih-Lung (Bruce) Lin

Hong-Hui Sun

Guangping Gao

Baogang Yao

Arvind Jayasundar

Shuo-Jen Wu

Akash Pai

Minghui (Jason) Xia

Ze-wen Zhang

Nelson Philip Pinto

Shankar L Regunathan

Minghui Xia

Humayun M Khan

Systems and methods for providing access to various resolutions of a video. In one instance, a selection is received of a video resolution from a plurality of video resolutions, wherein the plurality of video resolutions are associated with the video. A determination is then made as to whether to authorize access to the selected video resolution based on a digital right associated with the video resolution. Depending on the determination, the video is displayed at the selected video resolution. In addition, the video may include one or more video layers, and each video layer may correspond to a particular video resolution. Further still, one or more of the video layers may be encrypted and protected by a digital right. Moreover, the encryption technique used to encrypt the video layers of the video may be different for each of the video layers.

Techniques for managing visual compositions for a multimedia conference call

Techniques for managing visual compositions for a multimedia conference call are described. An apparatus may comprise a processor to allocate a display object bit rate for multiple display objects where a total display object bit rate for all display objects is equal to or less than a total input bit rate, and decode video information from multiple video streams each having different video layers with different levels of spatial resolution, temporal resolution and quality for two or more display objects. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or methods that facilitate describing, communicating, utilizing, etc. a frame dependency structure in connection with real time video communication. For example, a protocol can be employed to communicate the dependency structure from a sender to a receiver. Moreover, a mechanism on a receiver side can detect frame(s) that will be rendered with artifacts if displayed due to previous frame loss; this mechanism can leverage receiver side knowledge concerning the dependency structure of the of the frames.

Mechanisms to conceal real time video artifacts caused by frame loss

Procedures for identifying clients in an audio event are described. In an example, a media server may order clients providing audio based on the input level. An identifier may be associated with the client for identifying the client providing input within the event. The ordered clients may be included in a list which may be inserted into a packet header carrying the audio content.

Active speaker identification

Techniques for virtual conferencing servers are described. An apparatus may comprise a conferencing server to manage a conference call with multiple client terminals. The conferencing server may have a virtual conference manager to select a first client terminal to operate as a first virtual conferencing server, and transfer conference call operations for a second client terminal from the conferencing server to the first virtual conferencing server. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Techniques for virtual conferencing servers

Technologies for recovering from dropped frames in the real-time transmission of video over an IP network are provided. A video streaming module receives a notification from a receiving module that a data packet has been lost. The video streaming module determines, based on the type of video frame conveyed in the lost packet and the timing of the lost packet in relation to the sequence of video frames transmitted to the receiving module, whether or not a replacement video frame should be sent to the receiving module. If the video streaming module determines a replacement video frame is warranted, then the video streaming module instructs a video encoding module to generate a replacement video frame and then transmits the replacement video frame to the receiving module.

Recovering from dropped frames in real-time transmission of video over IP networks

The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or methods that facilitate describing, communicating, utilizing, etc. a frame dependency structure in connection with real time video communication. For example, a protocol can be employed to communicate the dependency structure from a sender to a receiver. Moreover, a mechanism on a receiver side can detect frame(s) that will be rendered with artifacts if displayed due to previous frame loss; this mechanism can leverage receiver side knowledge concerning the dependency structure of the frames.

Video send and receive capabilities of participants are determined by the respective machines determining available combinations, as well as preferences for the receivers. Receiver capabilities are forwarded to the source for computation of negotiated video capabilities through a logic intersection of the determined capabilities based on desired number of streams and resolutions. If a resolution of a send capability exists within the receive capability, the highest frame and/or bit rate may be selected for transmission.

Multiple video stream capability negotiation

Techniques and tools are described for using a signaled or derived buffer fullness value to determine a decoding time stamp. The decoding time stamp can be used in a layer such as a system layer to determine when an access unit such as a coded representation of a field or frame should be decoded. For example, a decoding time stamp that corresponds to a clock cycle of a decoder is determined based at least in part on a hypothetical reference decoder initial buffer fullness value. An initial data access unit of a bitstream is transferred to the decoder for decoding at about the time of the corresponding clock cycle for the decoding time stamp.

Determining a decoding time stamp from buffer fullness

Architecture for accelerating video compression by using the motion vectors produced locally by a camera is disclosed. Video frames are captured by the camera (e.g., a webcam) which also computes a motion vector for the frames. Metadata can also be generated that represent an index of motion quality associated with the motion vector. The motion vector is passed to a video compression engine which selectively uses the motion vector directly or alternatively as a seed for a compression and encoding algorithm. This algorithm produces a compressed video frame representing a motion estimate having a selected motion quality index value. In this way, complexity is reduced in the video compression engine, resulting in faster and more efficient video compression. Alternatively, the webcam sends a compressed video bitstream to reduce throughput on the connection and the receiving computing system processes residual information to derive an estimate of the quality index for each macroblock/kernel.

Digital video compression acceleration based on motion vectors produced by cameras

Background vs. foreground decisions for video frames to be compressed and transmitted in a real time video communication system are made based on a non-parametric approach using signs of pixel value changes in sequential frames. Pixel value changes are tracked as negative or positive. Cost functions may be assigned to rows and columns of predefined blocks and a decision made based on randomness of the signs within the block whether the block represents background (noise) or foreground. Recursive temporal filtering is then employed to reduce the background noise progressively resulting in increased compression and transmission efficiency. Offset tiling is used to increase accuracy of randomness determination when blocks include background and foreground combinations.

Temporal video filtering for real time communication systems

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Camas, WA, United States of America

Regis J Crinon