Hybrid Video Decoding for Mobile Players
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current video decoding methods in mobile players face challenges, with hardware decoding causing a long initialization period affecting user experience and software decoding leading to high power consumption and poor performance.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a hybrid decoding method where a software decoder initializes and renders the first frame while starting a hardware decoder, which then takes over for subsequent frames, allowing quick display of the first frame and reducing resource usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If hardware decoding is used, then computing performance is improved and system resources are occupied less, but initialization period becomes longer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by starting the hardware decoder initialization process in advance while the software decoder is still rendering the first frame. The hardware decoder is launched and begins its lengthy initialization during the software decoding phase, so that by the time software decoding completes, the hardware decoder is already ready or nearly ready to take over, thereby eliminating the visible initialization delay.
2Speed
If software decoding is used, then initialization speed is improved, but power consumption increases and decoding performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic action by using software decoding only for the initial period (first frame rendering) and then switching to hardware decoding for subsequent frames. This temporary use of software decoding provides fast initialization, after which the system transitions to the more energy-efficient hardware decoding mode, thus achieving both fast startup and low power consumption during the main playback period.
3Speed
If software decoding is used, then initialization speed is improved, but decoding performance becomes poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses software decoding as a preliminary measure to quickly initialize and render the first frame, establishing immediate playback capability. The hardware decoder is simultaneously initialized in the background, and once ready, it takes over for high-performance decoding of subsequent frames, thus combining the initialization speed advantage of software decoding with the performance advantage of hardware decoding.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for quickly displaying a first frame of a video using hybrid decoding are described herein. The disclosed techniques include starting a software decoding thread by a video player; initializing a software decoder by the software decoding thread; decoding and rendering images during a start period by the software decoder while starting a hardware decoding thread by the software decoding thread; initializing a hardware decoder by the hardware decoding thread; and decoding but not rendering the images during the start period by the hardware decoder. In this way, a first frame of a video can be displayed quickly, a waiting time can be reduced, and user experience can be improved.