Granted Patent B1

US 11,277,620 · App. 17/085,589 · Granted Mar 15, 2022

Inventors: Chen Liu (Beijing, CN); Wenhao Zhang (Beijing, CN); Xuchang Huangfu (Beijing, CN); Xiaobo Liu (Beijing, CN); Deliang Fu (Beijing, CN); Lan Xie (Beijing, CN); Rui Zhang (Beijing, CN); Shuai Lou (Beijing, CN); Chao Zhang (Beijing, CN)

Assignee: HULU, LLC

H04N19/147H04N19/115H04N19/166H04N19/184

Abstract

Claims (63)

1. A method comprising:

generating, by a computing device, a representation for a video that represents a relationship of a bitrate to a quality measurement for the video;

selecting, by the computing device, candidate transcoding points on the representation;

generating, by the computing device, a plurality of candidate profile ladders based on the candidate transcoding points, wherein the plurality of candidate profile ladders include a different combination of profiles, and wherein the different combination of profiles include a plurality of profiles with different values of at least one of the bitrate and the quality measurement;

analyzing, by the computing device, each profile in the different combination of profiles for the plurality of candidate profile ladders to generate a first value for the bitrate or the quality measurement for each profile;

determining, by the computing device, a second value for each profile ladder based on the first value for each of the profiles in each respective combination of profiles for each profile ladder;

selecting, by the computing device, a profile ladder from the plurality of candidate profile ladders based on the respective second value for each of the plurality of profile ladders; and

using, by the computing device, the profile ladder for the video.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the profile ladder for the video comprises:

transcoding the video into a plurality of video streams based on profiles in the profile ladder.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein transcoding the video into the plurality of video streams comprises:

transcoding each video stream based on at least one of the bitrate and the quality measurement associated with a respective profile.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the profile ladder for the video comprises:

selecting profiles from a standard profile ladder based on the profiles of the selected profile ladder.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein selecting profiles from the standard profile ladder based on the profiles of the selected profile ladder comprises:

selecting a profile from the standard profile that has at least one of the bitrate and the quality measurement closest to a profile in the selected profile ladder.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the representation for the video comprises:

generating a curve that represents the relationship of the bitrate to the quality measurement.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the candidate transcoding points comprises:

selecting points on the representation when a current point includes a higher quality than a last point.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein selecting points on the representation when the point includes the higher quality than the last point comprises:

applying a threshold to a change in quality between the last point and the current point; and

adding the current point to the candidate transcoding points when the change in quality meets the threshold.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein selecting points on the representation when the point includes the higher quality than the last point comprises:

determining a lower boundary on the representation;

determining an upper boundary on the representation; and

selecting points on the representation based on the lower boundary and the upper boundary.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein selecting the lower boundary or selecting the upper boundary comprises:

using a probability distribution of bitrates that were played back to determine the lower boundary or the upper boundary.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of candidate profile ladders based on the candidate transcoding points comprises:

generating a plurality of combinations from the candidate transcoding points to form the plurality of candidate profile ladders.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the profile ladder from the plurality of candidate profile ladders comprises:

calculating a bitrate representation that is based on bitrates for the first value for the plurality of profiles in a current profile ladder from the plurality of candidate profile ladders; and

determining whether to select the current profile ladder based on the bitrate representation.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the bitrate representation comprises a weighted bitrate that is based on bitrates associated with the first value of the plurality of profiles of the current profile ladder and a probability of playback of the respective profiles.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the profile ladder from the plurality of candidate profile ladders comprises:

calculating a quality measurement representation for a current profile ladder in the plurality of candidate profile ladders, wherein the quality measurement is based on the first value for the plurality of profiles in a current profile ladder; and

determining whether to select the current profile ladder based on the quality measurement representation.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the quality measurement representation comprises a weighted quality measurement that is based on the first value associated with the plurality of profiles of the current profile ladder and a probability of playback of the respective profiles.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions, that when executed, control a computer system to be operable for:

generating a representation for a video that represents a relationship of a bitrate to a quality measurement for the video;

selecting candidate transcoding points on the representation;

generating a plurality of candidate profile ladders based on the candidate transcoding points, wherein the plurality of candidate profile ladders include a different combination of profiles, and wherein the different combination of profiles include a plurality of profiles with different values of at least one of the bitrate and the quality measurement;

analyzing each profile in the different combination of profiles for the plurality of candidate profile ladders to generate a first value for the bitrate or the quality measurement for each profile;

determining a second value for each profile ladder based on the first value for each of the profiles in each respective combination of profiles for each profile ladder;

selecting a profile ladder from the plurality of candidate profile ladders based on the respective second value for each of the plurality of profile ladders; and

using the profile ladder for the video.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein using the profile ladder for the video comprises:

transcoding the video into a plurality of video streams based on profiles in the profile ladder.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein transcoding the video into the plurality of video streams comprises:

transcoding each video stream based on at least one of the bitrate and the quality measurement associated with a respective profile.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein using the profile ladder for the video comprises:

selecting profiles from a standard profile ladder based on the profiles of the selected profile ladder.

20. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed, control the one or more computer processors to be operable for:

generating a representation for a video that represents a relationship of a bitrate to a quality measurement for the video;

selecting candidate transcoding points on the representation;

generating a plurality of candidate profile ladders based on the candidate transcoding points, wherein the plurality of candidate profile ladders include a different combination of profiles, and wherein the different combination of profiles include a plurality of profiles with different values of at least one of the bitrate and the quality measurement;

analyzing each profile in the different combination of profiles for the plurality of candidate profile ladders to generate a first value for the bitrate or the quality measurement for each profile;

determining a second value for each profile ladder based on the first value for each of the profiles in each respective combination of profiles for each profile ladder;

selecting a profile ladder from the plurality of candidate profile ladders based on the respective second value for each of the plurality of profile ladders; and

using the profile ladder for the video.

Assignments (1)

Cited By (8)

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