Distributed intraframe transmission in digital video compression
View Patent ↗The present invention provides a method and apparatus for distributed intraframe transmission. In one embodiment of the present invention, digital images are divided into regions. In this embodiment, an I-frame is not transmitted all at once. Instead, in each transmission, a region of the image is compressed without using interframe compression while the rest of the image is compressed using interframe compression. The region transmitted without interframe compression changes with each transmission. Thus, over the course of several transmissions every region of the image is transmitted without interframe compression. A transmission schedule controls the transmission of I-frame data for an entire image over the course of several frame transmissions. In one embodiment, a digital image is divided into M regions, and one region is transmitted without using interframe compression in each frame. In one embodiment, the M regions are numbered from 0 to M−1, and a region is selected for transmission without using interframe compression when the region number is equal to MOD (F, M), where F is the frame number. In one embodiment, the regions are non-overlapping rectangular regions. In another embodiment, the regions are strips of pixels. In another embodiment, regions are non-contiguous pixels. In yet another embodiment, regions which will be transmitted without interframe compression comprise sets of pixels which have not been refreshed within M frames and pixels which are selected by a compressibility criteria.
1. A method for encoding digital data comprising:
accessing a plurality of frames, each frame of the plurality of frames including a digital video image;
dividing each frame of said plurality of frames into a plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions being assigned a unique consecutive number;
encoding all except one region of said plurality of regions in each frame of the plurality of frames into encoded regions using interframe compression;
compressing the one region of said plurality of regions in each frame of the plurality of frames without using interframe compression into a compressed region, the one region of the plurality of regions being selected in each frame based on an order of the unique consecutive number, the one region of said plurality of regions being a different region in each frame of the plurality of frames, each region of the plurality of regions being compressed once in the plurality of frames without using interframe compression; and
transmitting said encoded regions and said compressed region for each frame of the plurality of frames.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
numbering said plurality of regions based on a compression sequence.
3. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
dividing said digital video image into non-overlapping rectangular groups of pixels.
4. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
dividing said digital video image into strips of pixels.
5. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
dividing said digital video image into a plurality of non-contiguous pixel groups.
6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein compressing the one region of said plurality of regions includes compressing the one region using intraframe compression.
7. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed implement a method for compressing digital video comprising:
program instructions for accessing a plurality of frames, each frame of the plurality of frames including a digital video image;
program instructions for dividing each frame of said plurality of frames into a plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions being assigned a unique consecutive number;
program instructions for encoding all except one region of said plurality of regions in each frame of the plurality of frames into encoded regions using interframe compression; and
program instructions for compressing the one region of said plurality of regions in each frame of the plurality of frames without using interframe compression, the one region of the plurality of regions being selected in each frame based on an order of the unique consecutive number, the one region of said plurality of regions being a different region in each frame of the plurality of frames; each region of the plurality of regions being compressed once in the plurality of frames without using interframe compression; and
program instructions for transmitting said encoded regions and said compressed region for each frame of the plurality of frames.
8. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 further comprising:
program instructions for numbering said plurality of regions based on a compression sequence.
9. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 further comprising:
program instructions for dividing said digital video image into non-overlapping rectangular groups of pixels.
10. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 further comprising:
program instructions for dividing said digital video image into strips of pixels.
11. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 further comprising:
program instructions for dividing said digital video image into a plurality of non-contiguous pixel groups.
12. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 , wherein compressing the one region of said plurality of regions includes compressing the one region using intraframe compression.
13. A method for encoding digital data comprising:
accessing a plurality of frames, each frame of the plurality of frames including a digital video image;
dividing each frame of said plurality of frames into a plurality of regions, each one of the plurality of regions being assigned a unique consecutive number;
numbering the plurality of regions wherein each of the plurality of regions is assigned a unique consecutive number;
selecting one region of the plurality of regions based on the unique consecutive number wherein each of the plurality of regions is selected in the order of the consecutive number;
encoding the one region of the plurality of regions in each frame of the plurality of frames, the one region being encoded by intraframe compression and interframe compression when the one region has been encoded by intraframe compression within a set number of past frames, and the one region being encoded by intraframe compression when the one region has not been encoded by intraframe compression within the set number of past frames; and
transmitting the one region using a smaller one of the interframe compression and the intraframe compression when the one region has been encoded by intraframe compression within the set number of past frames and transmitting the one region using intraframe compression when the one region has not been encoded by intraframe compression within the set number of past frames.
14. The method as recited in claim 13 further comprising:
numbering said plurality of regions based on a compression sequence.
15. The method as recited in claim 13 further comprising:
dividing said digital video image into non-overlapping rectangular groups of pixels.
16. The method as recited in claim 13 further comprising
dividing said digital video image into strips of pixels.
17. The method as recited in claim 13 further comprising:
dividing said digital video image into a plurality of non-contiguous pixel groups.