Generation and detection of private metadata in an encoded video transport stream

1. A method of multiplexing encoded video streams, the method comprising:

receiving, at a statistical multiplexer, a plurality of encoded video streams to be multiplexed into a transport stream;

extracting descriptor information indicating where predefined metadata is embedded in at least one of the plurality of encoded video streams, wherein the predefined metadata identifies one or more macroblocks defining a subset of at least one frame in the plurality of encoded video streams with an encoding that is to be preserved during statistical remultiplexing when decoding and re-encoding the received encoded video streams;

identifying the one or more macroblocks in the plurality of encoded video streams with the encoding that is to be preserved during statistical remultiplexing; and

preserving the encoding of the one or more identified macroblocks that define a subset of at least one frame when multiplexing the plurality of encoded video streams into the transport stream to preserve a portion of an image during the statistical remultiplexing.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein an indicator is inserted that identifies predefined metadata in the video transport stream which specifies the at least one portion of the video transport stream that is not to be re-encoded.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the predefined metadata is incorporated into the video transport stream at a transport stream level, a video picture level, or a video sequence level.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptor is in the video transport stream and indicates the presence and location of the metadata.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the descriptor is located in a program map table (PMT) associated with the video transport stream.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the descriptor is a program descriptor.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the descriptor is located in the elementary stream (ES) loop of the PMT.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the predefined metadata is located in an adaptation field of transport packets in the video transport stream.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the predefined metadata is located in an optional field of the adaptation field.

10. A rate shaping device, comprising:

a metadata extractor that extracts predefined metadata from a video transport stream, wherein the predefined metadata specifies at least one macroblock defining a subset of a frame in the video transport stream that is not to be altered during statistical remultiplexing;

a decoder that converts the video transport stream into original macroblock coefficients;

a quantizer arrangement that re-quantizes the macroblock coefficients at a quantization level different from their original quantization level;

a macroblock selector that receives the original macroblock coefficients from the decoder and the re-quantized macroblock coefficients from the quantizer arrangement;

a macroblock detector that receives a signal from the metadata extractor indicating the at least one macroblock defining the subset of the frame that is not to be altered during statistical remultiplexing, and compares the received signal with a current macroblock being processed; and

a macroblock selector that:

receives the original macroblock coefficients from the decoder and the re-quantized macroblock coefficients from the quantizer arrangement, and

selects, for each macroblock defining the subset of the frame in the video transport stream, either the corresponding original macroblock coefficient or the re-quantized macroblock coefficient based on the comparison of the macroblock detector.

11. The rate shaping device of claim 9 wherein the metadata extractor extracts the predefined metadata from the video transport stream at a transport stream level, a packetized elementary stream level, or a video sequence level.

12. The rate shaping device of claim 9 wherein the metadata extractor extracts a descriptor from the video transport stream indicating the presence and location of the predefined metadata.

13. The rate shaping device of claim 12 wherein the descriptor is extracted by the metadata extractor from a program map table (PMT) associated with the video transport stream.

14. The rate shaping device of claim 13 wherein the descriptor is located in the elementary stream (ES) loop of the PMT.

15. The rate shaping device of claim 13 wherein the descriptor is a program descriptor.

16. The rate shaping device of claim 9 wherein the metadata extractor extracts the predefined metadata from an adaptation field of transport packets in the video transport stream.

17. The rate shaping device of claim 16 wherein the predefined metadata is located in an optional field of the adaptation field.

18. A video transmitter, comprising:

an A/V codec for receiving video programming and generating a digital video stream;

a PSI module configured to receive private metadata associated with the video programming, generate at least one PSI table and insert a descriptor in the PSI table indicating the presence of the private metadata, wherein the private metadata identifies one or more macroblocks defining a subset of at least one frame in a plurality of encoded video streams, to be multiplexed into a transport stream, with an encoding that is to be preserved when re-encoding the encoded video streams during statistical remultiplexing; and

a metadata insertion module configured to receive the digital video stream and the private metadata and insert the private metadata into a prescribed portion of the digital video stream specifying the one or more identified macroblocks that define a subset of at least one frame for which, when remultiplexing the plurality of encoded video streams into the transport stream, the encoding of the corresponding portion of an image should be preserved.

19. The video transmitter of claim 18 wherein the metadata inserter is configured to insert the private metadata into an adaptation field of the digital video stream.

20. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs a method including:

extracting descriptor information indicating where predefined metadata is embedded in at least one of the plurality of encoded video streams, wherein the predefined metadata identifies one or more macroblocks defining a subset of at least one frame in the plurality of encoded video streams with an encoding that is to be preserved when re-encoding the encoded video streams during statistical remultiplexing;

identifying the one or more macroblocks in the plurality of encoded video streams with the encoding that is to be preserved during statistical remultiplexing; and

preserving the encoding of the one or more identified macroblocks that define a subset of at least one frame when multiplexing the plurality of encoded video streams into the transport stream to preserve a portion of an image during the statistical remultiplexing.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein an indicator is inserted that identifies predefined metadata in the video transport stream which specifies the at least one portion of the video transport stream that is not to be re-encoded.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein the predefined metadata is incorporated into the video transport stream at a transport stream level, a video picture level, or a video sequence level.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein the descriptor is in the video transport stream and indicates the presence and location of the metadata.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the descriptor is located in a program map table (PMT) associated with the video transport stream.