Adaptive Bitrate Ladder Generation for Content-Specific Encoding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing streaming platforms use fixed adaptive bitrate ladders for video content, leading to inefficient bit usage, increased storage costs, and poorer perceived quality due to suboptimal encoding.
Innovation Solution
Generate a customized adaptive bitrate stack for each video title based on its content complexity, using variable bitrate encodings and scene-based quality metrics to optimize bit allocation and resolution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a fixed adaptive bitrate ladder is used for all video content, then the encoding process is simplified and storage is standardized, but bit usage becomes inefficient and video quality deteriorates due to suboptimal encoding for diverse content types
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating content-specific encoding profiles that analyze individual video characteristics (motion complexity, texture, color distribution) and generate customized bitrate ladders for each title. This allows each video to receive optimized encoding parameters tailored to its specific properties rather than applying a uniform encoding approach to all content, thereby resolving the contradiction between encoding simplicity and video quality.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a fixed adaptive bitrate ladder is used for all video content, then storage and delivery infrastructure is standardized, but storage space is wasted and content delivery network costs increase due to redundant bits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements parameter changes by dynamically adjusting encoding parameters (bitrate, resolution, quantization settings) based on content analysis results. The system generates customized bitrate ladders for each video title by modifying encoding parameters according to measured content characteristics such as motion complexity and spatial detail, thereby eliminating redundant bits while maintaining standardized storage and delivery infrastructure.
3Productivity
If content is encoded with a fixed adaptive bitrate ladder, then the encoding process is faster and more consistent, but perceived video quality is poorer than what is otherwise possible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing content analysis and generating customized encoding profiles before the actual video encoding process. The system pre-calculates optimal bitrate ladders based on content characteristics, allowing the subsequent encoding to proceed efficiently with pre-determined parameters. This preliminary preparation enables both fast encoding and high perceived video quality by avoiding real-time parameter adjustments during encoding.
Data Source
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AI summary
The described technology is generally directed towards developing an adaptive bitrate stack (ladder) on a per-title basis. Variable bitrate encodings are used to obtain complexity information for a title and per-frames scores for the encodings; another encoding provides scene data. The complexity information is analyzed and processed based on the scene data to determine scene-based (e.g., objective and/or subjective quality) scores, which are used to determine scores for the encodings. The results are used to derive a candidate stack, comprising various resolutions and bitrates that provide desirable results. The candidate stack is evaluated by encoding the title using the candidate stack. These encodings are evaluated to select one resolution from any duplicate resolutions for a bitrate (e.g., based on relative quality), resulting in a pruned, final ladder that is associated with the title as the adaptive bitrate stack to be used for streaming that title's content.