Adaptive Bit Rate Video Streaming Client for Security Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current server-based solutions for displaying multiple video streams from security cameras on mobile devices are limited by processing power and memory, leading to increased complexity and bottlenecks on the streaming server, which can impact performance and increase costs.
Innovation Solution
Implementing Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) video streaming, also known as HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS), shifts the burden of selecting and mixing video streams to client devices, allowing them to allocate resources based on available buffer and CPU utilization, prioritizing higher bit rates for focused streams and lower bit rates for peripheral streams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If server-based solutions decode, mix, and compress video streams before transmission to mobile devices, then multiple video streams can be displayed concurrently on client devices, but server complexity and resource requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the video stream mixing function from the server and transfers it to the client device. The server only transmits individual video streams without mixing, while the mobile device performs the mixing operation locally, thereby reducing server complexity while maintaining the capability to display multiple streams concurrently
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional architecture by having the client device perform server-side functions (video mixing). Instead of the server preparing mixed streams for display, the mobile device receives separate streams and combines them locally, reversing the conventional role distribution
2Ease of operation
If the server mixes and compresses all video streams before transmission, then client devices can display multiple streams, but the streaming server becomes a throughput bottleneck
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the video transmission process by sending individual video streams separately from the server to the client, rather than transmitting a single mixed stream. This allows parallel processing and eliminates the server from being a throughput bottleneck, as the mixing operation occurs after transmission at the client device
3Ease of operation
If server-based solutions are used to mix video streams, then multiple streams can be displayed on mobile devices, but processing and memory resources on the server increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the resource-intensive video mixing operation from the server environment and relocates it to the client device. The server only handles lightweight tasks of encoding and transmitting individual streams, while the mobile device utilizes its local processing and memory resources to perform the mixing operation
Data Source
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AI summary
Selection and display of adaptive rate video streams in a video security system in which user devices such as mobile computing devices mix and display multiple streams concurrently from security cameras on the user devices. A client application running on the user devices determines available buffer resources on the user devices, and enables selection of one or more video streams from a grid displayed on a display of the user devices. In response to the determined resources, the client application obtains higher bit rate video streams for the selected video streams and lower bit rate video streams for the non-selected video streams.