Active Focus Prediction for 360 Video Bandwidth Reduction

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

360 degree video and other media content consume significant bandwidth, with users typically only viewing a portion of the content, resulting in wasted bandwidth.

Innovation Solution

A system that predicts the user's field of view by analyzing media content and user behavior, sending only the predicted or actual viewed portions rather than the entire content, using machine-readable instructions and a processor to identify points of interest and update the field of view based on user interactions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If the entire 360 degree video content is transmitted to the user, then the user can view any portion of the content, but the bandwidth consumption increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveviewing flexibilityVSAvoidbandwidth consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary analysis of the media content to identify points of interest and predicts the user's field of view before transmitting the content. This allows the system to pre-determine which portions of the 360 video will be relevant to the user, thereby transmitting only those specific portions rather than the entire content, thus reducing bandwidth consumption while maintaining viewing flexibility

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system monitors the user's actual line of sight and uses this feedback to update the predicted field of view. By continuously comparing predicted versus actual viewing behavior, the system refines its predictions and adjusts the transmitted content dynamically, ensuring that the user receives only the portions they are likely to view while maintaining adaptability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Loss of energy

If only the predicted field of view is transmitted to the user, then the bandwidth is conserved, but the user may miss unexpected points of interest

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebandwidth conservationVSAvoidcontent completeness

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary analysis of the media content to identify points of interest and transmits them along with the predicted field of view. By pre-identifying and transmitting points of interest that may capture the user's attention, the system ensures content completeness while maintaining bandwidth conservation through selective transmission

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system monitors the user's actual line of sight and uses this feedback to update the predicted field of view and identify new points of interest. This continuous feedback loop ensures that unexpected points of interest are detected and transmitted, maintaining reliability while the system adapts to actual user behavior patterns

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS11651546B2System for active-focus prediction in 360 video

Publication Date: 2023.05.16 AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I L P

AI summary

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, predicting a field of view of a viewer to obtain a predicted field of view based on information about the viewer and a scoring of a point of interest in media content. A line of sight is obtained between the viewer and a presentation of the media content to obtain a viewer line of sight, and the scoring of the point of interest in the media content is updated to obtain an updated scoring based on the viewer line of sight, the predicted field of view being updated according to the updated scoring. Other embodiments are disclosed.