System and method for compressing video based on detected intraframe motion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10201760-B2
Application number	US-35922609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2009
Priority date	Dec 10, 2002
Publication date	Feb 12, 2019
Grant date	Feb 12, 2019

Abstract

A system and method are described below for encoding interactive low-latency video using interframe coding. For example, one embodiment of a computer-implemented method for performing video compression comprises: logically subdividing each of a sequence of images into a plurality of tiles, each of the tiles having a defined position within each of the sequence of images, the defined position remaining the same between successive images; detecting motion within the sequence of images occurring at each of the positions of each of the tiles; and encoding each tile within each image of the sequence of images using a first compression format or a second compression format, wherein the frequency at which a particular tile is encoded according to the first compression format across the sequence of images is based on the detected amount of motion at the position of that tile across the sequence of images.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for hosting online video games, performing video compression and streaming video comprising:
receiving a request from a client device for playing a video game, the request being received by a server;
receiving a control signal from the client device in response to an input device of the client device of a user as the user is playing the video game, the control signal being transmitted over a communication channel between the client device and the server;
responsively executing the video game by the server to generate a video stream comprising a sequence of images;
determining a client characteristic of the client device;
setting a compression process state by the server for shared compression resources to reflect the client characteristic;
compressing, with the shared compression resources, the sequence of images of the video game in accordance with the compression process state to generate a compressed sequence of images, wherein the shared compression resources are configured to be shared with more than one video game, such that said server is one of a plurality of servers using the shared compression resources, the shared compression resources include compression hardware or hardware running software that handles the compression for each of the plurality of servers while saving a state of each compressing operation processed for each of the plurality of servers, wherein saving the state enables a single compressor of the shared compression resources to take input from a plurality of servers and switching context of taking said input from the plurality of servers as the single compressor cycles taking input from among said respective ones of said plurality of servers;
transmitting the compressed sequence of images to the client device by outbound routing, the outbound routing is configured to transmit out at once via multiple communication channels to said client device and one or more other client devices corresponding compressed sequence of images, such that the compressed sequence of images received by the client device is configured to be decompressed to produce a decompressed sequence of images capable of being rendered on a display of the client device;
receiving feedback information from the client device regarding the decompressing of the compressed sequence of images, by the client device; and
responsive to the feedback information, updating a parameter of the compression process state for the communication channel to said client;
wherein each communication channel is configured to transmit compressed sequences of images based on a respective parameter of a compression process state which can be same or different for each communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedback information received from the client device or one of the other client devices includes an indication of a latency above a specified threshold.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedback information received from the client device or one of the other client devices includes an indication of a current data rate of the communication channel below a specified threshold.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedback information received from the client device or one of the other client devices includes an indication of a latency below a specified threshold.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compressing includes compressing one or more images of the sequence of images as being independent of a previously compressed and transmitted image.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedback includes an indication of a latency below a specified threshold, wherein the parameter of the compression state is updated based on the latency.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving feedback information from the client device or one of the other client devices regarding the decompressing of the compressed sequence of images includes updating the client characteristic.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedback information received from the client device or one of the other client devices includes an indication that one of the compressed sequence of images was not successfully received in the client device or one of the other client devices and further comprising:
determining a current data rate of the communication channel or another of said channels; and
updating the client characteristic to include the current data rate of the communication channel or another of said channels.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising reducing a data rate of the compressed sequence of images to less than the current data rate of the communication channel.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
logically subdividing each of the sequence of images into a plurality of image portions;
detecting motion within the sequence of images occurring at each of the plurality of image portions; and
compressing each of the plurality of image portions using a first compression format or a second compression format, wherein a frequency with which a particular image portion is compressed according to the first compression format across the sequence of images is based, at least in part, on an amount of the detected motion at a position of that image portion across the sequence of images.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication channel is established for a session for gaming between the server and the client device.

12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving a request from a client device for playing a video game, the request being received by a server of a hosting system;
receiving a control signal from the client device in response to an input device of the client device of a user as the user is playing the video game, the control signal being transmitted over a communication channel between the client device and the server;
responsively executing the video game by the server to generate a video stream comprising a sequence of images;
compressing the sequence of images of the video game in accordance with a compression process state to generate a compressed sequence of images using shared compression resources used by said server and other servers of said hosting system, the shared compression resources include compression hardware or hardware running software that handles the compression of sequence of images for each of the servers of the hosting system while saving a state of each compressing operation processed for each of the servers, wherein saving the state enables a single compressor of the shared compression resources to take input from at least two of the servers and switch context of taking said input from the two or more servers as the single compressor cycles taking input from among said respective servers;
transmitting the compressed sequence of images to the client device by outbound routing that receives output of said shared compression resources, the outbound routing is configured to transmit out at once via multiple communication channels to said client device and one or more other client devices corresponding compressed sequence of images, each compressed sequence of images is compressed in accordance with the same or different compression rate, the compressed sequence of images configured to be decompressed by the client device and other client devices to produce a decompressed sequence of images capable of being rendered on a display of the client device or displays associated with other client devices;
receiving feedback information from the client device and other client devices regarding the decompressing of the compressed sequence of images, wherein the feedback information includes

Assignees

• Van Der Laan Roger
• Perlman Stephen G
• Sony Interactive Entertainment America Llc

Inventors

• Van Der Laan Roger
• Perlman Stephen G

Classifications

• A63F13/35

  Details of game servers · CPC title

• H04N21/6125

  involving transmission via Internet (transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82) · CPC title

• A63F13/49

  Saving the game status; Pausing or ending the game · CPC title

• A63F13/355

  Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client · CPC title

• A63F13/358

  Adapting the game course according to the network or server load, e.g. for reducing latency due to different connection speeds between clients · CPC title