Accelerated Screen Codec via GPU Segmentation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Real-time screen capture systems face challenges in processing power due to complex computations for compressing varied screen content and bandwidth limitations, particularly in transferring data from video memory to system memory.
Innovation Solution
The accelerated screen codec technique employs a GPU-friendly screen compression framework that segments screen images into text and pictorial blocks, using different compression methods for each, and leverages GPU acceleration to reduce processing burden and bandwidth requirements, achieving better performance than current standards in compression ratio and speed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If complex compression computations are performed on varied screen content, then compression ratio is improved, but processing power burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments screen content into distinct regions (text regions, image regions, video regions) and applies different compression algorithms to each region. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high compression ratios for each specific content type while avoiding the need to apply complex compression to the entire screen, thereby reducing overall processing power burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different compression qualities and methods to different regions of the screen based on content type. Text regions use lossless compression, image regions use JPEG compression, and video regions use H.264 compression. This local quality approach ensures optimal compression ratio for each content type while minimizing the processing complexity required for each region.
2Ease of operation
If data is transferred from video memory to system memory, then screen capture is enabled, but bandwidth cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary screen content data for compression and transmission, rather than transferring entire frame buffers. By segmenting the screen and compressing each region independently, the system reduces the total amount of data that needs to be transferred from video memory to system memory, thereby reducing bandwidth cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs compression operations on screen content before transferring the compressed data to system memory. This preliminary compression action reduces the data volume that needs to be transferred, thereby reducing bandwidth cost while maintaining screen capture capability.
3Reliability
If traditional compression standards are used, then compatibility is maintained, but compression speed is insufficient for real-time requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the screen into multiple regions and processes each region in parallel using different compression algorithms. This segmentation enables real-time compression speed by distributing the computational load across multiple processing units, while maintaining compatibility through the use of standard compression formats for each region type.
Data Source
AI summary
An accelerated screen codec technique is described that provides a general screen compression framework, which, in one embodiment, is Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) friendly. In one embodiment, in order to compress screen data, blocks in a compound screen image containing both images and text are segmented into text blocks and pictorial blocks using a simple gradient-based procedure. The text and pictorial blocks are then compressed respectively via different compression techniques. Additionally, a GPU acceleration architecture of one embodiment of the accelerated screen codec technique provides a screen codec that maximally exploits a GPU's high parallelism and reduces the download bandwidth from GPU to Computer Processing Unit (CPU).