Segment quality-guided adaptive stream creation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11595716-B2
Application number	US-202117506489-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2021
Priority date	Jun 25, 2020
Publication date	Feb 28, 2023
Grant date	Feb 28, 2023

Abstract

Embodiments provide for improved stream generation. A target average bitrate (TAB) segment is generated by encoding a first segment, of a plurality of segments in a video, using a first maximum average bitrate (MAB) of a plurality of MABs specified in an encoding ladder. An intermediate average bitrate (IAB) segment is generated by encoding the first segment using a first intermediate bitrate, wherein the first intermediate bitrate is lower than the first MAB. Upon receiving a request for the first segment at the first MAB, the IAB segment is output based at least in part on determining that a first quality score of the IAB segment is within a predefined tolerance of a second quality score of the TAB segment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
generating a first target average bitrate (TAB) segment by encoding a first segment, of a plurality of segments in a video, using a first maximum average bitrate (MAB) of a plurality of MABs specified in an encoding ladder;
generating a first intermediate average bitrate (IAB) segment by encoding the first segment using a first intermediate bitrate, wherein the first intermediate bitrate is lower than the first MAB; and
upon receiving a request for the first segment at the first MAB, outputting the first IAB segment based at least in part on determining that a first quality score of the first IAB segment is within a predefined tolerance of a second quality score of the first TAB segment.

2. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
selecting, for the first segment at a second MAB of the plurality of MABs, the first IAB segment; and
upon determining that the first IAB segment is used for both the first segment at the first MAB and the first segment at the second MAB:
storing a shared copy of the first IAB segment; and
associating the first segment at the first MAB and the first segment at the second MAB with the shared copy of the first IAB segment.

3. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
selecting, for the first MAB, a first sequence of output segments for the plurality of segments;
selecting, for a second MAB of the plurality of MABs, a second sequence of output segments for the plurality of segments; and
upon determining that the first sequence of output segments is within a predefined threshold difference from the second sequence of output segments, eliminating either the first MAB or the second MAB.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first quality score of the first IAB segment is generated by evaluating the first IAB segment using one or more objective quality algorithms configured to evaluate visual quality of the first IAB segment.

5. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
determining, for the first segment at the first MAB, a pool of potential segments comprising the first TAB segment, one or more additional TAB segments encoded at bitrates below the first MAB, and one or more IAB segments encoded at bitrates below the first MAB; and
selecting the first IAB segment for the first segment at the first MAB by selecting a segment from the pool of potential segments.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein selecting a segment from the pool of potential segments comprises:
identifying a lowest bitrate segment in the pool of potential segments, wherein the lowest bitrate segment is associated with a quality score within a predefined tolerance of a the second quality score associated with the first TAB segment.

7. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
selecting, for the first MAB, a sequence of output segments for the plurality of segments, wherein each output segment in the sequence of output segments is encoded at a bitrate that is equal to or lower than the first MAB; and
upon receiving a request for the video at the first MAB, outputting the sequence of output segments.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoding ladder is a content-specific encoding ladder selected based on a type of the video.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer program code that, when executed by operation of one or more computer processors, performs an operation comprising:
generating a first target average bitrate (TAB) segment by encoding a first segment, of a plurality of segments in a video, using a first maximum average bitrate (MAB) of a plurality of MABs specified in an encoding ladder;
generating a first intermediate average bitrate (IAB) segment by encoding the first segment using a first intermediate bitrate, wherein the first intermediate bitrate is lower than the first MAB; and
upon receiving a request for the first segment at the first MAB, outputting the first IAB segment based at least in part on determining that a first quality score of the first IAB segment is within a predefined tolerance of a second quality score of the first TAB segment.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , the operation further comprising:
selecting, for the first segment at a second MAB of the plurality of MABs, the first IAB segment; and
upon determining that the first IAB segment is used for both the first segment at the first MAB and the first segment at the second MAB:
storing a shared copy of the first IAB segment; and
associating the first segment at the first MAB and the first segment at the second MAB with the shared copy of the first IAB segment.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , the operation further comprising:
selecting, for the first MAB, a first sequence of output segments for the plurality of segments;
selecting, for a second MAB of the plurality of MABs, a second sequence of output segments for the plurality of segments; and
upon determining that the first sequence of output segments is within a predefined threshold difference from the second sequence of output segments, eliminating either the first MAB or the second MAB.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , the operation further comprising:
determining, for the first segment at the first MAB, a pool of potential segments comprising the first TAB segment, one or more additional TAB segments encoded at bitrates below the first MAB, and one or more IAB segments encoded at bitrates below the first MAB; and
selecting the first IAB segment for the first segment at the first MAB by selecting a segment from the pool of potential segments, comprising:
identifying a lowest bitrate segment in the pool of potential segments,

wherein the lowest bitrate segment is associated with a quality score within a predefined tolerance of a the second quality score associated with the first TAB segment.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein selecting a segment from the pool of potential segments comprises:
identifying a lowest bitrate segment in the pool of potential segments, wherein the lowest bitrate segment is associated with a quality score within a predefined tolerance of a the second quality score associated with the first TAB segment.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , the operation further comprising:
selecting, for the first MAB, a sequence of output segments for the plurality of segments, wherein each output segment in the sequence of output segments is encoded at a bitrate that is equal to or lower than the first MAB; and
upon receiving a request for the video at the first MAB, outputting the sequence of output segments.

15. A system, comprising:
one or more computer processors; and
a memory containing a program which when executed by the one or more computer processors performs an operation, the operation comprising:
generating a first target average bitrate (TAB) segment by encoding a first segment, of a plurality of segments in a video, using a first maximum average bitrate (MAB) of a plurality of MABs specified in an encoding ladder;
generating a first intermediate average bitrate (IAB) segment by encoding the first segment using a first intermediate bitrate, wherein the first intermediate bitrate is lower than the first MAB; and
upon receiving a request for the first segment at the first MAB, outputting the first IAB segment based at least in part on determining that a first quality score of the first IAB segment is within a predefined tolerance of a second quality score

Assignees

• Disney Entpr Inc

Inventors

• Labrozzi Scott C
• Mathur Chetan K
• Xue Yuanyi
• Bracco Michael J

Classifications

• H04N21/2662 Primary

  Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities · CPC title

• H04N21/8456 Primary

  by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments · CPC title

• H04N21/23439

  for generating different versions · CPC title

• H04N21/234381 Primary

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

• H04N21/234345

  the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment · CPC title