Video playback method and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10659824-B2
Application number	US-201716309075-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2017
Priority date	Jun 12, 2016
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application disclose a video playback method and apparatus, which relate to the field of video communication technologies. The method includes: receiving a data obtaining request for a video to be played back sent by a client; estimating a current data transmission speed according to historical data transmission speeds; selecting a target video frame discarding scheme from preset video frame discarding schemes, according to the current data transmission speed and a theoretical data transmission speed corresponding to a preset video frame discarding scheme, wherein the theoretical data transmission speed is determined according to the multiplied speed for video playback; and performing discard processing on video data of the video to be played back according to the target video frame discarding scheme, and sending to the client the video data that has been subjected to the discard processing, so that the client plays back the video to be played back. The solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application reduces the required network bandwidth for a video playback.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A video playback method, comprising:
receiving a data obtaining request for a video to be played back sent by a client, wherein the data obtaining request comprises a multiplied speed for video playback;
estimating a current data transmission speed according to historical data transmission speeds, wherein the historical data transmission speeds are obtained according to a preset statistical rule;
selecting a target video frame discarding scheme from preset video frame discarding schemes, according to the current data transmission speed and a theoretical data transmission speed corresponding to a preset video frame discarding scheme, wherein the theoretical data transmission speed is determined according to the multiplied speed for video playback; and
performing discard processing on video data of the video to be played back according to the target video frame discarding scheme, and sending to the client the video data that has been subjected to the discard processing, so that the client plays back the video to be played back;
wherein the step of selecting a target video frame discarding scheme from preset video frame discarding schemes, according to the current data transmission speed and a theoretical data transmission speed corresponding to a preset video frame discarding scheme, comprises:
determining a video frame discarding scheme with the highest priority in the preset video frame discarding schemes as a video frame discarding scheme to be selected;
calculating a target theoretical data transmission speed corresponding to the video frame discarding scheme to be selected, based on a bandwidth compression ratio, a rate for the video playback, and a bit rate for the video to be played back under the video frame discarding scheme to be selected;
determining whether the target theoretical data transmission speed is greater than or equal to the product of the current data transmission speed and a first preset coefficient;
if so, determining the video frame discarding scheme to be selected as the target video frame discarding scheme; and
if not, updating the video frame discarding scheme to be selected to a video frame discarding scheme with the next lower priority according to a descending order by priority, and returning to the step of calculating a target theoretical data transmission speed corresponding to the video frame discarding scheme to be selected, based on a bandwidth compression ratio, a rate for the video playback, and a bit rate for the video to be played back under the video frame discarding scheme to be selected, until the video frame discarding scheme to be selected is a video frame discarding scheme with the lowest priority, and then determining the video frame discarding scheme to be selected as the target video frame discarding scheme.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of estimating a current data transmission speed according to historical data transmission speeds, comprises:
estimating the current data transmission speed Speedactual according to the following formula:
Speedactual= T 1*Speed1 + . . . +Tn *Speed n

where Speedn . . . Speed1 are n historical data transmission speeds obtained according to the preset statistical rule, and are in ascending order by duration from the moment corresponding to each historical data transmission speed to the current moment, and Tn . . . T1 are preset coefficients respectively corresponding to Speedn . . . Speed1, and the sum of Tn . . . T1 is equal to 1.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein Tn<(Tn−1+ . . . +T1).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein before the step of receiving a data obtaining request for a video to be played back sent by a client, the method further comprises:
receiving a video playback request sent by the client;
sending a query request for a video segment of the video to be played back to a storage management server according to the video playback request;
receiving a query result returned by the storage management server, where the query result comprises a storage server corresponding to the video segment; and
obtaining the video data of the video to be played back from the storage server based on the video segment according to the query result, and buffering the obtained video data.

5. A video playback apparatus, comprising:
a request receiving module, configured for receiving a data obtaining request for a video to be played back sent by a client, wherein the data obtaining request comprises a multiplied speed for video playback;
a speed estimating module, configured for estimating a current data transmission speed according to historical data transmission speeds, wherein the historical data transmission speeds are obtained according to a preset statistical rule;
a scheme selecting module, configured for selecting a target video frame discarding scheme from preset video frame discarding schemes, according to the current data transmission speed and a theoretical data transmission speed corresponding to a preset video frame discarding scheme, wherein the theoretical data transmission speed is determined according to the multiplied speed for video playback; and
a discard processing module, configured for performing discard processing on video data of the video to be played back according to the target video frame discarding scheme, and sending to the client the video data that has been subjected to the discard processing, so that the client plays back the video to be played back;
wherein the scheme selecting module comprises:
a first scheme determining sub-module, configured for determining a video frame discarding scheme with the highest priority in the preset video frame discarding schemes as a video frame discarding scheme to be selected;
a speed calculating sub-module, configured for calculating a target theoretical data transmission speed corresponding to the video frame discarding scheme to be selected, based on a bandwidth compression ratio, a rate for the video playback, and a bit rate for the video to be played back under the video frame discarding scheme to be selected;
a speed determining sub-module, configured for determining whether the target theoretical data transmission speed is greater than or equal to the product of the current data transmission speed and a first preset coefficient;
a second scheme determining sub-module, configured for determining the video frame discarding scheme to be selected as the target video frame discarding scheme, when the speed determining sub-module determines that the target theoretical data transmission speed is greater than or equal to the product of the current data transmission speed and the first preset coefficient; and
a scheme updating sub-module, configured for, when the speed determining sub-module determines that the target theoretical data transmission speed is not greater than or equal to the product of the current data transmission speed and the first preset coefficient, updating the video frame discarding scheme to be selected to a video frame discarding scheme with the next lower priority according to a descending order by priority, and triggering the scheme selecting module, until the video frame discarding scheme to be selected is a video frame discarding scheme with the lowest priority, and then determining the video frame discarding scheme to be selected as the target video frame discarding scheme.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the speed estimating module is specifically configured for estimating the current data transmission speed Speedactual according to the following formula:
Speedactual= T 1*Speed1 + . . . +Tn *Speed n
where Speedn . . . Speed1 are n historical data transmission speeds obtained according to the preset statistical rule, and are in ascending order by duratio

Assignees

• Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Tec

Inventors

• Pu Shiliang
• Zhang Shengsen
• Ding Guangkai
• Wang Wei
• Lin Qiqian
• Wang Weichun

Classifications

• H04N21/2387

  Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play · CPC title

• H04N21/234381 Primary

  by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. decreasing the frame rate by frame skipping · CPC title

• H04N21/4325 Primary

  by playing back content from the storage medium (reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79) · CPC title

• H04N21/234363

  by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution · CPC title

• H04N21/2393

  involving handling client requests (scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60) · CPC title