Adaptive Bitrate Ladder Generation from Actual Source Video Quality

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming systems face inefficiencies due to inaccurate metadata in user-generated content (UGC), leading to unnecessary resource consumption and poor quality encoding, particularly in OTT and IPTV services, as they fail to account for the actual quality of the source content.

Innovation Solution

Systems and methods for optimizing content item compression by assessing the quality of UGC through visual characteristics, determining the highest operating point of each portion in resolution and bitrate, and dynamically adjusting ABR ladders based on the actual quality, rather than relying on metadata.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If bitrate and resolution are increased for low-quality content items, then the encoded quality metric improves, but the actual visual quality does not improve and resource consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveencoded quality metricVSAvoidcomputing resources

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces metadata-based quality assessment with visual characteristic analysis. Instead of relying on encoded quality metrics from compression headers, the system uses algorithms to directly analyze visual features of video frames (such as blurriness, noise, artifact detection) to determine actual content quality, thereby avoiding the mismatch between encoded quality and perceived quality

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the parameter used for quality assessment from encoded quality metrics (bitrate, resolution headers) to visual quality parameters (sharpness, noise level, artifact presence). This parameter transformation allows the system to accurately identify low-quality content and adjust ABR ladder generation accordingly, preventing unnecessary high-bitrate encoding of poor-quality source material

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Device complexity

If ABR ladder is generated based on inaccurate metadata, then encoding process is simplified, but bitrate allocation becomes inefficient and quality of experience deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveencoding processVSAvoidquality of experience

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary visual quality assessment of content items before generating the ABR ladder. By analyzing visual characteristics upfront and determining the actual quality level, the system can pre-calculate appropriate bitrate allocations for different resolutions, ensuring efficient encoding without requiring complex real-time adjustments during the encoding process

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces feedback mechanisms where quality assessment results from visual analysis are used to adjust ABR ladder generation. The system continuously monitors the relationship between source quality and encoded quality, using this feedback to optimize bitrate allocation strategies and improve overall quality of experience while maintaining encoding efficiency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Quantity of substance

If high bitrate is allocated to low-quality source content, then more bandwidth is consumed, but user perceived quality does not improve

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovebitrateVSAvoiduseful quality information

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent makes the ABR ladder generation dynamic by adjusting bitrate allocations based on the actual visual quality of each content item. Instead of using fixed bitrate rules, the system adapts bitrate values to match the source quality level, ensuring that low-quality content receives appropriate lower bitrates while high-quality content receives higher bitrates, thereby optimizing bandwidth utilization

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

4Adaptability or versatility

If content items are re-encoded at multiple resolutions without quality assessment, then ABR streaming is enabled, but unnecessary resources are consumed encoding resolutions beyond source quality

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveABR streaming capabilityVSAvoidencoding resources

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality assessment to different portions of content items, particularly handling mixed-quality scenarios where different segments have different quality levels. By identifying quality variations within the content, the system can generate segment-specific ABR ladders, encoding each portion at resolutions appropriate to its quality level rather than applying a uniform high-resolution encoding to the entire content

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS12634533B2Optimizing content item compression for adaptive bitrate streaming by over-the-top (OTT) providers

Publication Date: 2026.05.19 ADEIA GUIDES INC

AI summary

Systems and methods are disclosed for generating an adaptive bitrate ladder for a content item based on the actual quality of the content item. A broadcaster determines a quality score of a content item and multiplexes a message indicating the quality score with data packets of the content item to an OTT provider. The OTT provider uses the quality score to determine an ABR ladder with a set of bitrates for the content item. The OTT provider then encodes a plurality of portions of the content item for each bitrate. The OTT provider then generates a manifest indicating a portion of a URL corresponding to each portion and transmits the manifest to a client device.