System and Method for Video Distribution Management with Mobile Services
Systems and methods for managing video distribution to display devices including mobile devices capture video from one or more cameras and apply a selected compression strategy suitable to broadcast video over a computer network and cellular network to at least one mobile device only when requested by a user to improve security and reduce required bandwidth and usage. The system and method may include controlling broadcast bandwidth by dynamically changing the selected compression strategy or algorithm to facilitate management of the video stream and adapt to changing network conditions. In one embodiment, the system and method include dynamically modifying video image properties of captured video frames to generate video data packets of a size suitable for transmission over a low bit-rate channel to a hand-held device for viewing.
1 . A method for managing distribution of streaming video from a video server over a cellular network to a hand-held device, the method comprising:
capturing video from at least one camera in communication with the video server in response to a request from the hand-held device for video;
compressing and encoding the video captured from the at least one camera using the video server in communication with the at least one camera in response to the request from the hand-held device;
communicating the streaming video to the hand-held device;
dynamically changing at least one of the compressing and encoding to reduce bandwidth of streaming video in response to a change in network bandwidth; and
periodically reporting status of the video server to a management server in communication with the video server over a network.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein compressing and encoding comprises:
transforming output from the at least one camera to a first color palette;
adjusting each of a plurality of image properties until a captured video frame data size is below a first threshold;
converting the captured video frame data to a bitmapped image format using a lossless compression algorithm to generate a first compressed frame in a format native to the hand-held device;
compressing the first compressed frame using at least a second lossless compression algorithm to generate a compressed packet for transmission; and
transmitting the compressed packet over a wireless network to the hand-held device for display on the hand-held device.
3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
distributing a video streaming application from the management server in response to a corresponding request from the mobile device.
4 . The method of claim 3 further comprising:
determining that the hand-held device is authorized based on determining that an identification code embedded in the device is an authorized identification code.
5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
configuring the video server to recognize a mobile device using the management server to communicate mobile device identification information to the video server.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the management server communicates with the video server using the internet.
7 . The method of claim 1 wherein compressing and encoding comprises converting an input video stream to an output video stream conforming to an MPEG standard.
8 . The method of claim 1 further comprising controlling streaming video from the hand-held device by communicating a real-time streaming protocol (RTSP) request from the hand-held device to the video server.
9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising communicating a request associated with a change in required bandwidth from the hand-held device to the video server; and
dynamically changing at least one of the compressing and encoding in response to the request.
10 . The method of claim 3 wherein the application is distributed from the management server to the video server to the hand-held mobile device.
11 . A system for managing distribution of streaming video from a video server over a cellular network to a hand-held device, the system comprising:
at least one camera;
a video server in communication with the at least one camera, the video server capturing video from the at least one camera, compressing and encoding the captured video, and dynamically changing at least one of the compressing and encoding to reduce bandwidth of streaming video in response to a corresponding command, the video server broadcasting the video to the hand-held device in response to an authenticated request from the hand-held device; and
a management server in communication with the video server, the management server including at least one hand-held device video client application program and distributing the client application program to the hand-held device in response to a corresponding request, the management server periodically receiving status information from the video server.
12 . The system of claim 11 wherein the video server adjusts each of a plurality of image properties until a captured video frame data size is below a first threshold to reduce bandwidth of streaming video.
13 . The system of claim 11 wherein the video server communicates with the management server over the internet.
14 . The system of claim 11 wherein the video server broadcasts video to the hand-held device via a cellular network.
15 . The system of claim 11 wherein the management server includes a configuration utility for configuring the video server to recognize a designated hand-held device.
16 . The system of claim 11 wherein the video server includes a video capture card connected to the at least one camera and wherein dynamically changing comprises converting the captured video frame data to a bitmapped image format using a lossless compression algorithm to generate a first compressed frame in a format native to the hand-held device; and
compressing the first compressed frame using at least a second lossless compression algorithm to generate a compressed packet for transmission.
17 . A method for managing distribution of video from a video server over a cellular network to a hand-held device, the method comprising:
configuring a distribution server with a hand-held client application and identification information for a selected hand-held device;
transferring the client application to the hand-held device;
configuring a video server in communication with at least one camera and in selective communication with the distribution server to recognize the hand-held device;
receiving a request from the hand-held device for the video server to transmit a selected video stream over the cellular network to the hand-held device;
determining that the hand-held device is authorized to receive a requested video stream;
capturing, compressing, and encoding video from the at least one camera in communication with the video server in response to a request from the hand-held device if the hand-held device is determined to be authorized;
transmitting compressed encoded video to the hand-held device if the hand-held device is determined to be authorized; and
dynamically managing bandwidth of video transmitted to the hand-held device by selectively modifying at least one of the compressing and encoding of the view from the at least one camera based on available cellular network bandwidth.
18 . The method of claim 17 further comprising controlling video streaming functions from the hand-held device.
19 . The method of claim 18 wherein controlling video streaming functions comprises transmitting an RTSP command from the hand-held device to the video server.
20 . The method of claim 17 further comprising periodically communicating video server status information to a management server in communication with the video server via the internet.
21 . The method of claim 17 further comprising selecting one of a plurality of cameras to receive streaming video using the hand-held device by communication a corresponding command to the video server.