System and method for adapting video decoding rate by multiple presentation of frames

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for executing on a system including a processor, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions configured to:

receive a video stream comprising a first plurality of pictures having a first type and a second plurality of pictures having a second type;

determine whether a resource on the system is constrained;

responsive to determining that a resource is constrained, determine whether a picture repetition mode is to be initiated; and

responsive to the determination that a picture mode is to be initiated, initiate the picture repetition mode, including:

foregoing decoding the first plurality of pictures;

decoding the second plurality of pictures;

presenting a picture in the second plurality of pictures a plurality of times; and

transferring graphics objects from a system memory to a media memory including a compressed video buffer during an interval in which decoding the first plurality of pictures is foregone.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the presenting further comprises:

presenting the picture in the second plurality of pictures in place of a foregone picture in the first plurality of pictures.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the received video stream has a first picture rate, and wherein an output video stream has a second picture rate that is higher than the first picture rate.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the first picture rate is 24 Hertz and the second picture rate is 60 Hertz.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , the computer program further comprising computer executable instructions configured to:

present a change in a graphics overlay while the picture in the second plurality of pictures is being presented.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the first type is a B-frame.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the first type is a B-frame, wherein the initiating further comprises:

foregoing decoding of P-frames in the received video stream.

8. A video decoding method executing in a system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a video stream comprising a first plurality of pictures having a first type and a second plurality of pictures having a second type;

determining whether a resource in the system is constrained;

responsive to the determination that a resource in the system is constrained, determining whether a picture repetition mode is to be initiated; and

responsive to the determination that a picture mode is to be initiated, initiating the picture repetition mode, including:

foregoing decoding the first plurality of pictures;

decoding the second plurality of pictures;

presenting a picture in the second plurality of pictures a plurality of times; and

transferring graphics objects from a system memory to a media memory including a compressed video buffer during an interval in which decoding the first plurality of pictures is foregone.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first type is a B-frame.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first type is a B-frame, the initiating further comprising:

foregoing decoding of P-frames in the received video stream.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining the plurality of times based on one or more of: a number of bytes (GT) specified to effectuate a transfer from a system memory to a media memory; a number of consecutive frames of the first type that are interspersed between reference pictures; and bus bandwidth (BBREQ) required to decompress and reconstruct a frame of the first type having spatial resolution BSIZE.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining the plurality of times from a look-up table containing plurality values for different combinations of GT and BBREQ.

13. A device comprising:

memory storing program instructions thereon;

a system memory;

a media memory including a compressed video buffer; and

a processor configured by the program instructions to:

receive a video stream comprising a first plurality of pictures having a first type and a second plurality of pictures having a second type; and

determine whether a resource in the device is constrained;

responsive to the determination that a resource is constrained, determine whether a picture repetition mode is to be initiated;

responsive to the determination that the picture repetition mode is to be initiated, initiate the picture repetition mode, including:

foregoing decoding the first plurality of pictures;

decoding the second plurality of pictures; and

presenting a picture in the second plurality of pictures a plurality of times; and

transfer graphics objects from the system memory to the media memory during an interval in which decoding the first plurality of pictures is foregone.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the first type is a B-frame.

15. The device of claim 13 , wherein the first type is a B-frame, the initiate further comprising:

foregoing decoding of P-frames in the received video stream.

16. The device of claim 13 , further comprising:

a picture buffer;

wherein the processor is further configured to:

relinquish a portion of the picture buffer used to store a picture in the second plurality of pictures.

17. The device of claim 13 , further comprising:

a picture buffer;

wherein the processor is further configured to:

relinquish a portion of the picture buffer used to store a picture in the second plurality of pictures; and

use the relinquished portion of the picture buffer to store a graphics overlay.

18. The device of claim 13 , further comprising:

a picture buffer;

wherein the processor is further configured to:

relinquish a portion of the picture buffer used to store a picture in the second plurality of pictures; and

use the relinquished portion of the picture buffer to store an alpha-blend plane.

19. The device of claim 13 , further comprising:

media memory;

a video digital encoder; and

logic to provide pictures from the media memory during a period of time in which decoding of the first plurality of pictures is foregone.