Blackbird 8 Video Codec Mini-Block Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The rise of camera phones has introduced challenges in real-time video capture, compression, sharing, and playback due to low mass cameras with erratic movement, small lenses causing noise, and limited bandwidth and processing power on mobile devices, which existing codecs struggle to address effectively.
Innovation Solution
The Blackbird 8 video codec employs a flexible bitstream format that allows for efficient encoding and decoding of video frames into rectangular blocks with motion vectors, applying filtering after motion estimation to minimize compression artifacts, and using mini blocks for reduced processing requirements, enabling effective compression and decompression of video across various resolutions and frame rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If traditional video codecs are used for camera phone video, then compression is achieved, but processing power requirements exceed mobile device capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The video frame is divided into multiple blocks, and each block is further divided into sub-blocks for motion estimation. This segmentation allows the processing to be distributed and optimized for mobile devices with limited processing power while maintaining compression efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies motion estimation only to selected blocks rather than all blocks in a frame. By identifying and processing only those blocks that contain motion information, the computational load is significantly reduced while still achieving effective compression.
2Productivity
If motion estimation is applied to all blocks, then compression efficiency is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Different processing approaches are applied to different blocks based on their characteristics. Blocks with significant motion undergo full motion estimation, while static or low-motion blocks use simpler methods, optimizing the balance between compression efficiency and processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
Motion estimation is selectively applied only to blocks that require it, rather than uniformly to all blocks. This partial action approach reduces overall processing time while maintaining compression efficiency where needed.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If filtering is applied before motion estimation, then noise is reduced, but compression artifacts increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of applying filtering before motion estimation, the patent applies filtering after motion compensation. This reverses the traditional order and prevents filtering from creating compression artifacts, as the motion information has already been extracted and compensated for.
4Loss of information
If key frames are used frequently, then video quality is maintained, but bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses intra-block prediction for some blocks within delta frames rather than requiring full key frames. This partial use of intra-prediction maintains video quality in local areas while significantly reducing the overall bandwidth consumption compared to frequent key frames.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of encoding a series of frames in a video or media, including receiving a first key frame, receiving subsequent chunks of frames including at least one key frame, dividing each frame into a plurality of blocks, subdividing a first block (110) of the plurality of blocks into a plurality of pixel groups, averaging the pixels in each pixel group (112) to generate a single value, creating a first mini-block wherein each element of said first mini block corresponds with a pixel group of the corresponding first block and contains said single value, repeating for each block of each frame of the chunk, comparing a first of said plurality of mini blocks of a first frame with mini blocks of a second frame, where said second frame mini blocks are not necessarily aligned to mini blocks in the first frame, until a best match is achieved.