Dual-Detail Video Encoding for Bandwidth-Limited VR Streaming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless streaming technologies in VR gaming systems are limited by data rates, which hinder the transmission of high frame rate, graphics-intensive video game content, particularly in distributed systems where data cannot be transmitted quickly enough to maintain high fidelity imagery.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a dual detail encoding scheme that reduces the amount of data transmitted by encoding a 2D array of pixels with two levels of detail, including a downscaled copy of the entire frame and a copy of a high-attention subregion, allowing for timely data transmission within data rate constraints.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If data transmission rate is increased to maintain high frame rates, then image quality is improved, but data rate constraints are exceeded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by encoding different regions of the image at different resolutions. The central subregion (fovea region) is encoded at high resolution while peripheral regions are encoded at lower resolution. This allows the system to maintain high image quality in the most important viewing area while reducing overall data transmission requirements to fit within data rate constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the image into multiple regions with different quality levels. Specifically, it divides the image into a central subregion and peripheral regions, applying different encoding strategies to each segment. This segmentation enables selective allocation of bandwidth resources to maintain high frame rates while preserving critical visual information.
2Manufacturing precision
If full resolution frame data is transmitted, then image fidelity is maintained, but transmission time increases beyond acceptable limits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the most critical portion of the image data for high-fidelity transmission. By identifying and isolating the central subregion that contains the most visually important information, the system transmits this region at full resolution while using reduced resolution for peripheral areas, thereby maintaining perceived image fidelity while dramatically reducing transmission time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the resolution parameter selectively across different regions of the image. The central subregion is transmitted at high resolution to maintain fidelity, while peripheral regions are transmitted at lower resolution. This parameter change strategy reduces the total data volume and transmission time while preserving the visual quality that matters most to the user experience.
3Productivity
If data transmission is reduced to meet data rate constraints, then transmission speed is improved, but image quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by encoding different regions of the image at different resolutions. The central subregion (fovea region) is encoded at high resolution while peripheral regions are encoded at lower resolution. This allows the system to maintain high image quality in the most important viewing area while reducing overall data transmission requirements to fit within data rate constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by transmitting only the most critical portion of the image at high quality rather than attempting to maintain high quality across the entire image. By focusing transmission resources on the central subregion that contains the most visually important information, the system achieves acceptable overall image quality while significantly reducing data transmission requirements to meet speed constraints.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are, among other things, techniques for implementing a dual detail encoding scheme in a distributed display system. At the host computer, an application may render a frame for a scene at a first resolution. The host computer may generate a two-dimensional (2D) array of pixels for the frame, encode the 2D array of pixels, and transmit the encoded pixel data to the display device. The 2D array of pixels comprises, for each eye, a copy of the frame downscaled to a second resolution less than the first resolution, and a copy of a high-attention subregion of the scene. The 2D array of pixels may be encoded using a technique that controls a quality parameter at compression unit granularity, such as macroblock or coding tree unit granularity. At the display device, the encoded pixel data is decoded to obtain the 2D array of pixels for the frame.