JP2006525731A - Multi-layer coding to support transition to new standards - Google Patents

Abstract

Service providers initially make content information available to end users in an encoding scheme that includes a base layer and an enhancement layer. The base layer is encoded in the conventional standard, and the enhancement layer is encoded in the emerging standard. Thereafter, all content is made available in the new standard. The end user has a decoder circuit that selectively operates in one of multiple modes. In the first mode, the circuit operates as two decoders in parallel, one for each hierarchy. In the second mode, the circuit operates as an emerging standard decoder. Thus, providers efficiently use their channel capacity during and after the transition to the new standard.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for supplying encoded content data such as audio, video, and multimedia. The present invention also relates to software that implements a decoder that decodes encoded data that represents content information, and also to an electronic device that includes a decoder that decodes encoded data that represents content information. The present invention relates specifically to the field of consumer electronics (CE), but is not exclusively related to this field.

  Multi-layer coding techniques or multi-layer compression techniques are used to process content source data to create multi-layer data. This hierarchy is used to reproduce the source data by overlaying or synthesizing by other methods. This hierarchy comprises, for example, a base layer and one or more enhancement layers. Typically, the enhancement layer is used as an option to enhance the rendering of content represented in the base layer. There are techniques designed or planned for normal video signals that allow the use of video coding standards to encode the enhancement layer. Thus, multi-tier compression allows a new, more efficient compression technique to be used while still having a compatible base layer.

  Multi-layer coding techniques or multi-layer compression techniques are used by service providers, such as video on demand service operators or cable operators, from a first coding standard or compression standard to a second coding standard or compression. The inventor of the present application has recognized that it is a suitable tool to facilitate the transition to a standard when the first standard is in the process of becoming obsolete. In particular, multi-layer coding allows services to gradually transition over time from the installed base of the receiver to the next-generation next-generation receiver.

  Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for providing encoded content data. The method comprises the step of allowing the circuit to be controlled to operate in a particular one of a plurality of operating modes. The first mode of the operation modes relates to the step of decrypting the content data base layer using the first decryption technique, and the content data enhancement layer is different from the first decryption technique. This relates to the decoding process using the second decoding method. The enhancement layer typically represents the difference between the base layer signal and the full content signal. The second operation mode relates to a process of decrypting content data using the second technique. Preferably, the step of enabling control comprises the step of providing control data defining a particular mode of operation. In a further embodiment of the present invention, the first technique uses a conventional decoding technique and the second technique uses a new standard or an emerging standard that begins to replace the conventional technique.

  Another embodiment of the invention relates to an electronic device comprising a decoder for decoding encoded data representing content information. The decoder has a first operation mode and a second operation mode. In the first mode, the decoder decodes the base layer of data using the first decoding method, and applies the second decoding method different from the first decoding method to the data enhancement layer. And operate to decrypt. In the second mode, the decoder operates to decode the data using the second technique. The decoder is controllable to operate in the first mode or the second mode.

  Yet another embodiment relates to a physical record carrier comprising data representing content information. The data is encoded in the base layer using a first encoding method, for example based on a conventional standard, and is different from the first encoding method in the enhancement layer, for example based on an emerging standard. Content information encoded using the second encoding method is provided. The data also includes content information that is entirely encoded by the second technique.

  The logical basis of the present invention is as follows. As the market moves from an established standard to an emerging standard, service providers should provide the same content in different standards, i.e. at least twice, Face the dilemma of whether to suspend any content supply in the standard. By definition, emerging standards are not yet supported by the majority of receivers in the field. The first option suggests that providers can only supply the content portion that their channel capacity allows. The second option results in all conventional receivers in the field becoming obsolete when conventional standard transmission stops. As a result, some subscribers are less satisfied. In addition, the second option also introduces the problem of determining the exact time at which transmission in the conventional standard will stop. The present invention facilitates the transition to a new standard by using a hierarchical coding approach that includes a base layer and one or more enhancement layers. The base layer is encoded in the conventional standard, while the enhancement layer uses the emerging standard. As a result, a receiver equipped with a conventional decoder can receive content with base layer quality. In addition to conventional decoders, receivers called hybrids that have decoders that conform to the new standard can process complete content, ie, the base layer plus the enhancement layer. For example, if the service provider transmits content only in the new, now established standard after the expected lifetime of the traditional receiver expires, the hybrid will still be able to decrypt all data in the new standard. The complete content can be processed by switching to the decoder. For service providers, channel capacity during transition is used efficiently under the constraint that both conventional receivers and hybrids can receive content. Furthermore, there is no need to replace the hybrid by the time transmission in the conventional standard stops, which is also good news for subscribers.

  A class of emerging video coding standards called H.26L (also known as MPEG4 Part 10, AVC or H.264) that are expected to replace MPEG-2, MPEG-4 SP and MPEG4 ASP While particularly appropriate, it is not exclusively appropriate for this class. The H.26L standard includes components common to the MPEG standard and the H.261 standard and the H.263 standard. For background information, for example, refer to “Recent Advances in Video Compression Standards” Guy Cote and Lowell Winger, IEEE Canadian Review-Spring / Printemps 2002, pp. 21-24.

  For clarity, when the text of this specification and claims represents H.26L, MPEG4 Part 10, and H.264, it means that it represents the same class of video coding standards that are currently emerging. means.

  The invention will now be described in more detail by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate similar or corresponding features.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system 100 according to the present invention. Data representing content information is supplied to input 102. The data is subjected to a low pass and decimation filter 104 that reduces the resolution of the received data. The output of the low pass filter 104 is connected to the input of the base encoder 106. Such encoders and filters are well known in the art and do not require further description in the specification and claims. The encoder 106 provides a base stream 108 that represents the content information in low resolution. The term “low resolution” in this specification and claims is meant to represent relatively low quality content while being in a form that is perceivable when rendered. The base stream 108 can be stored as is, for example, or provided to the end user, for example, via the data network 110. For the latter, the base stream 108 received by the end user 116 via the network 110 is subjected to a decoding process at the decoder 118, an upsampling process is applied at the circuit 119, and further at the TV receiver 114. Rendered.

  Data at input 102 is also supplied to adder 120 via decoder stage 122 and circuit 124 that applies the decoded data from stage 122 to interpolation and subsampling. The circuit 124 outputs data that is compatible with the input data at the input 102 with respect to subjecting the data to a data processing step. For example, the data supplied by circuit 124 has the same resolution as the input data at input 102. Adder 120 further forms a linear combination of the data from circuit 124 and the data from input 102 by subtracting the former from the latter. The residual data is further provided to an enhancement encoder 126 to generate a residual data or enhancement data stream 128. The enhancement stream 128 can be combined with the base stream 108 to reproduce the high resolution of the data originally received at the input 102, which will be described next.

  End user 130 receives both base stream 108 and enhancement stream 128. Enhancement stream 128 is decoded by enhancement decoder 132 and the output of the enhancement decoder is coupled to summer 134. Base stream 108 is decoded at decoder 136 and made compatible with the decoded enhancement data by a circuit 138 that performs interpolation and upsampling. The output of circuit 138 is also coupled to summer 134. The adder 134 combines the decoded base stream data and the decoded enhancement stream data and renders them, for example, on the TV 140, suitable for rendering high-resolution content or enhanced content.

  Enhancement data typically represents pixels whose values are concentrated near zero. Thus, when the enhancement data pixel value range is converted to a value range compatible with the base data pixel value range, the standard electronic encoding and decoding components are enhanced. The encoder 126 and the enhancement decoder 132 can be used. Therefore, the correction device 142 is used to add the DC offset to the pixel value supplied to the encoder 126 and the correction device 144 is used to subtract the DC offset from the data received from the decoder 132.

  In the present invention, encoder 106 and decoders 118 and 136 use conventional standards, e.g., MPEG-2 based coding techniques, while encoder 126 and decoder 132 are emerging standards, e.g., An encoding method based on H.26L is used. User 116 can render content supplied in a conventional standard. User 130 can render content that is decoded in a conventional standard, and also renders content that is encoded using a combination of the conventional standard and the emerging standard as described above in a multi-layer approach. be able to. A service provider moving from a conventional standard to an emerging standard may use the hybrid encoding method of the base stream and the enhancement stream as described above. The advantage of this approach is that depending on the channel capacity allocated to this provider, content can be received by both the user 116 and 130 capable of rendering the received content, and the provider will transmit the complete content once in the traditional standard It is sent out without the need to transmit once in the standard. A further advantage is that users 130 can continue to use their equipment after the provider has completely transitioned to the new standard. In this way, the time scale for the provider to switch to the new standard is made greater or lesser and compatible with the time scale of the customer or subscriber updating their equipment. The hybrid device of user 130 thus allows it to continue to receive content while bridging the transition period and to receive content after a new standard is established. After the provider stops supplying content in the traditional, now obsolete standard and begins to supply content 146 in the new standard, the data follows the path marked in bold lines in the accompanying drawings. Encoder 126 and decoder 132 are further reused to perform each of the complete content encoding and decoding. Also, the input of the rendering apparatus, here the TV receiver 140, is switched to an appropriate path using the switch 148. The control of the switch 148 is, for example, explicit by the device of the user 130 receiving control data, for example, via the path 146, or by the user moving the switch when receiving the notification. Control of the switch 148 may be performed implicitly, ie, by the user 130 device detecting that the base stream 108 is absent.

  FIG. 1 shows the base stream and the enhanced stream as separate items on the transmitter and receiver sides. Note that such streams may be physically represented in the same transport stream or program stream. Decoders 118, 122 and 136 may be the same circuit, but this need not be the case. Similarly, upsampling circuits 124 and 138 are preferably the same or preferably have the same characteristics. The encoding techniques of the base codecs 106, 118, 122 and 136 are commercially suitable for service providers, for example MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.261, H.263, Has a sufficiently large installed base of receivers, ie another conventional standard supported by a business opportunity market. On the other hand, codecs 126 and 132 have emerged standards, such as H., that replace traditional standards because they have lower bit rates for specific image quality or have other advantages over traditional standards. Use 26L.

  Each of the TV receivers 114 and 140 comprises, for example, a digital TV receiver, for example based on the SDTV (standard television) format. SDTV is a digital television (DTV) format that guarantees image quality similar to that from a DVD.

  A scenario similar to the above is effective in a transition period from an SDTV display format to, for example, an HDTV (high definition TV) display format having a higher resolution. The DTV channel first supplies SDTV in the base layer in MPEG2 and HDTV in the enhancement layer in H264. The user of the SDTV receiver and the user of the combination of the HDTV receiver and hybrid decoder, as shown in component 130, is further enabled to both receive and render the broadcast. After the market shifts to equipment compliant with the HDTV format (TV receiver and STB, or other receivers), it is possible to make the broadcast a single layer H264.

  The above example relates to content supplied via a data network. FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the system 200 according to the present invention, which shows that the same concept applies to supplied content recorded on a physical record carrier, for example on a solid state memory, on an optical disc, on a magnetic disc, etc. FIG.

  The system 200 comprises the components of the end user 130 described below in FIG. The system 200 further includes a reader and control circuit 202 that, in this example, allows the user 130 to render content that is provided on the optical disc 204 and encoded in a hybrid manner. The content comprises a base layer 206 that is encoded using a first technique and an enhancement layer 208 that is encoded in a second technique different from the first. Again, as described below in FIG. 1, the first approach may relate to conventional standards and the second approach may relate to emerging standards. Circuit 202 reads the data as base stream 210 and enhancement stream 212 and provides the data to the appropriate one of decoder 132 and decoder 136 described above. The circuit 202 can further process content data supplied on the disc 214 that is encoded entirely in the second approach. Control data is stored on the disk 214 to control the switch 148 or generate a notification message to be rendered on the TV receiver 140 to notify the user to switch the operation mode of his device. .

  It will be apparent that other suitable rendering devices can be used in place of the TV receiver shown in the accompanying drawings without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is also clear that while the field of the invention is not limited to video data, it is generally applicable to all kinds of content including audio, graphics, video, multimedia, etc. It is also clear that what has been described above regarding the transition from a conventional standard to an emerging standard can also be applied to the transition from one standard to another.

  The contents of the following patent documents are incorporated in the present specification and claims.

  Unpublished International Application No. PCT / IB02 / 04395 (Attorney Administration Number NL021039) filed on October 21, 2002 by Fons Bruls, entitled SPATIAL SCALABLE COMPRESSION. This document relates to an apparatus and method for spatially scalable compression of video information captured in multiple frames. The base layer encoder encodes the bitstream using the first encoding standard. The enhancement layer encoder encodes the residual signal using a first and another second encoding standard. The residual signal is the difference between the original frame and the upscale frame from the base layer.

  Unpublished international application number PCT / IB02 / 04373 (Attorney Docket Number NL021040) filed on October 21, 2002 by Fons Bruls and Rene Klein Gunnewiek, entitled DC OFFSET IN FRONT OF ENHANCEMENT CODER. This document relates to spatially scalable compression of video. Base layer coding comprises a bitstream with a relatively low resolution. Enhancement layer coding encodes the residual signal and comprises a second bitstream. A correction is provided prior to enhancement layer coding to convert the residual signal into a signal with a normal input video level range.

  Unpublished International Patent Application No. PCT / IB02 / 04389 (Attorney Docket Number NL021041) filed October 21, 2002 by Rene Klein Gunnewiek and Fons Bruls entitled INCREASING EFFICIENCY OF SPATIAL SCALABLE CODING. This document relates to a method and apparatus with spatially scalable compression using adaptive content filtering of video streams. The video stream is downsampled to reduce the resolution of the video stream. The downsampled video stream is encoded to produce a base stream. The base stream is decoded and upconverted to produce a reconstructed video stream. The reconstructed video stream is subtracted from the video stream to produce a residual stream. The resulting residual stream is encoded in an enhancement coder and an enhancement stream is output. The residual signal in a particular frame is muted in the enhancement encoder while motion information in the frame is maintained.

  Unpublished International Patent Application No. PCT / IB02 / 04370 (Attorney Docket Number NL021042) filed October 21, 2002 by Fons Bruls and Rene Klein Gunnewiek, entitled INCREASING EFFICIENCY FOR SPATIAL SCALABLE CODING. This document relates to an apparatus for efficiently performing spatially scalable compression of an input video stream. The base encoder encodes the base encoder stream. The modifying means modifies the content of the base encoder stream to generate a plurality of base streams. The enhancement encoder encodes the enhancement encoder stream. The modifying means modifies the content of the enhancement encoder stream to generate a plurality of enhancement streams.

  U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 09/2008, published as WO0167743 under PCT, filed March 8, 2000 by Geert Bruynsteen entitled BUSINESS MODEL FOR LEASING STORAGE SPACE ON A DIGITAL RECORDER 521,051 (Agent reference number US000052). This patent document relates to a method of adjusting the usable amount of storage space of a fixed HDD on a CE device via a data network. The consumer can upgrade the device via a third party service that remotely controls the HDD settings.

  Similarly, various compression algorithms associated with each upgrade can be remotely enabled by the manufacturer, dealer, or content provider.

It is a block diagram of the system in this invention. It is another block diagram of the system in this invention.

Claims (23)

A method for providing encoded content data comprising the steps of allowing a circuit to operate in a particular one of a plurality of operating modes:
In the first mode, a base layer of the content data is decrypted using a first decryption technique, and an enhancement layer of the content data is decrypted using a second decryption technique different from the first decryption technique. Decrypt using the cryption method;
The second mode is a method in which the content data is decrypted by using the second method.   2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of allowing control comprises the step of providing control data defining the particular mode of operation.   The method of claim 1, wherein the step of enabling comprises providing content data that is encoded using the second technique.   The method of claim 1, wherein the first technique relates to a conventional standard and the second technique relates to an emerging standard.   5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second technique uses H.264 decoding.   The method of claim 1, wherein the content information is provided as data that is streamed over a network.   2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content information is supplied as data recorded on a physical carrier.   The method of claim 1, wherein the first technique enables rendering of content information at a first resolution, and the second technique is a second resolution that is higher than the first resolution. Enabling the rendering of the content information. An electronic device comprising a decoder for decoding encoded data representing content information, comprising:
The decoder has a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation;
In the first mode, the decoder operates to decode the base layer of the data using a first decoding technique, and the enhancement layer of the data is different from the first decoding technique. Operate to decode using the second decoding technique of:
In the second mode, the decoder operates to decode the data using the second technique;
The apparatus is characterized in that the decoder is controllable to operate in either the first mode or the second mode.   10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the decoder has a control input for receiving control data and selecting the first operating mode or the second operating mode.   10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the decoder operates in the second mode in the absence of data whose encoding conforms to the first technique.   10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first technique relates to a conventional coding standard and the second technique relates to an emerging standard.   10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a receiver that receives the encoded data via a data network.   10. Apparatus according to claim 9, comprising a reading component for reading the encoded data from a physical data carrier.   10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a rendering apparatus that renders the decoded data.   10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first technique allows the content information to be rendered with a first resolution, and the second technique is a second higher than the first resolution. A device enabling rendering of the content information by resolution. Software that implements a decoder that decodes encoded data representing content information comprising:
The decoder has a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation;
In the first mode, the decoder operates to decode the base layer of the data using a first decoding technique, and the enhancement layer of the data is defined as the first decoding technique. Operate to decode using another second decoding technique;
In the second mode, the decoder operates to decode the data using the second technique;
Software wherein the decoder is controllable to operate in either the first mode or the second mode.   18. The software according to claim 17, wherein the first method relates to a conventional standard and the second method relates to an emerging standard.   19. The software according to claim 18, wherein the second method uses H.264 decoding. A physical record carrier comprising data representing content information comprising:
The data is encoded using the first encoding method in the base layer, and the content information encoded using the second encoding method different from the first encoding method in the enhancement layer. Preparation;
The carrier, characterized in that the data comprises content information, all of which is encoded using the second technique.   21. The carrier according to claim 20, wherein the first encoding technique is based on a conventional standard, and the second encoding technique is based on an emerging standard.   The carrier according to claim 21, wherein the conventional standard is MPEG-2 and the emerging standard is H.264.   21. The carrier according to claim 20, comprising an optical disk.

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