System and method for data re-compression for communication over IP
View Patent ↗The transmission of image data through a network or other transmission medium is bandwidth intensive. To help reduce the amount of bandwidth utilized for the transmission of image data, compression algorithms are used. However, even once compressed, if a large amount of image data is being transferred, such as in a multimode network that shares graphic intensive information (i.e., the world wide web) bandwidth can be at a premium. The present invention provides a technique for receiving multiple image files from multiple sources and applying further compression, or recompression to help alleviate the bandwidth constraints. The present invention operates to further compress image files on-the-fly so that processing delays for the retransmission of the image files are limited. To effectuate the on-the-fly re-compression, image structures to indicate the status of re-compressing the various image files are maintained. Thus, segments of the image files can be re-compressed as they are received regardless of whether the reception of segments from various image files are received in an interleaved manner.
1. In a networked system including a central hub serving one or more clients, a method for receiving and re-compressing multiple images on the fly being communicated through the central hub, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving a first segment of a first compressed image at a controller associated with the central hub;
receiving a first segment of a next compressed image at said controller;
establishing a first input-buffer for temporarily storing said first segment of said first compressed image;
establishing a second input-buffer for temporarily storing said first segment of said next compressed image; and
creating an image structure for the first compressed image and keep said structure to the last segment of the first compressed image; and
processing the first segment of said first compressed image;
storing the processed first segment in an output-buffer; and
storing tracking-information for processing the following segments of the first compressed image in a first image structure by storing information regarding the progress of processing the first compressed image; and
processing the data in the output buffer according to the communication protocol; and
transmitting the output-buffer.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of storing tracking-information of the first compressed image in the first image structure comprises the steps of:
storing an indicator representing the number of data units in said first compressed image; and
storing a flag indicating the progress of processing said first compressed image.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of storing tracking-information of the first compressed image in the first image structure comprises the steps of:
storing a pointer to the first input buffer;
storing the size of the first input buffer;
storing a pointer to the output buffer;
storing an indicator representing the number of data units in said first compressed image;
storing a flag indicating whether processing of the first compressed image stopped on a header portion or an encoded-data portion of the first compressed image; and
storing the data of the portion of the segment of first compressed image that was not processed in the remainder section of the structure.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
creating an image structure for the next compressed image and keep said structure to the last segment of the next compressed image;
processing the first segment of said next compressed image;
storing the processed first segment of said next compressed image in said output-buffer;
storing tracking-information for processing the following segments of the next compressed image in the next image structure;
processing the data in the output buffer according to the communication protocol; and
transmitting the output-buffer; and
continuing to receive and process additional segments of said first compressed image and said next compressed image.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of storing tracking-information of the next compressed image in the next image structure comprises the step of storing information regarding the progress of processing the next compressed image.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of storing tracking-information of the next compressed image in the next image structure comprises the steps of:
storing an indicator representing the number of data units in said next compressed image; and
storing a flag indicating the progress of processing said next compressed image.
7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of storing tracking-information of the next compressed image in a first image structure comprises the steps of:
storing a pointer to the first input buffer;
storing the size of the first input buffer;
storing a pointer to the output buffer;
storing an indicator representing the number of data units in said next compressed image;
storing a flag indicating whether processing of the next compressed image stopped on a header portion or an encoded-data portion of the next compressed image; and
storing the data of the portion of the segment of the next compressed image that was not processed in the remainder section of the structure.
8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of continuing to receive and process additional segments of said first compressed image and said next compressed image comprises the steps of:
reading the image structure of the received compressed image; and
processing the received segment of said received compressed image according to the information in the structure;
storing the processed segment of said received compressed image in said output-buffer;
updating tracking-information for processing the following segments of the received compressed image in the structure of said received compressed image;
processing the data in the output buffer according to the communication protocol; and
transmitting the output-buffer.